Singe opined, “The same thing that was in our box here.”
“Is Ingra Mah dead?”
“Not till Penny gets home, we aren’t.”
Diffuse amusement.
The Dead Man began to commune with Singe. I visited Dean. That old boy was sleeping normally. He had a magnificent shiner but looked likely to be back in the saddle tomorrow.
PENNY TURNED UP SOONER THAN I EXPECTED. SHE WAS LIVID. “I WANT YOU to stomp that Bottle into meat jam!” she snarled. “That . . . ! That . . . !” Her language failed the gentility test.
“What happened?”
“We got to the place he wanted to go, and suddenly he didn’t have no money! Suddenly he did have four hungry friends, one of them a bimbo named Tami.”
“Life’s a bitch.”
“You think it’s funny.”
I did. But she wouldn’t get the joke. Hell, I wouldn’t hear the real punch line for eight more hours.
“Go see the Dead Man.”
“He already sucked everything out of my head. I’m gonna go cry myself to sleep.”
ROCK TRUCK TURNED UP SO EARLY THAT NOBODY BUT SINGE AND THE DEAD Man were awake. The Rose Purple was on the run. He was wet, filthy, terrified, and exhausted. Singe let him in, planted him in a chair, and told him, “Don’t move.” She went back to the front door, went outside, and waved.
Dollar Dan wasn’t there but another ratman did ooze out of a shadow. She gave him instructions. Then she came upstairs to roust me, like the whole thing couldn’t wait till a civilized hour.
While she was charging back and forth, up and down, Rock from Ryzna learned that her word was law. Hard as he tried, he could not get out of that chair.
Singe had heavy black tea steeping when I got to the kitchen, still crosseyed sleepy. “Not ready, Garrett. My office. See the man. I’ll bring it.”
I was still trundling those hallway miles when the Dead Man sent,
The knock happened as I freed the first bolt. I opened. Scithe boggled. I said, “You got here fast.”
“Huh?”
“Serendipity?”
Scithe stepped back. Big word. Might be dangerous.
“Singe sent a runner. We caught a bad guy.”
That just baffled him more. I stepped aside. Scithe and his henchman entered. Singe came out of the kitchen with a tray, half a dozen cups and tea still steeping. Scithe said, “We came about . . .” His eyes glazed.
I got a message myself, as did Singe, who nearly fumbled her tray.
Scithe closed in on Rock and rested a hand on his right shoulder. “This is the devil? Four counts of murder? He don’t look the type.” He bent down to whisper, “You’re in the shit deep, sweetheart.”
Rock squirmed. His big brown eyes ached with appeal.
I said, “Bad news, Rock. It was all for naught. The Shadow never came to TunFaire.”
The Rose Purple made noises like a man trying to shout with a gag in his mouth. I think he was upset.
Scithe asked, “He’s not going anywhere, is he?”
“Only if the other villains rescue him.”
Chuckles all around. The other villains were about to have troubles of their own.
Scithe said, “I got to get moving on this. Ah!”
Penny had come down. She looked grimmer than I usually feel at such an absurd hour. She grabbed a cup. Singe poured. Penny added lots of sugar. “’S goin’ on? Cha’ wan’ me for?”
Scithe said, “You were in Torah’s Sweetness last night. Got rowdy.”
“So? Wanna make sumpin’ of it?”
“I do.”
I said, “He does, Penny. Everybody there ended up a drooling moron after you left.”
“Huh? Crap. You ain’t gonna put that on me.”
Her eyes glazed.
She settled on the nearest chair afterward. “There must’ve been twenty kids in there. They didn’t have nothing to do with any of this. Why would somebody do something like that?”
“She wasn’t after them. She expected me to bring that coin home. When her curse homed in on it, Old Bones and I would stop being the threat we turned into when she found out that we didn’t have the Shadow.”
“She would’ve got Singe and Dean and me, too.”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you glad you didn’t get all hard-ass about me going with Bottle?”
Her heart wasn’t in that, though.
“I am. That worked out nicely.” Neither I nor the Dead Man chalked that up to luck, though. We believe in intuition. Something down deep had moved me to shed that coin.
I could have done a better job than I did, though.
Scithe asked, “You coming with, Garrett?”
“You inviting?”
“If you don’t get underfoot and don’t run your mouth.”
“I agree for him,” Singe said. “I will smack him if he gets out of line.”
Scithe considered her with eyebrow arched.
“I’m coming, too.”
“Me three,” Penny added.
Scithe sighed. Civilians.
WE GOT STARTED AFTER THE SPECIALS ARRIVED. THREE TOOK CHARGE OF Rock Truck. The rest went to the Benbow with us.
BUNNY WAS UNHAPPY. MISS GRÜNSTRASSE HAD DECAMPED DURING THE night. Her tab was not in arrears but she had left her suite a wreck. It looked like a fight had taken place.
Singe reported, “The fat woman had words with her niece.”
I asked, “Can you track her?”
“Under water. She was extremely distressed. It did not go well for her.”
THE TRAIL LED FIRST TO WHERE THE FAT WOMAN HAD INTERCEPTED THE Specials taking Rock to headquarters. That resulted in a kidnapping, not a rescue. Witnesses said she made it quick and ugly, with no assistance from children. Her trail ran on to the waterfront, ended on an empty wharf. The ship that had been tied up there was out of sight, current carrying it out of the Guard’s legal jurisdiction.
It began to rain again.
“They get away too often.” Scithe hunched to keep the drizzle from running down his neck.
“They’ll cut each other’s throats.” Unless the Specials caught up first. They recognize no limitations in times
