"It isn't exactly incest."
"It could've been."
"What? How so?"
"Ami... She wasn't a willing partner."
"He raped her?" I couldn't believe Amiranda would have tolerated that from anybody.
"Yes. No. Not the way you're thinking. He didn't hold a knife at her throat. He just ... coerced her, I guess. I don't know how he did it. She never told me about it. Only Karl. But Karl told me. It started when she was thirteen. When you're that young it's hard... It's hard to know what to do."
"Not you too?"
"No. But... But he tried. Twice. When I was fourteen. Almost fifteen. It was hard, Garrett. Maybe a man wouldn't even understand. The first time I just ran away when I realized what he wanted. The second time he made sure I didn't have anywhere to run. I ... He ... He wouldn't let me alone till I said I was going to tell mother."
"And?"
"He went into a panic. A psychotic panic. That's why ..."
"Did he threaten you? Physically?"
She nodded.
"I see." I settled back to ruminate. I understood her fears. This didn't do Karl Senior any good at all. I already had him down as murder suspect number one, but I was still a little nebulous on motive.
"They were both dumb, Ami and Father. They had to realize it would happen sooner or later. There's too much free-floating residual energy around any place used by someone like my mother not to interfere with the spells on a contraceptive amulet."
"If she could see it coming—"
"Don't start, Garrett. You don't know what it was like. You aren't a woman. You aren't a daughter. And you've never been in a squeeze anything like it."
"You're right. All right, here's what I'll do. I'll talk to him without your mother being there. If it's not germane, she won't have to know."
"She won't allow that."
"I'll insist. I'll also insist that you be there with us."
"Oh! Do I have to?"
"I want him in a corner so tight he's got to think his only way out is the truth. He can't lie with you standing there ready to blurt, 'Remember the time when you—' "
"I don't like it."
"Neither do I. But you have to use the tools at hand."
"He couldn't do something like you're thinking."
'"Amiranda would've begun to show soon. Your mother is inquisitive. And when she asks, she gets answers. How would she have reacted—"
"I know what you're going to say, Garrett. He'd panic. He'd go crazy out of fear. But not that crazy."
"Maybe you're right. If we get him deep enough into that corner, maybe we'll find out for sure." It seemed a good idea to forget that the Stormwarden had discovered Amiranda's pregnancy on her own.
"Garrett. Do we have time... ?"
I shook my head slowly.
"It's a pity, really."
"I'm sorry."
As we started down the stairs, she said, "I'll bet you he doesn't even know she was pregnant. Ami wouldn't have told anybody but Karl."
I responded with a noncommittal grunt. He knew now, though I was willing to grant the possibility that he hadn't known then. I paused to stick my head into the Dead Man's room. "We're going now."
Take care of yourself, Garrett. And mind your manners with your betters.
"The same to you, Chuckles. Want to tell me Glory Mooncalled's secret now? Just in case the worst happens? I'd hate to check out still mystified."
With you entering a Stormwarden's lair? No. We'll consider it after this is done and the break is complete. He had a point. I gave Dean some unnecessary instructions about locking up behind me. Then we left.
______ XLVIII ______
I decided to make a brief detour to Lettie Faren's. Maybe it was wrong. There are times when ignorance is bliss. The man on the door knew me and knew my presence was considered undesirable, but he made only a token effort to keep us out. Inside, Amber gawked and whispered that she wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it. I gawked myself, but not for the same reasons. The place wasn't open for business. Never, to my knowledge, had the house been closed before. Alarmed, I pushed past a barman and a swamper who made halfhearted efforts to stop us. I slammed into the pest hole Lettie calls home.
It only took one look. "Stay out there," I instructed Amber.
The mound of ruin that was Lettie Faren tried to glare with eyes blackened and swollen, and failed. She couldn't strike the spark. What remained was a feeble mask for fear.
I asked, "Chodo's boys?"
She croaked an affirmative.
"You should've told me where to find Donni when you knew, before the hard boys decided they wanted her too."
She just looked at me. Chances were she'd just looked at Chodo's boys too. For a while. She was damned near as tough as she thought.
"I'm working for Raver Styx these days. That's a tight crack to get caught in, between the Stormwarden and the kingpin."
"I didn't have nothing to tell them and I don't got nothing to tell you, Garrett. Bring on the old witch if you want."
"The wicked flee when no man pursueth. I'll wish you a speedy recovery. Good-bye."
As we headed for the exit, Amber asked, "Why didn't you want me to go in there?"
I gave it to her straight. "I'm not the only one looking for Donni Pell. Those other guys beat her up trying to find out where Donni went."
"Bad?"
"Very. They aren't nice people. In fact, I'm about convinced that you're the only nice person anywhere in this mess."
She laughed nervously and said, "You don't know me very well yet." Then, conversationally, "You're not so bad yourself, Garrett."
Perhaps she didn't know me very well yet either.
______XLIX______
The man at the Stormwarden's gate was a stranger. He had a competent, professional look. "How was the vacation in the sunny Cantard?"
It bounced off. "Grim as usual, Mr. Garrett. The Stormwarden is expecting you and is waiting in her audience room. Miss daPena can show you the way."
"Yeah. Thanks. You guys going to do anything for Slauce?"
"Say what?"
"You going in on flowers or anything? I thought I'd kick in if I could. It never would've happened if he hadn't been coming to see me."
"We haven't decided what to do yet. We'll let you know. All right?"
"Sure. Thanks."
When we were out of earshot, Amber said, "See? I told you you weren't all bad."
"A cynical, manipulative gesture meant to incite a sympathetic attitude among the troops."
"Right, Garrett. Whatever you say."
Raver Styx sat alone in the gloom of an unlighted room about the size of the Dead Man's. Her eyes were closed. She was so still and unresponsive I suffered a chill. Had we lost yet another daPena?
No. Those supposedly terrible eyes opened and fixed on me. I saw nothing but a tired and beaten old lady. "Please have a seat, Mr. Garrett." Like a wolfman under a full moon, she began to change. "Amber, I believe you'd do better to isolate yourself here in the house, but if you feel more confident with Mr. Garrett and his associates, you have my blessing," She was becoming the Stormwarden Raver Styx—with a measure of concerned mother. Amber was within reach and my feet were out of the Stormwarden's line of sight. I nudged her ankle. She started, figured it out, said, "Thank you, Mother. I'd feel better with Mr. Garrett, I think. For now."
That wasn't so hard. Often all we need to be civil with one another is the presence of a referee we don't want thinking us fools.
"As you wish. Where would you like to begin, Mr. Garrett?"
"With Domina Dount."