it's disgusting. I-" Josey looked at the floor.
Caim halted and watched the play of thoughts across her face. "What is it?"
"The day my father died he was talking with a man, someone I'd never seen before. I didn't think much about it at the time. My father had many well-wishers. But there was something odd about the conversation."
"What?"
Her shoulders fell as she leaned back in the chair. "I don't know. I just got the feeling they didn't want anyone to overhear what they were saying. My father was never a secretive man. He told me everything."
"Except that."
"Yes. It bothered me at the time, but I forgot about it in the heat of our argument. When I found you in his bedchamber that night, I was coming to convince him not to send me away."
He felt the urge to touch her, perhaps brush the strands of hair from her face, but he suppressed it. "Was there anything odd about this man? A feature you'd recognize again. The way that he spoke-"
"Keys." She looked up. "He had a pair of keys stitched on his breast, crossed like a pair of swords."
"Does that symbol mean anything to you?"
"No." She slumped back in the chair.
He scratched his bristly chin. "Me neither."
"This is pointless," Kit complained. "She doesn't know anything, Caim."
He shushed her and got an odd look from Josey. Then, a sudden inspiration made him smile. He headed toward the pile of his clothes on the dresser. "But I think I know someone who can help us."
"Wait a minute!" Kit jumped up to bar his way. When he passed right through her, she spun around and floated past his head. "Enough is enough, Caim. You've done your civic duty. You rescued the wench and gotten yourself shot in the process. Now let's do the smart thing and get out of this place. East, west, across the sea-I don't care which direction as long as it's away from here!"
"I can't," he replied.
"What?" Josey asked.
"Nothing. Listen, I'm going to go meet this person. I want you to stay here. And don't leave this room."
"You're crazy!" Kit said.
"I'm not staying here," Josey replied.
"Be quiet!" he shouted. To Josey, he said, "It isn't safe on the streets. You'll be better off here."
Kit crossed her arms across her chest. "Since when did you start caring about other people, Caim?"
He almost choked when Josey adopted an identical posture. "It's my life," she said. "You're not my father. You have no right to tell me what to do."
Caim sighed. This wasn't fair. No man should have to put up with this much harassment.
"Fine," he said. "But you can't go out like that."
Josey lifted the skirt of her borrowed dress. "What's wrong with this?"
"Oh, the dress is fine." He winked at Kit as he put on his pants and the figments of a plan coalesced in his head. "But the look's not complete yet."
Savoring the confusion on their faces, he hobbled over to the door and called for the lady of the house.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
tep, clack, slide.
Caim kept his head down as he shuffled through the door to the Blue Vine. A grimy, rust-colored robe covered his leathers, compliments of Madam Sanya, who had closets full of clothes left behind by old clients. The robe's deep hood concealed his face. A cane, gnarled and fireblackened, completed the ensemble.
Step, clack, slide.
He winced as he stepped into the wineshop's cool interior. His side pained him, but by leaning on the cane and dragging his right foot he could get around reasonably well, and the limp made his mendicant act all the more convincing. He just hoped he wouldn't have to leave in a hurry like last time.
The disguise had been his idea, but in truth he'd had little choice in the matter. Kit and Josey both agreed he shouldn't leave the brothel room without one. They argued that he wasn't up for fighting if it came to that, and he didn't disagree. Of course, his knives rested against his back under the heavy robe just in case.
His disguise, while serving admirably in the streets, was severely out of place in the Vine. As soon as Mistress Henninger noticed him, she rushed over with a look of alarm.
"Out you! There'll be no begging in here. Come round back later on and Cook will see if we have any scraps for you."
Caim winked from under the hood. "Relax, Mother. It's me."
She sucked in a deep breath, which threatened to burst her bodice. Thankfully, she kept her voice