Book 2 - Shadows Linger Read Online Free PDF Page B

anything.
Krage is furious.” Shed let him have the wine. He drained it
in a single gulp.
    Shed glanced toward the stair, shuddered. Maybe he had
underestimated Raven. “What did Krage say about
me?”
    “Sure could use another mug, Shed.”
    “I’ll give you a mug. Over the noggin.”
    “I don’t need you, Shed. I made a connection. I can
sleep over to Krage’s any time I want.”
    Shed grunted, made a mask of his face. “You win.” He
poured wine.
    “He’s going to put you out of business, Shed.
Whatever it takes. He’s decided you’re in it with
Raven.” Wicked little smile. “Only he can’t
figure where you got the guts to buck him.”
    “I’m not. I don’t have anything to do with
Raven, Asa. You know that.”
    Asa enjoyed his moment. “I tried to tell Krage, Shed. He didn’t want to hear it.”
    “Drink your wine and get out, Asa.”
    “Shed?” The old whine filled Asa’s voice.
    “You heard me. Out. Back to your new friends. See how long
they have a use for you.”
    “Shed! . . . ”
    “They’ll throw you back into the street, Asa. Right
beside me and Mom. Git, you bloodsucker.”
    Asa downed his wine and fled, shoulders tight against his neck.
He had tasted the truth of Shed’s words. His association with
Krage would be fragile and brief.
    Shed tried to warn Raven. Raven ignored him. Shed polished mugs,
watched Raven chatter with Darling in the utter silence of sign
language, and tried to imagine some way of making a hit in the
upper city. Usually he spent these early hours eying Darling and
trying to imagine a way to gain access, but lately sheer terror of
the street had abolished his customary randiness.
    A cry like that of a hog with a cut throat came from upstairs.
“Mother!” Shed took the stairs two steps at a time.
    His mother stood in the doorway of the big bunkroom, panting.
“Mom? What’s wrong?”
    “There’s a dead man in there.”
    Shed’s heart fluttered. He pushed into the room. An old
man lay in the bottom right bunk inside the door.
    There had been only four bunkroom customers last night. Six
gersh a head. The room was six feet wide and twelve long, with
twenty-four platforms stacked six high. When the room was full,
Shed charged two gersh to sleep leaning on a rope stretched down
the middle.
    Shed touched the old-timer. His skin was cold. He had been gone
for hours.
    “Who was he?” old June asked.
    “I don’t know.” Shed probed his ragged
clothing. He found four gersh and an iron ring. “Damn!”
He could not take that. The Custodians would be suspicious if they
found nothing. “We’re jinxed. This is our fourth stiff
this year.”
    “It’s the customers, son. They have one foot in the
Catacombs already.”
    Shed spat. “I’d better send for the
Custodians.”
    A voice said, “He’s waited this long, let him wait a
little longer.”
    Shed whirled. Raven and Darling stood behind his mother.
    “What?”
    “He might be the answer to your problems,” Raven
said. And immediately Darling began flashing signs so fast Shed
could not catch one in twenty. Evidently she was telling Raven not
to do something. Raven ignored her.
    Old June snapped, “Shed!” Her voice was heavy with
admonition.
    “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll handle it. Go ahead
with your work.” June was blind, but when her health
permitted, she dumped the slops and handled what passed for maid
service—mainly dusting beds between guests to kill fleas and lice.
When her health confined her to bed, Shed brought in his cousin
Wally, a ne’er-do-well like Asa, but with a wife and kids.
Shed used him out of pity for the wife.
    He headed downstairs. Raven followed, still arguing with
Darling. Momentarily, Shed wondered if Raven was diddling her. Be a
damned waste of fine womanflesh if someone wasn’t.
    How could a dead man with four gersh get him out from under
Krage? Answer: He could not. Not legitimately.
    Raven settled onto his usual stool. He scattered a handful of
copper. “Wine.