and bled her and gutted her
like a game animal. There was no blood around, though the human
body is filled with an amazing amount. I muttered, “They
caught the blood and took it away.” My meals for the month
wanted to desert me.
Block nodded. He was having his troubles too. So were his boys.
And they were angry besides. Hell, I was angry, but my anger
hadn’t had time to ripen.
No telling why she’d been gutted. Maybe for some of her
organs. Her insides had been dumped on the ground but were gone
now, carried off by dogs. They had been at the body too, some, but
hadn’t done much damage. Their squabbling had brought about
the discovery of the corpse.
Block told me, “This is the fifth one, Garrett. All of
them like this.”
“All in the Bustee?”
“This’s the first one down here. That we know
of.”
Yeah. This could happen here every
day . . . I looked at her again. No. Even in
the Bustee there are limits to the sickness they’ll tolerate.
They don’t kill for sport or ritual, they kill for passion or
because killing will, directly or indirectly, put food in their
mouths. This girl had been killed by somebody insane.
I said, “She came from outside.” She was too
healthy, too pretty.
“None have been Bustee women, Garrett. They’ve
turned up all over town.”
“I haven’t heard about anything like this.” I
hadn’t been out listening, though.
“We been trying to keep it quiet, but word’s
starting to get around. Which is why we’re about to go in the
vise. The powers that be want this lunatic and they want him
sudden.”
On reflection, I said, “Captain Block, sir, I don’t
believe you’re being entirely forthright. Maybe if
there’d been fifteen or twenty of them and people were
getting panicky, they’d bestir themselves up there. But
you’re not going to convince me they give one rat’s ass
what happens to four or five street girls.”
“They don’t care, Garrett. But these ain’t
street girls. They was all from top families. All of them gave some
perfectly good, even trivial reason for going out the days they
were killed. Extended errands. Visits to friends. Everything
perfectly safe.”
“Yeah? There’s no such thing as perfectly safe in
TunFaire. And that kind of woman doesn’t go anywhere without
armed guards. It’s a status thing. So what about their
guards?”
“Most of them don’t got no idea what happened. They
delivered their charges to friends’ houses, went on about
their rat-killing. There’s something going on, but the guards
aren’t it. Though maybe their memories would improve some on
the rack. Only we ain’t been authorized to go that far.
Yet.”
“Any leads at all?”
“Diddly. Nobody’s seen or heard nothing.”
That’s the standard state of affairs throughout TunFaire.
Nobody sees anything.
I made a sick grunting noise and forced myself to look at the
victim yet again. She’d been a beauty, slim, with long black
hair. Unpleasant as the truth may be, you feel it more when they
waste the pretty ones. Block looked at me like he expected some
blast of wisdom. “So what do you want from me?” As if I
didn’t know.
“Find out who did this. Give us a name. We’ll take
it from there.”
I didn’t have to ask what was in it for me. He’d
told me. His word was good. Like I said, he stayed bought.
“What else do you know?”
“That’s it. That’s all we have.”
“Bullshit. Come on, Block.”
“What?”
“That right there tells you a bunch just by being what it
is. Especially if the others were like it.”
“They were.”
“All right. They gutted them. They took their blood. That
stinks of dark religion or black sorcery. But if it’s a cult,
it can’t have a base, else the bodies would have been
disposed of there.”
“Unless they wanted them found.”
“There’s the weakness in my thinking. Maybe
we’re supposed to think it’s ritual when it’s
just crazy. Or maybe crazy when it’s ritual. Though
it’s crazy
like a game animal. There was no blood around, though the human
body is filled with an amazing amount. I muttered, “They
caught the blood and took it away.” My meals for the month
wanted to desert me.
Block nodded. He was having his troubles too. So were his boys.
And they were angry besides. Hell, I was angry, but my anger
hadn’t had time to ripen.
No telling why she’d been gutted. Maybe for some of her
organs. Her insides had been dumped on the ground but were gone
now, carried off by dogs. They had been at the body too, some, but
hadn’t done much damage. Their squabbling had brought about
the discovery of the corpse.
Block told me, “This is the fifth one, Garrett. All of
them like this.”
“All in the Bustee?”
“This’s the first one down here. That we know
of.”
Yeah. This could happen here every
day . . . I looked at her again. No. Even in
the Bustee there are limits to the sickness they’ll tolerate.
They don’t kill for sport or ritual, they kill for passion or
because killing will, directly or indirectly, put food in their
mouths. This girl had been killed by somebody insane.
I said, “She came from outside.” She was too
healthy, too pretty.
“None have been Bustee women, Garrett. They’ve
turned up all over town.”
“I haven’t heard about anything like this.” I
hadn’t been out listening, though.
“We been trying to keep it quiet, but word’s
starting to get around. Which is why we’re about to go in the
vise. The powers that be want this lunatic and they want him
sudden.”
On reflection, I said, “Captain Block, sir, I don’t
believe you’re being entirely forthright. Maybe if
there’d been fifteen or twenty of them and people were
getting panicky, they’d bestir themselves up there. But
you’re not going to convince me they give one rat’s ass
what happens to four or five street girls.”
“They don’t care, Garrett. But these ain’t
street girls. They was all from top families. All of them gave some
perfectly good, even trivial reason for going out the days they
were killed. Extended errands. Visits to friends. Everything
perfectly safe.”
“Yeah? There’s no such thing as perfectly safe in
TunFaire. And that kind of woman doesn’t go anywhere without
armed guards. It’s a status thing. So what about their
guards?”
“Most of them don’t got no idea what happened. They
delivered their charges to friends’ houses, went on about
their rat-killing. There’s something going on, but the guards
aren’t it. Though maybe their memories would improve some on
the rack. Only we ain’t been authorized to go that far.
Yet.”
“Any leads at all?”
“Diddly. Nobody’s seen or heard nothing.”
That’s the standard state of affairs throughout TunFaire.
Nobody sees anything.
I made a sick grunting noise and forced myself to look at the
victim yet again. She’d been a beauty, slim, with long black
hair. Unpleasant as the truth may be, you feel it more when they
waste the pretty ones. Block looked at me like he expected some
blast of wisdom. “So what do you want from me?” As if I
didn’t know.
“Find out who did this. Give us a name. We’ll take
it from there.”
I didn’t have to ask what was in it for me. He’d
told me. His word was good. Like I said, he stayed bought.
“What else do you know?”
“That’s it. That’s all we have.”
“Bullshit. Come on, Block.”
“What?”
“That right there tells you a bunch just by being what it
is. Especially if the others were like it.”
“They were.”
“All right. They gutted them. They took their blood. That
stinks of dark religion or black sorcery. But if it’s a cult,
it can’t have a base, else the bodies would have been
disposed of there.”
“Unless they wanted them found.”
“There’s the weakness in my thinking. Maybe
we’re supposed to think it’s ritual when it’s
just crazy. Or maybe crazy when it’s ritual. Though
it’s crazy
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