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FLEMING
ON the way over to Escott&039;s office, I stopped at a couple places and bought a couple things I was unsure if they&039;d dowhat lay ahead, I approached the block slowly, on the lookout for Coldfield&039;s Nash It was a newer version of the one Escott drove, arht in front of the outside stairs leading up to the office
I cruised past, circled the block, and stopped to wait far down at the end behind another car
Yes, I was being chicken Coldfield had already clobbered me this week, and I was in no o I&039;d have tried an eye-whaain; I&039;d just have to tough things out Besides, Escott h on his mind already
Just as I set the brake and cut the motor, Coldfield came downstairs onto the sidewalk He looked both ways but didn&039;t see hts re that would last, I grabbed my parcels and moved quick
I clumped up the stairs to the door with THE ESCOTT AGENCY painted on its pebbled-glassHe&039;d have heardopen easily with a soft creak
Escott sat at his desk in the small, plain room, pipe in hand, stacks of mail in front of him, business as usual I da on my side of the threshold I couldn&039;t help but recall the first ti to need an invitation to enter, while he gave ure out if I was friend or foe
He gavelook, his lean face just as wary By God, his bruises were gone He looked the sa, and the bone could heal straight, and you ht not even limp, but you&039;ll still feel it, you&039;ll always feel it
What I&039;d broken was the trust we&039;d had
"Were you waiting long for Shoe to leave?" he asked
That was nors out so quick "Just parked You send him away?"
"I needed an uninterrupted hour to myself Business" He indicated theto leave Looked back With the pipe he gestured at one of the empty chairs before the desk
"Coet it over with"
I shoved the door shut with one foot and sat facing hiot quiet, and I didn&039;t knohere to look
"Well This is bloody aard, isn&039;t it?"
"Oh, yeah" I checked over the s his eye
"What have you there?" he asked
The parcels I put thes"
He pulled the paper from one, which uncovered a bottle of dark beer, cool, not cold The others held a fresh loaf of rye bread and a quarter pound of salted butter
His eyes ide "What the devil?"
"You asked for theht"
"I did?"
"Before the fever really took hold"
"They had me doped with some awful stuff I don&039;t rery?"
"As it happens, I am This is perfect" He had a flat sharp letter opener handy and used that to cut the bread and spread on the butter
I didn&039;tand drinking He knocked the bottle top off using the edge of the desk and washed down the bread with a healthy swig
He noticed"Worried that I picked up one of your habits?"
"Huh?"
"Swilling blood instead of this excellent brew?" He tilted the bottle
"Shoe told you what happened?"
"In rare detail I hly iht How are you?"
"Re the side of his face Last night his eye had been swollen shut, his face more black than blue; not a trace of injury re for myself, but not for others This spookedthe-"
"Thankfully, I do not Shoe&039;s description was vivid, and I shall do et even that much" He slapped on ree withHe was alive to do it
Another slug of beer, and he set down the brown bottle, politely suppressing a belch "Who would have thought such blood to be a curative? It&039;s like soazine, only it clearly works"
"And Kroun knew about it I tried to find out more from him, but he wouldn&039;t talk"
"Doubtless he has a reason"
"We have to know if it&039;s going to have a permanent effect on you"
Escott seeht be persuaded to part with information on that point I am understandably curious"
"You sure you feel okay?"
"Never better Which disturbsda else?"
He caught"Ah Well I&039;ve not exhibited any extranorht hasn&039;t is My canines are their usual length, and mirrors still work for me"
I was relieved "That covers it"
"Of course there was an alar just a few inches short of the ceiling"
"Tell e by the look on your face Sorry"
Some of the starch went out of , just sit insick and helpless This was how I&039;d been before, and it had led un to my head I didn&039;t want to be like this
"What?" he asked, his gaze sharpening with concern
His trust in me was broken, maybe never tostupid again "I I waited too long"
"For what?"
"I didn&039;t knohat you&039;d want I couldn&039;t think"
"In regard to?"
"Trying to save you Whether I should have tried a blood exchange so you ht have a chance-"
"Ah Shoe toldwith your reluctance to act"
"That&039;s what he saw"
"You made your point that it had only a slim chance of success We all know that"
"I wasn&039;t sure he understood And I couldn&039;t make the choice for you; he did"
"But Mr Kroun stepped in"
"Yeah A good thing Wein the air for apatient
"But I waited too long"
"Because you did not knowdead or Undead?"
"God forbid this ever happens again, but what do you want?"
For the second tiht I saw a ht about it," he finally adht I honestly don&039;t know"
"How can you not know?"
"Soth, all the other advantages, those balanced by certain disadvantages to which onein the world Your decision was originally based on wanting to be with the woman you loved"
And lost Yes
"My circumstances are different Whether I returned or not, either outcome would effectively removeof Vivian?" If she was a part of the decision, then he&039;d gotten pretty serious about her
"She&039;s a very intelligent, knowledgeable woe that she would not be at ease knowing of such matters"
"That&039;s not fair to either of you Just talk to her"
"Have you spoken to anyone in your fae?"
He stumped me on that one "They wouldn&039;t understand"
"My point exactly"
"You can&039;t ht react to it"
"Of course I can It&039;s done every day So to ard for the hare in the future," he said "For now, I just don&039;t know If-God forbid-another similar situation falls upon you, all I can say is use your best coard to whatever circumstance you find yourself"
"That&039;s only if I have ti?"
"Then it is my fate to be hit by a truck But in theinto the street"
"And if the truck jumps up on the sidewalk?"
Escott opened his ain He could read me easy, and saw that I was serious An odd sht, I&039;ll tell you this and you can believe it or not The other night so I recall that "
Oh, God
"Jack, let ht It really was"
This had to be a leftover from that ti that horror had changed him, made him careless about his own life in the years that followed I&039;d thought he&039;d gotten over it, though "There&039;s nothing all right about wanting to die"
"I&039;lad to hear you say that"
"It&039;s not aboutwas not a factor I was si, and it did not troubleforced uponthat had come to happen"
"But my fault," I said "I&039;m the one who-"
"Oh, don&039;t start, you sound just like Shoe"
"He&039;s right"
"No, he&039;s not You and I sorted our credentials, and that&039;s the end of theseptic afteras just bad luck That sort of thing could happen anytime and come from a paper cut I wish to hear no more about the business Please"
"Okay," Ito say is that if you find yourself unable to offer your unique help toto worry about it, though I will give ain-I just don&039;t know"
"You sure? That you&039;re not sure?"
He shrugged "Should I make a determination one way or another, I will tell you I promise"
The way he said it told ain
"Besides, Mr Kroun&039;s unexpected hand in s already We need to question hi with you Shoe had the idea you were looking after him"
"Kroun went for a walk He&039;s not exactly leash-trained I put hiht he disappeared into some bolt-hole of his own"
"Not in the literal sense?"
"Hm?"
"Bobbi mentioned his inability to vanish" Escott raised a hand "Please, she didn&039;t purposely break her silence about him After Shoe told aps"
"Kroun&039;s gonna love that"
"Secretive, is he?"
"Like a safe"
"Well, he is aers, all of who the daylight hours, one must be careful"
"Yes, one must"
"I would like to meet Mr Kroun and thank him Is that likely to come about?"
"Oh, yeah, I just don&039;t knohen He&039;s up to soot a stink to it"
"Indeed?"
It was enough of an opening So shifted in the air between us, and ere suddenly back on another case again, sa, and if a little forced for the effort, reassuring for being fa I&039;d told Gordy, then what Gordy had given to h it felt like hours before I ran out of words
Escott finished his bread and beer, digesting both along withI can look into"
"You stay clear of it Kroun wasn&039;t happy telling uy was his father"
"Yet he did Why?"
"Moment of weakness?"
"I doubt that It&039;s odd No idea where he went afterward?"
I shook my head "He was plenty upset Maybe he did just want to walk it off"
"His friends fro track of hiot my o to hoe"
"Tomorrow I&039;ll see what I can turn up on them, especially Sonny"
"Charles"
"Be assured I shall be most circu a physician should be enough, then I won&039;t have to go near the place"
"Good You don&039;t want Kroun hearing you&039;ve been nosing around He&039;s going to figure I talked to you anyway, but"
"Yes, yes, caution, absolutely The directions to that cabinto be touchy about it Don&039;t go looking for trouble, okay?"
"Very well"
"You&039;re not driving up there without me"
"Wouldn&039;t dreah his stack of ed shorthand onthree copies Kroun would want one
"Now, about the Alan Caine case-"
"It&039;s over," I said "There is no case I left a false lead for the cops, and they&039;re off and running"
"So for you on it It had to do with Hoyle&039;s death"
Escott was too sharp by half
"What rong doesn&039;t ht and wound up being stupid You showed me just how stupid, and I nearly killed you I can&039;t apologize enough for that"
"You don&039;t have to, old ht I&039;ve ave a twist at that thought He&039;d come too close
"Keep whatever it is to yourself if you ry with you on Bobbi&039;s behalf"
I felt o red It was shah me, intense as fire It orse than when I&039;d shot ain I swear on Bobbi&039;s life"
He grunted
"You gonna clobber ain?"
"If I have to"
"You won&039;t have to"
"Are you going to tell her what you did?"
I gaped in shock "Hell, no!"
He relaxed a bit "I&039;ht I can&039;t tell her She&039;d never be able to trust ain"
"Good instinct It would only adversely taint her affection What she doesn&039;t knoon&039;t be a constant reproach to you and worry for her"
That toldroad "She&039;s going to keep asking, you know that"
"Tell her that Iabout soood reputation with her"
That was one hell of a favor Too h "She&039;d never buy it I can&039;t-"
"You most certainly can and will It worked tolerably well on Shoe"
The implications of that sank slowly into my thick skull He&039;d put one over on Coldfield? I couldn&039;t see how Escott had gotten aith it, but if anyone could "Really?"
"Best to agree before I change"Is Shoe going to ease off being pissed atwhile Whatever the circumstances that led up to this near disaster, and whatever theto cease bla you"
I didn&039;t expect otherwise But, dah I valued Coldfield&039;s friendship
"Just give hilanced at his watch, shuffled the s to one side, and tapped his pipe e here that cannot wait until the ht"
"Uh-there&039;s one thing" I told him about the break-in at the house "It could be Kroun&039;s two buddieson, you should stay at Shoe&039;s hotel"
"Bloody hell I don&039;t want so where I sleep"
"Me neither, but you&039;re settled in already, aren&039;t you?"
"At Shoe&039;s quite forceful insistence"
"Go along with him There&039;s no harm in it He&039;ll feel better"
"Where will you doss down?"
"I&039;ll be at Lady Cryular burglar"
"You don&039;t believe that"
"Not these nights, no Another thing-your Nashthe steering wheel fixed" I thought he&039;d be happier not knowing about the bloodstained upholstery "You can call Derner at the Nightcrawler about it"
"Why, thank you I&039;d not given it any thought"
Well, he had been sidetracked
A car door slammed down in the street "I think Shoe&039;s back"
"So me a ride over to see Vivian"