City of Lies - Lian Tanner [7]
“Arooo-oooooo-oooooooooh,” it howled. “Arrrooo-oooooooooo-oooooooooooooh.”
“Isn’t that the—um—dog from the museum?” said the Protector. It was hard to make herself heard above the pitiful sound. “What’s the matter with him?”
“Oh, nothing serious,” said Sinew. “He’s got fleas, that’s all, and wants the world to know about it.” He nudged the Fugleman. “Terrible things, fleas. Can’t stand them myself. Ooh, look, there’s one now.”
Quick as a flash, his hand burrowed into the Fugleman’s matted hair. The Fugleman jerked away as if he had been burned, his face livid with anger.
Sinew didn’t seem to notice. He held something up between his fingernails. “Got it,” he declared, with a satisfied smile. “And now we crush it”—his nails clicked together—“like the nasty little parasite it is.”
The Protector had seen enough. She pulled the window closed and turned to the waiting militiaman. “Tell Vice-Marshal Amsel that the Fugleman—the ex-Fugleman—is to be taken to the House of Repentance.”
“But it’s boarded up, Your Grace.”
“Then unboard it. I want him guarded around the clock.”
The militiaman grabbed the Fugleman’s arm. “Come on, you.”
As the door closed behind them, Sinew’s foolishness fell away like a discarded coat. “Your Grace,” he said in a low voice. “Do you remember Goldie Roth and Toadspit Hahn?”
“What? Who?” said the Protector, who was still thinking about the Fugleman. Then her mind cleared and she said, “Yes, of course. Such brave children. If it wasn’t for them, he”—she grimaced at the door—“would have succeeded in his vicious plans.”
“They have disappeared, along with Toadspit’s sister, Bonnie.”
“Disappeared?” The Protector rubbed her forehead, trying to take in the news. “Is that why the dog—I mean, the brizzlehound. I did not want to say so in front of the Fugleman, but that creature outside my window is a brizzlehound, is it not? Broo?”
Sinew nodded grimly. “Goldie’s father, Herro Roth, came to us at first light, very distressed because his daughter was missing. Broo and I went back with him and tracked Goldie’s movements. It seems she slipped out of the house in the middle of the night and went to the Hahns’ place to pick up Toadspit. We think Bonnie followed them. They appeared to be heading toward the museum, but along the way Bonnie was abducted. Toadspit and Goldie went after the men who took her.”
The Protector sat down very suddenly. “Slavers?”
“Maybe.”
“I have heard that Old Lady Skint and her crew are growing active again. It could be them.” The Protector’s brow furrowed. “Or maybe someone taking a child for ransom? There’s an army of mercenaries in the Southern Archipelago that has been snatching travelers off the road and selling them back to their families. Perhaps those mercenaries have brought their crimes north to Jewel.”
“Whoever it was,” said Sinew, “we tracked them to the docks, and there we lost them. Four ships left overnight—the Fighting Dove, the Black Bob, the Jumping at Shadows and the Ungrateful Child.” His mouth tightened. “I have no idea which one they might be on.”
With a shudder, the Protector picked up her pen and dipped it in the inkpot. “I’ll get those ships traced immediately, and send out names and descriptions of the children.”
“Descriptions, yes,” said Sinew. “But let us keep their names to ourselves for now. I will ask their parents to do the same.”
The Protector nodded toward the door. “Because of our prisoner?”
“Yes. He has good reason to hate Goldie and Toadspit. I know he’ll be locked up, but still—the less he knows, the better.”
“He claims to be humble and repentant.”
“Does he indeed?” said Sinew. “Perhaps he is repentant, I cannot tell. But humble? No. The overwhelming pride is still there, just below the surface. I would watch him if I were you. I would watch him very carefully.”
He touched his finger to his brow in an informal salute and was gone. Outside the window, Broo howled as if it were