Chapter 53

Cairo and the girl stood close to him, one on either side. Spade stood back a little where he could watch the boy as well as the group at the table. Gutman turned the bird upside-down and scraped an edge of its base with his knife. Black enamel came off in tiny curls, exposing blackened metal beneath. Gutman’s knife-blade bit into the metal, turning back a thin curved shaving. The inside of the shaving, and the narrow plane its removal had left, had the soft grey sheen of lead. Gutman’s breath hissed between his te…