I nodded slowly. After all the hints and warnings I’d had this evening, I wasn’t surprised. I never thought I’d hear such a thing for real again in my lifetime. After all the wars I’d been through, defending the Nightside, I thought we’d earned some time off for bad behaviour. And I couldn’t help flashing back to the warning phrase I’d already encountered twice this evening;
“Who the hell’s got enough power to do that?” I said.
And to my surprise Julien looked away, avoiding the question. As though he knew the answer, knew the name, even, but didn’t want to say it. And that wasn’t like Julien Advent at all.
“You have to take this case, John,” he said finally. “The other members of the Authorities are divided as to whether to keep you on as Walker after this unfortunate business with King of Skin. He died on your watch, right in front of you. Yes, you caught his killer, but you didn’t keep him from being killed. Some of them are worried as to whether you deliberately allowed him to die, so that the Authorities could never become your future Enemies. And yes, of course we knew.”
“If the Authorities are debating my future as Walker, why aren’t you there defending me?” I said.
“Because I’ve already cast my vote, in your favour. This is more important. I have to ask, though. Did you let him die, John?”
“No,” I said steadily. “I’m not that subtle.”
“That’s true,” he said. “But I felt a responsibility to ask. Now, answer the question. Will you take the case?”
“Of course,” I said. “I take my responsibilities as Walker seriously. Where do we start?”
“With a crime scene. The Hawk’s Wind Bar & Grille is gone. Vanished.”
I looked at him for a long moment. This was turning out to be one hell of an evening for surprises. “What do you mean—gone? How can the ghost of a building be gone? You mean—stolen? Destroyed? Kidnapped? Exorcised?”
“Unknown,” said Julien. “There’s a bloody big hole in the ground where it used to be and not a trace of the Bar & Grille anywhere. Or, for that matter, any of the important and significant people who were inside it at the time . . .”
“Ah,” I said. “Tricky . . . But how does the Bar & Grille’s disappearance tie in with this threat to bring the dawn to the Nightside?”
“Come with me and find out,” said Julien Advent, rising to his feet and pulling on his cape. “We’ll be working this case together.”
I took my own sweet time in getting to my feet, to show I wasn’t going to be hurried. “This was supposed to be my stag do. My last night of freedom.”
“If we don’t put a stop to what’s coming our way, this could be everyone’s last night of freedom,” said Julien.
“Why do you always have to have the last word?” I said.
“Because I’m an editor,” said Julien.
“Let’s go,” I said.
Everyone else couldn’t believe I was actually leaving my own stag party, to go to work. But secretly, I was pleased to be leaving early, before it inevitably degenerated into “surprise” strippers, karaoke, demolition drinking games, and general puking. But could I really solve a case this important, in one night, and still make it to my wedding on time tomorrow? I’d better, or Suzie would kill me. I did consider calling her in, but I already had the Great Victorian Adventurer at my side, and besides . . . it was probably best not to disturb her. I looked at Julien, as we headed for the stairs.
“Whatever happens, if you value your life, get me to the church on time.”
FIVE
Walking Among Ghosts
I took Julien Advent through the back door and out into the rear alley. The clamour of my continuing stag do shut off abruptly as I closed the door firmly behind us. Julien’s nostrils flared sharply as the unique ambience of the rear alley assaulted his senses. He looked around him and, without saying a word, made it very clear that he was not impressed. He had a point. The dimly lit alleyway stretched away before us, half-full of garbage and the things that feed on it. Something had left a thick, slimy trail across the cobbled ground and half-way up the adjoining wall. And a small pile of severed shrunken heads, draped with ivy and mistletoe, suggested the Little Sisters of the Immaculate Chain-saw were celebrating Christmas early again this year. There was nothing in the alley that you’d want to see, and even less that you’d want to see you. Julien gave me a very cold look.
“What, exactly, are we doing out here, John? I have known Victorian slum-dwellers who would have looked down their noses at a location like this.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’d call in the exterminators, but we still haven’t found out what happened to the last crew they sent. We’re here because I can’t use my Portable Timeslip inside Strangefellows. Alex paid out a lot of money for state-of-the-art protective shields, specially to prevent anyone from dropping in when they felt like it. At one stage, it got to the point where he was opening fire on anyone who teleported in without warning, or even at people he hadn’t noticed before. So Alex has his shields, and I try to be polite about such things, when I can.”
“Alex has shields strong enough to keep you out?” said Julien. “I didn’t think that was possible any more.”
“It isn’t,” I said. “This pocket-watch could punch through Alex’s shields like a bullet through a paper bag. But I don’t want him knowing that. Partly because I don’t want him upset, and partly because I might need to make a sudden and strategic and surprise entrance into his bar someday.”
“Typical Walker,” said Julien, smiling. “You’ll fit into the job nicely.” And then he froze and made a brief moue of distress. “Something large and furry has just scurried across my shoes, and I’m really hoping it was a much larger than usual rat.”
“Don’t look down,” I advised him.
“Is there a reason we’re still standing here?” said Julien.
“You’re the one who started making conversation,” I said.
And then we both looked round sharply as a figure paused at the end of the alleyway and looked in at us. Something in a frock struck an evocative pose and smiled professionally.
“Evening, gents. Fancy a horrible time?”
“Not now, George,” I said. “We’re working.”
“Well, pardon me, I’m sure. Catch you on the flip side, darlings.”
“I really think we should be leaving now,” Julien said firmly.
I opened the gold pocket-watch, and the darkness within jumped out to swallow us up. I had a brief glimpse of things in the alleyway shrinking back from the living dark and even disappearing into concealed doorways; and then there was only falling and falling in the endless dark, surrounded by voices thundering in no human language. Spend too long in that terrible dark, and you start to understand what the voices are saying, and that’s even worse. My feet slammed suddenly against hard and unyielding ground, there was a flash of light, and the world returned. Julien and I were standing in a street familiar to both of us, bathed in the warm glow of amber street-lights and flaring neon signs. And right before us, where the legendary Hawk’s Wind Bar & Grille should have stood, was a great hole in the ground, dug out between two lowering buildings like the empty space left by a pulled tooth. Julien Advent shuddered and glared at me.
“That . . . was a most unpleasant experience. Is it always like that when you travel through the watch?”
“Mostly,” I said. “I keep hoping I’ll get used to it. Walker did.”
“Either that, or he was an excellent actor,” said Julien.
We were only saying things so we wouldn’t have to talk about what was really bothering us. Rather than look at the hole in the ground, I took a good look at the watching crowd. Quite a large gathering had turned out to see what was going on. Disasters and catastrophes count as free entertainment, in the Nightside. A slow buzz of conversation and comment moved through the crowd as they recognised Julien Advent and me. A few started to drift casually away. I couldn’t help but notice that most of the onlookers seemed far more interested in Julien than
