Sweet Silver Blues Read Online Free PDF Page B

somebody to cut your throat.”
    The possibility had occurred to me. I’d made a mental note to rummage up some of my more interesting gimmicks and armaments. In the general course of business I find being fast on my feet protection enough, so I load myself down with hardware only in special cases.
    This case looked like it was getting pretty special.
    The Dead Man had warned me.
    “Where’s Morley?”
    “Up.” He pointed. “He’s busy.”
    I headed for the stairs.
    The barkeep opened his mouth to yell at me, then thought about it. That might start a riot. In his friendly voice he said, “Hey, Garrett, you owe us five marks.”
    I turned around and gave him the fisheye.
    “Saucerhead said you’d knock it off his tab.”
    “A grin like that ought to be bronzed and saved for posterity.”
    It got bigger.
    “That big goof isn’t as dumb as he looks, is he?” I dug down carefully, my back to the crowd. No point in showing what I was carrying and having the boys who were high on lettuce getting fancy ideas.
    “Nope.”
    I flipped the five coins and headed upstairs before he could get back to trying to stop me.
    I hammered on Morley’s private door. No response. I pounded again, rattling hinges.
    “Go away, Garrett. I’m busy.”
    I shoved through the door, which was not locked. Somebody’s wife squealed and dove into another room, a fistful of clothing trailing. Otherwise, I caught nothing but a flash of fancy tail. It was not one I recognized.
    Morley did his best to look elf-haughty in nothing but his socks and a snarl. He could not bring it off, despite being half darkelf.
    “Your timing is lousy as usual, Garrett. Not to mention your manners.”
    “How did you know it was me?”
    “Magic.”
    “Magic, my ruddy red. You have trouble making food disappear. If you call that silage you eat food.”
    “Ah-ah. Watch your mouth. You owe me one apology already.”
    “I don’t apologize. My mother makes excuses for me. How did you know it was me?”
    “Voice tube from the bar. You look awful, boy. Saucerhead must have sold that gal his top of the line. What did you do to her?”
    “Wouldn’t lie, cheat, and steal for her. And turned her down when she tried to bribe me with the big bribe.”
    He laughed. “You never learn. Next time diddle the gal and walk. She’ll sit around wondering what went wrong instead of sending cutthroats after you.” His grin vanished. “What do you want, Garrett?”
    “I’ve got a job offer for you.”
    “Not something foolish involving Saucerhead Tharpe, I hope.”
    “No. I’ve got a job I need some backup on. I can thank Saucerhead for reminding me that if I don’t get it soon my health might suffer.”
    “What’s in it?”
    “For me, ten percent of a hundred thousand marks, plus expenses. You’re expenses.”
    He whistled soundlessly, his pucker bringing his dark hatchet features to even more of a point. “What do we have to do? Take out one of the Venageti warlords?”
    “You’re closer than you think. I have to go into the Cantard and find a woman who just inherited on the up side of a hundred thou. I have to talk her into either coming here to claim it or waiving her claim in favor of whoever is next in line.”
    “That doesn’t sound so tough. Except for the part about the Cantard.”
    “There are some people around who might feel that the money was not the deceased’s to bequeath. There are some in the deceased’s family who feel a strong reluctance to let so large a fortune go to a stranger. There is the possibility of similar difficulties on the legatee’s end. It’s possible her relationship with the legatee was, shall we say, imprudent.”
    “I love it when you talk dirty, Garrett. And I love what money does to you humans. It’s the only thing that saves you from being totally tedious.”
    I did not have anything to say to that. People do get silly about money.
    “I take it your principal has his own ax to grind in this, or he’d be with the