He just stared at the tabletop, a man without hope. "Anything to say?" "There's nothing to be said, is there?" "Oh, I think there's a whole lot. You've got your ass in a sling for sure, but you're not dead yet. You maybe could talk your way out of this."

His eyes widened slightly, then emptied again. He did not believe me.

"I'm not an Inquisitor, Shed."

His eyes flickered with momentary life.

"It's true. I followed Bullock around because he knew the Buskin. My job had very little to do with his. I couldn't care less about the Catacombs raid. I do care about the black castle, because it's a disaster in the making, but not as much as I care about you. Because of a man named Raven."

"One of your men called you Croaker. Raven was scared to death- of somebody named Croaker that he saw one night when the Duke's men grabbed some of his friends."

So. He'd witnessed our raid. Damn, but I had cut it close to the wind that time.

"I'm that Croaker. And I want to know everything you know about Raven and Darling. And everything about anybody else who knows anything." The slightest hint of defiance crossed his face. "A lot of folks are looking for you, Shed. Bullock isn't the only one. My boss wants you, too. And she's worse trouble than he is. You wouldn't like her at all. And she'll get you if you don't do this right."

I would rather have given him to Bullock. Bullock wasn't interested in our problems with the Taken. But Bullock was out of town.

"There's Asa, too. I want to know everything you haven't told me about him." I heard the woman cursing in the distance, carrying on like Otto and the guys were trying to rape her. I knew better. They hadn't the nerve after having screwed up once already tonight. "Who's the slot?"

"My barmaid. She. ..." And his story boiled out. Once he started, there was no stopping him.

I had a notion how to wriggle out of a potentially embarrassing situation. "Shut him up." One of the men clamped a hand over Shed's mouth. "Here's what we're going to do, Shed. Assuming you want out of this alive."

He waited.

"The people I work for will know a body was delivered tonight. They'll expect me to catch whoever did it. I'll have to give them someone. That could be you, the girl, or both of you. You know some things I don't want the Taken to find out. One way I can avoid handing you over is having you turn up dead. I can make that real if I have to. Or you can fake it for me. Let the slot see you looking like you've been wrecked. You follow?"

Shaking, he replied, "I think so."

"I want to know everything."

"The girl. ..."