'Kitterick, move to level ten!' Madame Cardui said imperiously.
Kitterick clicked again. 'Chalkhill, Jasper,' he said loudly. 'Hair dyed, eyes baby blue, height five feet seven inches, age deleted from official records following substantial bribes. Brimstone, Silas, hair gone, eyes bloodshot blue, height five feet and ten inches, age ninety-eight years and ten months.'
'Chalkhill and Brimstone!' Madame Cardui breathed. 'It seems we have found who tried to kill your brother.'
'Who are Chalkhill and Brimstone, Madame Cynthia?' asked Holly Blue. The names rang a bell from somewhere, but they certainly weren't members of any of the Noble Houses and if they were in politics they didn't hold important offices.
'They are in trade? said Madame Cardui, somehow managing to make it sound like a disease. 'Faeries of the Night, of course.'
'In trade?'
Madame Cardui allowed her eyes to flicker upwards. 'My deeah, they sell pots of glue.'
That was where she'd heard the name. Chalkhill and Brimstone Miracle Glue – she'd seen it in the servants' quarters. 'They manufacture it as well, don't they?'
'I suppose so,' Madame Cardui said dismissively. ' Chalkhill's background is moderately interesting. He had something of a reputation as a hairdresser. Then he became an interior decorator. Distinctive style, but a little too flamboyant for my taste. He was brought up by an aunt. Quite a decent woman, by all accounts, but one understands Jasper poisoned her for her money.'
Blue was alert at once. 'Poisoned? He didn't use triptium, by any chance?'
'I've no idea. It was merely a rumour – nothing was ever proven. But he did inherit her entire estate which he sold off for a substantial sum. He was in the process of squandering it when he met Brimstone.'
'What's Brimstone's background?' Blue asked.
'Sorcery,' said Madame Cardui promptly. 'Necromancy and demonology of the very lowest kind. He even makes his fellow Nighters nervous.' She removed the card from Kitterick's head and he escorted her back to her cushions where she lay down again. 'No doubt about it, Your Highness – either or both of those two are quite capable of an attempt on your brother's life.'
Blue looked at her. 'Better tell me where to find them,' she said grimly.
Twenty-one
'Did it hurt?' Blue asked curiously. 'The card-in-the-head thing?'
'Not exactly,' Kitterick said. Madame Cardui had insisted he come along with Blue as protection. 'But it makes you feel peculiar.'
'How does she do it? Some sort of spell?'
'Oh no, Serene Highness – I've got a slot.' He parted his hair and bent over so Blue could see. There was a metal-lined slot let into his skull. 'The information is coded on the cards – they're made to look like an ordinary deck so no one will suspect. All I do is read it off them. It requires a little training, but that's mainly so you don't fall over when you have a card in your head.'
'Good grief,' Blue said.
They were walking together in Cheapside, an area of the city Blue hadn't visited before and wasn't sure she wanted to visit again. They made an odd-looking couple. She was still disguised as a boy and Kitterick, with his bright-orange skin and clothing, scarcely came up to her shoulder. Although he was stocky, he seemed far too small to be much of a bodyguard, but Madame Cardui had assured her he was extremely toxic. One bite from Kitterick was usually enough to fell a carthorse, although it might take a little time.
It was very late now, yet Cheapside was just as thronged as Northgate, although Blue suspected the people here were in search of far less innocent pleasures than a trip to the theatre, or even a chaos-horn cafe. The whole area had the rough look of a mugger's paradise. She was pleased she was not on her own, even though Kitterick attracted too much attention for comfort.
'Nearly there,' he said. He pointed. 'That's it.'
He was talking about Seething Lane where Madame Cardui had said Chalkhill and Brimstone had their glue factory. It would be shut at this hour, of course, but the Painted Lady had given her the private addresses of both Jasper Chalkhill and Silas Brimstone. Chalkhill had an estate in Wildmoor Broads somewhere beyond the factory. Brimstone lived even closer. He had rooms in Seething Lane. Blue looked where Kitterick was pointing and saw a narrow, gloomy entrance flanked on one side by a tattoo parlour and on the other by a barber shop, both shut. It looked like the last place in the realm anybody would ever want to go. How on earth had Pyrgus got himself mixed up with these people?
Close up, Seething Lane was even less appealing. It oozed a smell that made her stomach turn. The thoroughfare was narrow and partly cobbled, so poorly served by street lights that substantial stretches were positively dark. Anybody could lurk in the shadows down there, waiting to pounce on the unwary.
As if reading her thoughts, Kitterick produced a flaming torch from his pocket and held it aloft. 'I think it best if I go first, Serenity,' he said quietly. Blue agreed. Even so, she fingered her concealed dagger nervously as she followed him.
The lane was empty of people and, once away from the main Cheapside road, their footsteps echoed eerily on the cobbles. The smell was even stronger here, but she fought down the urge to throw up. After a moment Kitterick said, This is it.' He held up the torch so that its light danced on the number branded into the narrow doorway. 'Eighty-seven. Mr Brimstone's apartments.'
The lane itself was flanked by ancient terraces, some of them with overhanging balconies. Brimstone's place was part of this, but wasn't a complete house. It was difficult to judge in the gloom, but it seemed to be squeezed between two other buildings, as if slipped in as an afterthought to take up unused space. It rose above them for three narrow storeys, none of them showing a single light.
'Looks like no one's at home,' Blue murmured.
'Shall I ascertain if that is indeed the case, Serenity?'
Blue thought for a moment, then nodded. She was in no hurry to meet either Chalkhill or Brimstone. Her plan, insofar as she had one, was to search for evidence of their attempt on her brother's life. Once she had that, she could act. She was prepared to talk to either of these men if she had to, but if Brimstone was not at home, it could be the perfect opportunity to do a little poking around. She wondered if he used security spells.
'Perhaps, Serenity, it would be a good idea if you were to stay out of sight for the moment. The place certainly seems empty, but one can never be certain and we may not wish Mr Brimstone to realise there is royal interest in him just yet.'
She very much doubted Brimstone would see through her disguise, but Kitterick was right. At this stage of the game it might be better not to take the chance. She nodded again and slipped back into the shadows. At once Kitterick set up a thunderous knocking on the door.
After a moment somebody flung open an upstairs window in one of the neighbouring houses and an angry head poked out. 'Stop that racket, you ugly little orange git, or I'll come down there and do you something grievous!'
'I have a delivery for Mr Brimstone,' said Kitterick, not at all put out.
'At this hour? What sort of cretin are you?'
'Special delivery. Something for his glue.'
'Then deliver it to the factory, you cross-eyed imbecile! Don't come round here disturbing people's sleep.'
'I fear, sir, the factory is shut. I thought it best to see Mr Brimstone.'
'Well, Mr Brimstone ain't at home, you bilge-rat. Take yourself on. Go on, piss off!'
'Will Mr Brimstone be home later?' Kitterick asked.
'Later? Later? How should I know if he'll be home later? Do I look like his nanny?'
'No, sir. Thank you, sir. I shall be on my way now. Sorry to disturb you, sir.' Kitterick made a great play of walking up the lane, but returned as soon as the head disappeared. 'Empty house, Serenity. I take it we shall be breaking in?'