Julie coughs.
“If you three are done.”
“Of course,” says Brigitte.
“How did it go out there? How many of Tamerlan’s people did you get to?”
“Six in all. It was interesting interacting with real people in real places who had no idea they were in my little play.”
I say, “Did anyone give you any trouble?”
She raises a hand to say no. “I was much too charming and needy for that.”
“What did you tell them?” says Julie.
“That I needed to speak to my poor dead mother and get some advice from her.”
“How did they respond?”
“The first two told me to go to an ordinary medium. The rest were all too happy to take my money.”
“Did you convince the others to help you?” I say.
“Of course. I told them that my mother was a bitch, but she knew the whereabouts of a small family fortune. I told them I’d give them a cut if they could contact her spirit and extract the information.”
“Is any of that true?” says Candy.
“Not a word. My mother is a lovely woman, living happily in Prague.”
“What did you find out from Tamerlan’s people?” says Julie.
“That a smile makes an impression, but a gun and a smile makes even more. I also learned this: that the necromancers who work through Tamerlan’s franchises are more afraid of him than a pistol.”
Julie shakes her head, sips her coffee.
“You people and your guns.”
“You learn a lot about someone when you show them a gun,” I say. “Like that the ones who still won’t talk are worried about something worse than dying.”
Brigitte says, “That’s what Tamerlan’s people are like. Every one is afraid of him.”
“Did you find out why?” says Julie.
“On the surface, Tamerlan appears to be a simple—though ruthless—businessman, but there is something else. His lackeys are afraid of him, but none will say why.”
“Did you learn anything useful about his business dealings?”
“He is obsessive when it comes to money. He is bleeding dry the necromancers that work through him. He demands not only money, but favors, though I don’t know what kind.”
“So, he’s shaking his franchisees down.”
“Not exactly. He never touches the money himself. According to the people I interviewed, he seems to have no connection to payments. They all go through a company called Wormwood.”
Julie, Candy, and I look at each other.
“Did I say something interesting?” says Brigitte.
“We heard the name yesterday,” Julie says. “Did they say what Wormwood is or how to find them?”