The Night Beat, From the Necropolis Enforcement Files (21 page)

“Oh, sixteen-sixty-six, I believe.” Cotton smiled benevolently. “I was only three, but I recall it as being a good year.”

“No connection made to the number of the beast and all that?” Freddy asked. I was impressed. He really had been a professor of some kind.

“I doubt it.” Cotton waved his hand as if to dismiss the idea. If he’d taken it as merchandise and sold it, in his mind, it was on the side of good.

“Seen Nero since?” Jack asked, reclaiming the lead.

“No. We’re not close.”

“How about two, ah, fallen angels, Abaddon or Apollyon?” Jack was still all business. He almost sounded bored. I knew he wasn’t, but he’d clearly read Cotton right -- sound like it was important and he’d spend his time lecturing and avoiding. Sound uninterested and you’d get what you wanted.

“Hardly. And, despite the insinuations of some, I do know to alert the authorities should I spot high minions of the Prince.”

“What about a human, named Anthony Tomio?” Jack was just managing not to yawn. I was impressed down to my claws.

“Young man?” Cotton seemed to be thinking.

“Yeah, late twenties, early thirties. Spent a lot of time down in this area.”

“His profession?”

“Drug dealer mostly.” Jack looked at Freddy and Sexy Cindy. “Right?” They both nodded.

Cotton still seemed to be in thought. “He might not have used his real name,” I suggested. “Might have been afraid to let you know he was a bad guy.”

Cotton nodded. “Yes, you may be correct. I never dealt with anyone identifying as Anthony Tomio, but in recent months, there was a Tony, called himself Tony T. He was also looking for the book that Nero wanted, but Nero had claimed it first. However, he was satisfied with an ancient scroll.”

“Sounds like our man,” Jack said. “Title on that scroll?”

“The Calling of the Many
. Quite old, Sumerian, I believe.”

“I see.” Jack nodded. “Mind if we take a look around?”

“I’m not harboring criminals, young man.”

“Oh, nothing of the sort insinuated.” Jack gave Cotton his “humoring the unknowing witness” smile. It was a good one, and worked nine times out of ten. “You just have some fascinating merchandise. I’d like to take a fast look.”

Cotton seemed about to argue. I knew what to do. “Oh, come on, Jack. We need to find Tomio and Nero. We don’t have time to lollygag.”

Cotton shot me a look of pure disdain. “Young man, by all means, feel free to look at anything and everything. Take your time. Call me if you spot anything you want to take a closer look at or even purchase. I offer a ten percent discount for all Necropolis Enforcement personnel, and I’d be happy to extend the same to the Prosaic City Police as well.”

“Speaking of which, did any human uniforms ever come in here?” I did my best to keep my tone reasonably uninterested. It was a shot in the dark, but most of this investigation was based so far on wild guesses that were turning out horribly right.

Cotton nodded. “They came in, to check on things.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but, how in the world didn’t they notice you were a ghost?” I’d known this being for my entire undead existence and he’d never once
not
looked like a ghost to me.

Cotton didn’t look like he wanted to answer, but Jack backed me. “Honestly, Mister Mather, that’s a good question. And it could be important to our investigation.”

Cotton sighed. “Well, it’s a simple thing, really.” He pulled a small device out of his pocket. It looked like a cigarette lighter, one of the nicer kind. He flicked it, and suddenly he looked human and solid.

“That’s how he always looked to me,” Sexy Cindy said quietly. “Didn’t know he was a ghost until tonight.”

I managed to hold on to my temper. I also managed to speak calmly. “So, Cotton, you’re using an Enhancer, right?”

“Of course.” He said it like it was of no consequence.

“You realize that a powerful witch or warlock created that, right?”

He shrugged. “Yes, again, of course.”

“And you have no problem using it?”

“None whatsoever. Victoria, do you have a point?”

Jack nudged me as he turned and started wandering the shop. I shook my head. “Nope, no point. Just mentioning it for Cindy and Freddy’s sake. They’re new. Learning and all.” I figured mentioning his massive hypocrisy wouldn’t do anything other than earn some choice comments from Cotton and make me even angrier. He was supposedly just fine with “good” witches and warlocks now, and somehow, that was supposed to make what he’d done as a human all okay. Maybe it did for some beings, but not for me.

Cotton looked pleased. “Excellent. Good to see you focused on helping others for a change. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have paperwork to attend to. Call if you need any assistance with the merchandise.” He turned and floated away.

Once he was out of sight, Sexy Cindy let go of the back of my pants. “Girl, I hate him, too, but I don’t think you killing him would help us find Tomio.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thanks. But, I thought I was pretty restrained.”

“I figured I was gonna have to tackle you if Cindy couldn’t hold you back,” Freddy said. “Not that I can blame you.”

“Yeah. Well, let’s figure out why Jack wants to look around.”

“Rather hang here than go to the Salvation Center,” Sexy Cindy said.

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I never been in there before, but after this place and The Pleasure Palace, I’m figuring whoever runs it’s gonna be the worst kind of bad news.”

While we wandered off to find Jack, I wondered if Sexy Cindy was going to prove prophetic. I hoped not, but the base of my tail said it was going to be a bumpy ride and we should all fasten our seatbelts.

Chapter 32

Jack was working his way through the pawnshop quickly. We caught up to him. “What are you looking for?”

He shook his head. “No idea. But Mather clearly doesn’t pay attention to what he gets or who he gets it from. I don’t buy that Abaddon or Apollyon didn’t come in here. If they were able to disguise themselves even a little bit, they probably fooled him.”

“That I could believe,” Sexy Cindy said. “He always called me ‘like unto the Whore of Babylon’ even if I was in here with folks who were really doing bad things. And it’s not like hooking hurts anyone.”

“Other than the hooker.” Those words were out of my mouth before my mind could stop them.

She didn’t seem upset or offended. “Yeah, well, there are worse things, okay? He never gave the rapists or murderers or drug dealers in here any crap. Besides, no one cares about the hookers, just the johns.”

“Now isn’t the time for a discussion of questionable vice practices,” Freddy said. “Jack, I echo Victoria. What are you looking for? If we know, we could split up and perhaps spot it faster.”

I noted that, in here, both Freddy and Sexy Cindy were starting to sound more like I’d assumed they had before they’d hit the streets. Interesting. Much as I despised him, Cotton was running what could be considered a legitimate business, not a den of evil. Pity. I would have loved a good reason to force him out of business.

A thought occurred. “You guys search for whatever it is we’re searching for. I need to talk to Cotton again.”

“I’m looking for anything that gives off an evil feeling or seems like it could relate to Armageddon,” Jack said quickly. “Look when you’re with him. For all we know, he keeps that stuff in his office under the idea they’re interesting bits of history.”

“Wow, you got him down in one short interview?”

Jack shrugged. “Studied the Salem Witch Trials in school. You get an idea of someone when you’ve learned what they did as a human and why.”

I didn’t trust myself to say anything, so I just nodded and trotted off to find Cotton. His office was buried in the back of the pawnshop but ectoplasm has a distinct odor -- like old, wet socks -- so it was easy to find him.

He was humming while doing some filing. He was clearly happy here. Which made no sense. “Hey, Cotton, sorry, but I thought of some questions I wanted to ask. In private.”

He looked over from his filing. “Oh? Something insulting, as usual?”

“I don’t think so, though, as always, you’ll be the judge, jury and executioner. I’m wondering a couple of things. First off, how long have you owned this place? This is part of my beat for Prosaic City P.D. and no one told me you were here.” Or that The Pleasure Palace was here, or the Salvation Center. Which was odd. I could understand the Count expecting me to notice -- not that I had -- but not for over a year with no mention.

“I’ve owned this business for several years. It was human-owned and run for decades. However, the last owner wanted to leave town, so was selling on the cheap. I saw an opportunity to run this for both Prosaic City and Necropolis citizens. After all, even the best people can fall on hard times.”

“Okay, but why here, why this business in particular?”

He stared at me for a few long moments, then I saw realization dawn on his face. “Oh, that’s right. In your position, you have to function as human more than undead. If you’re able to, look around with undead eyes.”

I was embarrassed that I hadn’t thought of this on my own. But, fine, I’d throw one to Cotton. I shifted my mind and opened my eyes. And managed not to scream.

“Why didn’t anyone mention this?”

Cotton sighed. “I assume they thought you knew, or would pay attention.”

“You know, it’s hard to pretend to be human if you can see Necropolis. Or this.”

“No need to get defensive.” He was quiet for another few moments. “Do you think it’s significant to your case?”

“Yeah, I do. How long has this been here?”

“It appeared just before I took over the business. I’m sure it’s why I was encouraged to do so. Someone must guard the portal, so to speak.”

I dragged the words out. “Thank you, this is a great help, Cotton.”

“You’re very welcome.” He sounded incredibly pleased. “You know, I’ve been thinking about the young man, Tony T. The last time I saw him was several months ago, right after he’d come in for the scroll. He came back and gave me a great number of items for pawn. He insinuated I shouldn’t worry if he didn’t come back for them and also suggested I sell a few for profit.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “Cotton, do you know where you put those things? All of them?”

“Yes. I’ll show you.” He glided out of his office and I followed. We wandered in what seemed like random directions while I spent my time trying not to look down or towards the street. We reached a display marked “Specialty Items”. “Here we are.”

I looked at what Cotton was showing me. Nothing screamed out that it was from the Prince, but that didn’t mean anything. The Prince and his minions were all over the idea of disguising evil items to look innocuous.

“Cotton, doesn’t it…bother you? I mean where your business is located?”

“Not so much. Convergence points aren’t an issue if you’re not heading down into the Levels.”

“But we’re standing on the edge of a convergence chasm, not a point.”

He shrugged. “Same thing. I don’t understand why you didn’t notice, however.”

“You know, I’ve never come onto this side of the block, possibly in the entire time I’ve been with the Prosaic City Police. Doesn’t that seem odd?”

“Yes. You do the job you do because of your skills, not just appearing human, but because of your powers of investigation.” Cotton looked thoughtful. “You know…it seems odd to the point of unlikely that, in a year or more you’ve never come in here.”

“The Pleasure Palace next door has a spell on it. It extends to the back of the building. I wonder if the whole block was spelled.”

Cotton nodded. “Could be. I don’t know how to check for that, however.”

“The former owner was a human? You’re sure?”

“Fairly positive. However, he was aware there were undeads about, though I don’t think he was a human in the know. The patrons considered him crazy. Crazy Ed was his name -- even he called himself that. He told me business was good and steady, but that the clientele weren’t always what they looked like. I got the impression he was getting out of Prosaic City because he was frightened.”