Nightingale lament

I straightened up, sat on the dressing room table, and dropped the towel beside me. 'Has anything like this ever happened to you before, Ross?'

'No. Never. I mean, there have been rumours, but... no. Never right in front of me.'

'Did you recognise the guy?'

'No! Never saw him before in my life! I don't mix with my . . . audience. The Cavendishes insist on that. Part of building the image, the mystique, they said. I never really believed the rumours ... I thought it was just publicity, stories the Cavendishes put about to work up some excitement. I never dreamed . . .'

'As if we would ever do such a thing, dear Rossig­nol,' said a cold, familiar voice behind me. I got to my feet and looked round, and there in the dressing room doorway were Mr. and Mrs. Cavendish. Tall and aris­tocratic, and twice as arrogant. They glided in like two dark birds of ill omen, ignoring their property Rossig­nol to consider me with a cold, thoughtful gaze.

'You do seem in very rude health, Mr. Taylor,' said the man. 'Does he not, Mrs. Cavendish?'

'Indeed he does, Mr. Cavendish. Quite the picture of good health.'

'Perhaps some of the stories about you are true after all, Mr. Taylor.'

I just smiled and said nothing. Let them wonder. It all added to the reputation.

'We did think you'd learned your lesson, Mr. Tay­lor,' said the woman.

'Afraid not,' I said. 'I'm a very slow learner.'

'Then we shall just have to try harder,' said the man. 'Won't we, Mrs. Cavendish?'

Rossignol was looking back and forth, confused. 'You know each other?'

'Of course,' said the man. 'Everyone in the Nightside comes to us, eventually. Do not concern yourself, my dear. And most of all, do not worry yourself about the un­fortunate incident during the show. Mrs. Cavendish and I will take care of everything. You must allow us to worry for you. That is what you pay us our forty percent for.'

'How much?' I said, honestly outraged.

'Our hard-won expertise does not come cheaply, Mr. Taylor,' said the woman. 'Not that it is any of your business. Isn't that correct, dear Rossignol?'

She seemed to shrink under their gaze, and she looked down at the floor like a scolded child. 'Yes,' she said, in a small voice. 'That's right.'

'What's happening out in the club?' I said.

'The club is being cleared,' said the man. 'It is a shame that the show had to be cut short, but we did make it clear on the tickets that there would be no re­funds, under any circumstances.'

'I am sure they will be back again, for the next show,' said the woman. 'Everyone is so desperate to hear dear Rossignol sing.'

'You expect her to go on again, after what just hap­pened?' I said.

'Of course,' said the man. 'The show must go on. And our dear Rossignol only lives to sing. Isn't that right, dear child?'

'Yes,' said Rossignol, still staring at the floor. 'I live to sing.'

'People are dying!' I said loudly, trying to get a re­action from her. 'Not just here, not just right now. This is only the most recent suicide, and the most public. People are taking their own lives because of what they hear when Rossignol sings!'

'Rumour,' said the woman. 'Speculation. Nothing more than tittle-tattle.'

'And there will always be fanatics,' said the man. 'Poor deranged souls who fly too close to the flame that attracts them. You are not to concern yourself, dear Rossignol. The club will be cleared soon, and all will be made ready for your next performance. We will have extra security in place and take all the proper pre­cautions to ensure your safety. Leave everything to us.'

'Yes,' said Rossignol. Her voice was heavy now, al­most half-asleep. Just the presence of the Cavendishes had reduced her to the same dull state in which I'd first found her. There was no point in talking to her any more. So I shrugged mentally and took my jacket back from around her shoulders. She didn't react. I put it on, and the Cavendishes stepped back to make room for me to leave. I headed for the door like it was my decision, and the Cavendishes glided smoothly aside to let me pass. I was almost out of the room when Rossignol's voice stopped me. I looked back. She had her head up again, and her voice was quiet but determined.

'John, find out what's happening. I need to know the truth. Do this for me. Please.'

'Sure,' I said. 'Saving damsels in distress is what I do.' 

Six - All the News, Dammit

Every good guest knows better than to outstay his wel­come. Especially if he's an uninvited guest, and his hosts want his head on a platter. So I slipped quietly away, passing unnoticed in the general chaos and hys­teria backstage, and finally made my exit by a sinfully unguarded back door. The back alley was surprisingly clean and tidy, not to mention well lit, though I did sur­prise half a dozen of the cleaning monkeys caught up in a red-hot dice game. I murmured my apologies and hurried past them. Monkeys can get really nasty if you interrupt their winning streak.

I moved quietly round the corner of the club and peered down the side alley that led back to the main street. It was empty, for the moment, but there were clear sounds of trouble and associated mayhem out on the street. I padded cautiously forward, sneaking the occasional quick look over my shoulder, and eventu­ally eased up to the front corner of Caliban's Cavern. Someone had already smashed the street-light there, so I stood and watched from the shadows as a riot swiftly put itself together outside the nightclub.

Out in front of Caliban's Cavern, a loud and very angry crowd was busily escalating a commotion into an open brawl. The recently ejected audience was feeling distinctly put upon and out of sorts at being cheated out of their show, and even more upset at the manage­ment's firm no refunds policy. A few of the crowd, most definitely including the various celebrities, were not at all used to being manhandled in such a peremp­tory manner, and many had taken it upon themselves to express their displeasure by tearing apart the whole front edifice of the club. Windows were smashed, facia torn away, and anything at all fragile ended up in small pieces all over the pavement. The outnumbered secu­rity staff retreated back inside the club and locked the front doors. The increasingly angry crowd took that as a challenge and set about kicking the doors in. Some even levered up bits of the pavement to use as missiles or battering rams.

An even larger crowd gathered, to watch the first crowd. Free entertainment was always highly valued in the Nightside, especially when it involved violence and the chance of open mayhem. On learning the reason for the riot, some of the new arrivals expressed their soli­darity by joining in, and soon an army of angry faces were attacking the front of Caliban's Cavern with any­thing that came to hand. And it's surprising how many really destructive things can just come to hand, in the Nightside.

A roar of rabid motorcycles announced the arrival of security reinforcements. The outer edges of the huge seething mob looked round to see a pack of almost a hundred Hell's Neanderthals slamming to a halt on their stripped-down chopper bikes. They quickly dis­mounted and surged forward, howling their preverbal war cries and brandishing all sorts of simple weaponry. The mob turned to face them, happy and eager for a chance to have living targets to take out their fury on. The two sides joined battle with equal fervour, and soon half the street was a war zone, with bodies flying this way and that, and blood flowing thickly in the gut­ters. The watching crowd retreated to a safe distance and booed the newly arrived security for the spoil­sports they were.

It seemed to me that this was a good time to make myself scarce, while the Cavendishes' attention would be focussed on more immediate problems. I skirted round the edges of the boiling violence, firmly resisting all invitations to become involved, and walked briskly back towards the business area of Uptown. I'd thought of someone else to go to in search of answers. When in doubt, go to the people who know everything, even if they can't prove any of it. Namely journalists, gossip columnists, and all the other nosey parkers employed by the Night Times, the Nightside's very own newspa­per.

It didn't take long to reach Victoria House, the large and comfortably run-down building that housed the

Night Times. It was a big and bulky building because it had to be. Within its heavy grey stone walls the paper was written, edited, published, printed, and distributed every twenty-four hours, all