Then Nimble was back, and my train of thought shattered like ice on a still pond.
Nimble seized upon Kindly’s scheme as soon as it was explained to him. ‘That’s a wonderful idea! I can pretend to be the person they’ve been dealing with through that market trader all along. I can make out that it was just a casual enquiry, and all I’m interested in is a bargain. If they believe me, I may even be able to buy all the stuff off them without them ever suspecting the truth!’
‘They’ll be so disappointed!’ Kindly chuckled. ‘They’re obviously hoping to catch either my daughter — no reason why they should know she’s been arrested — or Yaotl, or at the very least whoever killed their mate.’
‘Only if they fall for it,’ I said darkly. ‘That captain’s nobody’s fool and his deputy’s smarter than he is. And if they rumble you…’
‘They won’t, Father. I saw a couple of them this afternoon, watching the front of the house.’
‘That settles it! They must have seen you. You can’t go back!’
‘You mean it isn’t safe?’ he replied innocently.
I fell into the trap. ‘Absolutely! It isn’t. You’re not going near the place. Nobody is, until we’ve come up with a sensible plan.’
‘And how long will that take?’ he cried. ‘Until the day after tomorrow, when it’s too late to matter?’
‘Listen, son…’
That was when he rounded on me. ‘Don’t “son” me! How can you talk about being safe when Lily’s about to be killed? None of us has been safe since we set foot in Tetzcoco — you, me, Kindly. Can’t you see that?’
I stared at him, unable to find my voice. He seemed to have changed before my eyes, his face reddening and swelling with anger, his nostrils flaring, his fists clenched. And I noticed his Tarascan accent had suddenly grown more pronounced.
He stormed on: ‘And when are you going to stop treating me like a child? I’m sick of it. You only have to think I might get so much as a scratch and that’s it: “Stay here, Nimble. It’s not safe, Nimble.” I’ve got along fine so far without you looking out for me, you know, and I don’t need you telling me what to do now!’
The moment he ran out of breath, I jumped in. ‘How dare you!’ I spluttered. ‘You can’t talk to me like that! I ought to shove your face in a fire full of burning chillies for this…’
We were squaring up to each other, bristling like two ocelots coming unexpectedly face to face. He leaped to his feet. ‘Oh, are you going to try it, then?’
'You’re my son!’ In my own ears my protest sounded Pathetic; Nimble was taller than I and much fitter.
‘It took you fifteen years even to admit you had a son!’
‘Will you two pack it in?’
Kindly had been looking from one to the other of us like a spectator following a ball game, but now he had had enough. As we both turned to him, and an impolite request to mind his own business began to form on my lips, he went on: ‘Look, I enjoy a good row as much as anyone, but this isn’t getting us anywhere. Nimble, shut up; he’s your father. He may not be much good at it, but he’s the only one you’ve got. Yaotl, sorry, but the lad’s right. It doesn’t matter that the Otomies have seen him: as far as they’re concerned he was just following good business practice, sizing them up before he went in. It’s a perfectly good plan. Now, can we please get on with it?’
For a moment neither Nimble nor I could think of a reply. We merely glowered sullenly at each other.
‘Well?’ the old man demanded.
‘All right,’ I mumbled. ‘I still don’t like it.’
‘I’ll be careful.’ My son’s tone now was conciliatory. ‘It’s not as if I need to fight anybody. Look, you won’t be far away, will you? I couldn’t see anyone at the back of the house, so there may be a way in that way if we need it. And no sign of your friends from the palace,’ he added, trying to sound encouraging.
‘They’ll be there,’ I predicted gloomily.
The plan, such as it was, was for Nimble to walk into the house through the front doorway and start talking to the Otomies. He was to try to get them to show him everything they had for sale. If he saw anything that might be a message, he was to buy the lot, paying whatever the Otomies asked for it, and get out as quickly as he could.
‘Between you and Obsidian Tongue, I shall be lucky if I can afford to eat scum off the surface of the lake after this,’ muttered Kindly as he handed Nimble a bag full of goose quills, if I had not known it already, I could have told from the way they rattled that each quill was stuffed with something. The filling was gold dust, and the amount of wealth in the bag was enough to make me feel giddy just contemplating it.
The old merchant looked at the bag wistfully. ‘Are you sure he can’t haggle a bit?’ he asked me.
'No, he can’t,’ I said firmly. ‘It’s too risky. In and out as fast as possible, Nimble, you understand?’
‘Where are you going to be?’ my son asked.
The plan called for me to hide myself in or near the house, ready to spring to Nimble’s aid if he got into trouble. ‘In the hole under the chest, I suppose,’ I said doubtfully.
‘You may want to think again,’ Kindly said. ‘Hare’s body is probably still in there. And I doubt you’ll have time to move it.’
‘And I don’t want to share the hole with it! There wouldn’t be room for us
