Read Book 03 - Cold Copper Tears for Free Online Page B

but inclination ran
head-on into her instinct for self-preservation.
    She didn’t have to be nice to me. That wasn’t a
condition here. But I’m not so nice a guy I wouldn’t
let her find that out for herself. “It would have to be
late,” she said. “I do have to work.”
    “Pick your time. Tell Dean. Give him an idea what
you’d like. It’ll be better than anything you’ve
had for awhile.”
    She smiled. “All right.” I think that was the first
genuine smile she’d shown me. She marched off to the
kitchen.
    I paused, leaned against the door frame, and sneered at the Dead
Man. I had my ulterior motives for wining and dining Jill
Craight—beyond those I’d been born with. She still
might stir old Chuckles up. I’m also a great believer in
synchronicity.
    It was a lead-pipe cinch that, because I’d made a date,
Tinnie would suffer a miraculous remission from the sulks. Somebody
from the Tate place would come to let me know before Jill went
home.
    Jill came back. “Dean is a nice man.”
    Was the implication that I was not? “Tricky, too. You got
to watch him. Especially if you’re not married. A great
ambassador for the institution of marriage, Dean is.”
    “But he’s not married himself.”
    A quick vixen, friend Jill. How much had she pried out of him?
“Not married and never has been. But that doesn’t slow
him down. Come on. I’ll walk you home.”
    “You sure you can spare the time?”
    “It’s on my way,” I lied. I figured I could
use a chat with Saucerhead.
     
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10
    Tharpe fell in on Jill’s far side before we’d walked
a hundred yards. She was startled. I chuckled. “Get used to
it.”
    That didn’t excite her. It was one more hint that things
were going on that she didn’t want known.
    I still had her pegged for a working girl, if a class model of
same.
    “Anything interesting going on?” I asked
Saucerhead.
    “Nope.”
    “Smith and Smith watching the place again?”
    “Yeah. Pokey was right. They’re amateurs. They look
like a couple of farmers. Want me to grab one and tie him in knots
till he talks?”
    “Not yet. Just keep an eye on them. See who they report
to.”
    Saucerhead grunted. “There’s somebody watching your
place, too. I spotted them while I was waiting.”
    I wasn’t surprised. “Chukos?”
    He shrugged. “Could be. They was young. But they
wasn’t showing colors.”
    “They wouldn’t be if they were Vampires.” I
live in Travelers’ territory, just inside their frontier with
the Sisters of Doom.
    We walked on. As we approached Jill’s place I tried to
talk us inside for a look around. She wouldn’t have it. In
fact, she didn’t want to be seen with us in her own
neighborhood. She probably thought we’d lower property
values.
    Saucerhead and I wandered around so I could get a look at Smith
and Smith. They did look like farmers. They certainly didn’t
look dangerous, but I didn’t spend much time worrying about
them. That was Saucerhead’s job.
    I jogged a block out of my way going home, stopping at a
tenement so decayed derelicts shunned it. I went around the side,
down to a cellar door. Standing a foot deep in trash, I knocked.
The door almost collapsed.
    It opened an inch. An eye looked at me from brisket level.
“Garrett,” I said. “I want to talk to
Maya.” I flashed a piece of silver. The door shut.
    Now a little game, a stall just to show me who ran things
here.
    The door opened. A girl of thirteen wearing nothing but a potato
sack—probably stolen with the potatoes still inside—and
a lot of dirt stood there. The sack was so frayed one ripening
rosebud peeked out. She caught my glance and sneered.
    “Love your hair, kid.” It might have been blonde.
Who could tell? It hadn’t been washed in recent
generations.
    From inside I heard, “Cut the comedy, Garrett. You want to
talk to me get your butt in here.”
    I stepped into the citadel of the Sisters of Doom,
TunFaire’s only all-human, all-female street