I started; but Jyp, still thinking hard, didn’t seem to notice. ‘So yeah, it sounds like some kind of voodoo guys turned you over. But who – or whether it had anything to do with the other night – it’s beyond me, Steve! I can’t guess. If it’d been round here now, this raid, I’d have said yeah, it might’ve been the Wolves handing out a warning – or just their little bit of fun. It’s from down that way the bastards stem, same as most of the Iskander’s cargo; and they’ll follow any god who’s as big a stinker as they are. But on the other side of town – the everyday side, the Core? Hell, no! I just can’t believe it, Steve! The Pack’d never stray so far in – never! What’s to make them? Greed, fear, those are the things drive their breed strongest, and they weren’t satisfying either one. You – can you think of anything?’
‘Not about my raid, Jyp – but about yours. And that reason for it you couldn’t figure out, remember? What if you were just meant to be window-dressing?’
This time he did choke. But when he got his breath back and the beer out of his nose I told him about my idea, and he began to nod as he listened, first excitedly, then grimly. ‘Dandy!’ he said at last. ‘Stage a burglary to cover up dirty dealings – and leave a body to make it convincing. It could be, Steve – it could well be! A bit smart for the Wolves, maybe – but even they get a rush of blood to the brain once in a while … h’mm. But if that’s so, what’s so hot about it? Didn’t come off, did it? Thanks to you. But here you’ve got yourself lathered up like a trotter –’
‘Don’t you see?’ I barked, so loud it momentarily halted the hubbub outside. I lowered my voice. ‘I’m only surprised they waited a night! Whatever they came to do, it’s still undone! Whatever was wrong with that cargo still is wrong. Something’s not there that should be, or is there when it shouldn’t be! And what’s that mean? It means ten to one they’ll come back –’
Jyp sat there a moment, silent. Then he slammed a palm against his temple making his red hair fly. ‘They had to wait a night,’ he mumbled. ‘To put the hex on you.’
‘What? But how’d they know anything about me?’
He snorted. ‘They’ve ways. Maybe you were followed – though there’s other things might’ve done that. That’s the way the Wolves’d think, okay. Couldn’t believe you’d just turned up out of the blue, no – not when you started pokin’ round after the Iskander. At least I got half a brain working – jehosaphat!’ He gulped at his beer, then straightened up.
‘Thanks, Steve – though thanks still ain’t enough. Chances are you just saved my life one more time.’ He grinned. ‘Getting t’be a habit, ain’t it? But let’s us both do some more thinking now, and quick – will they be back? Word got around about that raid, y’know. Next morning half the folks with stuff there showed up post-haste – and they checked through it all real careful on the spot, with me there. Nothing funny there. Now lemme see, what’s left? Not much. Half the flamewood – but you can’t hide things in loose planking. What else’s large enough to be hoaxed easily?’
He muttered to himself, then suddenly hissed ‘The roots! Damn great shapeless bales of them – could get anything in there!’ He began drumming again. ‘Can’t just go tearing into them to look, though. Not without the consignee being there. He’s in Damballah Alley – and that’s way the other side of the docks, up behind Baltic Quay …’
Damballah Alley? We looked at each other. Even I’d heard that name somewhere.
‘Okay, so Damballah’s a voodoo god,’ protested Jyp uneasily, as if he didn’t like where this was leading. ‘He’s one of the good guys, the source of life – couldn’t be less like this Don P. character. And it’s only natural the Iskander would be carrying some stuff for those Alley fellas, sailing from those waters. Doesn’t prove anything. Still, sure, we ought to get the consignee and go look –’ His face hardened suddenly, as a wash of anger swept away the uncertainty. ‘The hell it doesn’t prove anything! It’s the best lead we’ve got. It fits; it all fits, too goddam well! And if old Frederick’s been trying to pull anything I personally will make him shove every one of those roots – sideways! But there’s not much time, and the far side’s a couple of miles away; a boat’d be fastest – if we can find one at this hour –’
‘Look, Jyp,’ I suggested, rather diffidently, ‘My car’s not far away – I think –’
His face lit up. ‘Your car? Wow, great! Let’s go! Let’s go!’ He bounced up again, excited as a schoolboy; hastily I downed my beer – a shame, it was excellent – and followed. In my confusion I hadn’t noted the street where I’d parked, or even the name of the dingy pub, but Jyp recognized the description and led me back there by what seemed a much shorter route. As we passed the pub he stuck his head round the door, to be greeted by a cheerful roar, and shouted his thanks; and from there I had no trouble finding my way.
As we emerged from the alley I was surprised; darkness had fallen in earnest now, with a touch of moist haze in the air, and it had transformed the place. New paint and trendy trimmings were swallowed up in a gloom the glaring pools of the streetlights only deepened. The strings of bright globes and glowing signs seemed to hang suspended in space before the solid untouchable shadows that were the buildings; their rooftops, ornamented with gable and turret, were timeless silhouettes against the lambent sky. For a moment I wondered if the car would still be there.
It was, though. When we got to it Jyp circled it, fascinated, unable to keep his hands off the smooth paintwork; and when I unlocked the door for him he got in awkwardly. ‘Ain’t never been in one of these fancy closed-in autos before,’ he confessed with an abashed grin, and was fascinated by the sun roof. He seemed equally impressed when I turned the starter, but as I accelerated smoothly away across the cobbles I heard him suck in his breath sharply, and when I reached thirty I glanced across and saw him rigid and staring in his seat, his feet braced against the well. A little cruelly, I took it up to forty as I turned into Danube Street, but it had the opposite effect; once he realized we weren’t flying out of control, he kicked and whooped ‘Hey, can you get any more out of her?’
‘Fifty-five suit you?’
He bounced on his seat as I accelerated, and yelled ‘Twenty-three skidoo-ooo-ooo! Faster – hey, what’re you slowin’ down for?’
‘There’s that junction you mentioned – and such things as speed limits in this town! And traffic lights!’ Though look what stopping for one of those got me into …
‘So where do we go from here, pilot?’
Jyp had slumped down in his seat, sulking, but he sat up quickly to gaze around like an excited child at the bright lights and garish shop windows of Harbour Walk. It had been a while, he claimed, since he’d been this way. Just how long, was something I should have been wondering about – but oddly enough it didn’t occur to me to ask, just then. Fortunately the geography didn’t seem to have changed, he picked an unlikely-looking turn-off, and gave me clear directions down a whirl of side roads. Once off the main road I took a corner or two too fast, just to cheer him up.