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“No, no,” he said. “It’s not that.”
“Maybe you think we should wait for daylight to track down a voodoo bocor.”
“Since you bring it up, Billy—”
“Good,” I said, standing up and brushing off a few crumbs of food. “You can stay here with Anna.”
“Anna does not stay here,” she said.
“Yes, she does.”
“We have an agree that I am to come.”
“Where I want to go tonight is not dangerous—if I go alone. But if I take a beautiful woman—and an astrologer with a loud sense of impulse—it can get dangerous.”
She frowned. “What kind of place this is, I am making danger?”
“It’s just a joint. A bar for sailors.”
“A bar!?” Nicky bellowed. “Mate, think what you’re saying. You’re going to a bar—and you’re leaving me?”
“That’s right,” I said. “It’s a sort of specialized bar. You wouldn’t fit in.”
“I’ve never seen the bar where I wouldn’t fit in,” Nicky said.
“Why should this place be a danger for me?” Anna added.
“A bar’s a bar, Billy. Home away from home.”
“Do you think I do a sex dance with the juke box, hah?”
I had a full-scale revolt on my hands.
My plan had been to slip quietly into a few of the dives along the river and ask questions. Just one or two innocent questions in each of three places I knew about, so nobody would get suspicious about a whole bunch of significant talk. They were the kind of places that don’t appreciate outsiders. I thought I could pass muster; I had the deep-water tan, I knew the dialect, and if it came to swapping knuckles in good clean fun I could hold my own.
It looked like that plan wasn’t going to get past The Committee.
“Listen,” I said, trying one last time. “We agreed that the reason I’m doing this is because I know how. And one of the things I know is that there is no way in hell I can go into one of these places with you two and not attract attention.”
“What’s wrong with a little attention, eh?” Nicky demanded. “Best way to find somebody is to let them find you.” And he looked really happy with himself for coming up with something that smart.
“Do you really want to be found,” I asked carefully, “by someone who’s making a lot of money killing people and might not want you to stop him from doing it a while longer?”
Nicky opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
“Although I must say,” Anna said solemnly, “one person alone is in more danger. And is very good dus… dusko… How you are calling it when you make to look like something which you are not?”
“Disguise,” I said.
“Just so. A disguise. Three people, one of them woman. Who would think of harm from such?”
“She’s right, Billy. Can’t go in without someone to watch your back, mate.”
“My back will be fine. Especially if I’m not worried about watching your backs, too.”
But he shook his head. “Sorry. I reckon it’s settled.”
“No.”
