Daniel Polansky - Tomorrow, the Killing

But life’s not all rosewater and sunshine, and so after I left the Earl I headed toward Gilchrist’s office, keeping to the shade as best as I was able. He had lodgings on Apple Street, a fading structure sandwiched between two tenements. A newly painted sign above the door read, ‘Iomhair Gilchrist, Factor. Private and confidential.’ Beneath it, still visible despite the fresh coat, someone had scrawled ‘cunt’ in broad letters. I thought about knocking, but only briefly.

The room was an ugly shell of a space, though one could predict that from the exterior. What one could not have predicted was the sheer volume of clutter, as if a river of trash had overflowed its banks. Scattered across the desk in the center of the room, the chair across from it, the bench against a side wall and the floor itself were the end-products of a dozen full reams of paper – notes, text, receipts and letters, some settled high enough to serve as a perch, others more reasonably stacked no further than my shins.

Gilchrist sat on a stool behind the bureau, the one spot sufficiently empty of junk as to allow human occupation. Some part of Iomhair’s success, to the degree that he could be said to have had any, stemmed from the fact that his body was not an accurate reflection of the vacuousness of his soul. Instead of a malformed figure, one found a plump, pleasant-looking Tarasaighn, ruddy-cheeked with a serious countenance. If there was nothing particularly distinguished about him, neither was one immediately overwhelmed by the inclination to beat him with the nearest blunt object. He had a bushy caterpillar of a mustache, which he rubbed at when he wanted to give the impression that he was deep in contemplation. It was an affectation of which he was perhaps too fond, and he tended to paw at it over-frequently, as if it was a stain to be removed through vigorous scouring.

He looked up as I came in, and though the heat had already set him to sweating through the homely tweed he wore, he seemed to leak another fluid ounce at my presence. ‘Warden! How nice of you to come by and thank me for the recent avenue of employment I provided.’ On the desk was a box of cheap cigars, and he opened it, picking one out for himself and gesturing for me to do the same.

I scooped the stack of paper off the chair opposite him and dropped it without preamble. Gilchrist winced as it hit the floor. ‘Is that why I’m here?’ I asked, taking the seat and ignoring the offered smoke.

‘What other reason? And though your civility does you credit, it is of course quite unnecessary. I’ve always got my eyes out for any kindnesses I might do for such a dear friend, any minor services I might render one who has done so much for me.’ Iomhair preferred to play both parts of a dialogue. ‘I take the greatest pleasure in knowing I was able to have done a favor, however small.’

‘Why the fuck . . .’ I began, holding on to the last word for a long second, ‘. . . would you think you’ve done me any sort of favor?’

He licked a spread of spittle over his lips.

‘Let me ask you a question, Gilchrist,’ I continued, arching my back and stretching my arms wide, taking up as much room as I could. ‘What was it about my resume that made you suppose I was keen to pick up a sideline tracking down missing nobles?’

‘Everyone can use a little extra work.’

‘Is that what you think? That I’m so hard up for coin I’d be willing to do anything for it? To what other ends has this misimpression set you? Have you been bandying my name about to the city as a ditch digger? Should I expect to be approached by any sodomite off the street, having been given your word that I’m the man to satisfy their twisted desires?’

His cigar rested unlit between his fingers. ‘So you . . . turned him down?’

‘There you go again, Gilchrist, thinking. How many times does that habit have to get you into trouble before you give it up?’

He laughed nervously.

‘Tell me about Rhaine,’ I said.

‘Don’t know what I can tell you, Warden. I never met the girl – I was just doing the general a favor. He’s a war hero, you know.’

‘That’s the rumor.’

Iomhair nodded vigorously. ‘A sad business, and hopefully one with a speedy resolution. I’ll light a candle to the Firstborn, in hope the girl returns home.’

‘Did you tell her that when you saw her?’

His eyes dodged away. ‘I’m afraid I don’t follow.’

To the general, Low Town was a dark and bottomless pool, and Rhaine had fallen into it. Probably the girl had said something to that effect as she’d stomped out, swearing she’d disappear without a trace, never to be seen again. No doubt she’d even meant it. But the simple fact is that such a thing is an impossibility – we leave ripples everywhere we go, and more so when we are unsure of our surroundings.

I’d been lying to the general when I said his daughter would be impossible to find – in fact, I assumed it wouldn’t be particularly difficult, and not just because the heiress would have trouble blending in with the streetwalkers up on Pritt Street. Rhaine had stalked out of Kor’s Heights with a head of steam and a few ochres in pocket change, and neither of those would last long. Once the reality of her situation sunk in, she’d go to ground in whatever hole she could afford, and she would make contact with the only person in Low Town whose name she knew.

‘She came around yesterday?’

‘Come off it, Warden. This sort of foolishness is unbecoming.’

‘You guessed you’d up whatever reward you’re going to get from Montgomery if she stayed missing a few more days. Probably you even took something from Rhaine herself to keep silent. If you were smarter then you are, you’d have made sure that list of names you gave the general didn’t include anyone halfway competent. Though in due deference, you probably figured I’d go along with it, between the two of us we could string the man out for half his worth.’

The gradual pinkening of his fat face suggested I wasn’t far off the mark. ‘I simply can’t understand where you’re getting these absurd notions.’

‘It doesn’t matter why I think what I think, Gilchrist. You wouldn’t be able to follow along anyway. What matters is that she did visit you, and I know it, and the more time you waste pretending otherwise the faster I start to lose patience – which if we’re being honest, is not one of my stronger qualities anyway. So let’s dispense with the pretense that you’re an honest man, or that anything you’ve said to me up to this point is true. I won’t hold it against you. In fact, if you come through for me now, I’ll even try to score some coin for you, once I send her home.’

Between the promise of money and the flaccid nature of his character, Iomhair folded. ‘She asked me about her brother. She said she wanted to know about what he was doing before he died.’

‘And what did you tell her?’

‘Not much. I didn’t know much. I told her to go down and see the boys at the Association – they were the ones to talk to.’

The anger that I had been feigning flared to life. I tamped down on it. Getting hot never helps anything. ‘You sent her to see the vets?’

I must not have done an absolutely successful job of keeping myself calm because his tongue seemed stuck in its depression, and it was a while before he stuttered out confirmation. ‘Yeah.’

‘By the Lost One, Gilchrist, sometimes I forget how fucking stupid you really are.’

I guess there wasn’t much could be said to that. At least, nothing he could think of, or had the courage to speak.

‘When did this interview take place?’ I asked.

‘Yesterday evening. I didn’t think it would do any harm. Roland was the head of the Veterans’ Association before he died, and Joachim Pretories was always his truest friend.’