Wake of the Bloody Angel

Chapter Seven

I made good time back to Neceda and got there a week later, in the late afternoon.

The tavern was crowded. Both Angelina and Callie worked the floor. Occasionally Angie had hired other girls, but none of them lasted very long; she was not, as you can imagine, an easy woman to work for. She demanded almost superhuman stamina and had no patience with mistakes. Callie succeeded, I always thought, because she never took Angie seriously.

I stood in the door until my eyes adjusted and waited for Angelina to notice me. When she did, she nearly dropped the tray of empty tankards she carried. She quickly regrouped and said, “You’re back already?” as if my appearance were worth no more than a raised eyebrow.

“It’s an update, not a final report. I need to talk to you alone.”

She waved at the full tables. “I’m busy right now.” “Then take a break, ” I said through my teeth. Normally, I wouldn’t have been so brusque, but I’d had the whole ride back to stew over the fact that she neglected to mention her son, and who knew what else. I was, to put it mildly, peeved.

She saw it, too. “Okay,” she said, and stepped over to catch Callie as she headed out with a fresh round of drinks. The younger waitress listened to Angie, then glared at me.

Upstairs, I closed both doors and gestured for Angelina to have a seat. As she did, I opened the windows to let in some fresh air. I said, “Looks like you need to get Callie some more help.”

“She’s the only girl in this town who comes in to work, not to snag a new boyfriend.”

“What about Minnow Shavers?”

“Are you kidding? She’ll be out of town as soon as her father looks away long enough. She can’t stand Neceda.”

I paused, took a deep breath, and tried to remain calm. Starting off with a rant seemed counterproductive. “Just so we’re clear on definitions, Angie, leaving out something really important counts as lying. So you lied to me.”

“About what?”

“Your son.”

Her expression didn’t change, and she said nothing.

“I met him,” I added.

She had to lick her lips before speaking. “And… how is he?”

“Grown up. And a little bitter,” I added wryly.

She continued to look steadily at me. “I didn’t realize he’d still be around Watchorn, or I would’ve mentioned him. I wonder who finally took him in when I left?”

I didn’t answer. If she truly didn’t know, that tankard of parental worms could wait for another day. “I have to tell you, Angie, I’m awfully close to giving you back your gold and dropping this right now. What else have you left out that might be important?”

“He’s the only thing. I really didn’t think he’d still be there. Will you think less of me if I say he hardly ever crosses my mind?”

“I’m in no position to judge anyone. That’s between you and your conscience.”

She said nothing for a long moment. “I can’t fix what I did to him. And it was still the best choice out of a pile of bad ones. For him, and for me. I’m sorry he’s upset about it, but life’s tough for everyone.”

Her blithe answer annoyed me, so I pulled out the big sword. “He’s a better parent than you, at least.”

That took a moment to sink in. “I… what?”

“You’re a grandmother.”

She blinked a few times, then looked down at her hands in her lap. At last she said, “A boy or a girl?”

“One boy. Not sure what the other one is.”

“Two?”

“Not much else to do where he is.”

She nodded slowly, the way you do when all the implications of something haven’t quite registered. “Then I suppose I should-”

“No. Don’t do anything. He doesn’t want to see you, and his life is chaotic enough. Just file it away under ‘Things I should’ve told Eddie before I sent him off on that wild goose chase.’ ”

“So are you giving up?”

“You know I’m not. I’ve already spent enough of your money to feel obligated. And believe it or not, I’ve got a lead. But I’m telling you now: If I come across any other big secrets like that, I’m packing it in. I won’t work for someone who doesn’t level with me.”

She nodded slowly. “Understandable,” she said blankly.

“Goddammit, Angie!” I slapped my desk and she jumped. She stared up at me as if she’d just noticed I was in the room. I’d never seen her like this, all flat and numb. Then again, I’d never imagined her as a mother and a grandmother.

Finally she said, “I’m sorry, Eddie. I’ve kept things to myself a long time; it goes from being a habit to a lifestyle. So what have you found out about Edward?”

“That he was known as Black Edward Tew, and that the Bloody Angel sank in a storm off Watchorn Harbor with only one survivor. Supposedly it was loaded with treasure, and he was coming back for you.”

She nodded. “I’ve heard that story, too. But I never met this so-called survivor, and I don’t know anyone else who has, either. So there’s no proof that his ship sank there, or anywhere.”

“No, but he’s my sole lead, so I’m going after him. His name’s Wendell Marteen. Mean anything to you?”

“I never heard the story told with the same name twice.”

“It came from a reliable source.”

“Who?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to mention Rody Hawk. He was like a demon you summoned by saying his name out loud, and I didn’t want to invoke him here.

“I’m your client,” Angelina pressed.

“That means you pay me to do my job, not tell me how to do it. Now, let me ask you again: Is there anything else I need to know before I go back out to look for this guy?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded.

I sat heavily in the chair behind my desk. “All right. I’ll be heading out again in the morning. I’ll be in touch again when I have something to report.”

“Do you need any more money?”

“No. If I do, I’ll let you know.”

She stood. I did not. I said, “People remember you. They said you were a witch.”

She smiled. It was the kind of smile that made swords rise on their own. “I was. My spell was that I liked doing things other women didn’t. Like being with their men. If those proper ladies had said yes instead of no more often, I’d have been powerless.” Then she left without another word.

I sat listening to the muffled sounds of the tavern for a long time, wondering about Angelina’s effect on Edward Tew. Had he turned pirate because of her, or had she turned him in spite of himself? And did that really matter, if he was lying dead on the bottom of the ocean?

After Liz showed me how glad she was to see me, we lay in bed and I told her about my adventures so far, once again leaving out Rody Hawk. If I didn’t want him manifesting in my office, I sure didn’t want him here.

When I finished, she said, “Wow. Angelina’s a grandmother. Hell, even picturing her as a mother is hard. Or a cranky aunt. She hates kids.”

“Maybe that’s why. If every kid reminds you of the one you abandoned, you probably wouldn’t want to be around them.”

“What about you?”

“Oh, I think she likes me okay.”

She tugged on my beard. “No, kids. What about you and kids?”

“They’re all right.” I hadn’t been around many, but they didn’t make me nervous like they did some men. I’d found that if you were honest with them, they were pretty much like anyone else, except smaller and with shorter attention spans.

“You ever thought about having any?” Liz asked.

“Who says I don’t? I was a wild blade for a long time before I met you.”

She chuckled. “If you had kids and knew about it, I’d know, too. You’d be sending them money and making sure they stayed out of trouble.”

“Maybe.”

She was silent for a moment, then said, “Think we’re too old to have any of our own?”

“Yes.”

“You’re probably right. Tough to squeeze ’em in between my deliveries and your saving the damsels.”

I turned on my side to look at her. “Have you been thinking about this much?”

“No, not really. I mean, the time for this was when we were both twenty years younger, right?”

“Yes. Nobody wants their dad to be so old, he could be their grandpa.”

“Yeah.” She snuggled close, and I kissed the top of her head. I felt her breathing change as she settled in to sleep, but I stayed awake staring at the ceiling. If I found him alive, I wondered how Edward Tew would react when I told him he was a grandfather.

When I finally fell asleep, I dreamed I was on a ship. Two men stood at the wheel: Rody Hawk, and a man with Duncan Tew’s jet-black hair whose face I couldn’t see. Hawk smiled, pointed at me, and gestured that I should join them. I was terrified down to my toenails and screamed, “Son of-”