Captain Carrot had been busy. The city dwarfs liked him. So he’d done what Vimes could not have done, or at least have done well, which was take a muddy dwarf necklace to a dwarf home down in New Cobblers and explain to two dwarf parents how it had been found. Things had happened quite fast after that, and one other reason for the speed was that the mine was shut. Guards and workers and dwarfs seeking guidance on the path of dwarfdom had turned up, to be met with locked doors. Money was owing, and dwarfs got very definite about things like that. A lot of the huge body of dwarf lore was about contracts. You were supposed to get paid.
No more politics, Vimes told himself. Someone killed four of our dwarfs, not some crazy rabble-rouser, and left them down there in the dark. I don’t care who they are, they’re going to be dragged into the light. It’s the law. All the way to the bottom, all the way to the top.
But it’s going to be done by dwarfs. Dwarfs will go to that well, and dig out that mud again, and bring up the proof.
He walked into the main office. Carrot was there, along with half a dozen dwarf officers. They looked grim.
“All set?” said Vimes.
“Yes, sir. We’ll meet the others at Empirical Crescent.”
“You’ve got enough diggers?”
“All dwarfs are diggers, sir,” said Carrot solemnly. “There’s timber on the way, and winching gear, too. Some of the miners joining us helped dig that tunnel, sir. They knew those lads. They’re a bit bewildered and angry.”
“I’ll bet. They believe us, then, do they?” said Vimes.
“Er…more or less, sir. If the bodies aren’t there, though, we’re going to have some explaining to do.”
“Very true. Didn’t your lads know what they were digging for?”
“No, sir. They just got orders from the dark dwarfs. And different squads dug in different directions. A long way in different directions. As far as Money Trap Lane and Ettercap Street, they think.”
“That’s a big slice of the city!”
“Yessir. But there was something odd.”
“Do go on, Captain,” said Vimes. “We’re good at odd.”
“Every so often everyone had to stop work, and the foreign dwarfs listened at the walls with a big, er, thing, like an ear trumpet. Sally found something like that when she was down there.”
“They were listening? In soggy mud? Listening for what? Singing worms?”
“The dwarfs don’t know, sir. Trapped miners, they thought. I suppose it makes sense. A lot of the digging is through old stonework, so I suppose it’s possible that other miners could be trapped somewhere that’s got air.”
“Not to last for weeks, though, surely? And why dig in different directions?”
“It’s a puzzle, sir, there’s no doubt about it. But we’ll get to the bottom of it soon enough. Everyone’s very keen.”
“Good. But play down the Watch side, will you? This is a bunch of concerned citizens trying to find their loved ones after a reported mining disaster, okay? The watchmen are just helping them out.”
“You mean ‘remember I’m a dwarf,’ sir?”
“Thank you for that, Carrot. Yes, exactly,” said Vimes. “And now I’m off to see a legend with a name like a can of polish.”
As he went out, he noticed the Summoning Dark symbol. The PussyCat Club drinks menu had been put with some care on a shelf by the window, where it got maximum light. It glowed. Maybe this was because Frosted Hot Lips Rose had been designed to be seen across a crowded bar in poor light, but it seemed to float above the oh-so-funny sticky cocktail names like Just Sex, Pussy Galore, and No Brainer, making them look faded and unreal.
Someone—several ones, by the look of it—had lit candles in front of it, for when night came.
It mustn’t be kept in the dark, Vimes thought. I wish I wasn’t.