Silver Linings

Mattie.”

CHAPTER

Nineteen

    Mattie sat on a duffel bag next to Silk Taggert, who was calmly checking over a handgun, and watched Hugh pace the cavern with a restless wolfish tread. The forbidding expression on his hard face reminded her of the one he'd had the night she had called him to rescue her from the bar in Seattle. But this was a thousand times worse, Mattie decided. Hugh was a grenade waiting to be detonated, a sword waiting to be unsheathed.
    “Are you sure he didn't hurt you?” Hugh demanded for the fifth or sixth time.
    “He didn't hurt me. I told you, he admitted he was looking for you, then he fed me a lovely dinner. He told me he was a vegetarian, but I didn't believe him. Not for one minute.”
    Hugh gave her a strange glance. “Then what?”
    “Then he took me to see Cormier's collection of old weapons.” Mattie had already been through this recitation several times.
    “And then he took you to the bedroom. Goddamn his soul.”
    “He didn't exactly drag me, Hugh,” Mattie said patiently. “He assumed he was charming me. I let him think he was succeeding. The truth was I went with him because I remembered the panel in the bathroom. It was easy enough to duck in there for a minute or two. Having to use the bathroom is the greatest excuse in the world. And as far as Rainbird was concerned, it was safe to let me go in there. After all, there weren't any obvious exits except through the bedroom.”
    “Good thinking, Mattie,” Silk said. He flicked a glance at Hugh. “Lighten up, boss. She did great and she's here, safe and sound. That's all that counts. Hell of a woman, if I may say so.” He shoved a clip into the automatic. “Now you and I got work to do.”
    “I'll kill him.”
    “Yeah. I know. But first we got to get to him.” Silk slanted a smile at Mattie. “Way I see it, we now got us some terrific inside information. A lot more than we had an hour ago.”
    “Oh, God,” said Mattie, feeling drained. “I don't want you two involved in any more violence.”
    “A little late to worry about that,” Silk said gently. “Don't you worry yourself into an ulcer over this, now. It'll be over before you know it. And then we can all get off this damn island. But it would sure speed things up if you could give us some details.”
    Mattie looked at him and then at Hugh and knew there was nothing she could do to stop either of them. The next best option was to try to help. “I'm afraid I wasn't paying a lot of attention to that sort of thing.”
    “Just think back and count all the faces you remember seeing and where they were.”
    “Well, I do remember thinking a couple of times that there weren't as many thugs around as I would have expected. Maybe half a dozen in all. I kept wondering where the army of occupation was.”
    Hugh stood at the edge of the basin of black water and stared down into it. “I told you. There is no army of occupation on Purgatory. No need for one. Rainbird is on the government's side, remember?”
    “What there is of it,” Silk added. “Never was much of a government here. That's one of the reasons Cormier liked it.”
    Hugh nodded. “What Rainbird did was classic. He made a brief show of force, handed out a few guns, and created a lot of confusion with a small group of trained men. There was no organized resistance on Purgatory. By the time the initial uproar was over, he had cut himself a deal with the folks who are officially in charge around here. Probably guaranteed to triple or quadruple the island's annual tax base with a corresponding increase in salary for the honchos and everyone else who cooperated. Money always speaks louder than guns in the long run.”
    “Yeah,” Silk said. “You can get someone's attention with a gun, but you keep him on your side with money.”
    “But what does Rainbird get out of it?” Mattie asked.
    “A safe harbor. He probably needs it in order to expand his business interests. God knows what he's into by now. Purgatory is perfect. A tiny, politically independent island of absolutely no strategic importance to anyone where he can relax, kick back, and run his empire.”
    “Probably had his eye on Purgatory for years after he realized Paul had moved here,” Silk said. He turned to Mattie. “Anyhow, that's one of the reasons why you didn't see an entire army hanging around the place. But there's another reason for keeping the house guard down to half a dozen or less.”
    Mattie nodded. “Hugh explained