Live and Let Drood

take your pony away.…”
    “You wouldn’t! All right, you probably would. You big bully, you. Oh, but, Eddie…I really do need this. There’s enough magical energy stored in here to replenish all my spells and abilities! And you know I have to be strong if we’re going after You Know Who.…”
    I looked apologetically at Latimer. “Sorry about this.…”
    “Oh, let her have the bloody thing,” said Latimer. “Given the sheer number of curses and bad vibes associated with the thing, she’s welcome to it.” She ignored Molly as she preened over her new toy, and fixed me with a cold glare. “Is she always like this?”
    “Mostly,” I said.
    “It’s all part of my charm,” Molly said easily.
    Latimer and I exchanged a look but said nothing.
    “I have to admit, I’m surprised to see you here, Edwin,” said the boss. “I have heard about what’s happened to Drood Hall. I really thought all you Droods were dead and gone. I should have known the reports were too good to be true. And don’t you raise your eyebrow at me like that, Edwin. You know very well your family has always been as big a threat to freedom as most of the threats you take on.”
    “An argument for another day,” I said. “Right now I’m here to ask for your help.”
    It was Latimer’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Really? And just why would I want to do that?”
    I leaned forward across her desk and showed her my hand encased in a golden gauntlet. Vicious barbed spikes rose out of the clenched metal fingers.
    Catherine Latimer smiled briefly. “Typical Drood.”
    She didn’t speak a Word or even gesture, just looked at me in a certain way and an invisible force snatched me up and held me tightly in its grasp. I fought against it but couldn’t move a muscle. I was picked up off my feet, lifted up into the air, spun around several times and then slammed, spread-eagled, against the ceiling, looking down. I called for my armour but it didn’t come. The boss had cut me off from my torc. I hadn’t thought that was possible.
    Molly started forward the moment she saw what was happening to me. The boss fixed her with a certain look, and Molly froze in place, locked between one movement and the next, in a stance that looked excruciatingly uncomfortable. Her face strained, her eyes full of silent fury, but she couldn’t move a muscle. Any more than I could. The shillelagh slipped out of her paralysed hand and fell to the floor. Catherine Latimer allowed herself a brief smile.
    “You don’t spend as much time as I have operating in the hidden world, in any number of influential capacities, without picking up a useful trick or two. Never bait the bear in her cave, children. If I let you both down, will you behave?”
    “Almost certainly,” I said from the ceiling.
    Molly managed a more or less compliant grunt.
    The boss sat back in her chair and drew deeply on her cigarette holder. I fell down from the ceiling, only just managing to get my feet under me in time. I also only just managed to grab Molly by the shoulder as she lunged forward again. I wrestled her to a halt, murmuring urgently in her ear, and she finally stopped. She shrugged sulkily and turned her back on the boss and me. I looked at Catherine Latimer.
    “I’m pretty sure Crow Lee was behind the attack on my family,” I said.
    “Unholy Crow Lee?” said the boss. “Could be. He’d have the power and the gall, if anyone would.…I was at Cambridge with him, you know. Back in the day. Had no doubt he was a bad sort even then. Cheated at cards, wouldn’t pay his debts and insisted on reciting his own poetry in public. And now he’s the Most Evil Man in the World…or so people in a position to know say.…Why should I help you against him?”
    “Because if Crow Lee has become powerful enough to remove the entire Drood family from the playing field, how long before he comes after you and your organisation?” I said.
    Latimer nodded slowly and blew a perfect smoke ring. “Good point. All right, Edwin. A temporary alliance. But you’re going to owe me a really big favour for this.”
    “Agreed,” I said. “A favour for a favour.” And then I stopped and looked at her thoughtfully. “I have to ask: Did you by any chance know that something really bad was going to happen to my family? Did you have any information or warnings in advance and not tell us?”
    “No,” said the boss.
    “Would you tell us if you did?” said Molly, slipping into place beside