Strike at Midnight(18)
A chuckle escaped me at the thought as I got dressed in the darkness of the early dawn. Marcel accepted all walks of life—and he wasn’t kind to those who didn’t—but I don’t think even he would appreciate me pimping him out to another guy.
Once I was dressed, I hid two small daggers on my person. I might just get away with walking around dressed like this in my job, but I doubted they would let me into the places I would be visiting later with my crossbow and favored long sword. My daggers would just have to do.
Rem was eating breakfast at the bar when I walked downstairs, and Marcel wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Good morning,” he said, nervous at my sudden appearance.
“Carry on eating, kid,” I said, and my own stomach growled. “Any left?” I asked, and I looked longingly at the bread and cheese he was munching on.
He lifted his wooden board up to me and I felt like a dick.
“I meant out back,” I rectified quickly. “I’m not taking your food from you.”
“Oh,” he said as red blossomed on his cheeks. “There is still some left. Marcel just told me to help myself.”
“Great,” I said, heading up back to the kitchens to pile some food onto my own board. Once I was loaded up, I walked to the bar and sat one seat away from Rem. “Are you ready for today?”
He nodded and finished his mouthful before speaking. The kid had more manners than I did.
“I have my disguise at the ready.” He picked up the cap that had been next to his food and popped it on top of his head. “Marcel loaned it to me.”
“Good,” I replied. “You need to try and sneak in when the stable boys start setting up. But don’t take any unnecessary risks. If you can’t get in, just hover outside when they queue up. You might hear something from there.”
“I’m good at making myself blend in,” he said, and he carried on eating his food.
“See that you are,” I said before piling some cheese and bread together. I took a large bite and we sat in silence while we finished breaking our fast.
“Is there anything you would like to know? Or just everything?” he asked once he had finished.
“Anything about the Duke of York or odd behavior from anyone in particular. Listen for any mention of the recent ball at the castle and anything else that you feel may be important.”
“Okay,” he said, and he slipped off the barstool. “I’ll head out now. I know the way.”
“Don’t get into trouble.”
“I won’t,” he said, and then he was out the door before I could blink.
“Bye,” I said to myself with only a hint of sarcasm, then the coffee called to me like a swan song.
It wouldn’t take me long to boil up some water over the fire, and then I could head out to Evergreen East Forest after I’d taken in my caffeine fix. Coffee beans were the main import for Carena, so that made me one happy lady, especially on early mornings like this. It would help having something warm before heading out to the woods to see if the kid’s brother had left a trail when he had gone hunting that I could track—or at least go out to eliminate the possibility of a body being left to rot out there. The thought of it made me shudder.
The kid hadn’t needed to know what I was up to for that very reason, and I didn’t want him to get his hopes up that I was devoting my full time to the case right now. This morning I could take advantage of the fact that the shooting gallery wouldn’t be open for another few hours and give him some time, but then I really needed to focus on the duke’s case.
It was easier to tackle the Evergreen East forest on foot, so I made my way out to its entrance that was just under half a mile off. The sun had started to rise when I headed out, and I stayed on the main roads until I got to the part where the forest began.
After a good couple of hours of tracking, I could see there had been no breaks along the green floor that I had checked so far, and I had made sure to mark the trees where I’d been so I wouldn’t double back on myself. I was grateful that no dead bodies or signs of foul play had crossed my path, but I was also aware that it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack in regard to recent hunting tracks.
The rising sunshine guided me through for a little while longer, and there had been a few tracks that confirmed people had hunted through here recently. There was no way to determine who, only that they hadn’t gotten themselves killed in the process.
Relief hit me when I came out the other end of the forest that would take me to a road near Theodore’s Shooting Gallery. My neck had started to stiffen from looking at the damn ground for so long, and I needed a drink. The shooting gallery didn’t sell beverages, and I hadn’t had the forethought of bringing one with me. But The Tamed Wolf was on my list of places to visit this morning, so I could get a quick one there.
The dirt road led me to where the pulse of the city could be heard once more, and there was a shortcut that allowed me to go off track to shorten my journey by ten minutes.
It wasn’t long before the large barn that Theodore Steedson had converted into a shooting gallery many moons ago came into view.
Archery was favored at the gallery, but it was a place where a lot of the nobility went to practice their sword-fighting techniques, never forgetting to show off their prowess.