He might have been slumming, or just enjoying a freak show.
He kept going back to popular attitudes toward Relway, Block, the better known human rights agitators, and the Contagues. And, more obliquely, his brother the king. I was as honest as I dared be. While growing ever more suspicious.
Morley would be heartbroken. I’d have to tell him that, as yet, he had done nothing gaudy enough to have caught the eye of Good Prince Rupert.
It would be nice if he kept it that way.
Mr. Jan did seize the opportunity to take additional measurements while I was there. Though my new coat would now be delayed till he completed the masterwork he was creating for the prince.
85
Back to the World? Or go home?
Home sounded good. The Dead Man could get to work making sense of what had just happened with Prince Rupert. And I could get warm.
I had some ideas about the nature of the tar pit I’d stumbled into but wasn’t confident of my instincts. Old Bones could winkle out the shadowed connections.
And the house would be warm.
Everyone else had a different idea about what was going on at the World. They all agreed: We had us a dragon down below and we had to tippy-toe till it went back to sleep.
Home kept calling but there was a lot of day left. I decided to check in with Morley Dotes. I had something nagging at me. My subconscious might nail it down while my friend distracted my conscious mind.
Dotes looked so glum I decided to order a mixed veggie grill just to cheer him up. He joined me while I waited. I asked, ‘‘How come so blue? Nobody in their right mind would be out in this, anyway.’’
‘‘It’s not that. Not just that. I’ve made a deal with a devil. I can’t stop thinking about the possible consequences.’’
‘‘Any deal with Belinda definitely has a downside. You give up on collecting the bounty on Lurking Felhske?’’
‘‘No bounty to be had anymore, brother.’’
‘‘Huh? Not even Relway?’’
‘‘Especially not Relway and his Unpublished Committee, apparently. A red top came around with a message for me, personally. He was part giant, part ogre, had fangs down to here, and made Saucerhead look like the runt of the litter.’’
Inspiration. ‘‘Did he drool a lot? Have one fang kind of twisted? Talked with a lisp because of what would be called a harelip if he was human?’’
‘‘Member of your family?’’
‘‘Not yet. Just an acquaintance. From afar. I doubt if he knows me. And I doubt if he’s really a red cap. He’d be Urban Jack Tick-Tack. Real name, Capricious Moon. He’s in the same line as Saucerhead, only up the Hill.’’
‘‘Urban Jack? Tick-Tack?’’
‘‘I don’t know.’’ I preened. It isn’t often that I know something about the lice on the belly of the body politic that my friends don’t. ‘‘Where do nicknames come from?’’
‘‘My guess is, there’s a crippled little god somewhere, sitting in his playpen, who thinks them up and slides them into people’s heads when they’re squatting on the chamber pot.’’
My mixed grill came, redolent of garlic and ginger. I dug in. It was good. Morley could tell I liked it. He was smug. He told me, ‘‘Singe and I did still give it one last half-ass try. Because I don’t let anyone push.’’
‘‘Singe, too?’’
‘‘My mistake. I know. I shouldn’t have involved her. She decided she can’t track him anymore, anyway. She says he took a bath.’’
‘‘Gods! Good. If anybody ever needed one . . .’’
‘‘She didn’t mean a literal soap and water bath, Garrett. Though he did that, too.’’
‘‘Interesting.’’
‘‘I suppose. Why?’’
‘‘Somebody wants Lurking Felhske even farther on the down low.’’
Dotes raised an eyebrow almost as fetchingly as I do.
‘‘He wouldn’t notice his own stench. Guys with the big body odor just don’t. They live with it. Right? So somebody clued him in, convinced him, and added a little magic.’’
‘‘And then sent a thug around to reason with people who might go looking for him?’’
‘‘Seems plausible to me.’’ I recalled an unexplained pounding on my door this morning. Any connection?
Old Bones hadn’t seen fit to report. Assuming he’d been paying attention at all. There were times he didn’t. More and more frequently, lately.
He’d been aware enough to nag me.
‘‘You lost in there, Garrett?’’
‘‘Some. Things started out bone simple. I had what looked like a protection play shaping. With a bug complication. I took care of the extortion and I got the bug thing under control. But one damned thing keeps leading to another. Now . . .’’ Now I seemed to be getting caught up in something barely even tangentially connected with the World. People involved in other things kept doing things that made getting on with completing the theater difficult.
Morley said, ‘‘On a brighter note, we’ll start work on the new place as soon as the weather clears. We’ll be selling lunch to your workmen by the end of the month. How can I get hold of that Rockpile person?’’
I told him. Then said, ‘‘I’m not gonna get home as early as I thought.’’
Morley hoisted his eyebrow again.
‘‘I’m getting a glimmer of something. Like one of those ghosts when it just starts forming.’’ Forgetting that he couldn’t see them. ‘‘I’m thinking Saucerhead might have the answer. Without knowing he has it.’’
‘‘I hope that ratty coat is warmer than it looks.’’ Said with the smirking smile he reserves for when he sticks in the needle.
I gave him my best hard eye. It ricocheted off. I put a few coins on the table and left.
86
Saucerhead and the others were still inside the World but huddled up close to the door so they wouldn’t have far to run if they decided to make a quick getaway.
‘‘Ghosts back, Head?’’
‘‘Yeah. Sort of. One or two.’’
‘‘But they haven’t bothered you?’’
‘‘Not yet. So far they’re only interested in that case of yours. But that could change.’’
‘‘Excellent! I’m so smart! I don’t think you have to worry.’’
Tharpe’s expression told me he was keeping a lid on his opinion only because I was the Keeper of the Coins.
I told him, ‘‘I came by to find out what you know about Urban Jack Tick-Tack. Since you know everybody.’’
The crowd stared at me like I’d sprouted horns.
‘‘Ultimate badass bonebreaker, Garrett. You don’t want to mess with him. But you don’t need to worry. He only works for rich people. Just don’t piss Weider off so much he wants to crunch you. Hell. How come you’re asking? Just curious. On account of, Tick-Tack himself was here only about an hour ago.’’
‘‘What? No way.’’
‘‘Way. You can’t imagine how big he is.’’
‘‘What did he want?’’
‘‘I don’t know. He didn’t say. He just strolled in and started looking around. Soon as he seen all of us watching he took off.’’
‘‘Been any rumors about him lately? Head? Anybody?’’ «Been keeping a low profile. Any of you guys heard anything ? See?»
‘‘That’s really what I expected. I guess I’m as warm as I’m going to get here. Oh. I figure the workmen will be back tomorrow.’’
‘‘We got that word, maybe twenty minutes ago. Message signed by Director Relway himself. These guys are supposed to hang around and keep an eye out in case of developments.’’
Damn! The prince moved fast. ‘‘That’s good, then.’’ I stopped by my cases and mumbled a bit before I plunged into the great white.
There wasn’t much light left. I decided to use what there was to check out the Faction clubhouse, see how busy they’d been cleaning up.
There were tracks around the steps, most going in, a few coming out. This deserved closer examination.