Mose thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“Naw. It’s not his style,” he said. “Stoner is more one to use his own people. He doesn’t have the patience to work with locals.”
“Any ideas, then?” Jerome pressed.
“My first thought is that it might be Malinda,” Mose said. “But she normally sticks to the northeast.”
“Who’s Malinda?” Griffen said.
“Old-school dragon,” Mose said. “She works with her family. The dragon equivalent of Ma Barker. Greedy as hell. Her main thing is building up wealth…and I don’t mean with investments. She gets her money the old- fashioned way. She steals it.”
“She’s a thief?” Griffen said.
“More like a pirate,” Jerome said. “She’s a corporate raider. Buys up weak companies, then breaks them up and sells them piecemeal. It’s the white-collar version of a stolen car chop shop.”
“The thing is, I don’t see where she’d profit by going after Griffen,” Mose said. “He’s not a threat to her. And there’s not enough money in our operation to interest a high roller like her.”
“Don’t forget she’s got those kids,” Jerome said. “She may be looking for something for them to sharpen their claws on. If she thinks our operation is weak and ripe for a takeover, targeting Griffen as a backdoor in would be taking care of two birds with one stone.”
“Could be,” Mose said slowly. “That kind of two-pronged attack, creating a diversion so you don’t notice her marching up on you, would be just her style.”
“So, what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Griffen said.
“I’ll put out a few quiet feelers in that direction and try to get a fix on what’s going on,” Mose said. “We don’t want to put any moves on her until we’re sure she’s the one stalking you. If we’re wrong, then she’ll see it as an attack, and we’ll have to deal with both her and whoever it really is coming at us.”
“I guess I meant, what am I supposed to do?” Griffen said. “Do I just sit around and play decoy? Or should I be trying to talk to these animal people myself?”
“Leave that job to Rose,” Mose said. “I think it’s time to work on your animal control skills a bit. Just in case they won’t listen to Rose.”
“I don’t know,” Griffen said. “I mean, I’d love to get some training. But I’ve fooled around with the animal control thing a bit since I got down here, just for curiosity and because it sounded neat. Frankly, I haven’t had much luck with it.”
“It’s like any other muscle or skill,” Mose said. “You’ve got to work with it, practice it, and develop it before you can rely on it. Besides, you might have been playing into a stacked deck. If you’ve been trying to control the animals that you see hanging around you, they could be the very ones that are already under someone else’s control, watching you.”
“Just what animals have you been trying to control, Grifter?” Jerome said.
“Oh, there’s a bunch of feral cats living in our courtyard,” Griffen said. “I’ve been trying to work with them, get them to come to me or something. Mostly, they just stare at me or ignore me completely.”
Jerome threw back his head and laughed.
“Cats?” he said. “Man, Grifter, you can grow old and die before you can get a cat to do what you want it to. Even with a dragon’s life span. Those are some of the most independent beasts God dumped on the earth.”
“It’s better to start with dogs or maybe birds,” Mose said. “Tell you what. Come on by tomorrow night and I’ll show you a couple exercises.”
“Um, actually I have a date with Lisa tomorrow night,” Griffen said.
“Cancel it,” Mose said. “Either that or meet up with her later. Right now we have to keep our priorities straight, and our highest priority is to keep you alive.”
Griffen was suddenly awake, but he didn’t know why.
Turning his head slightly, he cracked an eye and focused on the large numbers on the digital clock on his bedside table. 1:30. Okay. Now the question was morning or afternoon. There were no windows in his bedroom, and the door was closed, so daylight or the lack thereof was no clue.
Then, he heard the music. “Singing in the Rain,” played on a calliope. That made it one thirty in the afternoon. The calliope was on the steamboat
That was one of the things Griffen loved about the Quarter. Where else could you not only tell what time it was, but also the weather conditions without even looking out a window.
Of course, that still didn’t let him know what had woken him up.
Tap, ta tap tap.
He started to sit up, only to find his arm was pinned under Fox Lisa. He tried to ease it free, but she only snuggled closer to him, pressing her velvety nakedness against him. Okay. There were other reasons than calliope music that he loved the Quarter.
Fox Lisa had turned out to be a delight as a bed partner. She was as playful as an otter, and as inventive as a monkey on fifty feet of greased grapevine. Without thinking, he started to respond to her pressure.
Tap, ta tap tap.
“Hey, lover,” he said softly, pulling his arm free. “There’s someone at the door.”
“Mmmmrphl,” she said, rolling over and burrowing into their mound of pillows.
Griffen hesitated, then leaned over and kissed the back of her neck, biting it gently.
“Mmmmhmm,” she breathed, raising her rump slightly and wiggling it.
Tap, ta tap tap.
Griffen disengaged himself with a sigh and got out of bed. He fumbled in the dark for a moment to find his pants, then eased out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Even though, as anticipated, the sky was overcast, there was still enough light pouring through the windows to make him squint. Swaying slightly, he managed to pull on his pants as he made his way to the door.
Tap, ta tap tap.
“Who is it?” he called, trying to keep from snarling.
“It’s Jerome, Grifter,” came the response.
He should have known. With the security gates on the complex, the only ones who could have reached his door without getting buzzed in from the street were his sister and Jerome.
Opening the door, he stepped back to admit his visitor.
Jerome swept in brandishing a paper bag, an ovenlike blast of hot, humid air entering with him.
“Brought us some breakfast, Grifter,” he said. “Fresh from la Madeleine. French roast coffee and a couple of napoleons.”
“Terrific,” Griffen said, hastily closing the door against the day’s heat. “Just got up. Be with you in a second.”
Rubbing his eyes, he made his way into the bathroom to take care of his morning business.
“You’re getting to be a real Quarter rat.” Jerome’s voice came to him through the door. “It’s the middle of the afternoon and you’re just getting up.”
“Nothing new there,” Griffen said, zipping up his trousers as he emerged from the bathroom. “I’ve always been a bit of a night owl. That’s why I paid other people to sit in on my morning classes and take my tests back in school. Remember? And keep your voice down. I have company.”
Jerome glanced at the closed bedroom door.
“Fox Lisa?”
Griffen nodded.
“Glad to see the two of you are hitting it off,” Jerome said. “Watch yourself, though, if you start stepping out on her. You can’t keep nothing secret in the Quarter. Wherever you go with another woman, you’re going to run
