“I’ve been seeing Saragossa,” says Brigitte. “Tuatha has been, as he said, unwell for some time. He was so depressed. And my career was not going as well as I might have led you to believe. He introduced me to people.”
“What was that about his wife’s soul?”
“Nasrudin Hodja, the soul merchant, took it,” says Blackburn. “But I know it was on Aelita’s orders. I made her head of security. It kept her close by.”
“Where is it?”
He shrugs.
“Where do you hide a soul?”
“So you assholes have been killing off dreamers to control reality and you use the Imp to do it. Was that Aelita too?”
Blackburn nods.
“And who controls the Imp?”
“Osterberg.”
“And who controls him?”
“Aelita.”
“Are you sure?”
“Fairly,” says Blackburn.
Brigitte says, “Teddy’s family had power and lost it. He isn’t Sub Rosa but he thinks like one. The world is all status with him. He had a vicious little ghost in his collection and he let her loose for Aelita so he could remain in the synod.”
“That’s not true. The ghost isn’t his. I’m sure of it.”
“I know he controls the girl. That’s all that matters,” says Blackburn.
“It makes a sick kind of sense. Someone gave him power over the ghost but didn’t give him the ghost itself. That way when I asked if she was his, he could say no and I wouldn’t detect a lie.”
“That sounds like Aelita’s way of thinking.”
Blackburn pats his pockets in a way I recognize. I toss him the Maledictions. He looks at the pack. Doesn’t like that he doesn’t recognize the brand. But beggars take what they can get. He takes one and tosses the pack back.
“People tell me that the Imp killed people who weren’t dreamers. Did you or Aelita order that?”
He shakes his head and lights the cigarette. Coughs and starts to put it out. Brigitte takes it from him and puffs gently like she’s teaching him how it’s done.
“I never ordered her to kill.”
“Jimmy, I was Blackburn’s friend but I didn’t know about any of this until today. Please believe me.”
I have to think for a minute.
Blackburn goes to where his wife is sitting, takes her hand, and holds it in both of his.
“I do.”
She says, “I think I know why other people were killed.”
“Go on.”
“If I’d known about Teddy, I swear I would have told you myself. I thought he was dead.”