Chenille nodded, and Silk said, 'Much more, if we can, Auk. Chenillewould like to buy a shop.'
'The easy out for him would be to lay you both on ice. You scavy that?'
'To murder us, you mean, or to have someone else do it. Yes, of course. If Crane is a spy, he won't hesitate to do that; and it he controls money enough to present Hyacinth with an azoth, he could readily employ someone else to do it, I imagine. We will have to be circumspect.'
'I'll say. I could name you twenty bucks who'd do it for a hundred, and some of 'em good. If this cull Crane's been working for Blood long-'
'For the past four years,' Silk put in, 'or so he told me that night.'
'Then he'll know who to get about as good as I do. This Hy-' Auk scratched his head. 'You remember when we had dinner? You told me about the azoth, and I told you I bet Crane's got a lock. Well, if he was after Jugs to tell him about colonels, this Hy would be a lot better from what you said about her. So that's the lock. She was staying out at Blood's place in the country, right? Does she ever come into town?'
'She seemed to be. She had a suite of rooms there, and the monitor in her glass referred to her as its mistress.' Silk recalled Hyacinth's wardrobes, in which the monitor had suggested he hide. 'She had a great deal of clothing there, too.'
Chenille said, 'She gets to the city pretty often, but I'm not sure where she goes ... or when. When she does, there'll be somebody with her to watch her, unless Blood's gone abram.'
Auk straightened up, his left hand on the hilt of the big, brass-mounted hanger he wore. 'All right. You wanted my advice, Patera. I'll give it to you, but I don't think you're going to get it down easy.'
'I'd like to have it, nevertheless.'
'I thought you would. You run wide of this Hy, for now anyhow. Just finding her's liable to be dicey, and more than likely she'll squeak to this Crane buck straight off. Jugs says she didn't know she was spying. Maybe so. But if this Crane stood this Hy an azoth, you can bet the basket this Hy knows, and is trotting behind. If she was the only handle you had, I'd say go to it. But that's not the lay. If this Crane had Jugs telling him all about colonels and what they said, and this Hy doing the same, and that's what it sounds like, wouldn't he have maybe four or five others, too? Most likely at some of Blood's other kens. And when Jugs is gone- cause she says she's going-won't he line up somebody else at Orchid's?'
Chenille suggested, 'The best thing might be for me to go back to Orchid's after all. If I'd talk against Viron a little, he might let me help more. Maybe I could find out who the woman in the market is.'
Silk explained, 'There's a stallkeeper there who seems to be a contact of Crane's, Auk. Crane had Chenille carry images of Sphigx to her. Was it always Sphigx, Chenille?'
She nodded, her fiery curls trembling. 'They always looked just like that one I showed you, as near as I can remember.'
'Then see what happens to them,' Auk suggested. 'When the market closes, where does this mort go?'
'Good Silk!' Oreb dropped from the vines to light in his lap. 'Fish heads?'
'Possibly,' Silk told the bird, as it hopped onto his shoulder. 'In fact, I think it likely.'
He returned his attention to Auk. 'You're quite right, of course. I've been thinking too much about Hyacinth. I'd hate to see Chenille return to Orchid's, but either of the courses that you suggest-and they're by no means mutually exclusive-would be preferable to approaching Hyacinth, I'm afraid, without some hold on her. When we learn a bit more, however, we should have such a hold. We'll be able to warn her that we know Crane's an agent of another city, that we have evidence that's at least highly suggestive, and that we're aware that she's been assisting him. We'll offer to protect her, provided that she'll assist us.'
Chenille asked, 'You don't think Crane's Vironese? He talks like one of us.'
'No. Mostly because he seems to control so much money, but also because of something he once said to me. I know nothing of spies or spying, however. Nor do you, I think. What about you, Auk?'
The big man shrugged. 'You hear this and that. Mostly it's traders, from what they say.'
'I suppose that practically every city must question its traders when they return home, and no doubt some traders are actually trained agents. I would imagine that an agent well supplied with money would be like them- that is to say, a citizen in the service of his native city-and probably thoroughly schooled in the ways of the place to which he was to be sent. An agent willing to betray his own city might betray yours as well, surely; particularly if he were given a chance to make off with a fortune.'
Chenille asked, 'What was it Crane said to you, Patera?'
Silk leaned toward her. 'What color are my eyes?'
'Blue. I wish mine were.'
'Suppose that a patron at Orchid's requested a companion with blue eyes. Would Orchid be able to oblige him?'
'Arolla. No, she's gone now. But Bellflower's still there. She has blue eyes, too.'
Silk leaned back. 'You see, blue eyes are unusual-here in Viron, at any rate; but they're by no means really rare. Collect a hundred people, and it's quite likely that at least one will have blue eyes. I notice them because I used to be teased about mine. Crane noticed them, too; but he, a much older man than I, said that mine were only the third he'd seen. That suggests that he has spent most of his life in another city, where people are somewhat darker and blue eyes rarer than they are here.'
Auk grinned. 'They got tails In Gens. That's what they say.'
Silk nodded. 'Yes, one hears all sorts of stories, most quite false, I'm sure. Nevertheless, you have only to look at the traders in the market to see that there are contrasts as well as similarities.'
He paused to collect his thoughts. 'I've let myself be drawn off the subject, however. I was going to say, Auk, that although both the courses you suggested are promising, there is a third that seems more promising still to me. You're not at fault for failing to point it out, since you weren't here when Chenille provided the intimation.
'Chenille, you told me that a commissioner had been to Orchid's, remember? And that Crane was intensely interested when you told him that this commissioner had told you he had gone to Limna-you said to the lake, but I assume that's what was intended-to confer with two councillors.'
Chenille nodded.
'That started me thinking. There are five councillors in the Ayuntamiento. Where do they live?'
She shrugged. 'On the hill, I guess.' 'That's what I'd always supposed myself. Auk, you must be far more familiar with the residents of the Palatine than either Chenille or I am. Where does, say, Councillor Galago make his home?'
'I always figured in theJuzgado. I hear there's flats in there, besides some cells.'
'The councillors have offices in the Juzgado, I'm sure. But don't they have mansions on the Palatine as well? Or their own country villas like Blood's?'
'What they say is nobody's supposed to know. Patera. If they did, people would always be wanting to talk to them or throw rocks. But I know who's in every one of those houses on the hill, and it isn't them. All the commissioners have big places up there, though.'
Silk's voice sank to a murmur. 'But when a commissioner was to speak with several councillors, he did not go home to the Palatine. Nor did he merely ascend a floor or two in the Juzgado. From what Chenille says, he went to Limna-to the lake, as he told her. When one man is to speak with several, he normally goes to them rather than having them come to him, and that is particularly so when they're his superiors. Now if Crane is in fact a spy, he must surely be concerned to discover where every member of the Ayuntamiento lives, I'd think. All sorts of things might be learned from their servants, for example.' He fell silent.
'Go on, Patera,' Chenille urged.
He smiled at her. 'I was merely thinking that since you told Crane about the commissioner's boast some months ago, he's apt to have been there several times by now. I want to go there myself today and try to find out who he's talked to and what lie's said to them. If the gods are with me-as I've reason to believe-that alone may provide all the evidence we require.'
She said, 'I'm coming with you. How about you, Auk?'
The big man shook his head. 'I've been up all night, like I told you. But I'll tell you what. Let me get a little sleep, and I'll meet you in Limna where the wagons stop. Say about four o'clock.'
'You needn't put. yourself out like that, Auk.'
'I want to. If you've got something by then, I might be able to help you get more. Or maybe I can turn up
