‘You coming?’ She looks over at me and I realize my fur has flattened. My back settled down. My warning has gone unheeded and I have no other tool to deploy. I brush against her to signal my assent.
‘It’s the ditch, isn’t it?’ She reaches down to pet me; her hand is cool on my back. The boy turns to her but she ignores him. This is private, between us, and my purr, faint though it may be, acknowledges this.
Without another word, the three of us walk on – back to AD’s lair, where he and that savage wait. As we make our way, I formulate a plan. I cannot tell her, not precisely, what she faces. I can, however, give her warning.
When we reach the building, I make my move. I wait until Care and the boy are on their way down the broken stairs and slip in through the window. AD and Brian are sitting on some makeshift bedding, the flickering gas flame of a small lantern glinting off the brown bottle they pass back and forth.
‘What’s this?’ AD calls out as the girl descends, blinking. The light isn’t much, but it stands in stark contrast to the dark outside. ‘Care?’
The brute beside him lumbers to his feet. This is my moment. I jump.
I am too far away to reach his face. Even his hands, scarred and calloused as they are, would be more vulnerable than his legs. But my purpose is not to disable him, merely to make the big man call out – to buy the girl a moment’s notice and deprive him of the element of surprise.
‘What?’ I have landed on his thigh and with all my claws extended manage to pierce the thick and greasy cloth to scratch the skin inside. ‘Get off!’
I am pulled back, the hand closing on the looser skin of my neck. I release him and close my eyes, waiting for the final blow. The shock of pain. I am lucky. He merely throws me and I collide with the far wall, shaking loose the last of the plaster that sticks to these laths before I fall to the floor.
The girl gasps. She turns to stare at me, and so I make myself stand despite a stabbing pain. My effort will have been in vain if it only distracts her further.
‘Hey, darling.’ AD is on his feet now, smiling. ‘Just the girl I was hoping to see.’ He steps toward her, the gun by his side.
‘I want to talk to you,’ she says. She holds her ground, although I can hear the minute tremble in her voice. ‘I want to make a deal.’
That stops him. His smile turns quizzical and he tilts his head. When the ruffian by his side starts to move, he puts his hand out to stop him. ‘A deal?’
She nods. ‘You want the marker. I want some information.’ I am the one who is panting, but it is she who licks her lips before continuing. ‘Why did Diamond Jim hire the old man? Was it all a scam – insurance fraud or a payoff?’
She’s offering too much. We all see it, and AD’s smile widens, the flickering light showing off his canine teeth. ‘Insurance fraud?’
‘Reporting something stolen that you’ve really given away.’ She swallows. ‘Or traded.’
‘Traded is right, darling. Only you have no idea how much insurance a pretty bauble like that can buy.’ He steps forward, holding the gun. His other hand outstretched. ‘The marker?’
She pulls out the ledger. ‘Here.’
He doesn’t even take it. ‘I have no use for that.’
‘Here then.’ She hands the ticket to him.
He takes it and, with a last glare, tucks the gun in the back of his pants so he can better examine the slip of paper, turning it over between his long fingers. Bent like this, his face is obscured. ‘This? But all it says is …’ He frowns, the dirt accentuating the wrinkles in his face. ‘No, my girl. Hand it over.’
‘I don’t …’ She pauses, shifts. Chin up and defiant. ‘Tell me why.’
‘You aren’t as smart as you think you are, darling.’ He shakes his head. ‘I already did. Now, give it here.’
She shifts slightly, unsure of what is coming. But I am not surprised when the boy steps up and then steps past her, with sad eyes that are both apology and explanation for everything that has gone down.
‘Tick?’ AD once again extends his hand. He is waiting. ‘Give it here.’
The boy reaches into his pocket, eyes downcast. When he pulls out the brass weight, Care starts forward as if she is going to say something. As if she is going to reach for him. Instead, she holds herself back. The boy hands the heavy trinket to AD and steps back, his hand returning to his pocket.
‘That’s the marker?’ Care’s eyes swivel from the boy to the men.
‘Didn’t know how to read this, did you, darling?’ AD examines the bottom of the weight with its incised markings. ‘Didn’t know what it signaled.’
‘Tick, did you know?’ She turns to the boy, breathless and confused.
He shrugs.
‘Our little magpie doesn’t want to sing,’ AD growls. ‘No matter, it all worked out just fine once I realized what the boy had nicked. Once I groked its worth. He picks up everything. Don’t you, Tick? Even things you’re supposed to pass along. Some message boy you turned out to be.’