So Big Dan had agreed. He kept the bargain to himself. The token wasn’t anything he meant to share. He’d use it to become a bigger boss. Who wouldn’t follow him if he could go wherever he pleased, extending his protection only to those who swore fealty to him?

Odawa had turned his attention to Rabedy now. “You say she killed your companion?”

Rabedy turned uneasily to face the blind man. Big Dan understood his discomfort. When the green-bree fixed his gaze on you, those sightless eyes seemed to stare straight into your soul.

“Yes, sir,” Rabedy said.

“Exactly how did she kill him?” Odawa asked.

“In . . . in combat. She moved like a warrior, hitting Gathen only twice. Once with her fist, then she kicked him in the throat and broke his windpipe.”

Odawa gave a thoughtful nod.

“It appears I’ve misjudged you,” he told Big Dan. “There’s no way some little fiddler girl could have killed a bogan without some sort of magic, and the only magic she could have gotten is from Grey.”

“So he’ll come looking for her,” Big Dan said.

“Yes, I suppose he will. Once he knows she’s missing.” He smiled. “We’ll have to make sure he gets word and ready a welcome for him. But first, I should think, if we’re going to have a hostage, we should at least make certain she’s actually in our safekeeping.”

Geordie

I suppose I should have been surprised when I woke to find Jilly’s bed empty, but after all the years I’ve known her, there was little Jilly could do to surprise me anymore. Ordinary things like hangovers didn’t apply to her, so it seemed quite natural for her to have woken up without one, gotten bored because I was still sleeping, and decided to go downstairs on her own to have breakfast.

I shaved and had a shower before I went looking for her, but the only person in the restaurant off the bar was Andy. I hadn’t been expecting to see anyone, considering the early hour, but then I remembered him telling me at one point last night how he was cursed with the inability to sleep in, no matter how late he’d stayed up the night before.

“Have you seen Jilly?” I asked as I sat down.

“I haven’t seen anyone until now.”

“She probably went out to look around. She was amazed when we drove in yesterday—at how much the town’s changed since she was last here.”

Andy pushed the coffee thermos over and I poured myself a mug.

“You don’t seem much worse for the wear,” he said.

I smiled at his bloodshot eyes. “You forget—I turned down all of your generous single malt samples except for the first one.”

“When you switched back to your Jameson’s.”

“But only the one,” I said.