Old Tin Sorrows Part 17

A common childhood mind game. But, 'It could be true, Jennifer. Things were unsettled politically in those days. It's possible the marriage was arranged to put your mother out of harm's way. With your grandparents dead, your father might have been the only one left who knew who your mother was.'

'You're kidding.'

'No. I was young but I remember those days. Some people tried to kill the King. They blew it. He went crazy. A lot of people died, including some who had nothing to do with the plot.' Sometimes you tell the white lie. Wouldn't hurt to leave her the option of believing her grandparents had been innocents caught in the storm.

She laughed without humor. 'Wouldn't that be something? If my kid's daydreams were true?'

'Do you still not care?' I could find out about her grandparents without doing much but poke through some old records. Worth the effort if it would brighten her life.

'I think I do care.'

'I'll find out, then.' I started moving again. She followed, caught up in her thoughts, paying no attention, while I got back onto the trail of the draugs. We were almost to the road before she realized we were still headed away from the house. She might not have noticed then if we hadn't gotten into some c.o.c.kleburs.

'Where are you going?' She sounded almost panicky. There was a touch of wildness in her eyes. She looked around like she'd suddenly wakened in enemy territory. Only the peaks of the house were visible above the hummock where the cemetery lay. Once we reached the road, those would be out of sight.

'I'm backtracking the thing that came to the house last night.' I was backtracking all three, really. There were three trails smashed through the weeds. But there were no return trails. That left me a little uneasy. We'd only disposed of two. 'I think it came from the swamp that's supposed to be up ahead there.'

'No. I want to go back.' She looked around like she expected something to jump out at us. And maybe something could. Those draugs hadn't behaved like story draugs. Who was to say they weren't immune to daylight? And I wasn't equipped to handle them. It hadn't occurred to me to bring any heavy weaponry.

Still, I wasn't particularly nervous. Without the dark to mask them, they couldn't sneak up on us.

'Nothing to worry about. We'll be all right.'

'I'm going back. If you want to go out there...' She said 'out there' like I was headed for another world. 'If you want, you go ahead.'

'You win. You seen one swamp, you've seen them all. And I got a plenty good look in the islands.'

She'd already started walking. I had to trot to catch up. She looked relieved. 'It's almost lunchtime, anyway.'

It was. And I still had to find Morley and rehea.r.s.e him for Saucerhead's return. 'I should thank you. I've missed so many meals, I'm light-headed.'

We went straight to the kitchen. We ate. The others eyed us curiously. Everyone knew we'd gone for a walk. Each invested that with his own special significance. n.o.body mentioned it, though Wayne looked like he had a few words he wanted to say.

As Peters was about to leave I asked, 'Where can I catch you later?'

'The stable. I'm trying to catch up for Snake.' He didn't look pleased. That kind of work wouldn't thrill me, either.

'I'll be out. Need to ask you something.'

He nodded and went his way. I ingratiated myself by helping Cook for a while. She didn't say much with Jennifer there, fumbling around. Cook never said much with a third party present. Made me wonder.

I hoped Jennifer wasn't going to attach herself permanently. But it did seem that way.

I'd just been kind to a stray. But pups run to where the kindness is. My own fault. A sucker, as Morley says.

I had to see him soon or adjust my scheme for the afternoon. I told Cook I'd be back to help later, then headed upstairs, hoping Morley would be in my suite. Jennifer tagged along till it was obvious where I was headed. Then she chickened out. Afraid of a guy with my reputation.

I said good-bye and kept a straight face till I'd let myself in.

No Morley. No sign of Morley. Curious.

It made me uneasy. Morley is an odd bird but he'd make an effort to stay in touch.

I had a bad moment imagining him dead in some hidden place, ambushed. Not a pleasant thought, a friend getting offed for helping with something that wasn't his concern. But Morley was too much a pro to get taken that way. The mistakes he makes aren't those kind. When he buys it, it will be because an irate husband appears unexpectedly while he's in no position to react.

I took a quick guess at how long it would be till Saucerhead returned, decided I'd have to manage without Morley. Black Pete would have to carry the load.

I shrugged into my coat and headed for the stable, making sure my telltales were in position.

I kept an eye out for my blonde sweetheart, but the only person I saw was Kaid on the fourth-floor balcony west scoping out how to haunt the place after his own death.

Kaid was close to the old man. I ought to spend some time with him. He might give me a lead on who might want the General out.

25.

I shoved my head into the stables, didn't spot Peters. A couple of horses grinned at me like they thought their hour had come. 'Think what you want,' I told them. 'Plot and plan and scheme. I've got an arrangement. The General can pay me in horseflesh. Horses that aggravate me are going to end up at the tannery.'

I don't know why I said that. Pure bull, of course. They wouldn't believe it, anyway. Wish I understood why horses bring out the silliness in me.

'Peters? You here?' Not seeing him right away worried me. I'd had enough guys turn up dead.

'Here.' From the far end.

It was dark in there. I moved warily, even a.s.suming Peters wasn't one of the villains.

I found him at the nether end, all right, hard at it with a pitchfork. He grumbled, 'That d.a.m.ned Snake must have been playing with his paint set all the time. He hadn't cleaned out in months. Look at this mess.'

I looked. I wrinkled my nose. Peters was tossing manure and soiled straw into a spreader wagon. 'I'm no expert but isn't this the wrong time of year to spread manure?'

'You got me. All I know is, it's got to be cleaned out and this's the wagon you haul it in.' He mumbled some rakledly rikkenfratzes and colorful commentary on Snake Bradon's ancestors, then added, 'I have enough to do without this. What's up, Garrett? And why don't you grab a fork and help while you're resting?'

I grabbed a fork but I wasn't much help. I was always lucky, even in the Marines, and never had to learn the practical side of keeping horses. 'What's up is, I've found the fence who bought the stolen stuff. One of my a.s.sociates will bring him out this afternoon.'

He stopped pitching. He stared long enough to start me wondering if maybe he wasn't less than thrilled. He said, 'So you are doing something after all. I was starting to think you were a drone. That the only effort you were putting out was trying to get Jennifer to put out.'

'Nope. Not interested. Not my type.' I guess there was an edge to my voice. He dropped it.

'You just wanted to give me the news?'

'No. I need your help. My a.s.sociate is bringing a doctor, too.'

'And you want me to distract the old man while this croaker gets a look at him?'

'I want you to go down the road and meet them, explain to the doc so he don't get himself booted before he gets a look. Not that I have any hopes he can tell much without laying hands on.'

Peters grunted and started throwing horse hockey, 'When are they coming?'

I tried guessing an optimum turnaround time. With Saucerhead there wouldn't be many delays. He'd just grab them by the collar and drag them. 'I'd think two more hours. If we can, I'd like to get the fence in without anybody seeing him. So we can spring him on whoever.'

He grunted again. 'You're slacking.' We tossed. He said, 'I'll manage. I'll have to see the old man first. Always something around here.'

I told him, 'I have hopes for this.'

'Yeah?'

'Maybe it'll start things unravelling. If it goes right, we could get it tied up by tonight.'

'You always were too optimistic.'

'You don't think so?'

'I don't. You're not dealing with your average idiots. These guys aren't going to rattle. They aren't going to panic. Watch your back.'

'I intend to.'

He put his fork down. 'You go ahead. I'm going to go clean up.'

I watched him walk toward the open doorway, grinned. Those ears stuck out like the handles of jugs.

I tossed about three more forksful and quit. Mama Garrett didn't raise her boy to be a stable hand.

I'd gone a dozen steps toward the house when I had a thought. I turned back and invited myself into Snake Bradon's den. I fiddled around for five minutes getting a lamp going. Snake wasn't there anymore. I wondered what they'd done with him. n.o.body had done any digging in the cemetery.

d.a.m.n! I'd meant to ask Peters about Tyler and the draug!

I missed the Dead Man's nagging. I just wasn't alert enough. Getting too turned inward or something. Not paying close enough attention. I didn't do that when I had the Dead Man to tell me what to do. I went down the list, by the numbers.

All right. I would. I'd failed to meet Snake in time. That didn't mean Bradon couldn't still tell me something, as the Dead Man would remind me. They could all tell me things, want to or not, if I concentrated. So let's start here, now, Garrett.

I did the things I'd done when we'd found Snake. I didn't learn anything this time, either. But I did pay attention to the paint-splashed worktable. I hadn't before. I hadn't considered that side of Snake at all.

Cook said he'd had tremendous artistic talent. Someone else said he might have painted the sorceress Invisible Black. Here, there, there'd been remarks to the effect that he remained an active artist. That side of the man didn't fit the rest of the Bradon image, to my mind. Artists sponge off the lords of the Hill. However good they are, they can't make a living doing what they do. I hadn't considered Bradon an artist because he hadn't fallen into the groove.

That table was evidence he'd worked plenty. But where were the results? The table wasn't his product.

I started a thorough search, working outward from the center of Snake Bradon's life. I found nothing interesting in his room except squirreled stuff for making paints. I recalled that he'd been messy when we were checking what had happened to Hawkes. He'd been working on something recently.

There was a fifteen-by-twenty tack room next to Snake's hole. The place had been torn apart.

I just stood there, surprised. Somebody was worried about Snake after he was gone? My, my. And Garrett hadn't been smart enough to get to it first.

If the searcher found something, he did a fine job of getting rid of it. There was nothing there now but a scatter of brushes, some broken underfoot. I wondered if Bradon's hobby had been a secret. One of those kind everybody knows but n.o.body mentions. Painting pictures wasn't a manly, Marine sort of thing to do. He might not have shared with the others.

I was having a little trouble making sense of these people. Again. Still.

I paused to wonder where I'd have hidden something if I'd been Snake. As the searcher probably had, knowing him better.

Brilliant thinker that I am, I came up with a big nothing.

Nothing for it, then. A general search. Every nook and cranny. Whoever had gone before me wouldn't have had a lot of time. He'd have to be seen places when he was supposed to be. h.e.l.l. Maybe he'd done his hunting before Morley and I came along last night. Or maybe while he was supposed to be loading manure?

Whatever, there was a chance he hadn't found anything.

If anything existed.

I did a quick tour of the ground level. Nothing caught my eye. I felt the imminence of the confrontation with the thief and kept getting more hurried, somehow hoping to have an extra dart when the showdown came.

I climbed into the hayloft, perched on a bale and muttered, 'What the h.e.l.l am I looking for, anyway?' Paintings? He'd painted, obviously. And the product wasn't in evidence. But what could paintings tell me if I found them?

I shrugged, got up, looked around. Snake had gotten a d.a.m.ned good hay supply in, considering. All neatly bailed, too. From what I recalled the country boys saying back when, that wasn't common. Ordinary folks filled their lofts with loose hay.

'Ha!' A story recalled. A guy in the outfit, Tulsa something, h.e.l.l of an archer, did our sniping. Farm kid. Poor background. Died on that island. But he used to laugh about games he'd played with the daughters of the lord of a nearby manor. They'd done it in a secret room they'd built in the hayloft of the lord's main barn.

I raised my lamp high and stared at all that hay, too much for the state of the place. Might that pile be hollow? I muttered, 'That has to be it.'

I poked around the outside, trying to guess how Bradon would have gotten inside. Elimination left me three good spots to find entrances. I set the lamp on a beam and went to work.

I moved maybe ten bales before I decided I'd tried the wrong place first. I went to the next spot, moved another ten bales and felt foolish. Looked like I'd outfoxed myself again.

My activities drew the attention of the natives. Three ugly cats joined me, including an evil old calico. Me moving the bales got the mice stirring. The cats were snacking. They worked as a team, not something cats usually do, as far as I know. When I'd turn a bale, one would jump into the vacated spot to scare mice toward the others. At one point the calico had one mouse under each forepaw and another in her mouth.

'See?' I told them. 'I'm not all bad.'

One more try.

Third time was the charm, as they say. I tipped a few bales. Cats flew around. And, behold! A three-foot-high, eighteen-inch-wide hollow, black as a priest's heart, ran back into the pile. I got the lamp. I asked the cats, 'One of you want to run in there and let me know what's up? No? I didn't think so.'

I got down on hands and knees and crawled.

26.

It smelled in there. Not too bad a smell, but a strong one of moldy hay. It didn't do my cold any good. My nose ran like a fountain.

There was a room inside the hay, larger than I'd expected. Snake had spanned it with planks to support the bales on top. It was maybe six feet wide and ten feet long. His paintings were there, along with other treasures, mostly what we'd consider trivial or trash. Junk from the war, mostly. And medals. Snake had acc.u.mulated him a potful of medals, proudly displayed on a tattered Karentine banner against the narrow end wall.

I couldn't help feeling for the guy. A hero had come to this. A life for his country, for this.