"And you're one of the select few committed to the original ideals of the bold and brave drafters of the Social Authority mandate. I don't buy it." It was my turn to stand and pace a little. My head throbbed immediately, so I leaned against a desk along the far wall. It groaned, but held my weight.
"Fuck, you're a cynic, Wildclown." Willieboy turned in his chair. "That's not it at all. I work for one of the groups inside Authority. But we're on the level-you know, we're not into any of this religious shit, or just violence for the fun of it. We're straight money people. I'm not alone, and I'm not pure. We'll put pressure on a bad loan, you know, lean on troublemakers; but we don't grind people up. There's no profit in that."
"Who does?" I rubbed smoke from my eye.
"Hard to say. There are a lot of groups big and small. There's even a bunch of ex-cops and law enforcement agents trying to clean things up. Some of the worst are the religious groups. They haven't handled the Change well, you know. But look out for the King's Men. They work for the King of the Dead. You probably heard of him-William King? He was about a hundred-year-old Senator when he died, and his death was violent, so what's left of him ain't pretty. But he's become a powerbroker to be reckoned with. And he hires any Authority Enforcers or Inspectors who get killed in the line of duty, so he's growing a nice little army let me tell you-and he's connected, all those dead inspectors got friends. Anyway, we didn't care about his operation-nobody did. Everything he did was involved with afterlife stuff-skin-stretchers. He does some smuggling, illegal drug sales. But he stayed on his own turf. That's the only rule we follow. Stay on your own turf. And he was dead, and dead guys only go so far. They aren't the same as us."
"He didn't see it that way." My sarcasm was obvious.
"Hard to say." Willieboy looked evasive.
"You were at the Morocco because of Cotton not Billings. Regenerics?" My face fell, I'm sure I heard it hit the floor. "You took up a position in the lobby, and hoped for the answer to walk through the door. You did your desk clerk act, and all that talk about Van Reydner was so much smoke."
"No." He looked at me gravely. "I gave you the story we got from the real desk clerk. Lucky little bastard said he got into her panties, too. Anyway, since Authority is so broken up inside, well, any case with clout is over-investigated. Everybody gets a look to see if it matters to him. My group, let's call them the Businessmen, had a special interest in this one."
"You moved in fast…didn't the other groups get wise? Someone would have recognized you."
"Authority is big, and I don't always look like this." He waved a hand across his face.
"Cotton was hiding at the Morocco." The whiskey was taming my pain. "He had something for you."
Willieboy leaned back. "Yeah, and whoever whacked Billings was the only witness to Cotton's murder. Billings was in Blacktime when it happened." He paused. "About a couple weeks before the murders we started getting calls from a guy who said he needed protection. Well, he called a lot of people since every phone at HQ is tapped, so everyone inside perked up. He said he needed protection for a valuable item but didn't know who to trust. I guess most educated people approach Authority with caution. In one of his last calls he said he created Regenerics. Said he'd share the spoils if someone would help him out. Well the Businessmen have tech people and they laid it all out for us. If this thing worked there would be plenty of folding money for all, right? We had to get it onto our turf though. If it was right-if it worked, well, we knew we were talking billions. So we wanted to try to bring the guy in. Records showed us that Cotton was the leading authority on Regenerics and he worked in town for King Industries so we knew we were going to have some trouble. Not our turf right? But when we finally put a plan together to grab him he was gone. That night he calls us says he needs protection. And there it ended." Willieboy fell silent, studying his nails. "He's dead the next day."
"How the hell did I figure into it?" I grabbed another cigarette. "You must have linked the two murders."
"You've got to remember. Everybody in Authority is on a special team, and each team watches the next team. And the Businessmen are not a very powerful team, yet. Anyway, there was a ban on investigation of the Cotton murder that came down the chain so anything we wanted we had to get without drawing attention. The smaller groups, we can still get a shit-kicking. I put Billings onto you because you can work autonomously. You were unconnected and expendable. Anyway, if I got you working, I could begin to find out who had killed Cotton. The link was obvious."
I smiled. "I beat the bushes; you shoot anything I scare into the air. Why not just tell me about Cotton? You knew he was dead, but you let me go after Billings' killer."
"Let's face it. I knew about Cotton, and from that it was easy to put the two murders together. I thought you were a down and outer, but with you out snooping around I knew you'd draw attention away from me. The fact that you actually cleaned up the Billings case surprised me." Willieboy leveled his gaze at my wounds. "Who worked you over?"
"My girlfriend. Listen, you haven't explained why you would let me solve the Billings' case, and then just sit back on my ass." I was annoyed. It wasn't nice to find I'd been somebody's tool.
"You solved it but you didn't produce Adrian or Van Reydner. We needed them." Willieboy gazed at me for a moment. "I hoped you'd find something that would lead you into the Cotton murder, but the fire and news gags from our leaders, the Primes, kind of fucked everything up. We all know that the Primes just take orders from the biggest groups anyway and so we knew the King didn't want anyone else finding what Cotton lost-so he pulled strings, right? You didn't know about the other murder because the story was suppressed. That made if hard for you to find Adrian or Van Reydner. You thought it was over-then you disappeared.
"I didn't think Adrian would try to snuff you-must be your personality. He pretty much gave away his hand with that. Whatever he heard, or picked up that night must be worth a lot. When you disappeared I figured he got you." He smiled around a new cigarette. "Now, answer my questions. There is an avalanche getting ready to fall on your head. And a lot of nasty people are looking at you right now. I'm pretty sure you're investigating Cotton. I want to know who you're working for and what you've dug up. It's the only way I can keep you alive."
I gazed into Willieboy's eyes and tried to imagine any compassion residing behind them. I shook my head.
"Then you're dead," he leaned forward hissing. "You're dead."
I could feel Elmo tense beside me.
"I'm dead, then," I said with as much nonchalance as I could muster.
Chapter 45
Willieboy made claws out of his hands, and then wedged them between his knees. His eyelids fluttered with mock compassion.
"I'm just a lowly bush beater. Any tigers and the clown gets it." I tried to change the topic. "You already said I was expendable." I straightened. "The fire at the Morocco makes more sense. If one of your teams didn't want the murders investigated, they'd just torch it. Do you have any idea who ordered that?"
"No." Willieboy leaned back in his chair, apparently willing to wait for his report.
"How long have you been following me?"
"A long time." Willieboy was reluctant to let that cat out of the bag. He studied his nails. "Shit, we lost you in the landfill. A couple of the boys I'd sent to tail you to Simpson's, fucking lost you in the fog."
"I talked to Cane."
"Oh, don't worry about fucking Cane! He wouldn't tell us anything. He's got his own deal going on the inside."