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"What you say is probably true, but you have eyes and ears and a brain. You saw things and heard things and you thought about them. Why do you think the girl had to die?"
"Maybe she knew too much about something. She knew the kidnap was a fake because she was supposed to run off with the kid and the money. Maybe she found out the fake turned real. Maybe she just did something to make Do
"That's enough of that. Tell me about the payoff. Where. When. How."
"On the Chamberton Old Road four miles south of where it runs into the Vokuta-Lichfield road, just north of the bridge over Little Cedar Creek. Set for midnight the night before what we was just talking about, but the delivery was two hours late. I guess Gorgeous wasn't pissed because he never complained."
I didn't know the place. On the map the Chamberton Old Coach Road cuts up through woody hill country four miles west of the route I'd taken when I'd gone out to explore. "Why that spot?"
"The road runs straight for a mile either way from the bridge. There's never any traffic at night, but if there was, you'd spot it coming in plenty of time. And you can look off northeast and see the ridge the Lichfield road runs on. I was up there to watch in case there was any tricks. I was supposed to light one signal flare if everything was all right and two if it wasn't."
"Did you expect trouble?"
"No. We had them by the short hairs. But you don't take chances with those people."
"And the delivery was late?"
"Yeah. But I guess that was just because the damnfool woman didn't know what she was doing. Any idiot should know a covered wagon with a four-horse team won't make time like a buggy or carriage."
Oh? "You weren't there for the actual payoff, then?"
"No. But Gorgeous said it went down exactly the way it was supposed to."
"Which was?"
"The wagon came down and stopped in the road. Gorgeous and Do
"They knew what was happening?"
"Not the payoff. But they were in on a killing."
"There was no concern about just following the woman?"
"She wasn't told what to do about going back till she turned over the ransom."
"I see." Not very bright, this Skredli. "She didn't have anything to say when she didn't get the kid after the payoff?"
"I don't know. Maybe she did. Gorgeous never said."
"I guess you came out pretty good on the deal personally, eh?"
"Yeah. Look at me. Living like a lord. Yeah. I got my usual ten percent of Gorgeous's fifty percent. A big hit to you, maybe, but I did better on the warehouse business, even if it took longer to come in."
"You stripped the warehouse, then?"
"Yeah. I didn't think it was smart, but Gorgeous said we already had such a big investment we might as well finish it off."
"Uhm." I began to pace, to think. We'd been at it a long time. He'd given me a lot to think about. We were almost there, but I needed that moment to reflect, to reorder my forces.
"Where is Do
"I don't know."
"She was there when we came after you, wasn't she?"
He nodded.
"And she ran out behind us and went for help."
He shrugged.
"It's going to be interesting, finding out who called out the troops. That was a stupid mistake. Very stupid. Panic thinking. Raver Styx will have his hide. Where's Do
"How many times I got to tell you I don't know? If she's got the sense of a cockroach, she's done got her butt out of TunFaire."
"If she had that much sense, she would have headed out of town as soon as she had her share of the money. She seems to have a certain low cu
Skredli shrugged. "One of her Johns, maybe."
I'd had that thought already. I suspected Skredli was mined out on the subject. And he was relaxed enough for the next stage.
"Why did the Stormwarden's kid have to be killed?"
"Huh? Killed? I heard he committed suicide."
"We're getting along fine, Skredli. I'm starting to feel kindly toward you. Don't blow your chance. I know you and Gorgeous and Do
"You don't know Do
"No. But I intend to get acquainted. Go ahead. Tell me about that morning."
"You aren't going to spread it around, are you? I don't need no Raver Styx breathing down my neck."
"None of us do. But you don't worry about Raver Styx. You worry about me. I'm the only chance you've got to walk out of here. You've got to make me happy."
He shrugged. He wasn't counting on me. But he did have new hopes that he hadn't had awhile ago.
"All right. What started it was you parading around with that dead woman. Somebody seen you by Lettie Faren's place. They told Do
"But you did get Do
"That did it. He was going to hike out of there and blow the whole thing wide open. And he would have, too, only me and Gorgeous showed up. On account of Gorgeous was worried about Do
"It wasn't pla
"I gotta be careful with that. I don't think it was. I wasn't in on no pla
"You keep contradicting yourself. Is Do
"She's good at coming up with schemes and playing them out, long as she's got the reins in her hands. You catch her by surprise, she don't do so good. She thinks slow, she gets flustered, she does dumb things. So Gorgeous figured we better get over there and sit on her till she calmed down and whatever was bugging her blew away."