Nightside 08 - The Unnatural Inquirer

where it was. I looked at her thoughtfully, but she’d given up on grilling me for the moment and was looking interestedly about her.
    “I don’t think I’ve ever been this deep into Uptown. You don’t come here unless you are almost obscenely wealthy. I’ll bet there are shops here where a pair of shoes would cost more than my annual salary. Remind me to steal a pair before we leave. Where are we going, exactly?”
    “I need to talk to Walker,” I said.
    Bettie slammed to a halt, stopping me with her. “The head man himself? Darling, you don’t mess around, do you?”
    “If anyone knows where the Collector hangs his hat these days, it’ll be Walker,” I said. “Can we start moving again?”
    She nodded stiffly, and we set off at a somewhat slower pace than before.
    “But, gosh, I mean…Walker,” said Bettie, giving me her wide-eyed look again. “Our very own polite and civilised and extremely dangerous lord and master? The man who can make people disappear if he doesn’t like the look of them? That Walker? There is a definite limit as to how far I’m prepared to go for this story, and annoying Walker is right there at the top of my list of Things Not To Do.”
    “You’ll be fine, as long as you’re with me.” I tried hard to sound calm and confident. “He’ll talk to me. Partly because Walker is another old friend of my father’s. Partly because he’s an old friend of the Collector. But mostly because I shall dazzle him with my charming personality.”
    “Maybe I’ll stay outside while you talk to him,” said Bettie.
    I grinned at her and noticed abruptly that she wasn’t wearing her polka-dot dress any more. She was now wearing a creamy off-the-shoulder number, very chic, and a pink pill-box hat with a veil. The horns on her forehead peeked demurely out from under the brim of the hat, lifting the veil just a little. I decided not to say anything.
    “Is this really such a good idea, sweetie?” Bettie said finally. “I mean, Walker…That man is seriously scary. He’s disappeared at least nine of the Unnatural Inquirer’s reporters because they were getting too close to something he didn’t want known. Or at least discussed. We know it was him, because he sent us personally signed In Deep Condolence cards.”
    “Yeah,” I said. “That sounds like Walker.”
    “I don’t want to be disappeared, John! It would be very bad for my career. Promise me you’ll protect me. I am too young, too talented, and too utterly gorgeous in a fashionably understated way to be disappeared! It would be a crime against journalism.”
    “Relax,” I said. “You’ll be fine. I can handle Walker.”
    I don’t like to lie to people, unless I have to, but sometimes you have to say what people want to hear to get them to do what you want them to do. And I had to talk to Walker. He was the only one who might know where the Collector was hiding out these days, who might be willing to tell me. It was always a calculated risk, talking to Walker. In the end, when we finally run out of excuses, one of us is going to kill the other. I’ve always known that. And so has he.
    We like each other. We’ve saved each other’s lives. It’s complicated. It’s the Nightside.
    “Do you need your gift to find Walker?” Bettie asked, staring distractedly about her as though half-expecting him to suddenly appear out of some door or side alley, just from the mention of his name.
    “No,” I said. “I know where he’ll be. Where he always is at this time. Taking tea at his Gentleman’s Club.”
    “Walker belongs to a club?” said Bettie. “Result, darling! A definite exclusive! Which club?”
    “There is only one club for those of Walker’s exalted position,” I said. “The oldest and most exclusive club in the Nightside. The Londinium Club.”
    Bettie looked sharply at me. “But…that was destroyed. During the Lilith War. We published photos. That was where the Authorities were killed. And eaten.”
    “Quite right,” I said. “But it’s back. Word is, the Club rebuilt itself. Any building that’s survived everything the Nightside can throw at it for over two thousand years isn’t going to let a little thing like being destroyed in a war slow it down.”
    “Oh,” said Bettie. “Do you mind that I’m holding your arm?”
    “No,” I said. “I don’t mind.”

    The last time I’d seen the Londinium Club, during the height of the Lilith War, it had been one hell of a mess. The magnificent