The State Policeman kicked a three-legged stool over and sat, one foot sweeping the scabbard of his shete aside as he did. The distance was close enough for easy conversation-but just beyond reach if Ingolf lunged against the bars. He was bigger than the policeman, and at least ten years younger, since Denson had to be with a couple of years either side of forty.
He?s a tough son of a bitch, but I could take him one on one. Somehow I don?t think that?s going to happen. ?You know, you?re a pain in the ass,? Denson said conversationally, leaning forward with his palms on his knees. ?Ordinarily I?d think you should have been?killed while resisting arrest.? Or?while trying to escape.??
Urrrk! Ingolf thought.
That was not what you wanted to hear from a high officer of the all-powerful secret police and general Brute Squad. ?Anthony Heasleroad would have been sort of annoyed if you?d killed me before anyone asked questions,? Ingolf pointed out, his voice carefully neutral.?He wanted to find out what happened to four wagons full of salvaged artwork.?
There was a flicker of respect in the other man?s cold gray eyes, and he ran a hand over his close-cropped graying blond hair. ?Yeah, there is that… especially since he really believes you about his man Kuttner being a spy and finking you out to the Cutters.? ?He does?? Ingolf said, keeping his voice from squeaking by an effort of will. ?Yeah. You know, a lot of people think Tony is just a stupid, crazy spoiled brat. They?re only about half right, and only about half the time.? ?If he believes Kuttner was a spy and ratted me and my Villains out, why am I here?? Ingolf ground out, clutching at the bars to burn the rage out of his muscles.?Why aren?t the Cutters in here??
Denson grinned, a remarkably evil expression.?I didn?t say he wasn?t crazy. I didn?t say he wasn?t a spoiled brat. I just said he wasn?t stupid… when he bothers to think.? ?What would he say if he heard you voicing that opinion?? Ingolf asked, forcing calm on himself.
Because it might be the sort of confidence you get killed for hearing. ?He?d laugh, like he did when I told him to his face. He thinks it?s funny. It is, when you look at it right. I need him just as much as he needs me, and the way I need him means I do all the work and he gets all the fun. I?ve told him that, too.? ?Must be a refreshing change, someone telling him what they really think.? ?Hell, he?s had people lying to him to get stuff all his life, and like I said, he?s not stupid. He?s gotten pretty good sensing it. And then there are all the people who swear they think he?s a devil of a good fellow, and he knows better than to believe that… So he realized Kuttner was stringing him; he just didn?t realize it was more than the usual get-on-the-gravy-train stuff.?
A slight wince.?And it makes me and the Staties look bad; we didn?t figure him for a plant, either.?
For a moment Ingolf wondered what it must be like to be Bossman Anthony Heasleroad, Governor and President Pro Tem, the wealthiest and most powerful man on the North American continent. He felt one corner of his mouth quirk up involuntarily in an emotion uncomfortably hanging somewhere between pity and schadenfreude. ?Yah, he must be about the loneliest man on earth,? he mused.
Denson shrugged.?Kate actually loves the fat, ugly bastard, poor girl. God knows why. Oh, yeah, and his son loves him too, but Tommie?s only eighteen months old. And old Bossman Tom doted on him. Apart from that… you said it, Sheriff Vogeler.? ?Captain Vogeler, if you have to use something besides my name. I earned that. My dad was a Sheriff, but my elder brother inherited the title. The pompous asshole.?
Another chuckle.?Vogeler, I?m not surprised you made your hometown too hot to hold you, and your friends are just as bad. That priest who was with you was seen going into the Catholic Cardinal?s palace-and it wouldn?t be good politics to try to muscle in there, even though I suspect he gets in and out without our noticing, somehow. The other four, the black kid and the three women, haven?t been found, and I don?t think they?re just waiting for you to get the chop. That sensitive spot between my shoulderblades starts getting an arrow-itch every time I go outdoors. And the two we did catch are the Bossman?s pets now. They?re giving him ideas.? ?I thought you State Police were the Bossman?s loyal muscle. What do you care what ideas he gets?? ?We are,? Denson said, and pulled a pipe out of a case at his belt.?And don?t play dumb with me.?
To Ingolf?s surprise he pulled out the wanderer?s battered briar as well and filled and lighted it, before handing it to him through the bars. ?Your two friends in the playing-card costumes are telling the Bossman he should be a King with everyone swearing homage on bended knee. And telling Kate Heasleroad that she should be Queen. He likes the idea. So does she, though I think it?s mostly the thought of having a crown and a fancy dress like that Princess…? ?Princess Mathilda.? ?Yeah, Mathilda Arminger… has. I said Kate loved Tony. That?s pretty good evidence she?s not too bright, hey?? ?Tony is King, near as no matter, Denson,? Ingolf pointed out. ?That?s the way they think out west, anyway-Mathilda?s and Odard?s bunch of them, at least. They?re nuts for that knights-and-castles stuff. Some of the castles are pretty damned impressive, too; not as big as Des Moines, but high. And you wouldn?t want to meet their heavy cavalry in a bad mood, believe you me.? ?No shit. Actually it all sounds pretty workable. Not all that different from the way we do things, but more… polished. More regularized, you know, sort of as if a lot of the kinks and rough spots had been worked out.?
Ingolf nodded; he?d had the same thought, when he was west of the Cascades. If you subtracted the castles and coats of arms, the Association?s territories had the same setup as most parts of the Midwest; refugees from the cities and their children-grandkids too, just lately-working for landowners, the landowners owing allegiance to bigger landowners who managed the local defenses, and all of them to an overboss. Although the Farmers and Sheriffs in Richland-his own homeland in what had been southern Wisconsin-were a lot less high-and-mighty about it than here in Iowa, and the Bossman of the Free Republic was a lot closer to first among equals than either of the Heasleroads, father or son. ?But a King doesn?t have quite as much need for the State Police,? Denson said, smiling like a shark.?The only reason we haven?t done anything about?em is those Cutters from Montana. They?ve been telling Tony the Bossman should be a fucking God. Provided he follows the-what do they call that funny-farm fake Bible of theirs?? ?The Dictations. And the Book of Dzur. That?s how they run things, which I?ve seen firsthand,? Ingolf said.
Along with some other things I?m not going to mention, because you?d think I was crazy. And being a prisoner in Corwin… you do go crazy. I don?t think I realized how much until I began to recover, in Chenrezi Monastery. ?But I think they have their own Prophet in mind for the job, and nobody else,? he said aloud. ?That?s about what I thought,? Denson said.?Besides, that everyone-is-dirt-beneath-your-feet and soulless-minions-of-the-Nephilim stuff is just far too tempting. I?m all for the Bossman?s authority, but let?s not get ridiculous.?
He produced a silver flask from his belt and took a nip. Without looking around he also lashed out with one foot, and connected with a set of fingers that were gripping the bars of the next cell at the sight of the liquor. The hairy face behind them jerked backward, swearing-quietly-and disappeared. ?Which sort of presents me with a problem,? he said.?They?ve also been telling the Bossman that you and your friends should all get the chop, soonest.? ?That?s the sort of advice Tony Heasleroad usually listens to,? Ingolf said sourly.
There was a certain freedom in his position. Denson?s confiding mood confirmed it; the man was probably talking more freely to him than he could to anyone else, because he didn?t expect one Ingolf Vogeler to be around very much longer. One way or another. Though he wondered at his letting the other prisoners eavesdrop.