Shadows Linger

“You don’t have anything to give me, old man.”

“Know where to get it, though.”

“Where?”

Shed just sat there gri

“I give up. You win. Come on. I’ll help you get up the stairs before I go home.”

The climb was an epic. Shed was one drink short of passing out. When they reached his room, he just toppled into bed.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. “What’re you doing?”

“You have to get undressed.”

“Guess so.” He made no effort to help. “What’re you doing now? Why’re you grabbing me like that?”

“You want me, don’t you?” A moment later she was in the bed with him, rubbing her nakedness against his. He was too drunk to make anything of the situation. He held her, and became maudlin, spouting his trials. She played to it.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Juniper

Payoff

Shed sat up so suddenly his head twisted around. Somebody started beating drums inside. He rolled to the edge of the bed and was noisily sick. And then became sick in another way. With terror.

“I told her. I told her the whole damned thing.” He tried to jump up. He had to get out of Juniper before the Inquisitors came. He had gold. A foreign captain might take him south. He could catch up with Raven and Asa... He settled onto the cot, too miserable to act. “I’m dying,” he muttered. “If there’s a hell, this is what it’s going to be like.”

Had he told her? He thought so. And for nothing. He had gotten nothing. “Marron Shed, you were born to lose. When will you ever learn?”

He rose once more, cautiously, and fumbled through his hiding place. The gold was there. Maybe he hadn’t told her everything. He considered the amulet. Lisa could follow the trail blazed by Sue. If she hadn’t told anybody yet. But she would be wary, wouldn’t she? Be hard to catch her off guard. Even assuming he could find her.

“My head! Gods! I can’t think.” There was a sudden racket downstairs. “Damn,” he muttered. “She left the place unlocked. They’ll steal everything.” Tears rolled down his cheeks. Such an end he had come to. Maybe that was Bullock and his thugs knocking around down there.

Best to meet his fate. Cursing, he eased into his clothing, began the long journey downstairs.

“Good morning, Mr. Shed,” Lisa called brightly. “What will you have for breakfast?”

He stared, gulped, finally stumbled to a table, sat there with his head in his hands, ignoring the amused stare of one of his companions of the Gilbert adventure.

“A little hung over, Mr. Shed?” Lisa asked.

“Yes.” His own voice sounded thunderous.

“I’ll mix you something my father taught me to make. He’s a master drunkard, you know.”

Shed nodded weakly. Even that proved painful. Lisa’s father was one reason he had hired her. She needed all the help she could get. Another of his charities gone sour.

She returned with something so foul even a sorcerer would not have touched it. “Drink fast. It goes down easier that way.”

“I can imagine.” Half praying it would poison him, he gulped the malodorous concoction. After gasping for breath, he murmured, “When are they coming? How long do I have?”

“Who, Mr. Shed?”

“The Inquisitors. The law. Whoever you called.”

“Why would they come here?”

Painfully, he raised his gaze to meet hers.

She whispered, “I told you I’ll do anything to get out of the Buskin. This is the chance I’ve been looking for. We’re partners now, Mr. Shed. Fifty-fifty.”

Shed buried his head in his hands and groaned. It would never end. Not till it devoured him. He cast curses on Raven and all his house.

The common room was empty. The door was closed. “First we have to take care of Gilbert,” Lisa said.

Shed bobbed his head, refused to look up.

“That was stupid, giving him jewelry he would recognize. He’ll kill you if we don’t kill him first.”

Again Shed bobbed his head. Why me? he whined to himself. What have I done to deserve this?

“And don’t you think you can get rid of me the way you did Sue and that blackmailer. My father has a letter he’ll take to Bullock if I disappear.”

“You’re too smart for your own good.” And: “It won’t be long till winter.”

“Yes. But we won’t do it Raven’s way. Too risky and too much work. We’ll get charitable. Let all the derelicts in. One or two can disappear every night.” “You’re talking murder!”

“Who’ll care? Nobody. They’ll be better off themselves. Call it mercy.”

“How can anybody so young be so heartless?” “You don’t prosper in the Buskin if you have a heart, Mr. Shed. We’ll fix a place where the outside cold will keep them till we get a wagonload. We can take them up maybe once a week.” “Winter is...”

“Is going to be my last season in the Buskin.” “I won’t do it.”

“Yes, you will. Or you’ll hear from Bullock. You don’t have a choice. You have a partner.” “God, deliver me from evil.” “Are you less evil than me? You killed five people.” “Four,” he protested weakly.

“You think Sue is still alive? You’re splitting hairs. Any way you look at it, you’re guilty of murder. You’re a murderer so dumb about money he doesn’t have a gersh to his name. So stupid he keeps getting tangled with Sues and Gilberts. Mr. Shed, they only execute you once.”

How to argue with sociopathic reasoning? Lisa was the heart of Lisa’s universe. Other people existed only to be exploited.

“There are some others we should think about after Gilbert. That man of Krage’s who got away. He knows there was something strange about the bodies not turning up. He hasn’t talked or it would be all over the Buskin. But someday he might. And there’s the man you hired to help you with the blackmailer.”

She sounded like a general pla

“I want no more blood on my hands, Lisa.”

“How much choice do you have?”

He could not deny that Gilbert’s death had meaning in the equation of his survival. And after Gilbert, one more. Before she destroyed him. She would let her guard down sometime.

What about that letter? Damn. Maybe her father had to go first... The trap was vast and had no apparent exits.

“This could be my only chance to get out, Mr. Shed. You’d better believe I’m going to grab it.”

Shed shook his lethargy, leaned forward, stared into the fireplace. His own survival came first. Gilbert had to go. That was definite.

What about the black castle? Had he told her about the amulet? He could not recall. He had to imply the existence of a special passkey, else she might try to kill and sell him. He would become a danger to her once they implemented her plan. Yes. For sure. She would try to rid herself of him once she made her co

Damn. Raven had done the smart thing, the only thing possible. Had taken the only exit. Leaving Juniper was the only way out.

“Going to have to follow him,” he muttered. “There isn’t any choice.”

“What?”

“Just muttering, girl. You win. Let’s get to work on Gilbert.”

“Good. Stay sober and get up early tomorrow. You’ll need to watch the Lily while I check something out.”

“All right.”

“Time you pulled your own weight again, anyway.”

“Probably so.”

Lisa eyed him suspiciously. “Good night, Mr. Shed.”

Lisa told Shed: “It’s set up. He’ll meet me at my place tonight. Alone. You bring your wagon. I’ll make sure my dad isn’t around.”

“I hear Gilbert won’t go anywhere without a bodyguard now.”

“He will tonight. He’s supposed to pay me ten leva to help get control of the Lily. I let him think he’s going to get something else, too.”

Shed’s stomach growled. “What if he catches on?”

“There’s two of us and one of him. How did such a chicken-shit manage everything you have?”