Page 96 of A Dead Man's B-Side
The second voice was oddly familiar, though I couldn’t place it. I was so sure I’d heard it somewhere.
But the nicknames, those I was sure I’d heard before. Long, long ago, when Cassius wasn’t careful around his self-proclaimed mentee.
Then, Thaddeus Saltford-Windsor’s voice rang right next to me, “Make all the jokes you want. But you all know I always end up with the last laugh.”
His voice got smaller as he stepped inside, and the door closed, and this was too good an opportunity to pass up. So, I made the calculated move to eavesdrop from the outside.
It wasn’t exactly hard. Cassius’ room was on the first floor, and he was the one stupid enough to leave his window open.
I tried peering in, but they weren’t visible enough, sitting in the corner of the room, at a table that was sure to have some sort of booze—if the pouring of drinks and clinking of glasses were anything to go by. So, I begrudgingly settled for simply listening in.
“So, how was the meeting today?”
I could hear Thaddeus laugh. “Well, they seem to be getting on fine. Faster than I’d expected and faster than we did. So, there’s that.”
“Why do you look put out, then?”
“They seem to have formed an alliance against me.”
Cassius laughed, loud and strong, like he always did when he was genuine.
“It is not funny. They called me old and tried convincing me I was going crazy. I knewthey were up to something,” he mumbled the last bit.
The other man, the one I didn’t know, replied, “Well, to be fair, we were always up to something as well."
Thaddeus poured himself another drink. “Yes, but at least then, I was in on it. It really isn’t fun when you’re on the outside looking in.” He sighed, and I would have laughed at the notion of Augustgetting to him had I not been so focused on the conversation. “I am getting old.”
“Oh god.” Cassius sounded disgusted. “Don’t come and ruin our fun. Go home to your wife if you’re going to be a bore.”
“Ana won’t ever see the boring side of me, I can assure you.”
“How lucky for us, I suppose. Tell me, how is Lu doing?”
Then, Thaddeus laughed. He laughed so hard that Cassius and the other man laughed along with him, unknowing of the joke until he said, “Myro let slip that Miroslav and Wolf chain-smoke every night–well, really he outright snitched because no one had his back.”
“What?”
Bow’svoice was already deep, and his loud tone made it sound as if he were speaking into a microphone. Cassius was quick to mediate. “Alright, let’s calm down. We weren’t any better, and Bow, you were worse.”
“Oh, piss off, Cass.”
“Keep in mind, he’s in his thirties.” Cassius said, but it sounded as if he was saying this to Thaddeus.
They were bickering like children, but I didn’t dare think of leaving without something short of information of value.
When they settled down, Thaddeus said, "Apparently, Miroslav has been corrupting the lot of them. I might go on a step further and tell you that they seem to be getting along.”
“Did he say they were getting along? Those words exactly?” Bow sounded skeptical.
“I know how to read through the lines, idiot,” Thaddeus replied, offended.
Cassius must have mumbled something I couldn’t catch with his lips around his cup before taking a gulp. “I can’t remember if we ever did that. Did we?”
Thaddeus laughed. “No, though we did handle that affair for Adama, if you recall. When Valerius tried that thing.”
It was finally getting interesting, andthat’show he describes an event?
Bowseemed to read my thoughts, and I almost wanted to jump up and hug him. “I can’t say that I do. When?”
