Bitter Gold Hearts

Dean muttered, "Been around him too long already. Starting to talk like him."

"I love you too, Dean. Amber, Domina offered me a thousand marks if I could find you and turn you over to her before your mother gets home. I've had word that she'll get here this afternoon. If you want the money, I'll take you home around noon and my friend here will stay with you till you're convinced you're safe."

She eyed me through narrowed lids. "What's your angle, Garrett?" The girl could think when she felt the urge.

"Willa Dount. She knows things she won't tell me. There aren't any sanctions I can threaten to pry them out of her. All I can do is find ways to put the heat on and hope she does something interesting."

"What about the ransom, Garrett? That's what we're supposed to be working on." Her eyes remained narrowed.

"I don't think there's much chance of getting it. Do you? Really? With your mother home?"

"Probably not. But you don't act like you're trying."

Saucer head began working on a breakfast Dean had offered him. I gawked. He was putting it away like he hadn't eaten in weeks, despite having just eaten at Morley's. But rabbit food will do that.

"Domina offered you that money last night? And you didn't grab it?"

"No." Dean was pouring apple juice. I realized I was dry all the way down to my corns. "Give me about a gallon." Nothing like a good tense situation to sweat you out.

Saucer head grunted agreement around a mouthful.

"It isn't the money, is it, Garrett?" demanded Amber.

Saucer head tittered.

"What's with you, oaf?"

"She figured you out, Garrett." He chuckled. "You're right, little girl. With Garrett it's almost never the money."

"You want to talk, Waldo? How rich do you figure on getting in this?"

He gave the name a black look, then shrugged. "There's just some things you got to make right."

Amber knew we meant much more than we said. She scowled. "If you can be noble, so can I. I'll go home. But cut it close. All right?"

"All right."

"What will you do now?"

"Get some sleep. It's been awhile since I've had any."

"Sleep? How can you sleep in the middle of everything?"

"Easy. I lie down and close my eyes. If you want to stay busy and vent some nervous energy, remember ev­erything you can about Karl's friend Donni Pell."

"Why?"

"Because she looks like the common denominator in every angle of what's been happening. Because I want to find her bad."

I had a notion adding Donni Pell might even explain the marvelous appearance of troops in Ogre Town. My guess was that with Gorgeous and Skredli out of the equation, she stood a chance of surviving long enough to be found and questioned. I hoped she hadn't suffered a sudden and uncharacteristic seizure of smarts and wagged her manipulating tail out of town. I drank apple juice until I was bloated, then rose. "That's it. I'm putting myself on the shelf. Wake me up at noon, Dean. I've got to go rob a crypt before I sell Miss daPena into fetters. Saucer head, you can sack out in the room Dean uses."

Dean grumbled and muttered what sounded like threats to revive his interest in finding me a wife among his female kin. I ignored him. He wouldn't learn, and I was too tired to fight.

______ XXXVII ______

Dean didn't wake me as instructed. Amber pirated that chore with a half hour head start. The brief rest hadn't been enough to restore my resistance. I fear I succumbed. Amber wasn't a disappointment. When I ventured into the kitchen, I realized Dean had found his missing scowl mask. It was as ferocious as ever. He has pretensions to gentility, though, so he said noth­ing. I devoured a few sausages and hit the street. I listened to the talk around Playmate's place, where the old men hang out. They had a dozen theories about what had happened in Ogre Town. Some were as crazy as the truth, but none were correct. Collecting Amiranda's corpse was cut and dried. I paid, they delivered, I drove it home, and Dean helped me lug it into the Dead Man's room.

Have you taken up a new hobby, Garrett?

He was awake. I'd thought I might have to start a fire to get his attention.

Or are you getting into a new line?

"Once in a while I like to have somebody around who doesn't get temperamental."

Dean tells me you have been having adventures.

"Yes. And if you'd stay awake and do a little work, I'd have a lot fewer." I brought him up to date.