Child Of Fire Part 24

"Bag of chips for him." She turned to me again. "Do you have any food allergies? You aren't going to fall over dead if you bite a tomato, are you?"

"Well, I do prefer my a.r.s.enic on the side, thanks."

She chuckled and waved Bobby off. He stuck his hand in his pocket, presumably where he had stuck his gun, and gave me a nasty look. He was leaving me alone with this woman, and he didn't want me to try anything stupid.

The old woman stared at me again. "Poison is a little too hifalutin for us, I'm afraid. We don't go into that fancy stuff. Too easy to screw up."

"Uh-huh."

"You did a real number on Floyd and some of my other boys."

"Floyd can't take a hint."

"Well, that's the G.o.d's honest truth. But Floyd is a workingman, too. He has a nut to make, just like everyone else. How is he supposed to pay his bills while he can't work?"

"Since he was hurt doing a favor for Wyatt, Wyatt ought to give him a cut from his meth money. If Wyatt doesn't take care of his people, he's not going to have them for long."

She blinked. It was a small thing, but I'd surprised her. She covered it up well, though.

"I know all about taking care of people. The folks in Hammer Bay look out for each other. We need each other. If one of us gets into trouble, all of us suffer."

"Is that why the Dubois brothers are shaking down the local businesses for protection money? Is that why you're running a casino? To help the good folks of Hammer Bay?"

"Emmett and I don't get in each other's way. That's how it has to be. And this place does help the community."

"By taking their money?"

Bobby returned to the table. He sat beside us without comment, his hand still in his pocket.

"And the money from people in Sequim, Port Angeles, and Port Townsend, too. Most of the boys who work here are on my construction crews. When there's a boom time, the boys practice their trades: wiring offices, patching roofs, hanging Sheetrock. Frankly, during a boom this place is a pain in the a.s.s. We're understaffed and too busy. But during a bust this place keeps bread on the table for a lot of local men."

"You convinced me. You're a town hero."

"I'm not a hero, smart-a.s.s. I'm an employer. Communities need employers, no matter what you think of the business they do. When my husband pa.s.sed, G.o.d rest his soul, this place was falling apart. No one was building. No one was playing the cards. The wh.o.r.es were walking petri dishes. You know what it's like to sit in a room with a bunch of wh.o.r.es no one wants to touch? It's depressing. They're not typically great at the art of conversation. No offense, Tiff."

Tiffany shrugged. She was still watching me. She looked like she wanted something from me.

"I turned this place around. Me. I rehired the men my husband, G.o.d rest his soul, turned out onto the street, along with a few Cabot let go, too. Do you know how I was able to do all that?"

"Do I have to guess until the food arrives?"

She ignored that, bulling on with her little speech. "Because of Charlie Hammer. Little Charles Hammer the Third opened up a plant and a big office and started putting people to work. Those paychecks went into home repairs and new builds. In other words, to me. And I put a bunch of that money into the pockets of my boys. So you'll understand if I get a little squirrelly when some p.r.i.c.k blows into town and threatens to ruin things."

"Am I the p.r.i.c.k?" I asked. "I hope so, because I was waiting for you to get to my part in this."

"You had a meeting with Charles. Now your little girlfriend is stalking him, trying to follow him around. I know. You can't keep secrets in a town like this."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. I laughed right in her face.

"What's so funny?" she asked. "I know all the secrets around here. I know the mayor's, the reverend's, the chief's-"

"You know Emmett Dubois's secret?" I asked. I wondered if she meant that he was a shape-shifter, or that he liked to have Tiffany dress him in a diaper and spank him.

"I told you he leaves me alone, didn't I?"

"If you know his secret," I said, "you know he should be stopped."

"If by 'stopped' you mean 'killed,' I'm not sure I can. I have a basketful of questions about him still, and I'm not sure I could take him out clean."

Tiffany turned her gaze on Phyllis as if she was about to volunteer for the job. Phyllis spoke to her as if she could read her mind. "Now, Tiff, I don't want you or Bobby or anyone else going near Emmett Dubois. You're good people, but you're not tall enough to ride that ride."

"Yes, ma'am," Tiffany said. Bobby sat quietly, serenely confident that he could do what ever Phyllis asked of him.

I shifted in my seat. My stomach grumbled. "So you know how he manages to take out his enemies with a pack of dogs when he doesn't actually have a pack of dogs."

She eyed me keenly. "I do. It's pretty obvious to anyone willing to believe. It's that willingness that most people can't manage."

I smiled at her. "I'm willing. For good reason."

"Then I suppose you noticed the plants surrounding the wall out front?"

"I saw them, but I'm no botanist. Wait a minute. Are they wolfsbane?" The old woman nodded. I almost laughed again but I held it back. "Maybe we could help each other. We seem to have a common enemy."

"That doesn't make us friends. I want to know why you're interested in Charles Hammer. Until we get that straight, you're nothing."

A man in kitchen whites entered with a tray. He set a plate with a turkey sandwich and an ice cream scoop of soggy cole slaw next to Phyllis. He set a second plate next to me. The sandwich was identical, but I had a tiny pile of supermarket potato chips. We each received a tall gla.s.s of iced tea.

Phyllis gestured at the food. "Tuck in, Nothing."

We picked up our sandwiches. Mine was as dry as plasterboard and just as flavorful. It didn't matter. I hadn't eaten all day. The tea tasted like sour water, so I didn't have more than a sip.

While I chewed, I thought about Phyllis. She was loyal to Hammer, and she had a lot of muscle and cash. One of her men probably had a brother-in-law who worked night security at Hammer Bay Toys, or a wife who worked in his office. She probably also had blackmail material on half the town. She was connected, and I had to figure a way to turn her to our side.

I finished half the sandwich and felt full, but I ate a chip just to keep busy. Phyllis was still working at her sandwich. She reminded me of a bear I'd seen on a nature show-it was tearing into a picnic, hunched over, holding a balled-up pizza in its claws and ducking its head to tear off bites.

I looked over at Tiffany just to have something more pleasant to look at. She stared at me with a creepy insect expression. I got the impression that she was imagining herself having great fun with me, but not in a way I'd especially enjoy.

"So," Phyllis said, then swallowed a lump of dough and meat. "Why did you meet with Able Katz at the toy offices?"

"I thought the whole town knew that by now."

"I want to hear it from you."

"My boss owns a factory in Africa that could handle some of the manufacturing work."

"Outsourcing."

"Sure. I hope you're not surprised, Phyllis." I tried to sound worldly, which I wasn't. "That's how the game is played."

She slapped her hand down on the table. "This isn't a game!"

"And it's his company, not yours. Maybe he started it as a charity, but I don't think he's going to keep doing that forever. His margins are too thin-"

"His company is a success. It's turning a profit, because of our work."

I didn't disagree, and I noticed that she had thrown herself in with the old ladies who were sewing Eagle Rider outfits. "And his ideas. Hard work he can get anywhere."

"He turned you down, didn't he?"

"Able Katz turned us down, on standing orders from Charles. He also agreed to meet with us again. The door's not shut. They're turning a profit now, but everything is boom and bust, just like you said. What happens when they hit a bust period? According to Able, they're overdue. And if they don't sign with us, it'll be someone in Malaysia or the Philippines. In fact, there's a prison in China-"

"Prisoners!" She slammed her hand down on the table, making the plates jump.

I ate another chip while she fumed. I had no idea if anything I'd said made sense. It was a jumble of news stories I'd heard mortared together with bulls.h.i.t. It seemed to be having the desired effect, though.

I leaned closer to her. "That's not the end of it." I waited a moment for her mind to clear. When I had her full attention again, I continued. "You know what Emmett Dubois is." I paused again, making sure that she kept up with me. "Well, near as I can figure, Charles Hammer is something worse."

"What is this? What bulls.h.i.t is this?"

I was losing her, but I had to risk it. "How do you think he's been so successful? Even Able Katz doesn't understand it. You remember when I said every business has a boom and bust? Katz knows that Hammer Bay Toys should have had a bust by now. Even a little one. But they haven't."

"Where is this going?"

"The guy is making his success happen another way, and the whole town is paying the price."

Bobby was looking at me like I was old fish. I couldn't read the look in Tiffany's eyes at all. Phyllis was squinting suspiciously at me again. "What price is this supposed to be?"

I sat back in my chair. "Where are the kids? Where are the kids in your town? The school yards are empty. The parks, too."

Bobby turned to Phyllis. "This dude is out of his mind."

I watched Phyllis's face. "Imagine what they'd say if you told them about the Dubois brothers."

Phyllis kept staring at me. "Are you saying he's made everyone sterile or something?"

"Worse. I'm saying the kids were here, but now they're gone and no one can remember them. How many girls do you have who have kids? It seems like it should be a pretty common thing for working girls to have a couple of kids. How many do?"

"We look after our girls here," she said. Her jaw was thrust forward, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge what I was saying, but her eyes looked troubled.

"What about your boys? How many of them are married with kids?"

"There's Ty, and Thomas, and, uh, Richard."

"That's it? Ty, Thomas, and Richard? Three guys out of how many? And how many of those men drive station wagons or minivans-cars no guy would own if he wasn't a father? Your future is almost gone, and you don't even realize it."

Tiffany turned toward Phyllis. "I don't like what he's saying." She stood and circled the table toward me. I tensed, putting both feet on the floor.

Bobby slipped his hand into his pocket. I stayed put.

Tiffany bent over me and patted my face. Her hands were soft but clumsy. She smelled like baby powder. "You must have been having a bad dream or something." She tilted my face up and looked into my eyes. She had the stare of a praying mantis. After a few seconds, she saw what she wanted to see and went back to her chair.

"Do you see those men behind you?" Phyllis asked. I turned and looked at them. "Any one of them," she continued, "would put a bullet in your head if I asked them to." Behind me, Bobby coughed. "We could drop your body in the rain forest. No one would find you. No one's found any of them."

I turned back to her. "Killing people is easy," I said. "It doesn't impress me. What would impress me is if you could wake up and see what's going on."

"All that talking must have left you parched," Tiffany said. "Why-"

"Tiff," Phyllis said sharply. "The boys over there are getting bored. Why don't you talk to them for a while?"

Tiffany looked a little stung as she retreated toward the door. I didn't pay much attention.

"So," Phyllis said, "How is it that you can blow into town and see what's going on, but we can't?"

I couldn't tell her anything about Annalise or the spells she'd put on me. "Willingness to believe," I said. It was the wrong moment to play coy with her, but I didn't have a choice. Annalise was already unhappy that I'd showed the sc.r.a.p of wood to Emmett Dubois. I didn't want to repeat the mistake.

"What about your lady friend?"

"Never mind her."

Phyllis turned to Bobby, "Speaking of which, they're late."

Bobby took out a cell phone and started to dial.

Oh no.

Phyllis looked at me. "We'll ask her when she gets here."

"You didn't send men after her, did you? You didn't give them guns or anything?"

"Don't break a sweat, kid, I told them not to hurt her."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The salty chips had made me thirsty; I took a swallow of iced tea just to bide my time. So much for recruiting Henstrick. I felt a little dizzy.

"No answer," Bobby said.

"Don't bother," I said. "They're dead."

Phyllis glared at me. "What do you mean, dead?"

"I mean, if you sent men to strong-arm my boss the way they've been trying to strong-arm me-with guns and knives and bad manners-they are dead. Thirty men couldn't kidnap my boss. Get it? If you want to talk to her, visit her yourself or send someone to ask politely."

My head started to feel light. The lights went dim. I suddenly felt very tired.

"Dammit," I heard Phyllis say. Her voice sounded far away. "Send someone after them. Find out what's going on."

Then, darkness. My last thought was that I was helpless now. They could do anything they wanted to me. I took that thought into oblivion.