'Totally wasted,' Roland said. 'Susan doesn't drink often, but when she does…'
'You were showing full on all tanks yourself,' I commented.
'I can hold my liquor,' he retorted stiffly, looking a little greenish about the gills.
'What about Darla?' I said.
'We don't know,' John answered. 'She went upstairs, probably to turn in. When I went up myself, she wasn't there, and we haven't seen her since.'
'Great.' I sighed and slumped back in the chairs. Looking at Sean I asked, 'Any ideas?'
'She could be any number of places. We finally guessed where you were because I'd noticed Geof Brandon giving you the eye earlier in the evening. We went out to Geof's farm, which took quite a while, but then I recalled seeing Fat Timmy McElroy hanging about, too. Damn me for not remembering sooner.'
'You were long gone,' Liam said. 'She could be anywhere, Jake. Moore has a lot of lads on his team.'
'And Winnie?'
'Oh, they'd probably keep the two of them together,' Sean ventured. 'And doubtless they wanted you separated from them, for reasons now obvious. You did well, Jake, m'boy.'
'Not nearly well enough,' I said. 'I let my guard down against my best instincts.'
'We'll have to take our share of the blame,' Liam said regretfully, 'pushing you through all that Boojum nonsense. It was supposed to be a bit of fun, but… ' He shrugged apologetically.
'It's hardly your fault,' I said, 'but let's not waste time on the issue of who's to blame.'
'Yeah, let's do something,' Sam put in. 'Beat the living merte out of somebody, like immediately. Anyone'll do.'
'Don't you think that's rather rash?' John asked.
Roland frowned. 'Well, we already put a call in to the local police.'
'Yes,' Sean said, giving a mock-polite cough. 'They're 'investigating'.'
Liam said, 'I wouldn't trust them farther than I could spit into the wind.'
'Right,' Sam agreed. 'So we pay a call on Mr. Moore and beat the living merte out of him until he gives up Darla and Winnie.'
'Seems a logical course of action,' Sean said.
'You must have some idea of where Darla and Winnie could be,' John insisted.
'Some idea, but we could chase wild geese through the woods all night and not find anyone.'
John sat back in his seat and bit his lip.
'Any chance they could be at the hotel?' I asked.
Liam shrugged. 'We searched as many rooms as we could.'
'The place doesn't look all that big,' Sam said.
'Well,' I said. 'Let's head there anyway.' I turned to the controls. 'I want to have a talk with Moore.'
'It's rather late,' Roland said. 'Will he be in?'
'He's always there,' Sean told him.
I started the engine. 'Anybody know how many other guests are at the Bandersnatch?'
'There were a few,' Liam said. 'Things are pretty slow on weekdays, though.'
John asked, 'What do you plan to do, Jake?'
'Sean, can you guys sneak back inside, rouse 'em up and warn 'em there might be some gunplay?'
'Shouldn't be a problem. If they aren't cooperative we'll chuck the buggers out.'
'Moore owns that place, right?'
I eased the rig over a huge lateral rut. In the light of the headbeams, the woods looked spookier than ever.
'He's part-owner, I believe. The silent partner is a company on Seahome,' Sean said.
'But he has his own money in the place?'
'Oh, yes. In the 'Snatch and a score of other concerns. Has a finger in many a pie, Moore does. But the Frumious Bandersnatch is his fair-haired child.'
'Then we know where he's vulnerable.' We approached a crossroads and I slowed. 'Which way here?'
'To the left,' Liam said.
'Do you think you can warn the guests without alerting Moore?' I asked.
'That'll be difficult,' Sean said. 'But we'll stress the necessity for extreme quiet. Shouldn't be more than half a dozen folk, in three or four rooms.'
'There may be guards around the place.'
'Possible, but I doubt it. He doesn't know you're up and about, or shouldn't. The place should be quiet, mostly, but there'll be some revelers left in the Vorpal Blade.'
'It's open all night?'
'Never closes.'
'Good. So there'll be some activity besides the guests exiting.'
'What exactly do you have in mind, Jake?'
'I'm going to trade him his hotel for Winnie and Darla.'
We let Sean and Liam off about a quarter-klick from the 'Snatch. They had express orders to see that all the guests were out of there before we arrived, and to make sure Winnie and Darla were not in Moore's apartment. I told them to keep quiet and report back as soon as possible if anything went wrong. After shooing out the guests, they were to go down to the Blade and chase everyone out of there as soon as trouble started out front, which is where I intended to start same. If the guests refused to open the door or leave, they were to be given fair warning. We'd wait a full hour, then move in. If possible, one of the two was to report back before then.
'Do you think they'll be able to do all that without arousing Moore and his gang?' John asked as Sean and Liam disappeared into the trees.
'I don't know,' I said. 'They know more about old Zack's habits than we do.'
I went back to the kitchen to brew myself a cup of coffee. I needed it. John and Roland followed.
'Besides,' I went on, 'I suspect Moore's guard is down As far as he knows, I'm on ice and you guys are scattered. And if Sean is right about his drinking habits, we might catch him with his pants down.'
'If his henchmen drink as heavily as he does,' John added.
'Everybody on this planet drinks like a fish,' Roland said.
'Your fins are showing,' I told him.
He sneered at me, then burped. He rubbed his stomach. 'My incipient ulcer's acting up again,' he groaned.
I rummaged through the medicine cabinet until I found something for him. 'Here,' I said, throwing him a bottle of pills. 'Cimetidine. Just take one.'
He caught the bottle and shook his head wonderingly. 'Is there anything you don't have in that drug locker of yours?'
'Got everything,' I said. 'Ups, downs, highs, lows?you name it.'
'I believe it.'
'Never thought I'd raise my kid up to be a pusher,' Sam said.
Liam returned in forty-five minutes.
'Not as many guests as we'd thought,' he told us, 'and some of 'em were down in the Blade. We warned the rest?they buggered off with no protest.'
'Any guards?'
'Two were dozing in the office. I suspect Moore has one or two lads with him in his flat. They don't seem to be expecting anything.'
'Good. Where's Sean?'
'In the Blade. Don't worry, when the donnybrook starts, they'll all bee out the back door in a flash.'
'Fine. Don't want any innocent casualties. You're fairly sure Darla and Winnie aren't there?'
'There's a chance, but I doubt it. They're likely out in the woods somewhere.'
'Okay. '
I fired up the engine and started forward. Brooding boughs swept over us, barely clearing the top of the cab. Pairs of tiny eyes peered out at us from the shadows?or so I thought, but when I looked at them directly they disappeared. Was I still high? No, I'd come down but I still wasn't sure what was reality and what wasn't. Which
