Lord Day and Lady Night

20. Innocent Little Holiday

"...and the bloke in charge always comes on Thursday nights and never shows his face and I swear that's all I know! Now please stop! Please get dat savage away from me! Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaaaase!"

Amy watched the figure of Whitlock cowering on the ground, his eyes—or at least the one that wasn't swollen shut—fixed onto Karim. He looked rather pitiful. Which balanced things nicely, since she felt very pity-empty.

Narrowing her eyes, Amy stepped forward. "Who are ye callin' a savage?"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Karim harrumphed. "I don't need you to defend me, woman!"

Amy flashed him a grin. "Oh, I know. I just do it 'cause it pisses ye off." To judge by the expression on Karim's face, she had been correct in that assumption. But enough fun for now. Narrowing her eyes, she turned back towards Whitlock. "Are ye sure dat's all ye know about da organization?"

I...I swear," he wheezed. "Please...please..."

Amy stared at for a moment longer. Then, taking a deep breath, she gestured to Karim—whereupon he promptly tightened his grip on the man's throat.

"Gnnrglsnrg!"

"For yer information," Amy elaborated, "dat meant ye can let 'im go."

"Oh, I know," Karim responded. "I simply did not feel like it."

Amy felt her lips twitch.

"Anything else ye wanna ask?" she asked, glancing at Patrick. "Anythin' about da organization?"

"Not really, Ain't like 'e seems ta know much, anyway."

Hm. His language lessons really were coming along nicely.

"All righty. Seems like we're done."

Karim loosened his grip, and, for the first time since we'd started, Whitlock breathed a sigh of relief. Or just breathed in general.

"Except," I added, "for one thing."

He tensed.

Smiling widely, Amy took a step forward. "Ye see...I 'appened ta notice dere's one name dat isn't on da list." She placed a knife against his throat. "Ye had a girl called Leona 'ere. Where da 'ell is she?"

Whitlock's eyes narrowed.

"Da Barringtons wouldn't care about a single brat! Why would ye wanna know?"

Amy intensified the pressure on the knife just a bit.

"Who's da one askin' da questions 'ere?"

"Ye! Ye are!"

"Smart fella. Now, start talkin'!"

A calculating sparkle appeared in his eyes. "Ye seem ta care an awful lot about dat wench."

"Talk!"

The sparkle went up in a vicious fire of triumph.

"Are ye sure ye really want me to?"

Amy swallowed. Hell! That look in his eyes...

"What 'appened ta 'er? What da bloody 'ell 'appened ta 'er?"

He grinned. Amy could practically see his thoughts in his eyes. She wants ta know da truth? Fine by me. I'll tell 'er every bloody detail, and enjoy it!

"Aye, dat one..." His grin widened, and a shiver went down Amy's back. "I remember 'er. And why she wasn't on da list."

The cold shiver intensified. "Why? Why wasn't she?"