A Well Misspent Youth

Part 4

It is disheartening that as fast as we can find doors to open, they are shut to us.

It is also frustrating that the Guild can offer no work at the current time, though I am told a commission may be available soon. The Guild has little information beyond that already known. The Guild would prefer Lady Fiona Gilcrest to be succeeded by a person of similar disposition; anyone of a more fundamentalist bent would imbalance the status quo. Lord Snaphaunce's ambitions envision us eventually being formally recognised but it would take the interest of those with a strong mercenary bent to achieve this. The Church and Judiciary cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered as friendly to our interests. The Merchants and Guilds may prove more amenable to persuasion, especially if we prove useful in achieving their own aims, but this would require the status to remain quo. And, of course, Penharrow in the grip of a strong Church/Judiciary coalition would be bad for business, for everyone.

Ultimately, if we can ensure the Guild's next representative is as reasonable as Gilcrest, then true influence would remain in the hands of the University, and the personality profile of a typical Lord Chancellor means the University representative on Council is always likely to be more amenable to the Guild's methods of persuasion than the idealists of Church and Judiciary.

In desperation I have even written an essay on the local political situation to save Horatio the tedium of having to read a textbook. Not a bad essay, if I do say so myself, and certainly worth more than the paltry half crown Horatio paid me for it. What a pity he decided to recoup his losses by selling copies to his classmates than present it himself and secure the good marks it was worth.

Ho hum! Clarification but no actual elucidation or even remuneration so it's time to return to our Patron's admonishment to pursue the recent spate of occult thefts. With potential avenues for investigation vanishing rapidly, Horatio decided to consult his cards once more. Apparently the Knave of Swords indicates violence, the Knave of Stars shows folly and the 3 of Ravens shows a low-level influence from whatever it is that suit represents. So there you have it, our imminent future is likely to be mindless thuggery instigated by agencies unknown and, according to Horatio, "without interference, the City is in serious trouble"! Well I'm sure we're all better off for knowing that. If only we knew what we were supposed to do about it.

Estelle decided to exit through my chambers to talk to the ravens. I'm beginning to worry about that girl. I hope they found her conversation edifying though she seemed disappointed with their lack of interest and returned downstairs muttering something about addressing a 'Parliament' – sometimes that girl is sheer 'murder'?

At least my contact within the tax registry finally produced an address for the remaining person on our list of theft victims; Mikhal Veiss lives in an upper middle-class district at 36 Whitsun Avenue. Estelle and I paid him a visit. He has some remarkable possessions though he himself seems remarkably unremarkable, a sombrely dressed businessman. It seems his grandparents left Vadiz under a bit of a cloud many years ago but he was born in Penharrow. He has several items native to Vadiz that he keeps primarily for their sentimental attachment to his parents but he has no contacts with Vadiz. The knife was stolen by thieves breaking through the lock on the rear door and somehow failing to wake a single soul in the house. After some desultory conversation, it became clear another lead was taking us nowhere.

Sister Domenica, being herself of the clergy, elected to visit the Basilica to consult with my old school friend, Gareth, it seeming sensible to keep Horatio away from him and I well know how he views me. These days he habitually wears the austere habit of a monk penitent. Domenica met him as he returned having spent a hard day putting vile devil-worshipping heretics to the question in some outlying village.

By using the dubious ploy of offering to help in his 'crusade', Domenica managed to get Gareth to open up a bit. She reported that he seemed more than a little possessed himself. Apparently he babbled in Aristan words that she reckoned came from occult texts, random words from actual spells, but out of context and grammar. She reported that Gareth's 'fit' passed once the two of them entered the Church, whereupon he told her that he had a distinct feeling on first seeing her that she could help him but this passed…as he entered the Church.

All this provokes two immediate thoughts: I'm sure Gareth has become genuinely touched by something, could that something be…'ungodly' in nature? And how exactly did Domenica know his babbles came from occult texts? I do hope Gareth doesn't take it into his head to investigate the Order of St. Isis, I've a nasty feeling he might find something best left undiscovered.

Babbling aside, Gareth did reveal the current extent of his investigations. Veiss and Thompson are both hiding something. Veiss is understandably sensitive about his grandfather's origins. According to Domenica, Gareth seems satisfied his shiftiness is little more than this but I do wonder what exactly the old man got up to and whether it might not have repercussions today.

However, Gareth's real suspicions are toward Lewis Thompson as he has failed to be as helpful to his investigations than any of the other victims. Of course, this could just be a natural fear of being questioned by a certified maniac with the power to bring you before the Inquisition should he not like your answers but it seemed wise to investigate him further. To this end, I took the liberty of 'casing' his house with a view to entering from the rooftops. I discovered he had taken some precautions to prevent this with something, I'm not quite sure what, protecting the gable window beneath his eaves. (This is itself unsettling because it is usually possible to at least speculate on the nature of a trap and it is obviously not possible to negate it without more information. It shows Mr Thompson has at least as profound a knowledge of traps as a Guild-trained specialist.) The back door is also very securely locked which means the only method of ingress available would be to remove roof tiles to gain access to the loft. Of course, it may be he has protected this area too but it is impossible to conjecture on the possible defences without removing the tiles and alas I lack the expertise to put them back (I really must ask the Guild for training in tiling; nothing fancy, just the basics.

In short, there's no easy entry, which leaves the ploy of watching his front door and following him and any visitors.

With the promise of further hard work on the morrow, it seemed wise to turn in but Horatio insisted on some lessons in stealth. So I took him onto the roof as darkness fell and put him through some basic tests. Dear, dear, the boy really cannot stand still at all. I counted 57 movements in 5 minutes. I told him he must practise standing still and simply watch where he puts his feet – especially as Wuffles really has nowhere else to relieve himself and can hardly be blamed for the slipperiness of some parts of the roof.