“She musta been a good looker before she done all that sewin’ on her face,” said Mama.
I made frantic shushing noises. Stitches wasn’t twenty feet away.
Mama guffawed. “Oh, settle down. She ain’t likely to swat at me for speakin’ the truth. That niece of mine send you out here?”
I leaned on the rail myself. “Gertriss and Evis left right after you did. Probably looking for someplace with a nice thick door. But that’s not why I’m here. Buttercup just joined us.”
“Damn. I thought I had her put down for a nap.”
“Well, she woke up and strolled all the way across town before skipping right through Angels know how many wards and spells hung around the Queen. I’d rather keep that bit a secret, Mama. We don’t want Avalante deciding they need to do any research on banshees and their sneaky little feet, do we?”
“I don’t reckon even a Dark House could keep that there banshee anywhere she don’t want to be kept. But I sees your point. I’ll take her on home.”
“Thanks.”
Mama grinned suddenly, her bright little eyes dancing in the moonlight.
“Boy, did you see how Evis and my niece were a squirmin, and a sweatin’ all through supper?”
“Mama, look-”
She held up her hand and took a long draw from the cigar. “Don’t you ‘Mama look’ me, boy. You think I don’t know where that niece of mine stays all hours? You think I don’t know who’s she’s keepin’ company with, and why?”
“This isn’t the time, Mama.”
“Ain’t ever gonna be a good time, boy. You know I don’t approve.”
“You don’t? What a surprise.”
“And you think since I don’t approve I’d give them all manner of perdition, is that it?”
Darla peeked around the corner. Buttercup saw me and waved.
“Well, maybe you don’t know old Mama as well as ye think you do. ‘Cause I don’t plan on raising no fuss over matters that ain’t none of my business in the first place. So you can tell that niece of mine she can stop sneakin’ around. She’s family, boy. Only family I got. I ain’t ready to lose that over her choice of beau.”
I motioned for Darla to join us.
“That’s very open minded of you, Mama.”
“Ain’t got much choice, do I?”
Buttercup saw Mama and leaped from Darla’s arms, racing toward Mama without bothering to put her dainty banshee feet anywhere near the Queen’s fresh-scrubbed deck.
“What are you doin’ out of bed, you barefoot devil?” croaked Mama without malice. “What are we going to do with you, child?”
Buttercup kissed Mama on her cheek and started running in circles around her.
“Thank you for the meal,” said Mama. She took a final puff from her cigar before throwing the remnants out into the river. “We’d best be getting home.”
She took Buttercup by the hand, and off they went.
Darla and I watched them go.
“Did Mama mention Gertriss and Evis?”
I nodded. “She did. Claimed she wasn’t planning on causing any trouble. Said it was none of her business.”
Darla raised an eyebrow.
“Think she’s telling the truth?”
“Not a chance.”
“I hope you’re wrong. They’ve got enough to worry about without Mama causing trouble.”
“I hope I’m wrong too. That’s bound to happen someday, you know.”
“What is?”
“Me being wrong.”
She kissed me, right there on the riverfront, where passing barge-hands could have seen-had it been daylight, and had any barges been passing.
I risked public scandal by kissing her right back.
It must have been the moonlight.
Chapter Nine
Life aboard a boat takes on its own unique cadence.
Mornings, for instance. Bells rouse the crew from slumber. The crew, once roused, proceed to swarm the decks performing various nautical tasks, all of which involve swearing, banging, stomping, and more swearing, usually followed by a spirited round of beating on one heavy iron thing with another.
Darla and I took to burying our heads beneath our pillows, which more or less worked until the engine crew began the day’s piston test. That shook the Queen from bow to stern and, on two occasions, filled the hallways with thick clouds of smoke.
We never moved, and the Queen’s massive red paddle wheel never turned. Evis remained confident, waving off my concerns with a grin and a shrug. “It’s a new boat, Markhat,” he said. “Plenty of time to get her ready.”
By my count, the Queen was set to take aboard her well-heeled passengers and steam for Bel Loit in eight short days. Given that the Queen was still full of ladders and workmen and a betting pool had emerged on the question of whether the big red paddle wheel would turn or strip her gears, I decided Evis’s nonchalance was forced, if not outright fabricated.
But, as Darla pointed out, that wasn’t my concern.
I made it my concern to memorize the Queen’s layout and get to know as many of her crew as I could. So I did what some say is what I do best and made a nuisance of myself.
I wandered the Queen’s gangways, drink in hand, and accosted anyone foolish enough to stand still. Then I asked whatever questions came to mind-how much coal were we storing, how many Ogres work below decks, where can I get another glass of beer, and so on.
I wasn’t so much interested in their answers as I was the way in which they answered.
Only the Queen’s good captain, a grey-bearded gent named Samuels, with piercing blue eyes and a soft voice, invited me to get the hell out of his way so he could get to work, and I could damned well find my own way to the nearest beer-barrel.
The rest ran the gamut from obsequious toad to surly coal-shovel man. None broke down and confessed to any dastardly plots under the sheer intensity of my steely glare, and I lamented this sad fact to Darla on the evening of our fourth day aboard the Queen.
She put down her book and smiled at me over the tops of her reading glasses.
“Perhaps, dear, you aren’t drinking enough beer.”
I sat down on the bed beside her.
“The beer is just for show. People are more likely to talk if they think the man they’re talking to is a bit tipsy.”
Her expression didn’t change.
“I met the Captain today. We had quite a nice chat. Seems to be a competent sailor, and more importantly, he has a well-trimmed white beard.”
“I heard he nearly had you clapped in irons.”
I imitated Evis and his dismissive wave. “That’s just how us old sea-dogs talk. I’m very nearly first mate. Maybe even boatswain.”
“What exactly is a boatswain, dear?”
“And just how did you hear anything, new bride of mine? I thought you were going to spend the day reading.”
“I have my secrets.”
“So how is Gertriss, since Mama’s little visit?”
“Troubled. Evis?”
“Evis is Evis. Not a care in the world. Should he be worried?”
She took off her glasses and laid them on her book. “We should all be worried, I imagine. Any news from your friend Miss Stitches and our woman problem?”
“None yet.” I laid down and stretched. Bones popped. “Did you bring that fancy pocket-watch Evis gave you as a wedding present?”
“I did.”
“Good. I want us to take a stroll or two later on. From one end of the Queen to the other, from deck to deck, all around.”
“Why, pray tell?”
“Where did all those soldiers come from when Mama showed up?”
“I’ve wondered that too. But it was dark and they’re halfdead. They could have been standing in the shadows all along.”
“I thought that too, at first.”
“But not now.”
“Not now. Avalante isn’t going to station armed halfdead in every corner once the casino is open. No, they had to have another way of moving from place to place.”