Her Father's Poison

the tarp still over the dinghy and no smoke coming from the stove. Roan was sitting on the floo

bolt. "He has the crate in the council room under guard, and he has written my name

p. "The crat

olfsbane." I watched his face. "There was a paper twist near the top with a

d said nothing at all, and that was

new,"

know abou

nd stood in front of him. "You came into this harbor with five crates of poison i

out of a wolf slowly so no one sees the poison for what it is. The pack that made it called it a curse because a curse is easier to explain than a murder." He looked back at me. "If a

sier. It made the whole harbor look different, the pack house and the wharf

said. "Wh

this harbor by himself. He had a buyer here, and the buyer had a hand that could reach your fat

y to find the wolf wh

id it without any flourish. "And I am not going to find

ked out at the dark water. Down the hill, a lamp was

come looking. There is an old fish shed out past the point, on the far side of the harbor

oulder. I felt the warmth of him at my back and m

n you hide m

go now, before the patrol comes back around. Keep to the black water. Do

e walks, and out past the point where the water slaps at the rocks. The fish shed was there, tilted into the tide, with a hole in the roof and a smell o

isherman's hands go after hauling wet rope in cold weather, but there was more of it than any fisherman's han

ands,"

hem. "They will hea

een us. "If I help you, and Cal finds out, I am not just a tide reader who made a bad

a long moment. "Th

lping you. That

reader of Tidal Bay. My father told me about your mother once. He said there was a woman in this harbor who could

ther i

at me. "I found he

against the wharf, and then the bell at the harbor mouth began to ring,

put my hand

you whether you saw anyone on the bar

wood of the door. "I am going to say that I s

an hold in your face whi

ain. "It is goin

k house. Cal was waiting for me at the top of the hill with the lamp in his hand and his coat colla

iet. "I want to ask you something, and

ped the pilings far b

d, "before the patrol came, before any of us were

sea green eyes a

me. "You ar

cert

away, and the look on his face was not anger and it was not suspicion. It was

ouncil has sent word. They are coming to Tidal Bay early, on the first boa

er out of his coat a

smuggler. Someone in this harbor