'Right,' I said. 'For anything long-term you'd normally hook up a closed system to cool and recycle the same water. But I doubt Veldrick's buddies had such gadgetry available.'
'And even if they put something together later, there should still be a temporary spike in their water usage,' McMicking said. 'Sounds promising.'
'Option two is we break in on Veldrick and beat the snot out of him until he gives us names and addresses,' I said. 'We should probably keep that one in reserve.'
'Probably,' McMicking agreed. 'Sounds like a plan. Are you going to need anything from me before I head back to the hotel and get started?'
'Just your comm number,' I said. 'We'll want to keep in touch on each other's progress.' I cocked my head. 'I presume you already have my number?'
'Of course,' he said, and gave me his. 'You might also need this,' he added, shifting slightly in his seat.
Something hard settled onto my lap under the table. I reached down and found myself touching a small handgun. 'I might, indeed,' I said. 'Thanks.'
'No problem,' he said. 'Dual clip; left side is snoozers.' Pushing back his chair, he stood up. 'Good hunting.'
'And to you,' I said, slipping the gun into my holster. 'I take it I'm paying for dinner?'
'Of course.' He gave me a faint smile. 'You ever hear of a lawyer who picked up his client's tab? Good hunting to you.'
'And to you,' I said.
He left. I paid with one of my cash sticks, and then Bayta and I also headed out into the streets. 'Is this sudden-danger thing connected with how you knew where she was?' I asked her as we walked.
She shook her head. 'I don't know.'
'Just a hunch, then?'
She bristled. '
She had me there. 'Fine,' I said, looking around. Night had fallen with a resounding crash while we'd been eating, leaving the sky a star-freckled black above us. But the streetlights were going strong, wrapping Imani City in a deceptively nice homey glow. 'Any other thoughts or speculations you'd like to share with the rest of the class?'
A shiver ran through her. 'Only that there's something wrong here,' she said, her voice graveyard dark. 'The Modhri truce—Mr. Veldrick—the coral. It doesn't add up.'
'I know,' I said grimly. 'Let's just hope we can figure it out before we're up to our necks in trouble.'
'Or even deeper?'
'Or even deeper,' I said. I hated it when she came up with mental images like that. 'Come on, let's find an autocab.'
EIGHT :
This time we had no problem flagging down an autocab. Apparently, they did most of their grid-roving after dark.
With Veldrick's habit of sifting through autocab records in mind, I directed the vehicle to an address in Makarr District, one district over from Zumurrud. When we arrived, I paid the tab, then doubled the amount and sent the autocab back to the Hanging Gardens.
It disappeared around the corner, and Bayta and I headed off on foot for Zumurrud District and Karim's bar.
Makarr, which seemed to be mostly residential, was pretty quiet tonight. Zumurrud, in contrast, was hopping. The populace was out in force, most of them young, most of them angry or frustrated-looking, nearly all of them drinking. Judging by the buzz of conversation leaking out their open doors, the taverns and gaming rooms were doing a brisk business. So were the street corners and doorways where we'd seen the kids congregating earlier in the day.
Fortunately, none of the simmering anger beneath the hard drinking seemed directed specifically at the two strangers walking through their midst. Still, we collected our share of curious glances and suspicious glares. Occasionally, I saw one of the youths who'd seen us that afternoon nudge one of his buddies and mutter something under his breath.
Twice, outside the entrances of particularly boisterous taverns, a group of thrill-seekers looked as if they were considering stepping into our path. Both times, I slipped my hand quietly but pointedly beneath my jacket and got a grip on the Beretta that McMicking had given me. The would-be toughs spotted the gun, got the message, and backed off.
The street with Karim's bar was as busy as the rest of the district. Unlike the rest of the neighborhood, though, this particular block came equipped with quiet sentries. The four teens I'd had my brief run-in with had now become two pairs, one set standing casual guard at either end of the block.
The closer pair spotted us as we approached. One of the teens was Oved, the boy I'd had the staged tussle with earlier. He gave us a microscopic nod of acknowledgment as we approached while his partner wandered off toward a quiet alleyway, comm in hand, presumably to call Karim with the news of our arrival.
Behind Oved's grim expression, I noted as we passed, his eyes showed the slight puffiness of recent tears. Karim must have told him Lorelei was dead.
The bar was doing brisk business tonight. I spotted Karim in the back by the bar, pretending to watch the bartender making the drinks. He caught my eye as we came in and nodded sideways toward the office door.
I glanced over the clientele as Bayta and I headed back. They were for the most part older men, most of them displaying the same simmering frustration that I'd seen in the more teen-intensive parts of the district.
I wondered if there were any police informants among them.
The office was dark except for a small writing light that didn't illuminate much beyond the center of the desk. I closed and locked the door behind us and headed for the hidden trapdoor. 'Shouldn't we wait for Mr. Karim?' Bayta asked as I pushed the desk chair out of the way.
'Why?' I asked. 'We know how to get in.'
'Rebekah might be more comfortable if he came in with us,' she said, a little crossly.
I looked up at her. 'Would she?' I asked.
Bayta's lips compressed briefly. 'I don't know. I just thought …' She trailed off.
Another hunch? 'Okay, fine,' I said, straightening up. 'We wait for Karim.'
I was only going to give the man two minutes to show before I headed down without him. Fortunately, less than half that time elapsed before there was the click of a disengaging lock and Karim slipped into the office.
'Were you followed?' he asked as he relocked the door behind him.
'Ask your sentries,' I said. 'They're the ones who know who belongs here and who doesn't.'
He grunted as he stepped past me and stooped down to tackle the hidden door. 'Anyway, I'm glad you're here,' he said. 'I think something's happened. Rebekah is frightened.
'Did you ask her why?'
'She wouldn't tell me.' He looked pointedly up at me. 'But she wasn't like this until after you left this afternoon.'
'A lot of things happen in a city this size over the course of a few hours,' I reminded him. 'Not all of them have anything to do with us.'
'True,' he agreed. But his eyes lingered on my face another moment before he returned his attention to the trapdoor.
A few seconds later, he had it open. 'I'll go first,' he said.
'No, you'll stay here,' I told him. 'If there's trouble, we'll need someone to lock down the door.'
