Dread Brass Shadows by Glen Cook Read Free Book Online Page A

redhead again. Damn, she was a sizzler. “So who tried to kill my friend? And why?”
    “The Serpent’s men, probably. I know they’re here. I’ve seen them. Did you see them?”
    I described them carefully.
    “The man with the mustache sounds like Elmore Flounce. Even his friends won’t mourn him. The ratman might be Keem Lost Knife. Nastier than Flounce. The ogre could be Zacher Hoe, a hunter and tracker. But the Serpent has other ogres. The dwarves . . . I don’t know. She had dozens around.”
    “Hunh. Somewhere to start.” I hoped the Dead Man was taking her apart inside.
    The redhead started wringing her hands. That isn’t something you see much, especially in younger people. The only wringer I know is Dean. It seemed studied. “Will you help me find Holme Blaine, Mr. Garrett? Will you help me recover the book of dreams? I’m desperate.”
    All alone and desperate, battered by powerful forces. A sure way to sew Garrett up. Only I didn’t feel her desperation. I was becoming disenchanted so fast I almost had to work to pant. String her along, Garrett. What’s to lose? “I have problems of my own. But if I come across your book, I’ll snap it up.”
    She gave me a look that melted my spine despite my restored cynicism. It made me want to grab up Dean and the Dead Man and toss them into the street. She took out a doeskin sack, removed five silver coins. “I have to keep a little to live on while you find the book. I’m sorry I can’t give you more. It’s all we could scrape together. The Serpent grabs all the silver she can find.”
    Silver had gotten scarce since Glory Mooncalled took over the mines in the Cantard. I opened my mouth to tell her she didn’t need to beggar herself. The sucker side of me was wide-awake.
    Take it.
    The Dead Man seldom sends a thought beyond the confines of his own quarters. If he does, I don’t argue. His reasons generally stand up. But having him jump in ruined my concentration. There were a hundred questions I should have asked the woman, but instead I said, “I’ll have a friend of mine see you safely to wherever you’re staying” Saucerhead was hanging around somewhere.
    She stood “That’s not necessary.”
    “I think it is. There’s been a knife used once already. Probably meant for you. By now I expect the people who did it know they missed. Understand?”
    “I suppose.” That irritation again. “Thank you. I’m new at this. I don’t expect people to be that way.”
    Really?
    She was good Give her that. She really was good. I called out, “Dean, tell Mr. Tharpe to see the lady safely tucked away home. Ask him to scout the area, see if she’s being watched.”
    Dean stepped into the doorway, nodding. As I’d suspected, he’d been out there eavesdropping. “Miss? If you will?” He could turn on the charm for a guest, that old boy.
    I didn’t think about the questions I should’ve asked till after I heard the door close. But what the hell? I could get the answers from the Dead Man.
     
     

10
     
    Dean came back from the front door as I headed across the hail. “She was lying, Mr. Garrett.”
    “She wasn’t telling the whole truth, that’s for sure.”
    “Not telling a word of it if you ask me.”
    “It shouldn’t matter. Let’s find out what old Smiley plucked out of the air between her ears.”
    Dean shivered I can’t figure it, After all this time he ought to be used to the Dead Man.
    I added the Ramada woman’s money to the pile under the Dead Man’s chair. I settled into my own, glanced around. Dean had been slacking again He gets the creeps in there, so he lets cleanup slide till I jump on him or do it myself. The bugs were ready to take over. “What did you think of my visitor?”
    Will you never outgrow that adolescent sense of humor?
    Crumbs. Now he was getting on me for what I was thinking “I hope not, Chuckles.” There. Damned for it, I might as well say it “Grownups are so stodgy.”
    As Dean observed, she was