Outside, Meinhard gave a quick summary that caused most of the remaining onlookers to disperse. Potential murder had been interesting; a clumsy journeyman was not. That left just three watchmen, Georg, the two professors, Neustatter, Astrid, Schwartz, Huber, Gordon and Maurine Kroll, Gena, and Eric Hudson. They filed into
'May I help you?' the waitress asked.
'City watch,' Meinhard said. 'Looking for Hans Griesser and Gerhard Unsinn.'
'Right over there.'
Griesser's arm was bandaged, as was Unsinn's nose.. Both their shirts were bloodstained but they had cleaned themselves up.
Eric Hudson sniffed. 'Must be our guys. That is definitely a doobie.' Gena smacked him.
'Herr Griesser? Herr Unsinn?' Meinhard asked.
'
'I'm Watchman Meinhard. Some citizens found a lot of blood in an alley, and they were afraid someone had been murdered.'
'Ha! Not quite murdered, although Unsinn here stabbed me when he fell.'
'Sorry,' Unsinn muttered.
Griesser laughed. 'He fell face-first into my tray of horseradish, too. Busted his nose and spilled the horseradish everywhere. Sorry, Unsinn, but I've had enough beer and
Unsinn had clearly had enough, too. He giggled. 'I slipped in the blood.'
Meinhard nodded. 'We know. But where did the blood come from?'
The waitress came over with a platter of fowl and a pungent sauce.
'Some fool butchered some chickens in the alley. I saw some feathers.'
Meinhard and Georg just looked at each other. Georg shook his head.
Neustatter clapped him on the shoulder. 'This was good work, Georg. You could have a future in investigation.' He turned. 'And Huber? You wouldn't be on the CoC sanitation committee would you?'
'
She nodded.
'Neustatter, I'll give you a decent fight next time.' The Committeeman left.
'That explains everything,' Meinhard said.
'Chicken with horseradish sauce?' Eric Hudson asked.
'Well, except that.'
'That's easy,' the waitress said over her shoulder as she passed by with a tray full of food. 'The cook is determined to master the up-time turkey and dressing by the next
****
Dr. Phil for President
Phillip 'Lips' Kastenmayer stood despondently in front of the window, gazing at the unobtainable fashions on display. The mannequin that most drew his attention was dressed in T-shirt, leather jacket, blue jeans, and black leather boots-just like the hero in the movie he'd just seen. There was no price displayed, but then there wouldn't be, because those clothes were authentic up-time fashions, and if you had to ask, you couldn't afford them.
He stepped back so he could see his reflection in the window. Anything less like what was on display was hard to imagine. He was dressed in the uniform Mama believed suitable for the student son of a Lutheran pastor. It was drab, uninspiring, but long-lasting. So long-lasting that he expected to still be wearing them when he graduated from university.
He thrust his thumbs through his belt-how much he'd love to be able to thrust them into the pockets of his own pair of jeans or leather jacket-but that was just a dream. Papa could barely afford to send him and his brothers to university, let alone splash out on expensive up-time fashions. With a final sad glance at the fashions in the window, he set off on the five mile walk home.
Lips was happy that his sister was getting married, but he wasn't happy that he had to dress up just because she was getting married.
'Stand still,' Salome Piscatora, his mama, demanded as she tried to straighten his collar.
Lips did as he was told while Mama dusted down his freshly starched collar-he could already feel it starting to itch. Then he felt her pulling a brush through his hair. Eventually he was tidy enough, and she sent him off to stand in a corner with his younger brother.
'What's the guy Dina's marrying like?' He asked Ernst, who'd at least met the man Dina was marrying.
Ernst shrugged. 'He's old, and he's got the weirdest taste in clothes, but Dina seems happy.'
That didn't sound good. Lips knew the man had agreed to board him and his brothers while they attended university in Jena, but it did sort of sound like Dina was selling herself to support the family.
'Here he comes now.'
Lips followed Ernst's gaze, and just about died of shock. He'd been given the impression that Dina's betrothed was an employee at HDG Laboratories. 'What did you say he did in Jena?'
'Papa said he's in charge of training and supervising the laborants.' Ernst grinned. 'Papa's hoping Dina might encourage Phillip to seek promotion from his wealthy relative.'
'Yeah, right,' Lips muttered as he watched the man approach.
'Phillip, this is my son Phillip, although we usually call him Lips,' Ludwig Kastenmayer said.
Lips hastily put out his hand to shake the one being offered. 'A pleasure to meet you, Phillip.'
'Joseph, have you met Dina's betrothed?' Lips asked when he ran his older brother to ground, in the library, reading some boring law text.
'He seems a good enough man. No interest in the law, of course.'
'But don't you know who he is?'
'Papa told you who he is, or weren't you listening, as usual?'
'You don't understand. Dina is marrying Dr. Gribbleflotz.'
'Oh, does Phillip have a doctorate? Do you know where from?'
Lips stared at his brother. How could he not understand? 'Joseph, Dina's betrothed is
'
'Not only is she marrying Dr. Gribbleflotz, but nobody in the family seems to know who he is.'
'Uncle Arnold vouches for him,' Joseph said.
'Well, that's someone who knows who Dina's marrying.'
'Why would someone as rich as Dr. Gribbleflotz want to marry Dina?'
That question stumped Lips. It wasn't that Dina was ugly, or stupid, or even too old. It was the fact that everyone knew money married money. It certainly didn't marry the dowerless daughter of a poor pastor. 'You don't suppose he fell in love with Dina?'
'Dina's very . . .' Joseph screwed up his nose and shrugged.
Lips felt exactly the same. Dina was a great sister, but what did she have to attract the attention of a
