Earl wasn’t that.
It was something powerful and old and dangerous.
Oldas bloodshed and hunger.
That’s what his instincts told him, and it was true. None of it was going to be much fucking help, though, so Ledger was going to believe the lie.
This was just another negotiation. He’d done it before. Earl was the one who wanted something, and Ledger was the one who could give it to him. That put him in charge.
There was a sour taste in the back of Ledger’s mouth that wasn’t at all convinced, but he could ignore it for now.
“OK,” he said. “But I don’t work for free.”
Earl stared at him. Or was, at least, silent. It felt like a stare. Ledger breathed shallowly and, to give himself time to do something other than gibber, pulled his wallet from his pocket. He thumbed a business card out and held it toward Wren.
“Your man can look me up,” Ledger said, his voice sour. He’d known that Wren was working forsomeone, but the fact it was Earl would have merited a heads-up. “My rates are on the website.”
Earl laughed, a dry cough of noise that spat out dead husks and bits of mold. “My… man? Yes, my man. He already paid your father.”
Ledger glanced over slowly at Wren. After a moment and a cautious glance at the gas can between Ledger’s feet, Wren stepped forward and plucked the card out of Ledger’s fingers. He turned it over, front and back.
“The Dandy Lion,” he said. “It doesn’t exactly suit.”
“I didn’t name it,” Ledger said as he put the wallet away. “And since my dad killed himself, it could be argued he refunded that.”
“I gave him a year,” Wren said flatly. He put the card into his back pocket. “He didn’t use it—maybe he sold it on, or maybe he pissed it out all over the floor when he cut his throat—but I didn’t get it back.”
“I didn’t say I’d win the argument. Either way, I will give you whatever it was you bought off Bell if I can find it. But I have to find it, and my time is neither free nor previously bargained for.”
“Your payment… will be your bones,” Earl pointed out.
“He prefers cash,” Wren said, a flash of completely insane humor in his voice, before Ledger could.
Earl held up its twig-bundle hand and snapped at Wren. Literally. Its dry stick fingers splintered with the gesture, and Wren flinched at the same moment. He made a soft guttural noise in the back of his throat, almost inaudible.
“Why should I care… what… you want?” it asked. “Or prefer?”
Ledger could feel the tightness in his chest as he breathed, as if his ribs were closing in like a shell. He wondered if this was what a heart attack felt like. It would be one way of getting out of the mess Bell had dropped him in, and Earl could have his bones for all Ledger would care at that point.
It was a tempting idea, but…
Ledger cleared his throat.
“You train a junkyard dog with the stick. You train a hunting dog with the carrot,” Ledger said. “I can spend the next week thinking up ways to avoid the stick, or I can spend it determined to get you whatever it is you’re looking for. Up to you.”
The pressure in Ledger’s chest didn’t ease up. Earl stood there silently as it thought that over. Sweat ran down the back of Ledger’s neck and itched under his collar as he waited. Finally, Earl chuckled to itself.
“Coin for your time to find my treasure,” it said. “And… your bones for a penalty. That is your offer?”
Ledger had the drowning feeling of someone in over his head. He didn’t want to be involved in this. His business was in cursed letters and old murder weapons. Curios and collectibles. Good money, low drama, and no one tried to debone him.
It was still the best deal on offer.
“It sounds fair to me,” he said. His mouth felt sticky and parched, but his voice sounded normal enough. “Do we have a deal?”
The rip in Earl’s face tore open wider as it… Oh.Thatwas a smile. Good to know. Stuffing bulged out of the tear, soiled pads and moldy fabric, as Earl inclined his head in a nod.
“But your father already… burned me. And now you promise more,” it said. Ledger started to object, but the weight of Wren’s hand on his shoulder, warm and unexpected, shut him up. Earl ignored his attempt to interrupt anyhow. “So I require… surety.”
