Which they should have done anyway. Why try for her here, at night, when there was such a damned good chance that I would get involved?

They wanted me involved. Had to. Or whoever sent them did. Ha! Butch and his brother hadn't been well briefed on what to expect before they set off to capture the savage redhead.

Maybe Jimmy Two Steps hadn't had a clue, either.

That is the way I would have worked it if I was in the villain trade. I'd make Jimmy a cutout.

I put some toast and sausage down and did not gag. I took a relaxing breath, announced, "I'm going to visit Singe and the Dead Man."

Tinnie stopped rattling pots.

"Singe won't know Two Steps but her brother might."

"You told Lieutenant Scithe that you would let it alone."

"The Dead Man might have a perspective that I overlooked."

"You promised."

"I'll stop by Morley's place and see what he thinks, too." Morley Dotes is my best friend.

"Garrett, you aren't--"

"He should be able to get word out that it won't be healthy to mess with my number-one girl."

Tinnie chomped some air. That made it all about her. Further argument now would make her look petty.

Not a failing she has concerned herself with much in the past.

"Nobody is likely to come after you here, now." She has a raft of draft-age male relatives. Two were outside as we spoke, illegally armed and ready for war. "Stick to business and you'll be fine. No bad guy will ever make it as far in as the financials office."

I wasn't seeing the full picture. Tinnie way far more than normally insecure. And every word out of my mouth was one she didn't want to hear. Including, "You are supposed to be getting the books straightened out today, aren't you?"

One of the draft-age cousins, Artifice, redder in the head than Tinnie, walked in without a knock or an invitation. "There's somebody out here wants to see you, Garrett." He seemed nervous. He evaded Tinnie's basilisk stare.