Book 09 - Faded Steel Heat by Glen Cook Page A

area.
    A shift in market focus certainly would disconcert the
neighbors.
    “Rich people have the same requirements and vices as poor
people,” Morley observed. Lamplight sparkled off the points
of his unnaturally white teeth. “But they have more money to
pay for them. That convinced everyone.”
    That and, I didn’t doubt, the marketing strategems of
Sarge and Puddle and their compatriots.
    “Uhm. Crask and Sadler.”
    “Block do any guessing about who brought them
in?”
    “Nope. I thought Belinda should know they’d been
seen.” Morley has better contacts in the Outfit.
    “If she doesn’t know, she’ll be grateful for
the warning.”
    I said, “I’d like to break the news
personally.”
    Morley gave me a double dose of the fish-eye. “You sure
that would be smart?”
    “She used me up and left. No hard feelings from
me.”
    “From you. Belinda Contague is a strange woman, Garrett.
Might not be healthy to get within stabbing distance of
her.”
    “We understand each other. But it’ll be easier for
both of us if I have you contact her.”
    “I’ll pass it on this time, you bullshitter. But you
need to find somebody else to run your love notes. I’m out of
that life.”
    Who was bullshitting who? But I didn’t ask. Let the man
think he can kid a kidder. If he did. It could be a useful lever
later.
    “What have you been into lately?” Dotes asked.
“We haven’t had a chance to just sit and talk and find
cures for the ills of the world.” His notions for the latter
involve either forcing everyone to turn vegetarian or necessitate
wholesale slaughters. Or both.
    I told him about my adventures among the gods. And goddesses.
“I thought about getting you together with Magodor. She was
your type.”
    “Uhm?” He looked speculative.
    “She had four arms, snakes for hair, green lips, teeth
like a cobra. But she was to kill for otherwise.”
    “Oh, yes. I’ve dreamed about her for
years.”
    “Elves don’t dream.”
    He shrugged. “What about now?”
    “Now?”
    “You didn’t visit Block to tip a few beers and
reminisce about old murders you solved together.”
    “Sure I did.”
    “I know you, Garrett. You have a case.”
    “It isn’t really a case. I’ve got the deal
with the brewery. Somebody threatened the old man. Maybe.” I
sketched the situation.
    “You have yourself a situation fraught with peril,
Garrett.” He smirked.
    “Potential violence. Weider won’t stand for it. And
if The Call tries moving into the rackets—”
    “The Call probably wouldn’t. But several fringe
groups are trying. They don’t attract people with money.
We’ll see some excitement there. I can hear Belinda
sharpening her knives. You going inside?”
    “Inside?”
    “Into the movement. As a spy. You wouldn’t have any
trouble. You’re ethnically pure. You’re a war
hero.” Morley is a war hero himself, in his own mind. He
stayed behind and did yeoman service comforting many a
soldier’s frightened wife. “You’re healthy enough
to stand on your hind legs. You’re unemployed. Makes you the
perfect recruit.”
    “Except for I don’t buy the doctrine.”
    Morley smiled his sharp-toothed finest. “You better not be
seen here if you’re going inside. You shouldn’t even be
around the Dead Man.”
    “Oh.” I didn’t swear any oaths with Relway,
did I? No thumb-cutting and blood-mixing. Obvious as it was I
hadn’t thought about the fact that infiltrating the
rightsists meant my own lifestyle would have to reflect rightsist
prejudice.
    Adopting a false identity would be too iffy. Too many veterans
knew me. One thing you do when you’re single and don’t
work is hang out with people like yourself. I prefer the company of
women but there are rare occasions on an almost daily basis when no
woman prefers mine. Hard as that is to believe.
    “It won’t go that far.” I hoped.
“I’m going to the brewery to poke around. If Ty is
trying to scam Pop’s cash prematurely, I’ll scare him
off.