Read Book 04 - Old Tin Sorrows for Free Online

going. There was a door back there.
    Hey. Mom Garrett didn’t raise many idiots. I got it. “I could use a look at the grounds, though, and somebody to tell me what I’m seeing.”
    He relaxed some, did a slick about-face and marched. I hup-two-threed behind him. I didn’t feel a bit of nostalgia for the bad old days.
    Peters didn’t say anything till we were out of earshot of the house, clear of the formal garden behind it, away from cover where eavesdroppers might lurk. “You saw the old man. What do you think?”
    “He’s in bad shape.”
    “You know any poisons that could do that to him?”
    I gave it an honest think. “No. But I’m no expert. I know a guy who is. But he’d have to see the General.” Morley Dotes knows whatever there is to know about doing in your fellow man. Or elf, him being a breed with more dark-elfin than human blood.
    “I don’t think I could swing that. One outsider here has the place in an uproar already.”
    “Yeah. It’s a regular busted-up beehive.” Our walk to isolation hadn’t shown me a single body in motion. “It was just a suggestion. You want to know something, you get the answer from somebody who knows.”
    “I’ll give it a shot.”
    “The business about the thefts. Is it real? The cook thinks it’s all in the General’s imagination.”
    “It’s not. She’d think that. Back when we first came here he did have a spell when he imagined things. She doesn’t get out of the kitchen much and she has a few loose threads herself. Most of the time she doesn’t know what year it is.”
    “She tried to draft me as kitchen help.”
    “She would. Gods! I remember your cooking.”
    “I remember what I had to work with. Muskrats and cattail roots. And bugs for garnish.”
    He grunted, almost smiled again.
    “Don’t tell me. You can’t have fond memories of those days.”
    “No, Garrett. Even lifers aren’t that crazy. I don’t miss that part.” He shuddered.
    “Eh? What?”
    “Bad rumor. They may call up the veterans to run Glory Mooncalled down.”
    I laughed.
    “What’s so damned funny?”
    “Best joke I’ve heard in weeks. You know how many people that takes in? Every human male in the population over twenty-five. You think
any
of them would go without a fuss? A call-up like that would start a revolution.”
    “Maybe. You think it
could
be poison?”
    “I suppose. Assume it is. Speculate.”
    “I don’t know anything about poisons. How could it be given to him?”
    I’m not an expert, but I have a professional interest and keep my ears open when such things are discussed. “It could be in his food or drink. It could be dusted into his bed so it would seep through his skin. It could even be in the air he breathes. Looking for ‘how’ can be a dead end unless you know ‘what.’ Better to look at the people. Who has access?”
    “Everybody, one way or another.”
    “Take it a step farther. Who’d profit? If somebody’s killing him, that somebody has to have a reason. Right?”
    He grunted. “Obviously whoever’s doing it believes he has. I’ve been trying to figure that out from the beginning. And I can’t come up with one.”
    I didn’t have any trouble. “What’s the estate worth? Who does it go to?”
    “Doesn’t make sense. Jennifer gets half. The other half gets divided amongst the rest of us.”
    “Give me a value in gold marks. Just a guess. Then ask yourself what some people might do for a share of that.”
    “Three million for the house?” He shrugged. “A million for the contents. Two or three million for the real estate. He was offered three for the two north sections last year. He was tempted because he’s strapped for cash and he wants to set Jennifer up so she’s fixed for life, no matter what she does.”
    “Three million for just part of the property?”
    “Somebody wanted the land near the city. But the offer was withdrawn because he dithered. They bought a tract from the Hillmans instead. For less money.”
    “No bad feelings?”
    “Not that I heard.”
    I did some rough division in my head. I came up with around a