"The fat guy with the garbage mouth?"
"That's him."
"He the baddie?"
"He's the only one I can line up who had opportunity with Hawkes and Bradon and the attempts on me."
"Turn you into bait. Catch him in the act."
"Thanks a bunch. He's screwed it up three times already. Maybe four. How many shots should I give him?"
"Take your nap. You're safe. Morley's here."
"That's not the comfort you think it should be." I went into the bedroom, shucked my clothes and slithered in between the sheets. There was something sinful about being naked in such comfort.
For about thirty seconds I listened to Morley putter, measuring and talking to himself while rain tippy-tapped on the windows. Then the lights went out.
The lights never came on. Not quite.
But there were fires to light the night. Well, there was the threat of fire, anyway.
I woke up no longer alone. My blonde friend was back. Checking my head, touching my face, all that.
This time she didn't move fast enough. But she was leaning way over, off balance, and I didn't think before I grabbed. I got her wrist and gave her a come-hither tug. She fell on top of me.
It was dark. She'd have been invisible if she'd been a brunette wearing dark clothing. Still, from four inches her face was visible. She wore a sort of smile, like she wanted to look kittenish and playful. The rest of her couldn't fake it. She shook like she was terrified.
"Talk to me," I whispered. "Tell me who you are." I put an arm around her, caressed the back of her neck. Her hair felt fine as spider silk, light as down. I did it to keep her from getting away, but it took only about four seconds for me to start having trouble keeping my mind on business.
She kissed me instead of answering me.
Man, oh, man. It had the kick of straight grain alcohol. It got me repeating mantras just to remember who I was.
Shaking like she was running naked through a hailstorm, she turned up the heat. She worked her way under the covers. This was what the old man needed to keep him warm. Boy, could he save on firewood.
Then I lost my mantra and kissed her back. About twenty seconds later she forgot about shivering.
Morley pounded the door. "Hey! Garrett! You going to nap all night?"
I sat up so sudden I made myself dizzy. I felt around. Just Garrett, all by his lonesome. What? I've got a vivid imagination and a rich fantasy life, but...
"Bring a light in here."
"What about your booby trap?"
What about it? "It's not set."
Morley found me on the edge of the bed draped in a sheet, looking croggled and feeling four times as croggled as I looked. "What happened?"
"You're not going to believe it."
He didn't. "I never left the other room. Well, only long enough to use the pot. Nobody could've gotten past. You had a dream."
Maybe. But, damn! "I could use more dreams like that. If it was. I don't think so. I've never had one like that."
"Man gets on in years, he starts living his adventures in his head." He grinned a big one full of pointy elf teeth.
"Let's don't start. I'm too flustered to keep up my end. You find anything? What time is it?"
"Yes. Your cloak closet is two thirds as big as it should be. It's about midnight. The witching hour."
"I could probably make it through the night without cracks like that." I got up, dragged the bedclothes with me.
Morley got a funny look, stepped over, picked something up.
It was the red belt my blonde always wore, even in Snake's painting.
He looked at me. I looked at him. I maybe smiled a little. "Not mine," I told him.
"Maybe we ought to get the hell out of here, Garrett."
I pulled my clothes on. I couldn't think what to say. I agreed, mostly. Finally, I just muttered, "You ever back out on a job once you took it?"
He got him another funny look and said, "Yes. Once."
I couldn't picture that. That wasn't Morley Dotes. He delivered. He wouldn't back down from the kingpin or from a nest of vampires. I'd seen that with my own eyes. "I don't believe it. What were you up against? A herd of thunder-lizards?"
"Not exactly."
He didn't like talking about his work. I dropped it. "Let's look at that closet."
The situation had him more spooked than he let on. He said, "A man hired me without telling me anything about the mark, just where he'd be at a certain time. I had the biggest surprise of my life when I got there."
I opened the closet door. "All right. I'll bite."
"You were the mark."
I turned slowly. For about ten seconds I had no idea where I stood. Had we reached a moment I'd prayed would never come?
"Easy. That was six months ago. Forget it. I wasn't going to mention it."
He wouldn't have unless he'd gotten so rattled most bets were off. I tried to recall what I'd been working on back then. Nothing significant. One missing person thing that had smelled from the start, but that had petered out when I found the missing guy dead.
"I owe you one."
"Forget it. I shouldn't have mentioned it."
"You forget it. Let's see where the missing space went." I thought I got it. That missing person thing had smelled because I'd thought there was more to it than the client would admit. She'd seemed vindictive when nothing in her story indicated a reason. Looking for a man she'd claimed was an associate of her late husband.
Pieces toppled into place belatedly. The guy she was looking for could have been blackmailing her over the husband's demise. She hadn't needed me once she knew the guy was dead.
The guy might have hired Morley if he'd heard I was after him.
Hell with it. Water under the bridge. Nothing to do with what we were into now.
But I owed Morley. That more than balanced the stunt with the coffin full of vampire.
"On this side," Morley said.
It was obvious once you knew it was there. On the right the closet was twenty inches smaller than it should be. "Give me the light."
I examined the wall inside. Nothing out of the way. No door, nothing to release one or open one. "Has to be out there somewhere."
I went out, examined the wall, looked for some hidden device, cunningly disguised, like those I'd seen before. I didn't find any such beast.
"I got it," Morley said.
He tipped a two-foot section of wainscotting outward like a kitchen flour bin. Bam. No sign it was there when it was in place. "Clever," he said. "Every secret gizmo I ever saw leaves marks on the floor or something if it's used much." The section didn't quite drop to the floor. A leather strap kept it from falling all the way.
We eyed each other. I said, "Well?"
He grinned. "We can either stand here and stare at it or we can do something. I vote we do something."
"After you, my man."
"Oh, no. I'm just the hired help. I hand the knight his lance when he's ready to charge the Black Baron. When I'm in a real helpful mood, I polish a few rust spots off his armor. But I don't stomp into traps for him."
"I love you too, boy." He was right. It was my game to play.
Didn't hurt to try, though.
I got another lamp, made sure both were full, started to crawl into the opening. "Stay close."
"Right behind you, boss. All the way."
"Wait." I backed out.
"Now what?"
"Equipment." It seemed like a good time to arm up. Just in case.
Morley watched me ferret stuff out, grinned when he saw the colored bottles. "I wondered if you kept those."
"Smart man never throws anything away. Might come in handy someday." Loaded for thunder-lizard, I returned to the passageway. This time I kept going. Morley had less trouble in there, being a foot shorter and a half ton lighter. I kept banging my head. The passage ran straight ahead fifteen feet. It ran under the counter in the dressing room.