“I know you don’t. Fact of life, and a very wise observation. Besides, it only hurts a little. Except—remember the one in the gray leather vest? He has come to me. About six months ago, I found seeds for some kind of antique tomato for him, and everything was fine. We even compared notes, a little, on what it was like to grow up weird in the World. Now he’s about as friendly as an ice sculpture. Hell the cops get better treatment down here than that.”

Then I looked at her, and she looked at me. “Uh-oh,” the Ticker said, summing it up for both of us.

“What Rico was afraid of has started, hasn’t it?” I asked, just to be sure.

“This drug—even the rumor of it—is a divisive force. My people can view it as a threat to the safety of the Border. Yours must hear of its failures and think it a murderous fey trap.”

“Excuse me. What is this ‘my people, your people’ stuff?”

She opened her mouth, and closed it, and finally said, “A very wise observation, my chick, in spades. Didn’t I say it was a divisive force?”

“Well. So the rumor’s out, and the wedge is in. No wonder Linn’s worried about Rico’s state of mind. She’s probably cancelled Christmas until this gets solved.”

We sat in silence for a minute, our elbows crossed over our respective knees. Then Tick-Tick said, “You like Rico, don’t you?”

I frowned at her while I thought about it, so she would know that I wasn’t ignoring the question. Also so I could pretend that the question hadn’t thrown me into more confusion than I could account for. “I respect her.”

“Perhaps that’s it,” the Ticker replied inscrutably, and stood up. “Then let’s return to our quest, my dear. After all, if we can help solve her case, the respect will be mutual, won’t it?”

I almost said it was already; she’d seen fit to hire me, hadn’t she? Of course, she’d also seen fit to fire me. I hopped down from the wall, and followed her around the corner onto Ho Street.