The room was warm, as you might expect being so close to the vent channel. There was light coming in from a scattering of holes in the roof, mineral lined tunnels that reflected light from the Golden Pearl down all the way from the surface.
One edge of the room was lined with all sorts of reading material, flints, inks, an abacus and other paraphernalia. The other edge held bottles and preserves, samples of minerals and interesting knick-knacks.
In the middle, lounging on a smooth rock, grey-brown arms evenly spread like some sprawled kelp rug, was Belvedere.
He wasn't as I expected him. The Medici family presented themselves as noble creatures, puffing their bulbs out and strutting about on their arms. They had a presence, you know. They didn't need a title or jewellery or any of that to let you know they were important.
Take Coraline. When she came in the room, you shut your beak and opened your eyes in case you missed anything she'd say. She commanded an army. She had fiercely loyal spuds protecting her, and not just because she was rich.
This guy? He could've passed himself off as a starfish.
His eyes were dark and brooding. His bulb was flaccid, like he'd just squeezed out from a cleft. Looking at him, you'd be forgiven for thinking he was an exotic rug.
“Hey? What gives?” he said, hardly bothering to prop himself up. “Who's this guy, Pierce?”
“This guy is Tedrick,” I said, denying Pierce the introduction, “and I've come because your sister is worried sick about you.”
“Coraline? She's worried about me?”
“Enough to pay me good clams to get you back.”
“I'm not going back.”
Ah, great. A reluctant shmuck. That was all I needed.
“Whatever she's paying you, I'll double it if you forget you saw me.”
Hey, that was a good deal, don't get me wrong, but I've heard this kind of thing before. Typical rich-spud behaviour, throwing clams at a problem to make it go away.
I wasn't playing that game. Besides, the case had grown to be something more than a simple missing spud and I needed answers. If only for my sanity.
“Listen, Belvedere, I've been through – heck, where to start – I've been through a lot to get here.”
“A lot? Well. My, my, why didn't you say?”
“I'm not swimming away until I get some answers. I think I'm at least entitled to that.”
“You're not entitled to anything. One word from me and Pierce will run you through, right Pierce?”
I looked over. Pierce, arms in a knot, shook his head slowly, “No, Belvedere. This gentleman is right. You've run long enough. Your problems aren't going to disappear by hiding. Who knows? Maybe this guy can help?”
“Help with what?” I said. “OK, let's cool it and start from the beginning, shall we?”
“How about this? How about you turn around and keep swimming down the vent until you turn a brilliant shade of red?”
“Now, Belvedere, that's rude,” Pierce admonished.
“Rude or not, I'm not talking to him.”
I pressed, “Can you listen for a second? There's something big going on, something that you're involved with, and I need to know what that is. While I've been digging around for you, I've stirred up a right frenzy and now there are people getting hurt. People getting killed!”
“I'm safe enough in here.”
“It's not just about you!”
“I don't care.”
I was fuming. That ungrateful snot had gotten under my membrane. I was very, very close to losing it.
“Did you hear me? People are getting killed!”
“Did you hear me?” he retorted. “I don't care!”
“Did you care about Wyra?”
“Who?”
“Wyra! That gal you had in your apartment!”
Concern betrayed his otherwise dull emotions.
“What about her?” he said, as casually as he could muster.
“You want to know where she is? Sleeping at the bottom of the Abyss, that's where. You see? It's not a matter of too bad, there goes another one. First she got tortured, beaten and cut up.”
“Cut up?” he swallowed.
“Cut up. Bad. They treated her real bad, Belvedere, and if you're the kind of spud who can watch on as an innocent gal gets rubbed out like that, then you're not the kind of spud I want to deal with anyway,” I snarled and turned to leave. “Don't worry, Pierce, I won't blab. Wouldn't waste my water on someone like him.”
I shook the grit from my suckers. Pierce did the same, shaking his head in shame.
“Wait. Wait! Guys, come back! I didn't know!”
“Didn't know or didn't care? It ain't concerning until someone you care about gets hurt, right?” I said, turning around. “You had your chance, Belvedere. See you round.”
“No, wait, please. Please don't go!” he sobbed.
His facade melted and we got to see the real Belvedere, quivering and crying into his mitts.
“I didn't want any of this to happen,” he said. “Please, you've got to help me!”
“I don't have to do squat! I've fulfilled my brief, I've found you and you're alive. Ipso facto, my job is done.”
“Please, listen, I'm as good as dead if I leave this place.”
“Good luck with that. Now if you'll excuse me I've got clams to collect.”
“Alright! Alright, I'm sorry! It's all my fault! I'm sorry!”
“You're sorry? Why? What have you got to be sorry about?”
Pierce was just as interested as I was. I pulled up a rock.
“How much do you know?”
“Why don't you start from the beginning, Belvedere? If I need anything I'll ask you to fill in the blanks. I can't help you, or anyone else for that matter, unless we get right down to bedrock. I want the truth. The truth!”
He nodded, defeated, “Alright. The truth. The truth is, I made a deal with the Devil.”
“Who?”
“Tommy Two-Tone.”
“What kind of deal?”
“I'm a well connected guy, you know. I've got importers and couriers at my disposal. And Tommy's guys are too hot with the Law...”
“What kind of deal?” I pressed.
He took a breath. “Well, there's this brewery a little way off the Reef, out past The Gholomo.”
“That's Tommy's territory. What about it?”
“He, ah, he can't bring stuff in without paying duty to the authorities...”
“What?” both Pierce and I said in chorus.
“There's plenty of it out there. It was going to be a really lucrative deal.”
“You're smuggling darkwater?” I cried. “You! Belvedere Medici! Why on the Reef would you hook up with a criminal like Tommy to do something so damn illegal?”
He held his arms out, “The plains are suffering. Our bottom line is crushed. Coraline reckons it's a seasonal thing, I don't. There just simply aren't enough silverfish coming in and I've got no idea what has happened to them. There's a change coming and it's not good. Either way, we don't have enough to support the sand-sifters. I'm talking half-shifts and lay-offs. That won't wash with the Union so there'll be strikes, which means further pressure on the coffers, which spells the end of the Medici line. There. That's the truth!”
“Right. So because your profits were down, you turned to bootlegging a major crime-boss's goods to turn a quick buck,” I summarised. “Where does that leave you now? Why are you in hiding?”
“I'm hiding because Tommy wants me dead.”
Pierce asked, “He tried to kill you?”
“Yeah. He had it all planned out. I'm only alive because of that girl. What, er, what did you say her name was again?”
“Her name is Wyra,” I spat.
“Yeah. Her. She warned me off. She had a vial of poison, was supposed to dope me up or paralyse me or something so they could kidnap me. Instead, she tipped me off. She helped me get away,” he said. “That's why they killed her! And that's what they're going to do to me if they catch me! Oh! Oh!”
He started blubbering into his mitts again. Pierce and I let him finish. You can't talk reason to a guy when he's like that. Besides, it gave me time to think.
When he'd settled down some, I said, “You're wrong, Belvedere.”
“What?” he sniffed. “About what?”
“I don't think Tommy killed Wyra. It's not his style. If he wanted to get rid of someone, you wouldn't even know about it. Hey, settle down! Wyra was killed because she wouldn't go through with doing you in.”
“Huh? Who would be stupid enough...”
“She saved your life! Wyra was on Tommy's payroll, for sure. He would have been using her to keep an eye on you, you know, make sure you keep your end of the bargain up.”
“Or find out anything that he could hold over you,” Pierce said, adding. “You blithering idiot!”
“Hey!”
“Gee, Belvedere, what have you gone and done? You told me you were in trouble, you didn't say just how bad!”
“Now, Pierce, come on...”
“Smuggling darkwater? Tommy Two-Tone? Prostitutes and murder?”
“It's not my fault!” he cried. “None of this was meant to happen.”
“Maybe it was, Belvedere. Maybe this is a way to break you out from your silver-spoon cradle, man,” he said. “We were friends. You used me, Belvedere. You came here, knowing that it put us, even this entire town, at risk.”
“I told you to watch out, didn't I? I said that there were guys after me. I warned you to be careful!”
“That's not the same thing and you know it! I've got half a mind to throw you to them dogs after what you did. What you did was take advantage of a friend.”
I interrupted, “Should I leave you two alone for a bit?”
“Naw. Go ahead and interrogate him or whatever. I'm done. When you've finished with him, clean up after, OK?”
Belvedere flew at him, pawing at his mitts, “Pierce! Man! Come on, we're buddies! You can't turn me out!”
“Get your paws off me, Belvedere,” he growled. “That's not the way you treat friends. Now get off me! I gotta go warn the guys down in the town, take care of the people I care about and who care about me.”
Pierce shook him off, flicked the sand away and, with that, was gone. Belvedere clambered after him. I waited patiently. Right now, I was the closest thing Belvedere had to a friend and he knew it.
Eventually he made his way back down into the room. He didn't even look up, just sidled on in and slumped down.
“I've made a mess of everything, haven't I?”
“Yep,” I said.
“You gonna sit there and gloat?”
“Let's get one thing clear, Belvedere. Clams or no clams, I've risked my neck and my sanity to find you and now that I've found you, I have no further obligation to you. Capisce?”
“Capisce? You – you're with Tommy Two-Tone, aren't you?” he cried. “Oh, man! Oh, crap. I'm gonna die! I'll give you anything, anything you want, man!”
“Oh, for the love of – shut up! Get a hold of yourself, man!” I said, slapping him across the mantel. “I'm not with Tommy. I'm not going to hurt you but if you don’t stop acting like a craven cowfish I'll happily change my mind!”
That seemed to calm him down some. He went from a blubbering fool to a craven, muttering imbecile. I was going to have to help him out if he was going to help me.
“Hey. Hey! Hiding out here, hoping it'll all go away, that's not the answer because it's not going to go away. If anything is going to change, you will have to be the one who changes it,” I said. “Otherwise you're handing everything to your enemies on a shining, silver plate. If no one is managing the plains, they'll get sold off, right? If the gardens can't be kept up, they'll go to the highest bidder, right? Did you ever stop and think that this is exactly the situation your enemies want?”
He stopped his muttering. That alone was worth it.
“Huh?”
“If you want, I can help you but I can't do much until you decide to grow up. Now that you're back in the world of the living, I need to ask some questions. Answer honestly. Do you know anyone by the name of Sassam?”
“No. Wait, yes. Yeah, he's some bookie down at the races, right?”
“Right. Have you had any past dealings with him?”
“Why would I?”
“Yes or no, Belvedere.”
He shrugged, “Sure, I've placed a few bets from time to time.”
“That's not what I'm asking. Think, Belvedere, think. Has he or any of his representatives ever approached you for any reason? Any business deals or property exchanges?”
Belvedere thought for a bit, strumming the ground, making clicking noises with his beak. It never ceases to amaze me how different generations can be. The Medici fortune was built from the blood and sweat of his parents and their parents and their parents and so on. Historians could tell you more, but the general idea is that somewhere up the line the Medici stumbled onto the idea of hard work, discipline, wise investment and foresight.
The end result of all of that was sitting in front of me, scratching its bulb with a loose mitt.
“Well?”
“Maybe? I mean, I get a lot of guys talking to me and stuff. Admin, you know, ha ha.”
I didn't laugh.
“You see, er, Coraline tends to take care of that side of things. She handles the investments and the exchanges.”
I asked, “Does she know anything about your deal with Tommy?”
“No. I mean, I talked to her about it, but she didn't want a part of it. How unreasonable is that? She's complaining that we're losing clams, I come up with a solution and she shuts me down,” he said. “If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be in this mess.”
“If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here to help you.”
“Why do you want to help? You said yourself that your job is done!” he twigged. “What aren't you telling me? Who is this Sassam guy and what's he got to do with me?”
“Eh! Look who just showed up! Now you're thinking with your bulge. That's the question I need you to answer.”
“Me? How?”
I was about to explain when there was a commotion outside the room. Pierce collapsed inside, beaten and bruised. Following him, dark-eyed, his frame swallowing what light there was coming in from the entrance loomed a fuming menace.
It took me a few seconds to put a name to the face. Really, how could I forget it. Belvedere filled in for me.
“Ferdinand?”