Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.
See Premium Plans
 
SAMPLESAMPLESAMPLESAMPLEGET THE EBOOK AT AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE OR SMASHWORDSGET THE EBOOK AT AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE OR SMASHWORDSGET THE EBOOK AT AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE OR SMASHWORDSGET THE EBOOK AT AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE OR SMASHWORDS
She sat up in the chair, suddenly all prim, proper and businesslike. I noticed for the firsttime that she had a small bag on her lap...jet-black like her clothes. She dug around in the bag--which on its own would pay my rent for months… and removed a painted piece of canvas that she passed over the table. I picked up the canvas, and almost dropped itstraight away. Suddenly I didn’t want anything to do with this, I didn’t want this womanin my life, and the rum in the drawer screamed to be let out.Then she smiled at me, and I turned the canvas over.It showed a pendant, but unlike anything I’d ever seen before. It consisted of a figurineon a heavy gold chain. There was nothing in the drawing to indicate size, but it looked big.
 
Big and ugly.The figure was of an animal, but not any known to me. The hindquarters were feline andstriped, like a Djanto cat, but from the waist up it looked grotesque, a blob of black stonewith long suckered tentacles streaming from a spherical blob that could have been thehead. It looked like an octopus after a rough night on the rum.“Nice wedding present,” I said as I put it down. “If it was mine I think I would be quiteglad to lose it.”I pushed the canvas away from me, turning it face down on the table, and rubbed myfingers on my jerkin, but I couldn’t get rid of a feeling of being dirtied by having touchedthe thing.“You wouldn’t want to lose it if you knew it was worth half a million in gold,” she said,and I sat back hard in my chair.I still wasn’t getting the whole truth, but I had the scent of money in my nostrils and mydream of the big case in my head.“You have other valuables?” I asked.“Oh yes. Torrson is…was… something of a collector, and we have many other pieces of equal, if not greater, value.”“And the amulet was all that was taken?”She nodded.Something still didn’t feel right. It wasn’t the stealing on demand that was wrong… ithappened all the time. She was lying about something else, and I couldn’t pin it down.“And what about the Guard?”“I would rather handle this discreetly,” she said. “If the Guard get involved, everyonewill get to know, and I’m hoping you can recover the piece without any kind of fuss.”And there was the lie… it was in her eyes, and the tightening at the corners of her mouth.I let her have it for now. My guess was there was something inherently dodgy about theamulet that precluded the Guard involvement.“Well, as I said already, I don’t want to get your hopes up,” I said. “I’ll do the rounds andask around. And I may have to visit you at some point. But you should start preparing for the worst… we may never find it.”“Just do your best,” she said. “Who knows? It might be sitting on some antique dealersstall even now, just waiting for you to walk past and see it.”The way she said it made it seem like she was dropping a hint, giving me a clue. Butwhen I looked in her eyes all I got was a small smile.She counted out five gold pieces from her bag and laid them, side by side on the table.
 
“Half now, half on delivery?” she asked. She smiled again. She already knew she had mehooked.“Okay,” I said. “I’ll start straight away. Where can I contact you?”“I’m in the third house from the top of the hill,” she said. “Next door to the Legate.”The hackles raised at the back of my neck.This was the big money case. I’d wanted it… but now I wasn’t too sure I wanted to keepit.It was too late to back out now though. The coins were on the desk. The contract wassealed.With one last smile she left, taking most, but not all, of her lavender with her. I waiteduntil she would be out of hearing range and wiped my hand across the looking glass.“It’s about time,” Face said.“Sorry. I’ve been busy.”“I noticed.”“Did you get all of that?”“Straight to business again. You know, sometimes a girl needs a little attention.”“And sometimes a girl needs to know when to focus. We have a customer. A payingcustomer.”She sighed.“Business it is then,” she said, and fell into an almost perfect impression of the oldwoman. “I was told you were discreet.” So what do you think?”“Ì was going to ask you the same question. Anything on the grapevine about a missingtrinket?”“Nothing new. But I can have a look around for you? You know… get out and about?”She had the gleam in her eye again, trying to goad me into conversation.I wasn’t in the mood.“Just find out everything you can about the amulet,” I said. “I’ll be back in an hour.I stowed the gold, wiped Face away, strapped on my sword, and headed for the one placeI knew information would be available… at a price.***
Search
Search History:
Searching...
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
  • p.
    • Notes
    Load more