It was going to be one of those days, I could tell. I didn't make the effort to show up at the constabulary these days. I never had to begin with, but now I really didn't. It was more effort, lots of effort to get nowhere. I'd seen what that sort of effort could get you. A sun-up to sundown job, little pay, and a whole lot of hurt.
I'd had enough hurt in my days. So one morning I'd just stopped calling myself Corporal Seasons and went back to something simpler. There were still people in this Amasynian asshole that could use some help. The sort they couldn't expect to get from those swain, or the people working for them.
I didn't want to help them, either, but they'd always seemed to find me. This time was no different. I had been minding my own on a stack of wood outside the tanner's, trying to convince some stray dog that I was worth getting to know. She wasn't biting, though. It was another bitch that did.
When she walked into my view I knew she was trouble, the leggy sort of trouble that wore her clothes to make sure you knew it. It was obvious she was a Teahouse girl with those smokey eyes that tried to look innocent, and those cherry lips that smiled at you as if she knew you'd do whatever she wanted.
Boy did I want to at the promises her hips kept making.
I mostly kept my eyes down, hoping she'd go right by me, but Lady Luck wasn't having it. A pair of silk slippers and more frills than I thought was decent appeared in front of me. I had to say something. I tossed aside the last of my breakfast, into the alley after that stray and glanced up at her.
"You're blocking my view." She didn't seem pleased at the bland tone, or the blander expression, and she shifted her weight to show me just a little more ankle. I wasn't taking the bait.
When her lips parted I already knew the sort of voice she'd have, that smooth sort that wrapped around your mind like a snake. Oh, this dame wouldn't be good for me.
"I heard you do work sometimes, the kind other folks tend to avoid."
Well, someone had been talking. I didn't like anyone knowing what my free time entailed, or how I made a living. I'd have to find the squealer later. "I need to pay the rent, just like anyone else." Say little, keep them talking instead.
"I need you to find someone, I'm willing to pay." And she was dangling a pouch that jingled in just the right way before my eyes. Damn.
"I'm not a dog, or a lawman. You should try up the street. Find someone more your sort." I shifted my feet and made to stand, but her hand was on my shoulder and holding me down. I gave her a look and glanced that way.
"It's a friend, she hasn't been around lately." Her face had changed, not longer playing her game of temptation, she seemed worried. I didn't buy it. Maybe it was true, but if she was that worried she could have had a lot more folks than just me doing her dirty work for her. I'd been about to tell her as much, but she kept talking. "She's still young, and her brother never liked her much. He got angry when I asked about her, too... I need to know she's okay... please?"
Ah hell, she used that word, and I'm a bit of a sucker. I let out a sigh of resignation and took the pouch from her hand while I pushed her arm off my shoulder so I could stand. Now that I could look down on her I realized just how far... down, I could see. I looked away before my face turned red, down the still quiet street. "Where'd you see her last?"
"Outside of town, near the Rememdium. Than--" I didn't let her finish. I didn't want her thanks, I didn't want to get involved with her anymore than I had to. Just offering to check things out, and that's all I'd agree to right now, was enough to get me in trouble if this turned out as bad as I worried it might. I grabbed my coat up from where I left it and started down the street, leaving the girl behind. That other damn stray was following me, though.