Gilded Latten Bones

54

They had him propped up in a chair. He wore clean clothes. Belinda must have had those brought by. He was fading when I arrived, but he brightened some. "They're promising me a real bath soon."

"Be like heaven on earth."

Strafa had followed me. Morley's eyebrows rose. The hunter light sparked in his eyes. He tried on his girl-killer smile, then looked at me, curious. His face collapsed into a mild frown.

"Morley, this is Strafa. She's helping find out what happened to you. Strafa, this is Morley Dotes, purported restaurateur and genuine crime victim."

Would he recognize her?

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am." He had made that fast a read.

More politely than seemed plausible considering her feelings, Singe eased the Windwalker aside so she could deliver my pitcher. Then she herded Strafa somewhere else.

Dotes asked, "Something special there?"

"Might be."

"Uhm." He asked none of the questions my conscience primed me to expect. "Interesting."

"Frightening. I'm getting lost. This shouldn't happen to me. I'm a big boy, I'm a good boy, and I've been in the same place a long time. The place I've always ended back at since way back when we went to the Cantard to fight vampires. But now this. And I don't know her that well."

"It happens, Garrett. How well did you know Maya? Or Eleanor? Eleanor wasn't even alive. And what about Belinda?"

"Belinda was the other way around. I was mostly trying to keep from getting my throat cut."

He didn't call me on that, probably because he didn't want to talk about Belinda. "Not to worry. You being you, you'll mess it up out of some compulsion to do what you think is the right thing. You'll end up back where you started even if it isn't what you want."

Not what I needed to hear. "Let's talk about you."

"My favorite topic, but why? Hasn't the Dead Man drained me dry?"

"No. He says you've got a brain like a rock."

"What can I say? When he's right, he's right. If I had the brains of two rocks I wouldn't be in this condition."

"You starting to remember things?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Truly. It's like whole weeks have been cut out of my memory. I have a vague recollection of waking up in a bed somewhere with you and Bell hovering. Or was that. .? Now that's getting murky."

"That could've been four different women. Belinda had you hidden upstairs at a classy hook shop."

"Yeah? That's murk. Before that, though, it's all a dark place. Not just vague but a big black obsidian chunk of nothing. Then murk before that. I know I was walking. Not sneaking but being unobtrusive. I don't think I was following anybody. I don't know where I was coming from. Something caught me from behind."

Morley, taken by surprise? Wow.

He jumped as though pricked. His eyes lost focus. He started speaking fluent incoherent.

Old Bones was feeling benevolent. He filled my head with Morley's recollections of what had set him off.

There was a woman, vague, becoming clearer as she approached. She was tall and slim and wore black leather. She moved with natural sensual arrogance. Her hair was big and almost old lady gray. She was far from old, though. She might be just starting her twenties. Her mouth was small but her lips puffed a bit. They were an intense red.

Those lips held the only stark color in the picture.

The vision faded. Morley's mind slipped into the murk, then plunged into the obsidian oblivion.

I collected myself. "I didn't recognize her."

Old Bones fed the vision back to Morley, who said, "Me neither. And I wouldn't forget those lips."

The one task I gave Jon Salvation, because he was desperate to be included, was to recruit an artist unafraid to work with me. Once we develop portraits we may be able to make identifications.

"Portraits? Plural?"

General Block has generously agreed to lend us Jimmy Two Steps.

Singe proved she was being included by calling from her office, "Why hire an artist? Let Penny do it. She has the talent and the materials. She lives close by and she could get started right now."

She is also insanely timid around Garrett.

"I will promise her to defend whatever virtue she pretends to have left."

Oh, catty!

Singe had a problem with Penny Dreadful, too? This was news to me.

Of course, after being away so long, everything was news to me.

"Do both," I suggested. "At least once. We'll see if two different artists see the same thing. And, while we're borrowing the King's property, why not take a look at Butch and his brother?"

I tendered that request. It came too late. The younger man was released because he cooperated fully. The other received a minimal sentence to the aqueduct project.

Then, Oho! This could be interesting. Singe, please stand by at the door.