Thursday, October 21, 2004
Day 29
My assumption was that Ruby would be an earlier riser than Man Coker, so Memree and I headed over to her house, and knocked on the door. She answered it herself, and came out into the street. "Perry's off helping my dad today", she told us. "Did you find anything at that address?"
"The thief - dead", I told her. "So now someone else has got the dagger he stole, and we're not really any further forward." I sat down on Ruby's doorstep. "I don't know if we'll get any reward just for finding the body, I've not seen the tavern's owner yet, I just sent him a message last night about what we'd found."
Ruby smiled. "It doesn't matter, I trust you, both of you. What we need to do is find out more about that dagger, if people are starting to get killed over it."
And that is what I told Man Coker, a little later in the morning. He made a tooth-sucking noise, and slowly nodded his agreement. "I know very little about it, and I don't think Chase knows much either..."
"Jasper must know something - but I got the impression he doesn't easily share his secrets. Just what sort of deal was it to be used to seal? Is there magic involved?"
Coker sighed. "I'm starting to suspect that there is, especially from what you've told me about the corpse. You'd better leave everything with me, I'll have to send one of my best people to the town Jasper brought the dagger from, and call in a few favours over there... so you can have a nice quiet couple of days, unless you think there's anything else to dig up around here."
"Not a lot", I told him. "Oh, have we earned anything from your friend Chase for our discoveries so far? It doesn't bother me, but the young girl and her family would probably find a good use for a few extra silvers, and they have been very helpful."
Coker brought out a purse, and counted out a gold piece and its equivalent in assorted silver coins. "This would be about a third of what you've earned, so pass it on to, what was it, Ruby and Perry?"
I scooped up the coins, and smiled. "That's them. I'll try to find out their surname, if you like."
And off we went, back up into the daylight. Without any leads, there wasn't much else we could do today. The plan will be to take the money round early tomorrow, maybe even before the father sets off for his work - I can hardly hand that much cash to a ten-year-old. Well, maybe I'll go round at a more reasonable time, and get directions to the stable he works at. A bit more lie-in, a bit more exercise... oh well, if I stop writing this and go to bed now, I'll have a better chance of waking up early!
"The thief - dead", I told her. "So now someone else has got the dagger he stole, and we're not really any further forward." I sat down on Ruby's doorstep. "I don't know if we'll get any reward just for finding the body, I've not seen the tavern's owner yet, I just sent him a message last night about what we'd found."
Ruby smiled. "It doesn't matter, I trust you, both of you. What we need to do is find out more about that dagger, if people are starting to get killed over it."
And that is what I told Man Coker, a little later in the morning. He made a tooth-sucking noise, and slowly nodded his agreement. "I know very little about it, and I don't think Chase knows much either..."
"Jasper must know something - but I got the impression he doesn't easily share his secrets. Just what sort of deal was it to be used to seal? Is there magic involved?"
Coker sighed. "I'm starting to suspect that there is, especially from what you've told me about the corpse. You'd better leave everything with me, I'll have to send one of my best people to the town Jasper brought the dagger from, and call in a few favours over there... so you can have a nice quiet couple of days, unless you think there's anything else to dig up around here."
"Not a lot", I told him. "Oh, have we earned anything from your friend Chase for our discoveries so far? It doesn't bother me, but the young girl and her family would probably find a good use for a few extra silvers, and they have been very helpful."
Coker brought out a purse, and counted out a gold piece and its equivalent in assorted silver coins. "This would be about a third of what you've earned, so pass it on to, what was it, Ruby and Perry?"
I scooped up the coins, and smiled. "That's them. I'll try to find out their surname, if you like."
And off we went, back up into the daylight. Without any leads, there wasn't much else we could do today. The plan will be to take the money round early tomorrow, maybe even before the father sets off for his work - I can hardly hand that much cash to a ten-year-old. Well, maybe I'll go round at a more reasonable time, and get directions to the stable he works at. A bit more lie-in, a bit more exercise... oh well, if I stop writing this and go to bed now, I'll have a better chance of waking up early!
