Whispering Nickel Idols Part 32

"Men. That's the point. The A-Laf cult. Which, the way she tells it, is a lot nastier than we imagined. They think women are evil. That they're fit only to be breeding slaves."

I sensed faint but constrained mirth. "Careful, Old Bones. She's wound up. And your att.i.tude is pretty bad."

"It isn't his his att.i.tude I had in mind, big boy." att.i.tude I had in mind, big boy."

Time for a change of subject. "Dean! Where are you? Bring something for Miss Tate. Singe, how about you help her with those wet things?"

Tinnie glared. I was being thoughtful.

The air of amus.e.m.e.nt grew. As I have observed previously, when you get hit hard enough for long enough, you do begin to learn As I have observed previously, when you get hit hard enough for long enough, you do begin to learn.

Tinnie glowered.

Your visit with the girl was more productive than you think, Miss Tate.

He left it at that. Until Tinnie had eaten and warmed up and grown less cranky. Then he told us that Tinnie had distracted Penny enough for him to slip a couple of suggestions into her divine head. I I could not browse. The girl has been trained to recognize and resist a probe. Therefore, I fed what was there. Fear. Despair. Loneliness. And physical misery could not browse. The girl has been trained to recognize and resist a probe. Therefore, I fed what was there. Fear. Despair. Loneliness. And physical misery.

He didn't share the latter with Tinnie, who was likely to turn all outraged.

She was still eating. And listening to Singe talk about chances for a bath followed by a long nap. Singe suddenly shut up, stood upright, and stared at the Dead Man with glazed eyes. Then she headed for the front door.

This should be interesting. He didn't explain. Back to Penny Dreadful. The impulses insinuated should heighten the child's entire range of emotion. We can expect her to look for emotional support The impulses insinuated should heighten the child's entire range of emotion. We can expect her to look for emotional support.

It would behoove you to make sure that Dean does not leave the house before she cracks.

53.

b.u.t.terb.u.t.t sent Dean to the door. Dean did try to sneak out. Chuckles didn't let him. The old boy got all foamy-mouthed about supposed shortages in our stores.

The rest of us got excited about the three bipeds delivered by Scithe and several Relway Runners. Scithe told me, "Ask and ye shall receive. Sign this receipt, Garrett."

I signed, checked his catch. "The bruno seems a bit dull."

"That would be his natural state. Though they did drug him up. It was the only way to keep him docile. This other one, you smack him some and he gets cooperative."

"The long, skinny one the clerk?"

The third man was tall and vague. He slouched with hands in pockets. Defeated. The part in his hair was four inches wide and ran back to his crown.

"Yeah. He's a twofer. A bonus baby. He'll do your transcription. Call it public service, to work off bad behavior. The Director gets a kick out of that kind of thing."

"What'd he do?"

"He poisoned one of our more exotic Karentine subjects."

I didn't get it. I was in slow mode.

"Kolda, Garrett. Your herbalist. They ran him down this morning."

"Relway has a twisted sense of humor."

"We enjoy it. Got to go. Always more bad boys to catch."

Dean saw the strongarms of the law to the door. He attempted another escape. Old Bones shut him down. Singe took him back to the kitchen.

I stared at Kolda. Stared and stared. The man almost killed me. Though not deliberately. Teacher White asked for a tool. Kolda delivered. He would've sold the same drug to me if I'd asked, with silver in hand.

He does not know who you are.

"Too bad. Suppose we put him to work." I'd get even later.

Before he started on the Green Pants crew, the Dead Man rifled Kolda's head. He didn't find much. You have brought women home who have more between the ears You have brought women home who have more between the ears.

"Hey! Tinnie resents that!" Knowing he wouldn't have included her in his last.

He is a power within his own field, however. He could write a major grimoire on medicinal herbs. He is not a social creature. Though he does have a wife and three children.

"Marvelous. Good for him. I can barely keep my eyes open. Before I fall asleep I'd like to know if you mined any nuggets out of these fools."

Kolda and the Ymberian foreman became suspicious. Kolda turned scared. The Dead Man calmed him down, set him up to record what he dug out of the other two.

Ah. Here is an interesting tidbit. Our once-upon-a-time friends Mr. Crash and Mr. Sadler began their careers as s.e.xtons in the A-Laf cult. Chodo Contague suborned them. Not that they were especially devout. Being s.e.xtons allowed them to indulge their needs to hurt people.

That sounded like those boys. And my old pal Chodo.

The Dead Man made the equivalent of a girlish squeal of dismay.

"What?" I couldn't keep my eyes open.

Tinnie had gone up to bed already. But she'd had a hard few days.

The smaller one has hidden defenses. Nasty ones. He is pulling them together now. He has only just realized the truth of his situation.

"A little slow, is he?" Not surprising, though. A lot of line boss types amble around with their heads stuck in dark and smelly places.

Our friends in the Unpublished Committee treated him with a preparatory drug, too. Therefore, he is slower than he might be.

Ouch!

"What?"

There are mousetraps in there. I got a finger nipped. This will be challenging. He was excited. And dangerous. He has some minor training in the use of sorcery And dangerous. He has some minor training in the use of sorcery.

Oh, h.e.l.l. What did I get myself into now?

I'd worry about it after another nap. If b.u.t.terb.u.t.t didn't provoke the Ymberian into imploding the house.

54.

Three hours was time enough to restore me to a functional level.

There'd been changes. Saucerhead had turned up. He nursed a mug of something warm. John Stretch was in Singe's personal chair, hard at work on a big bowl of stewed apples. My mouth watered. Melondie Kadare was absent. I hadn't seen her for a while. The weather must have caught up with her tribe.

Singe brought me a bowl. Summoned by Chuckles, no doubt. It was gruel.

"I see the place is still standing." Both the Ugly Pants foot soldier and Ugly Pants manager appeared to be sleeping.

The most powerful wizard who ever lived cannot work his wickedness if he cannot focus. The key to sorcery is will and concentration.

What might the Dead Man be doing inside the deacon's skull? He had me confused and boggled without even trying.

"Good to know. To what do we owe the honor of foul-weather visits from Saucerhead Tharpe and John Stretch?"

Ask them. I am occupied. As you proceed, however, go through the pockets of the s.e.xton.

Singe brought John Stretch another bowl of apples and a mug of beer. Saucerhead had a beer himself. Singe is a generous girl when it isn't her purse that's being drained.

Saucerhead seemed less likely to be distracted. "So what's the word?"

"I got your rock back. Bitte put up a fight, but... actually, I brung that back when you was still sick. It's on your curio shelf."

We have a set of shelves where we keep memorabilia. Some are good for a chuckle. Now that the pain has gone away.

"Thanks. And?"

"I been going on tracking down all those times where somebody caught on fire and died."

That must've been exciting. Maybe the G.o.ds did me a big favor, letting me get poisoned. "So?"

"So I started with forty-one cases where human combustion was supposed to be involved. That was bulls.h.i.t, mostly."

Huh? "All right. Go on."

"Well, right away I found six times when what it was, it was kitchen accidents. Grease fires. And with the other cases, almost every time they was a ordinary explanation. What're you doing to that guy?"

"Rolling him. Chuckles thinks he has something in his pocket."

Singe, pandering to our freeloaders, asked, "How is the new girlfriend?"

Color appeared in Tharpe's cheeks.

I said, "Huh?"

Far be it from me to discourage a man, however hopeless. I did not pursue it now, though I did wonder how Saucerhead had found time to get involved with another woman. "So most of the supposed... what did you call them? Human combustions?"

"Yeah. Spontaneous human combustion. It's sorcerer talk."

Really? We'd look at that later. "So most weren't what rumors make them out to be."

"Nope. They was some that there wasn't no explanation for, though. I got the feeling some more could be explained if somebody can work themselves up to admit that they done something really stupid. But, even so, some has got to be them spontaneous human combustions."

"Including Buy Claxton?"

"Who?"

"The woman who caught fire during Chodo's birthday party."

"I don't know nothin' about her. I didn't look at her. But she was in a kitchen when it happened, wasn't she? What did you find?"

I'd found a little green egg in Big Boy's pocket. A dead ringer for the one on my curio shelf. Interesting. Some secret mutual identification charm for members of A-Laf's gang?

My partner could root that out.

"How many cases?"

"Seven that need a closer look on account of they all involved Chodo."

"Ah. Ah?"

"Chodo owned the places where the fires happened. Some of the other ones, too, but in these ones Chodo was there."

"You're s.h.i.tting me."

"Not hardly. You're my favorite t.u.r.d."

"Saucerhead. We're in mixed company here."

"As mixed as it gets, I'd say."

"Talk to me about Chodo's part."

"He was there. Every time. Hang on. I might be misspeaking. Somebody in a wheeled chair was there before the fires happened. But not when the bodies was found."