Page 73 of A Skirl of Sorcery
Twenty-Nine
When Slasher walked into the room, her eyes glittering and triumphant, I was genuinely astonished. She’d been in on this damned business from the beginning? Unbelievable.
Then I saw who had followed her down the stairs. That wasn’t Jimmy Leighton, it was Arthur bloody Dinsbury. Suddenly I knew exactly why they were there. Those absolute idiots would ruin everything.
‘So you’re in this together,’ Slasher crowed. ‘I suspected as much. I knew there was more to you than meets the eye.’
Uh-huh. I studied her as I wondered how to play this situation. Bizarrely, although Slasher was dressed in black from head to toe, she was wearing the same scarlet lipstick; it wasn’t yet six o’clock in the morning, she was on a complicated spying mission – and she had perfectly applied lippy. That showed true dedication to the cause of make-up.
I found my voice. ‘Let me guess,’ I said. ‘You decided to gang up and stake out Keres. You followed her here.’
‘It’s as well that we did!’ Dinsbury nodded at the dagger in my hand. ‘You’re going to kill that poor bugger Jimmy Leighton, aren’t you? You’re in this murder business. You’re planning to be a killer, not a cat lady!’
Oh, if only he knew.‘You’ve misunderstood this situation,’ I began calmly.
‘I don’t think we have!’ Slasher yelled. ‘And don’t try anything. My husband knows exactly where we are. If anything happens to us, you’ll be hunted down in an instant!’
I winced. ‘Keep your voice down!’
‘I will not! I don’t care what sort of weapon you’re wielding, I will not stay quiet. You’ve been caught bang to rights!’
Nothing about this was good. Leighton could return at any moment. I returned the dagger to its sheath. ‘The weapon has gone. Now please, indoor voices – in fact, indoor whispers.’
‘She’s holding something,’ Dinsbury said. ‘Thatthingbehind you has a weapon too.’
‘It’s not a weapon.’ I gritted my teeth. ‘And she’s not a thing.’
‘Do it, Arthur,’ Slasher hissed. ‘Use it!’
He reached into his pocket and withdrew a black-linen bag about two inches wide. My heart sank; I already had a bad feeling about what was inside it.
Dinsbury cleared his throat and held it up. ‘This,’ he declared, ‘is death powder.’
Thank goodness. I relaxed slightly. ‘Really.’ My voice was flat.
He smacked his lips together. ‘Really.’
‘It’s fresh,’ Slasher said. ‘I got it from the witchery store where I work yesterday.’
I held my patience. ‘If you work there you should know that death powder almost never works.’
‘Of course it works!’
I raised an eyebrow. ‘Really? One pinch of powder applied to someone’s skin and they suddenly die? Don’t you think that if it had any effect then lots of people would use it? You must know that nobody buys that stuff.’
‘Because it’s dangerous!’ she spat.
‘No, because it’s next to useless,’ I said patiently. ‘The worst you’ll get is a mild rash.’
‘So why is it called death powder if it doesn’t cause death?’
‘Because it kills common sense,’ I muttered under my breath. ‘Look, let’s all take a beat and…’
‘Drop that damned box!’ Dinsbury shouted at Keres.
Slasher immediately matched his energy. ‘Drop it!’ she shrieked. She ran forward, pushing past me to get to her. I lunged for Slasher as she lunged for the bone box and tried to wrestle it from Keres’ hands.
‘Stop it!’ Keres screamed. ‘It’s mine! It’sme!’
