Dead Letter (16 page)

“
Who told Penellonine your father was dead?”

Elrin
went quiet. For a moment Kettna thought he was not going to answer.
“She had a dream,” he admitted. “A dragon came to her with the
message. She is convinced the dream is real. But that doesn’t make
her crazy.” Elrin looked uncomfortable talking about his mother’s
state of mind, or perhaps it was the rough neighbourhood streets
they turned down, filled with suspicious eyes and ill natured
mutterings. “Mother’s broken hearted and gets confused sometimes.
I’m not asking that you go searching for him. It’s just that if you
discover any clue, I’d be grateful to learn of it. When I find him,
everything will be right again.”

Promising to help would only build false hope and telling him
to consider his long gone father as good as dead would be cruel.
There was no great harm in false hope; it was what most people rise
to each morning. She needed hope as much as he did. Why else would
she be so desperate as to ask an unguilded man to look for her lost
love?

“
It appears we share a common problem. I can’t promise
anything, but I will listen for talk regarding Arbajkha’s death or
departure.”

“
Disappearance,” corrected Elrin, his distinguished jaw set
firm. “One should refrain from predetermining the result. Prejudice
is the fast track to error.”

His arrogance correcting her on such things should have been
a slap in the face. Instead, she couldn’t help but find the
situation comical. A nameless worker, spouting from the classics.
“You’re quoting Master Limersen,
Logic and
Freedom.
I’m impressed.”

Elrin
came to a stop at the narrow throat of an alley, backing onto
yellow brick tenement housing. “Innkeep Rimple says that books
won’t feed me, but if I had the choice between the Harvest Feast
and The Great Library, I’d devour text over turkey every
time.”

Lanuille
and the twins caught them up at the dogleg in the alley. “A good
thing you don’t get that choice,” she said, her pretty smile
poisoned by her vindictive tongue. “Keep your teeth away from our
books and learn to eat with your own kind.”

“
Calim built the The Great Library for all the citizens. If he
were to see that treasured knowledge locked away, he would have
wept more tears than he did for Tash.”

“
That knowledge is not for you to learn,” said
Lanuille.

“
And not for you either by the look of your limited
achievements.” Elrin pointed to Lanuille’s lack of knowledge
tattoos. “Maybe you should spend less time lording over the
unguilded and more time in your precious Library.”

“
My power is more than enough to smite a precious whelp like
you to ash. I’d leave no trace of your privileged overreaching
arrogance for a station your family never deserved. You are the
remains of a scandal. Nothing more.”

“
Lanuille, you must stop this! Elrin is helping
us.”

Elrin
chewed every harsh word and swallowed the bile. “If I had power
like you, sorceress, I’d pray for the intelligence of the good
Inspector Kettna to know when to use it.” Elrin pointed down the
alley to a gang of menacing strangers. “I know my place and it
isn’t here. This is the place Herder Kleith found the body in. You
might start by asking if they did it. This is a slumper alley; have
a weapon ready. I must go and take these messages. Good day,
Inspector. Thank you for your kindness.” Elrin bowed to Kettna and
left without a glance at Lanuille.

Kettna
considered calling after him to apologise, but she was sick of
making amends for Lanuille.

“
Don’t look at me like that. He was born to riches he didn’t
earn. He needs to be told his father abandoned ship and his mother
abandoned her wits. They both left the service of the Calimska, so
they don’t deserve guild rights.”

“
Penellonine was heartbroken!” exclaimed Kettna. “Have you no
room for love in that cold storm you call your heart?”

“
A worthy woman doesn’t need a husband to be successful. Why
quit for love? If love is so debilitating then I want none of it,”
said Lanuille, striding into the alley straight toward the
slumpers’ dice game. “Gather your wits, vermin, we are here for
information.” The dice dropped and the scrawny men spread out like
street dogs, wild eyes on the intruders and knives in their
hands.

“
Lanuille! Wait for me.” Kettna caught up, dreadfully aware
that she did not have a weapon and they would soon be flanked.
Lanuille was her defender and she relied on the much more powerful
adept to keep her safe in this situation, even if her bull headed
tactics were pressing them into danger. The twins responded to
Kettna’s worry. They walked wide, casting sigils of protection in
the air which glowed blue and spun a magic shield in front of them.
The slumpers thought better of attacking a wall of wizardry and
chose to parlay as a first option.

“
What’d witches have ta do wit it here en?

“
Call me witch again and I’ll fry your eyes out,” said
Lanuille, igniting a flame on her fingertip and pointing at the
spokesmen for the slumpers. “Drop your weapons at my feet, or your
eyes will boil in their sockets.”

“
Righty den,” he chuckled. “Keep dis robes on ya,
woman.”

Lanuille
furrowed her brow and jabbed her flaming finger at the slumper.
“What in the five Hells are you saying? Sounds like a Mephit has a
hold of your damn tongue. Weapons on the cobbles. Now!”

The
slumper cowered backward, dropping his curved knife and raising his
hands in surrender. The other men tossed their blades down too,
“Can’t help nuttin’ causin' you ill. Tis da way I be
speak.”

“
Was your mother a fucking drakkin?” Lanuille arced her finger
around trailing a blur of heat as it pointed to each of the men.
“Does anyone here have enough teeth and wits to speak gold standard
Calimskan?”

“
She do,” said a very brave or stupid street man, nodding
towards a young woman sprawled on a grotty mess of straw-stuffed
cushions, frayed hessian and mouldering linen. “Blazin’ high in it,
though.” There were several other bedraggled men and women,
sleeping a sky dream around her, but this woman was out of place.
She wore a leather apron over breeches and blouse finer than the
clothes the others here wore. A black eye hid behind her
sweat-matted fringe and her knuckles had diamonds and colourful
gems tattooed upon them; she was a guild jeweller of some kind. A
guilder would have been a more reliable witness than a nameless
street rat, but the blaze would have her slumped till
afternoon.

“
Wonderful,” said Kettna. Street slang was trouble for her to
understand, though it would prove compelling if she extracted some
truth. These men had been ready to fight for this rat’s nest, they
must know something about the body left on their turf strung in
gold. The inspector withdrew the Constable’s crest. “We are here
with the authority of the Constable. We want to know about the
death of a man left here.”

“
Which un ya on about?” joked a slumper, prompting sniggering
from the others.

Kettna
realised that more than one death may have occurred in the recent
past. “He was found dead with the Merchant Guild chain of office
around his neck.”

The men
were uneasy, eyeing each other into group silence on the matter.
They were not joking about this dead man.

“
What about you?” called Lanuille. “Yes,
you
. Don’t think I don’t see you
sneaking off.”

The man
was thin as a twig and looked liable to snap if Lanuille uttered a
heavy word upon him. “We ain’t broken no laws. You lot threaten us
to shut up then you turn around an ‘spect us to say what we seen?
Sod off an leave us be.”

“
Who told you to be silent?” asked Kettna.

“
Who else? You guards sit in the same sty. Pigs eatin’ from
every trough. Steal our supply first an now they got mages pushin’
heat. We ain’t the killers. Constable’s boys did him in and you lot
know it.”

“
Did you see the guards kill that man?” asked Kettna. “Or do
you blame all your problems on the protectors of this
city.”

“
Bitch be on nectar?” The slumpers laughed and the spokesman
spat on the ground and grinned, showing his half rotten teeth.
“Only time I see guards here is when they doin’ ill.”

“
Can you identify the guard who did it?” asked
Lanuille.

“
Sure, but I ain’t ready to die for your hunt. He’s
untouchable. You point the finger at him an his crooks end me
faster than lightnin’.”

“
Would you run for the hunt?” asked Lanuille, taking out a
purse heavy with shine.

“
Depends.” The slumper was mesmerised by the full purse. “I’d
have to pay lodgings away from here for a long spell.”

Lanuille
drew four gold tabs from the purse and placed them in his waiting
hand. “That would cover your time away.”

The man
continued to eye the purse. “O’course, I have a wife and babe to
think of.”

Lanuille
pressed four more golden tabs into his hands. “A family man … of
course.”

“
What if —“

“
What if I ask one of your friends instead?”

“
Nah, nah. I’m your man,” he said. “Sides, they’d be kickin’
up ash and sayin’ it’s snow. They didn’t see nothin’ I
saw.”

“
Earn that shine then,” said Lanuille. “Tell the Inspector
everything you know.”

The
slumper waved off his fellows. “You lot keep quiet an gold’ll flow
your way. If any bastard dobs me in, I’ll cut ‘em while they sky
dreamin’.” The instruction was followed by a cheerful bout of
shoulder slapping and gang signs while the slumpers went back to
their dice game. “Follow me, I’ll show you the spot.”

He took
them to a green door framed in a high stone wall, likely a relic of
the city’s early fortifications. Calimska’s population had outgrown
its fortifications many times since Calim built the fortress on top
of the hill. “They come and go through that door,” he said. “Light
folk up with crazy blaze and leave ‘em burn down.”

“
The guards give it to them?” asked Kettna.

“
They force it on ‘em,” he said.

“
Collectors clear off the bodies, and we keep
quiet.”

“
So they did this to the man with the chain of
office?”

“
Not Tiddsi. He was a deader when he dropped.”

“
You knew him?”

“
Sure, we all did. He was our dealer. Black Hand Boys hooked
us up with the sweet dream.”

“
Who killed him?” asked Lanuille.

“
Ginny’s the one you’re lookin’ for.”

“
How did he actually die?” asked Kettna. “Did you see what
weapon this guard used?”

“
How should I know how he died? Didn’t say I seen the killin’.
Ginny walked him in that door livin’ and dumped him right there,
dead and covered in gold. Set him up with a kit of blaze and
buggered off.”

“
Can you name any of Ginny’s companions?”

“
Nah, but they got guard uniforms and look tough as orcs. They
patrol the cobbles at night and everyone knows they own the
stone.”

“
So how did you happen to know this one guard’s name and not
the others?” asked Kettna. “Do you just have a grudge against him
and want to throw some mud?”

The
man’s eyes maddened and he curled his lip. “We know his name cause
that’s what his crew yell when they be callin’ his fury off of us.
Nasty slicer worked us all over at one time or another. Hates us
fierce.”

“
So you do have a grudge?” asked Lanuille.

“
Wouldn’t you?” he asked, spitting to the side. “He did what I
say he did. No lie. Take it or shake it, but I’m gonna disappear
before you point those magic fingers and the guards start lookin’
for the snitch.”

“
There is one thing that doesn’t add up. You saw that gold
around your dead dealer’s neck and you didn’t take it. Why
not?”

“
True, that. I wanted that shine and I was goin’ for it as
soon as I seen Ginny shut that door. Then the gods stepped in, see.
This stiff-sniffer comes down the ally huntin’ for dead and I ain’t
messin’ with Nathis. Gold ain’t nothin’ if you’re a deader. So I
ate my grumbles and watched the herder take my fortune
away.”

“
Was there a lockbox there? Or a purse of gold?”

“
I only seen the body and the gold chain. Maybe Ginny has the
rest you lookin’ for. You done now? These pins gotta
spin.”

“
If that is all you know, then spin away. We’ll take it from
here in.”

“
You’re a good egg, Mistress. Take care with who you point
your finger at. They’re mean as dragons and got more heads than a
hydra. You only got ten fingers and they got teeth enough to bite
‘em gone.” The slumper hurried off, leaving them alone in front of
the green door.

There
was no evidence of blood on the cobbles, though it might have been
cleaned after the fact, or the rain could have done the same. The
only thing of interest was the door, and without the key she
couldn’t gather further evidence; not unless she used her
magic.