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with all evil
fled!
    Darker possibilities occurred to me as well.
    Playmate began to poke and prod me with a singletree forefinger.
“Garrett, I know it’s a big, empty wasteland without
many landmarks but how about you don’t get lost inside your
own head right now?”
    I shook the gourd in question. The waste space was anything but
empty right now. Most of that speculation seemed to be leaking over
from the Dead Man’s secondary minds. Suggesting that the
puzzle had him sufficiently intrigued that he had become incautious
where his thoughts strayed.
    “Sorry. Chuckles got me going for a minute.”
    “ ’Twould seem that he’s gotten Kip going,
too.”
    The boy was as rigid as a fence post. All the color had drained
from behind his freckles. His eyelids were closed.
When I lifted one I found his eyeball rolled up so that he
seemed to have no pupil. “What did you do here,
Smiley?”
    The Dead Man launched a long-winded paean of self-exoneration. I
sensed its complete lack of substance right away and focused on
Playmate. “So cut the bull and tell me what you want from
me.”
    “I suppose what I really want is for you to look out for
him. Kip’s a royal pain sometimes, Garrett, but that’s
mostly because nobody ever taught him how to get along with people.
He befriended a couple of strays. Lost souls in the physical sense.
He took care of them. They were grateful. That made him feel
important. Same as I feel when I take care of him and the horses.
He shouldn’t get hurt for that.”
    Playmate was right. The world needed more helpful and
considerate people. But I was looking at something else. Some very
complex things seemed to be going on inside Playmate right now. He
was taking this more personally than he should.
    “You wouldn’t be the missing father here, would
you?” That stunned Playmate. He chomped air a couple of
times, in a way that left me wondering if I hadn’t somehow
struck nearer the mark than I’d thought possible. One glance
and even the most cynical student of human folly would understand
that Cypres Prose was no kin to Playmate.
    “Don’t try to provoke me, Garrett.”
    “Huh?” Provocation isn’t my style. Not with my
friends. Not very often, anyway. Not the ones that’re three
feet taller than me and strong enough to hold a horse under one arm
while using the off hand to change the monster’s shoes.
    “I’m sorry. I apologize. This mess is keeping me on
edge.”
    “Why is that?” By now I had resigned myself to not
being able to make peace with Katie anytime soon. “Why
don’t you just lay this whole thing out so we don’t
have to pick you guys apart just so we can assemble enough
information for me to start?”
    I’ve found that clients
never want to tell the whole story.
Never. Another given is that they’re going to lie to you
about half of what they tell you. They want results without having
to reveal anything embarrassing. They lie about almost everything.
The worst offenders are those who have fallen victim to their own
greed or stupidity. They expect results, too.
    Playmate was not a bad client. His fib quotient was pretty low,
probably, as much because he knew about my partner as because
he’s naturally a good guy. He talked a good deal but failed
to tell me much more than I had gotten already. Kip had become
friendly with a pair of oddballs named Lastyr and Noodiss, no other
names given. He had helped them learn their way around. After a
while other oddballs turned up looking for the first two. Inasmuch
as they never explained their interest, that was not taken to be
benign. Especially considering recent events at the stable and
Kip’s home. Not all of the oddballs were necessarily the same
kind of oddball.
    Lastyr and Noodiss had been around for most of a year. Those
hunting them had shown up only recently. All the elves seemed very
determined.
    Kip nodded a lot and didn’t add anything. I trusted the
Dead Man would collect anything that reached the surface