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probably made it up. People like Handsome let me know Mom did a lot of
creative revision. But this was a good idea.
 Thank you, Becky. That s quite useful. I offered her a couple of coppers.
 Better scoot.
 You took that lady to dinner.
 What?
 Last night.
 So?
 I don t want money. I want you to take me out.
Oh. Right. And would I ever hear the end of that?  How come you know what I
did last night?
 I saw you go out the back. I followed you. She put on her devil smile.  I
know what you done.
 You a dwarf in disguise? You trying to blackmail me?
 No. But I could tell you who else followed you.
Whoa! I hadn t noticed any tail. Not even her.  You have my attention,
Becky.
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 You going to buy me dinner? Same place as the blond lady?
 You got it. No problem. Her mother would get me out of it.  Soon as I get
this job wrapped. Deal?
She was suspicious. I gave up too fast. But,  Deal. And don t think you re
gonna weasel out.
 Talk to me about the somebody who followed me, brat.
 It was a man. A weird man. Not very tall but really huge-mongous anyway.
She spread her arms.  He walked funny. She showed me how.
 Mugwump, I guessed aloud. I hadn t seen Mugwump s walk, but that had to be
it.
 Mugwump?
 Man s name. Probably who that was. He have really big hands?
 I don t know.
Great.  What did he do?
 Just followed you where you went. After a while he left. He s really weird,
Garrett. He talked to himself all the time.
 Probably from living in a neighborhood like mine. I spied Saucerhead Tharpe
headed my way. I could think of no reason for him approaching with such a
purposeful stride.  Thanks, Becky. Time for you to scoot now.
 Don t forget. You promised.
 Who? Me? Get on with you. I hopedshe would forget, but I never have that
kind of luck.  So who died? I asked Tharpe. The big goof wasn t even
breathing heavy.
 Huh?
 You were charging this way like a guy loaded with the worst bad news he
could imagine.
 Really? I was thinking about Lettitia.
 Lettitia? That off the menu at Morley s?
 My lady. You haven t met her yet. Saucerhead always has a new girlfriend. I
didn t see any bruises so maybe this one was nicer than usual.
 You came for advice to the lovelorn?
 From you? His tone wasn t generous.
 From His Nibs in there. The world s foremost authority. On everything.
According to him.
 Speaking of him, you give him the latest from down south?
 Something happen? The street didn t have the edgy feel it gets when there s
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big news from the Cantard.
 Ain t out general yet on account of it s supposed to be a big military
secret, but I heard from my sister s husband who s got a cousin works for the
Stormwarden Burner Skullspite, First Cav Spec Ops raided Glory Mooncalled s
headquarters.
 Our guys have found his hideout about five times already, you silly
groundpounder. A good-hearted fellow, Saucerhead didn t quite grasp reality.
He d been a plain old foot-slogging infantryman during his service. He
suffered from the common army delusion that cavalry were some sort of elite. I
mean, come on! They re not even Marines. You add in the fact that they re
dimwit enough to voluntarily ride horses . . .
 This was the real headquarters. An old vampire nest.
Something about his tone . . .  Don t tell me.
 The very one.
 Life is weird.
An earlier case had taken me back to the war zone. In the course of events,
Morley and I and some others invaded a subterranean vampire nest, a stronghold
of horror. We were fortunate. We escaped. We passed word to the Army. The
soldiers took time off from the war.
The war with vampires takes precedence.
That was before Glory Mooncalled rebelled. Just.
One of my gang had been a centaur.  There s more? I asked. Tharpe was antsy.
There was something.
 Yeah. The attack was a big ass surprise. They barely figured out what hit
them before it was over. They hardly destroyed any documents.
So Mooncalled s deep well of luck was running dry.
 What s the bottom line?
 Them documents showed he wasn t in the Cantard no more. Our big boys been
chasing shadows.
I have my moments.  And the only documents the republicans did destroy were
ones that might say where the boss was?
 How d you know?
 I m a good guesser. This would interest the Dead Man. His hobby was
tracking and anticipating Glory Mooncalled.
 They get anything out of the prisoners?
 Didn t take no prisoners, Garrett.
 You always take prisoners.
 Not this time. Them guys never had no chance, but they wouldn t give up.
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I couldn t believe that. However fanatic a group is there s always a member
who doesn t want to die.
 But that ain t why I come here, Garrett.
 Oh?
 Winger wanted me to 
 Winger! Where is that oversized . . . ?
 If you put a clamp on it, I might tell you something.
The best advice I ever got. It repeated suggestions from my mother and the
Dead Man. You have a hard time hearing with your mouth open. I shut mine.
 Winger said tell you that you and her ain t pulling the same oar no more but
you ought to know them West End pansies was coached to tell you what they told
you. You was supposed to head off in a new direction.
He looked at me like he hoped I would explain.
I considered. I thought Robin and Penny had talked straight. They maybe
forgot a fact or three but steered a tack close to the truth. Why point me at
Marengo North English? Why would Winger turn me away?
Smelled like somebody was dragging a squashed skunk across the trail.
Somebody big and blond with too much faith in my naivete.  How would she
know?
 I figure she got it from her boyfriend.
 Her what? Boyfriend? Since when?
Saucerhead shrugged.  Been around a while, off and on. She never made no
announcement. I don t figure she wants us to know. You d come out of your hole
and hang out, you would know, though.
He had a point. Information was the blood of my trade and connections the
bone. I wasn t taking proper care of either. I did before I moved in with the
Dead Man.  Go on.
 She just wanted to warn you. Didn t want you should step in anything
unexpected.
 That s my pal. Always thinking of me. She couldn t drop by herself, eh?
Saucerhead grinned.  You ask me, she don t want to get close enough you can
get your hands on her.
 Surprise, surprise. I glanced over my shoulder. The boys and bird weren t
watching.  Think I ll wander over to Morley s. I ll buy, if you want to come
along.
48
Morley didn t seem thrilled to see Saucerhead. He gave me a dark scowl. I
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couldn t understand why. Tharpe was a good customer.
Dotes joined us anyway. It was obvious immediately that he was distracted. He
listened with half an ear, kept one eye on the door all the time.
I told him,  I ve got most of it figured.
 Uhm? How did he get so much incredulity into one grunt?
 When Maggie Jenn left town, she was so bitter she never wanted to come back.
Her lover had been murdered, his people hated her, but she still had to go
through the motions to keep what he gave her, for the kid s sake as well as
her own. Her old pal and maybe brother Grange Cleaver played her to get the
skinny on the Hill places he robbed, so she got him to play her whenever it
was time to make her annual shows. Cleaver was happy to help. It gave him a
way to get into and out of TunFaire without getting gobbled up by Chodo [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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