'Quick, lads!' He waved the fork in the air. ' "Oh will you come to the mission--"'
Otto waved his hand gently as the dwarfs began to sing.
'No, I am veil on top of it, thank you all the same,' he said. "Ve know vot all this is about, don't ve? It vas a mob, yes? Zere is alvays a mob, sooner or later. Zey got my friend Boris. He showed them zer black ribbon but zey just laughed and--'
'I think they were after all of us,' said William. 'I wish I'd had a chance to ask him a few questions, even so...'
'You mean like "Is this the first time you've strangled anyone?"' said Boddony. 'Or "How old are you, Mr Killer?" '
Something started to cough.
It seemed to be coming from the pocket of the man's jacket.
William looked around at the stunned dwarfs to see if anyone else had a clue about what he should do next. Then he reluctantly patted the greasy suit with extreme care and pulled out a slim, polished box.
He opened it. A small green imp peered out of its slot.
"me?' it said.
'What? A personal Dis-organizer?' said William. 'A killer with a personal Dis-organizer?'
The Things To Do Today section is going to be interesting, then,' said Boddony.
The imp blinked at him. 'Do you want me to reply or not?' it said. 'Insert Name Here requested silence, despite my range of sounds to suit any mood or occasion.'
'Um... your previous owner is... previous,' said William, looking down at the cooling Mr Pin.
'You're a new owner?' said the imp.
'Well... possibly,'
'Congratulations!' said the imp. 'Warranty not applicable if said device is sold, hired, transferred, gifted or stolen unless in original packaging and extraneous materials which by then you will have thrown away and Part Two of the warranty card which you have lost has been filled in and sent to Thttv ggj, thhtfjhsssjk the Scors and quoting
the reference number which you did not in fact make a note of. DO yOU W3nt Hie tO WipC the
contents of my memory?' It produced a cotton-wool bud and prepared to insert it into one very large ear. 'Erase Memory Y,'N?'
'Your... memory... ?'
'Yes. Erase Memory Y,'N?'
'N!' said William. 'And now tell me what exactly it is you are remembering,' he added.
'You have to press the Recall button,' said the imp impatiently.
'And that will do what?'
'A small hammer hits me on the head and I look to see what button you pressed.'
'Why don't you just, well, recall?'
'Look, I don't make the rules. You've got to press the button. It's in the manual--'
William carefully pushed the box to one side. There were several velvet bags in the dead man's pocket. He put these on the desk, too.
Some of the dwarfs had gone a little way down the iron ladder into the cellar. Boddony climbed back out again, looking thoughtful.
There's a man down there,' he said. 'Lying in... lead.'