The Artemis Fowl Files - Eoin Colfer [34]
This was a surprising development. Dwarfs generally stuck together, yet these two seemed to be playing for different teams. The first appeared to have incapacitated the second, and perhaps was about to go even further. There was a glittering flint dagger in his hand. And dwarfs did not generally draw their weapons unless they intended to use them.
Holly toggled the mike switch on her glove. “Foaly? Come in, Foaly? I have a possible emergency here.”
Nothing. White noise. Not even ghost voices. Typical. The most advanced communications system in this galaxy, and possibly a few others, all rendered useless by a few magma flares.
“I need to make contact, Foaly. If you can record this, I have a crime in process, possibly murder. Two fairies are involved. There is no time to wait for Retrieval. I’m going in. Send Retrieval immediately.”
Holly’s good sense groaned. She was already technically off active duty, so making contact would bury her Recon career for certain. But ultimately that didn’t matter. She had joined the LEP to protect the People, and that was exactly what she intended to do. She set her wings to descend, floating down from the tent shadows.
The dwarf was talking, in that curious gravelly voice common to all male dwarfs.
“Sorry about this, brother,” he said, perhaps making excuses for the impending violence. “I hate to do it, but the Mud Boy has me over a barrel.”
Enough, thought Holly. There will be no murder here today. She unshielded, speckling into view in a fairy-shaped starburst. “First I want you to tell me about the Mud Boy, dwarf ” she said. “And then I want you to tell me about the barrel.”
Mulch Diggums recognized Holly immediately. They had met only months previously in Fowl Manor. Funny how some people were fated to meet over and over. To be part of one another’s lives.
He dropped both the dagger and Sergei, raising empty palms. Sergei slid back down the hole.
“I know what this looks like, Ho—officer. I was just going to tie him up, for his own good. He had a tunnel convulsion, that’s all. He could hurt himself.” Mulch congratulated himself silently. It was a good lie and he had bitten his tongue before he could utter Holly’s name. The LEP thought he had died in a cave, and she would not recognize him with the mask on. All Holly could see was silk and beard.
“A tunnel convulsion? Dwarf kids get those, not experienced diggers.”
Mulch shrugged. “I’m always telling him. Chew your food. But will he listen? He’s a grown dwarf, what can I do? I shouldn’t leave him down there, by the way.” The dwarf put one foot into the tunnel.
Holly touched down. “One more step, dwarf,” she warned. “For now, tell me about the Mud Boy.”
Mulch attempted an innocent smile. There was more chance of a great white shark pulling it off. “What Mud Boy, officer?”
“Artemis Fowl,” snapped Holly. “Start talking. You’re going to jail, dwarf. For how long depends on you.”
Mulch chewed it over for a moment. He could feel the Fei Fei tiara pricking his skin beneath the leotard. It had slipped around the side, below the armpit, most uncomfortable. He had a choice to make. Try to complete the job, or look after number one. Fowl or a reduced sentence. It took less than a second to decide.
“Artemis wants me to steal the Fei Fei tiara for him. My … ah … circus mates had already taken it, and he bribed me to pass it on to him.”
“Where is this tiara?”
Mulch reached inside his leotard.
“Slowly, dwarf.”
“Okay. Two fingers.”
Mulch drew the tiara from under his armpit.
“You don’t take bribes I suppose?”
“Correct. This tiara goes back near enough to wherever it came from. Police will get an anonymous tip and find it in a skip.”
Mulch sighed. “The old skip routine. Don’t the LEP ever get tired of that?”
Holly did not want to be drawn into conversation.
“Toss it on the ground,” she instructed. “Then get down there yourself. Lie on your back.”
One did not order a dwarf to lie on the ground on his belly. One click of the jaws, and the perpetrator would be gone in a cloud of dust.
“On my back? That’s really uncomfortable