Bitter Gold Hearts

______ VIII ______

Morley himself stopped by to let me know what he'd learned. Old Dean let him in and brought him to the overconfident closet I call an office. I didn't rise and I didn't offer the usual banter. Dean went off to the kitchen to get Morley some of the apple juice we keep in the cold well against those millennial moments when I don't feel like having beer.

"You look glum, Garrett."

"It happens. The strain of being Mr. Smiles catches up."

"Well, you may have good reason. Even though you don't know it yet."

I showed him my eyebrow trick. He wasn't impressed. Everyone knows what familiarity breeds.

"I put out feelers that touched everybody in the snatch racket. Nobody has gone underground. Nobody is scoping out a job on the Hill. I got the personal guarantee of some of the best and the worst that there's nobody in this burg crazy enough to go for the Stormwarden's kid. Not for a million in gold. Gold don't do you any good when you're getting your toes roasted in the sorceress's basement."

"That's what's supposed to give me a sour puss?"

"No. You get that when I tell you about the guy who was tailing you last night. Or your lady, actually. You should have told me she was Amiranda Crest, Garrett. I wouldn't have made remarks about her father."

"She's used to it. What about the tail?"

"He trotted right down here after you, not even thinking somebody might be following him too. Fool. He hung around watching the place for a couple of hours. About the time even a moron would have figured out that she was spending the night he took off and headed"

Dean stuck his head in through the doorway. "Excuse me, Mr. Garrett. There's a Mr. Slauce here to see you, representing somebody he calls the Domina Dount. Will you see him?"

"I can wait," Morley told me.

"Out that door." I indicated the closet's second exit, which opened on a hallway leading past the Dead Man's room. "Bring Mr. Slauce in, Dean."

Slauce was a blustery, potbellied, red-faced little man who was way out of his element. I think he had me pegged for a professional killer. He worked hard at being polite. It was obvious he wasn't accustomed to that.

"Mr. Garrett?"

I confessed that I was that very devil. "Domina Dount would like to see you again. She said to tell you she's received another letter from her correspondent and would like further professional advice. I assume you understand what she means. She didn't explain to me."

"I know what she meant."

"She authorized me to offer you ten marks gold for your time."

I wondered what she really wanted. She was throwing one hell of a lot of money around. A laborer, if he got paid in a lump for the time, wouldn't draw ten marks gold for three months of his life. And right now gold was strong because Glory Moon-called's successes in the Cantard had put several more silver mines into Karentine hands, meaning all their production came north.

Willa Dount might want to climb my leg about Amiranda. For ten marks I would take what she wanted to hand out. There is never enough money around our place because of the endless fix-ups.

"Leave word at the gate that I'm on my way. I'll be there as soon as I take care of a few details and have lunch."

Slauce's ruddy face got redder. The nerve of me! I was supposed to frog when uptown said jump. He wanted to drag me off by the heels. But his instructions held. "Very well. I'm sure she would appreciate your taking as little time as possible. She did seem distracted." He counted five two-mark pieces onto my desk.

"I won't be more than a half hour behind you. Dean? Will you see Mr. Slauce to the door?" We like to know that our guests are out when they head out. Some of them are so slow they might not remember which side of the door they're supposed to be on when it shuts. Morley returned to the room.

"Better bite those things to see if they're real, Garrett. Somebody's running a game."

"How so?"

"That's the guy who was tailing your lady last night."

"Yeah? He looked taller in the dark."

"Maybe he was wearing platforms. I think it's time you thought about getting out of this."

"I'm not in it."

"I know you, Garrett. You're going to get into it up to your ears if you don't turn your back now."

Morley is usually not much shakes as a prophet. I paid him no mind, thanking him and telling him the favor was a chunk off the account he owed from the vampire business. I saw him out, then let Dean serve me lunch. Then I ambled off to earn my ten gold marks.