A Night in the Lonesome October Read Online Free

sniffing.   Nothing untoward. . . .
         I climbed the low hill on which the ruins stood.   Among the blocks of stone I saw an opening.   When I peered within I saw that it continued downward.
         ". . . Goes back," I said, "as if this wasn't always ground level.   As if much of it were covered up, overgrown. . . .   We're actually standing above the ruin, aren't we?"
         "I don't know.   I've never been down in it," he replied.   "That isn't the spot.   The cemetery's down the hill, over that way."
         He headed in the direction he'd indicated, and I followed.   There were a few fallen, half-buried markers about.   Then there was a bigger place, I realized, when I saw that lines of stone in the ground were what had been the tops of walls of a crypt.   Weeds grew amid them.   Bubo rushed forward, stood in their midst.
         "See, there's a hole here," he told me.   "His stuff's down there."
         I moved toward it, looked inside.   It was too dark for me to distinguish anything.   I wished Nightwind or Graymalk had been along.
         "I'll have to take your word for it," I said, "for now."
         "Then tell me the names and places you'd promised."
         "I'll tell you as we walk along, away from here."
         "Does this place make you nervous?"
         "It's not a month for taking chances," I said.
         He laughed.
         "That's very funny," he said.  
         "It is, isn't it?" I replied.
         The dying moon came up above the trees, lighting our way.
     
         With midnight's chimes speech comes to me.   I rose and stretched, waiting for them to cease.   Jack, having roused himself especially for the occasion, watched me with a mixture of amusement and interest.
         "Busy day, Snuff?" he asked.
         "We'd a visitor while you napped.   The rat Bubo," I said, "companion of the Good Doctor."
         "And?"
         "We traded.   A list of the players for the location of the Count's grave.   He said it was in the cemetery to a ruined church to the southeast.   Showed me the place."
         "Good work," Jack replied.   "How does this affect your calculations?"
         "Hard to say.   I'm going to think about it, and then I'll need to do some walking."
         "Still early in the Game," he said.   "You know how the picture can change."
         "True," I replied.   "But at least we're somewhat better-informed than we were.   Of course, we must check the content of the crypt by day, to be certain.   I think I can persuade Graymalk to do that."
         "Not Quicklime?"
         "I trust the cat more.   I'd rather share information with her, if it must be shared."
         "You know her persuasion, then?"
         I shook my head.
         "No, I'm just going by my feelings."
         "Has she spoken of her mistress, Jill?"
         "Not in any detail."
         "I believe the lady is younger than she causes herself to appear."
         "That may be.   I just don't know.   I haven't met her."
         "I have.   Let me know if the cat talks party politics."
         "I will, but she won't, not unless I do, and I'm not about to."
         "You're the best judge of that situation."
         "Yes.   Neither of us has anything to gain by volunteering information at this time.   But we might stand to lose something in the way of cooperation.   Unless you've some overriding need for the information that I don't know about.   In that case, though. . . ."
         "I understand.   No.   Let it be.   Have you learned it for any of the others?"
         "No.   Are we going out tonight?"
         "No.   We're set, for now.   Have you any plans?"
         "A little calculation and a lot of rest."
         "Sounds like a good idea."
         "Do you remember that time in Dijon, when that lady from the other side managed to distract you?"
         "It's hard to forget.   Why do you ask?"