Page 17 of Red in Tooth and Claw

As if blessing our enterprise, the next day dawned dry, if stubbornly cloudy. It had warmed up some, and more things were going green and unfurling. Change barreled through the world, but I was comforted that some things, like the sharp ammonia smell of chicken droppings, remained constant.

While Jesse was jaunting along the palisade walkway, I was shoveling out the chicken coop. Chickens, at least, are sociable things, happy to peck at your boots as you work. I’d kept a hunk of biscuit from breakfast in my pocket, crumbling it onto the ground for them. It still felt extravagant, to be somewhere that had food aplenty and burned beeswax candles like they weren’t precious.

I wondered where the money came from. As far as I could tell, we didn’t produce much that we didn’t either use ourselves or trade for other supplies. It was a conundrum for sure.

I finished shoveling the last of the manure and leftover bedding for the chickens. The Settlement used a mix of wood shavings, dried leaves, and hay, which needed to be replaced regularly. Other dried flowers or herbs were mixed in, mostly to drive away pests.

All of it went into the wheelbarrow so I could take it over to the compost by the kitchens. The Settlement had built clever bins for the compost to cut down on the smell and the rats. I wheeled the results of my labor over to them to mix in with the kitchen scraps and whatever else had been tossed in there.

After I was done, I gathered up the wheelbarrow handles to make my way back over to the coop—I had to put out fresh nesting material—only to pause. No one was about. Will had told me about the hidden door, though I hadn’t been able to find it for myself yet. I studied the yard, but everyone was temporarily busy elsewhere. The problem was, it wouldn’t stay empty for long.

I trundled the wheelbarrow back over near the barn, quietly parking it close by. I didn’t try to sneak. People notice sneaking. The best way to do this, I figured, was to brazen it out.

Hands in my pockets, I strode over to the other side of the main building, to the corner where I should find the hidden door. I tipped my head up to see where the guards were along the walkway. It was easy to forget they were there if they were quiet. But only one man, Lawrence, was on duty currently, and he was standing next to Jesse, probably jawing away and driving Jesse to distraction. Obnoxious for him but dead useful for me.

The area I needed was tucked away and under shadow, so it took me several minutes of feeling along the wood to find the catch, but I did find it. One of the wooden pegs didn’t line up with the others, and if you leaned on it, a section of the wall clicked open a sliver. I yanked the peg back into place, filled with triumph.

“Mr.Kelly!”

I stepped away quickly at the shout, alarm sizzling along my veins. I turned to see HisBen Dillard and his ever-present lapdog, Stuckley, coming toward me. Dillard’s eyebrows arched in what was somehow both an expression of surprise but also reproof.

“HisBen. Acolyte Stuckley.” I touched the tip of my hat in respect. Funny how you didn’t have to feel any of the actual respect to do so.

HisBen cast his gaze, rather exaggeratedly, in my opinion, around the area I was in. “Am I wrong, or were you on chicken duty today, Mr.Kelly?” I’m not sure why he phrased it that way. It was obvious that he thought he was never wrong, but doubly so right now.

I had no good reason to be here, and HisBen knew it. From his smirk, Ignatius knew it, too. My mouth opened and I prayed that something smart actually came out of it. “I was looking for Jesse.”

HisBen’s dramatic eyebrows swooped down. “And you thought he might be here?” The in this empty corner for no reason was implied. Heavily.

“He likes quiet places, you know, to draw.” Okay, why was I looking for Jesse? Think, Faolan. Think. “For tomorrow.”

HisBen frowned at me.

“To see if we’re back on duty,” I said quickly. “I thought of it when I was going to gather new bedding for the chickens. Wanted to check in with him before I forgot.”

“You could have asked him at dinner.” Stuckley’s words almost dripped with condescension as he stuck his nose in the air. He only had a snub of a nose, so there wasn’t much punch to the motion. Despite his looks, Stuckley sometimes reminded me of a baby deer, fresh from its mother. All spindly legs, big eyes, and an awful lot of quivering, but markedly less adorable.

When in doubt, lay it on thick. I edged my hat back and gave Stuckley my full ghost eyes. “You know, sir, you’re right. I hared off without thinking it through. Pops always said I didn’t have the sense they gave a goose.” My Pops absolutely never said that to me. “I’ll get back to work. Thank you for your wisdom, Acolyte Stuckley.”

His mouth twisted, and I could tell he still wanted to argue with me, but in agreeing with him, I’d made it impossible.

HisBen stared behind me for a second before snapping back to me. “I’ll save you the trouble. You will be going back out tomorrow, but not with Jesse. I’d like you to take Ignatius instead.”

All the blood left Ignatius’s face and his mouth hung open like a fish going after a fly. “Sir?”

“Acolyte Stuckley needs to see all the roles here at the Settlement.”

Acolyte Stuckley looked like he absolutely wanted nothing in this world less than learning all the roles in the Settlement. I can’t say there wasn’t a fair portion of me absolutely gleeful over Stuckley’s discomfort. He was a bootlicker, and I’d never been overly fond of them.

But Dillard sending me instead of Jesse as escort rang all kinds of warning bells in my head like a three-alarm fire. “Of course, sir, I couldn’t be more pleased than to escort him, but if you wanted a real depth of knowledge, why not send Jesse or one of the boys who have been here longer?”

Dillard’s expression was contemplative, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Those glittered with a strange emotion I couldn’t quite identify. “You’re right, but I don’t want to tear anyone else away from their duties, and I’d rather not send Jesse out until he gets a pass from Miss Moon. I want to make sure he’s fully on the mend.” He smiled, and it was both charming and self-effacing, the look of a truly god-touched and humble man. “My people are precious to me, and I’d hate to see him injured.” He fanned out his hands. “That leaves you.”

Jesse was fine and we both knew it, but what kind of monster would argue to send out a recently injured friend instead of them? Dillard had neatly boxed me into a corner, and I couldn’t say one word against him. So I bared my teeth and tipped my hat. “In that case, I would be honored.”

By the time I turned my grin on Ignatius, it had gained a feral edge. You could slice a finger on my smile and get a disease that would eat you from the inside out. I didn’t think it was possible, but Stuckley lost even more color. “Tomorrow, then, sir. I cannot wait to show you the ropes.” My fingers left the brim of my hat. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I need to see about some chickens.”

I hightailed it out of there, and for the life of me, I couldn’t tell who had won the round.

When I told the gunslinger the news, he didn’t care for it, either.

He was sprawled on his bunk, his boots on the floor, and his stockinged feet crossed at the end. He had a hole in his sock, right along the big toe.

“You should ask Miss Moon to take care of that,” I said.

Will wiggled his toe. “You think I can’t sew up my own stocking?”

“I think it would give you an excuse to talk to her,” I said.

He grunted. “I can handle my own affairs, Faolan Kelly.” He pursed his lips, looking speculative. “I might just do that, though.”

He put his arms behind his head, returning to the subject at hand. “I don’t like it. You’re the newest person here by months. If he truly wanted to send Ignatius out to learn, why you?” His gaze sharpened on me. “What did you do to draw his attention?”

I lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Just being my regular charming self.”

Jesse snorted. He sat sketching at one end of his bunk while I sat tailor-style at the other, chewing a hole through my lip as I tried to figure out what Dillard wanted from me. Did he want me hurt? Dead? That didn’t seem likely. Unless he’d found the deed? Remove me and get my lands?

A bit penny opera by my thinking.

Or was I going at this wrong? Was Ignatius a spy, trying to catch me up on a mistake? Maybe Dillard was punishing Ignatius, not me. There were too many variables and not enough facts.

With that in mind, I poked Jesse. “How did your sketch turn out?”

He ambled over to his trunk, fishing his journal out quickly. After flipping through several pages, he held it open with his thumb, shoving it out for me and Will to see.

Even in the short time he’d had, Jesse had done a fair sketch of the land behind the Settlement. His talent was evident in every stroke of the pencil and the shading he’d managed using his precious pastel pencils. I quickly made out the Penitent Box, the tree line, and the fresh grave I’d dug for Cartwright. But what caught my eye was the patches of color, the varying shades of green that made up the grass and clover of the immediate area.

Patches of deep green overlapped bright green or pale yellow, kept short by grazing livestock. The grass was bouncing back into vibrancy nicely after winter. I could trace out what we guessed would be several graves, showing it to Will. But I only counted five, maybe six. In a place as big as the Settlement, that wasn’t outrageous, and I said as much.

Will traced his finger along one of the lines, frowning. “I wonder, though. How do we know that each of these means one body?”

Jesse drew back, horrified, but I thought that would be the smart way to go about it. “I think the better question might be, how many got lost in the woods? How many ran away, never to be found? Or tried to go on to the next town, like Cartwright?”

Will’s brow furrowed, his mouth turning down. He didn’t like what I was saying, but he also saw the sense in it. “Easy way to rid yourself of someone causing trouble.” He speared me with his gaze. “And face it, Faolan, trouble follows you around like a faithful hound.”

The truth of his words made my stomach drop, but I put my chin up, draping the bravado around me like a winter quilt. “Kellys aren’t that easy to get rid of. Don’t you worry about me, William Speed.”

I figured I could worry enough for the lot of us.