Gilded Latten Bones Read Online Free PDF Page A

doesn’t roust you. You aren’t a good liar. They’ll pat you down ten seconds after they stop you.”
    And my record as one of the finest subjects of the Karentine Crown would not tilt the balance away from an arrest for possession of proscribed weaponry.
    Singe would not let me go with anything less. And, “Even though this does not look like a situation where we will need the Dead Man, I’ll try to wake him up.”
    “Singe, you are a treasure.”
    That was a wonderful straight line. I regretted it before I finished saying it. Singe, however, confounded heaven and earth by disdaining her opportunity. “I know. I have trouble imagining how you have survived without me. Get along. No! Wait! What about your other friends?”
    Symptomatic of my reduced status, I asked, “What? Who?”
    “Saucerhead. Winger. Playmate. Half a dozen others.”
    “Oh. Them.” At the moment Mama Garrett’s boy didn’t have much of a positive attitude toward her second favorite son. I had done so little to keep in touch. “I guess you could, like quietly, let them know there’s a situation. Without mentioning what happened to Morley. But I don’t think we’ll be asking them to get involved.”
    Singe just shook her head.
    I needed to get out there and make my special ratgirl happy by finding the real, missing Garrett.
     
     

10
    Fire and Ice wasn’t hard to find. It was a well-known establishment on the frontier of Elf Town, serving the needs of the successful working man. Meaning it wasn’t quite the upscale hook shop I expected but it wasn’t rodent’s belly nasty, either. It was a place where shopkeepers and skilled tradesmen could relax of an evening. A throwback kind of place, actually, because it didn’t make its money on volume, nor entirely on marketing its keystone service.
    I expect the relaxed atmosphere was one way the house competed for scarce disposable income — much of which, these days, ends up in TunFaire’s gaudy theaters.
    Play-going was all the rage, in part because a man could take his wife. And the wives knew that.
    I gave my name at the door. It was no shibboleth. I tried Belinda’s.
    There was the magic.
    A veteran brunette — absolutely a heartbreaker not long ago — turned up quickly. She had something special going. I was tempted to fail to remember that I was taken.
    “You came from Miss Contague?”
    “She asked me to keep watch on your injured guest.”
    She considered my claim. She considered me. She consulted some recollection. She decided that I was the real thing, though she was not prepared to be impressed. My feelings were bruised. I was willing to be impressed by her. And I was as fine a specimen of former Marine as you’re likely to find still vertical. I had my dings and scars but they just let you know that I was the genuine article.
    “All right. Come with me.” After a glare that dared me to even think about running with that.
    We passed through the fancy public lounge works, entirely uninhabited at the moment. Potential witnesses had been cleared out. In the back, where delicacies comestible and sensual got prepared, I spied several toothsome lasses enjoying a light repast and steadfastly taking no interest whatsoever in anyone passing through. Two appeared to be full-blood elf girls. The others were nearly as gorgeous.
    “Stop slobbering on the carpet.”
    “Sorry. I don’t get out much anymore.”
    “Here’s a suggestion. Keep your hands to yourself while you’re here.” Then she snorted. She was one of those people who can’t keep their laughter out of their noses. It took me a few seconds to get the joke.
    “I’m taken,” I said stiffly.
    “Most of our clients are.” We came to a narrow, steep back stair.
    “I’m Garrett,” I said, though my name had failed to awe anyone yet.
    “I know. I’ve heard of you. I’m aware of your reputation.”
    “Damn! I didn’t know I had one. It’s probably all lies and exaggerations. Who are you?”
    “You can