22 Ymiden 721
If only he'd had the ability to go further back into Rosmund's life to get a better look at the crew... but he could not perform such a feat by himself and neither of the other detectives had the need skill. He could go out now and report to Osmond and Skal that the tavern had been empty but that would get them nowhere. He needed to wait, watch, and blend in. He thought about going to ask Anida directly about Kenway and his crew but then realized that the owner of the establishment might seek to hide parts of the truth for her own reasons. He needed to find someone a little more loose lipped. After a few bits, a small biqaj woman came over to Balthazar to ask if there was anything he wanted to drink or eat. Balthazar ordered a water and vegetable stew politely and inquired as to what her name was.
She told him she was Mixiebelle, she asked his name and he told her he was Wesley. It was a reliable name that got him through most conversations with people who didn't know the truth. Mixiebelle couldn't linger for long so she was off to fulfill other orders before Balthazar got passed any questions other than 'who are you, what do you do here.' The answers were nothing remotely related to what Balthazar was interested in but it was important to build a sense of trust before trying to get someone to divulge secrets. He watched Mixiebelle walk about the restaurant portion of The Four in Hand, helping the few customers that were around as best she could. Her sense of balance when faced with many drinks was impressive, but again, not why Balthazar was there.
While he sat in his chair waiting for his food, he listened to try and pick up pieces of conversations that he could from where he was. There were relatively few people around so it was not an incredibly loud time, but that meant the people who were talking were talking at lower volumes. Of the seven in the building, five were in the restaurant and two were at the casino playing cards. Balthazar couldn't hear the casino duo but he could hear the two different groups in the restaurant (one being comprised of three people and the other being comprised of a two). They weren't talking about anything important. Nothing about pirates. One of the men in the group was discussing his interest in one of the girl's from Nellies. He liked her, but he wasn't sure she liked him and he didn't want to take a chance that might upset his wife. Balthazar did not get the impression it was one of the healthiest relationships in the town but it certainly didn't strike him as related to his current investigation.
The second group's conversation proved a little more intriguing but it was also not the boon to the investigation that Balthazar had been looking for. The people sitting around the table were discussing their growing feeling of danger staying in a place so heavily dug into pirate history. It was that topic which drew Balthazar's ear and focus but in the end it did not seem like they were discussing the Raskbuck in anything but reputation. It was just the idle chatter of people who lived in a city where pirates could strike at any moment. If only they knew how right they were.
When Mixiebelle returned with his soup, she set it down and turned quickly to depart but Balthazar called out to her and got her attention. She turned, polite as a server would be and asked what he needed but he never really gave her a direct answer. He asked about the other two groups. He asked what they were drinking and she told him, he asked their names and she said she did not know all of them. He asked what she knew and the names were unremarkable. She was brief with her responses but the longer they talked and the more Balthazar asked, the more Mixiebelle seemed to grow comfortable. Her answers became longer but they still didn't address anything that mattered. All the mattered was that Balthazar and Mixie (he decided her name was just a bit too long), had established a friendly enough relationship that his probing questions when something interesting happened would not seem odd to her.
Nothing interesting seemed to happen. Balthazar sat inside the restaurant drinking water and slowly working on his soup so long that he wondered if Osmond and Skal were still outside waiting. There was a slow but steady stream of people moving into and out of the Four in Hand but none remarkable or matching the descriptions of targets that Balthazar recalled. He catalogued their faces, sizes, and distinguishing features in his head but otherwise left them be. The next time Mixiebelle came by, Balthazar began a conversation worth hearing for it was the first conversation that bore fruit for the investigation.
"Is there any chance you have room available for the night?" Balthazar asked as Mixiebelle collected the bowl from his soup. It wasn't good food but she didn't ask and Balthazar didn't comment. He got the impression when he'd ordered that Mixiebelle knew it wasn't going to be the best. The server's eyes narrowed a little bit as she found herself going over who was and was not checked into rooms in her head. After a beat or so she nodded.
"We have one free room now, we should have another free by tonight if I'm not mistaken." Mixiebelle replied.
"Only two rooms?"
"It's been a busy tentrial so we only have one ready now. A regular is scheduled to check out in a break or so though so we should have the room they're using cleaned by sundown if it suits you more." Mixiebelle looked as if she was half ay through departing the conversation so Balthazar let her go. She took his bowl off to the kitchen and Balthazar rose quietly from his chair. He crept slowly through the tavern, inn and casino but no one seemed to pay him any mind.
He passed through the hallway of rooms with floorboards creaking beneath his weight at each step. The hallway leading into the rooms was a little more quiet than the restaurant had been but not silent. Balthazar knew the sound of silence well. He'd learned it so well he could impart it on objects with magic before his sparks were sealed. He had grand plans for how he would have used that sound which never came to fruition because, among other things, Balthazar did not think he had the budget to mass produce silent armor for the Elements- let alone the ether to keep replenishing the transmuted items for a whole military.
No. Instead of silence Balthazar heard a distinctly haunting noise. An expression of joy, revelry, and gladness that stole all those feelings from the detective as soon as he heard it. It was familiar to him through Rosmund. It was not a face. It was not a voice. It was a laugh. The same laugh that had terrified Rosmund moments before her death. It was the laugh of a pirate who'd been on the Raskbuck when Rosmund was murdered.
Balthazar had no doubt about it in his mind. He remembered the sound perfectly and it was the sound he heard now. Anger welled inside him and the detective found his feet taking him to the door the laughing man hid behind. Balthazar's foot lifted from the ground and he felt his center of gravity shifting so he could kick the door open- then he stopped. He took a step back from the door and listened more. The laugh continued uncomfortably. It seemed almost like the man who was laughing was choking on his laughter until it finally subsided.
Balthazar backed away from the door and went back to the restaurant portion of the building. He moved over to the window where he could see Osmond and Skal and he gestured for them to come to him which they promptly did. Balthazar sat back down at his table, Osmond and Skal joined him.
"What did you find?" Osmond asked. Balthazar tapped his finger on the table to draw their attention to it before he answered.
"They don't have many open rooms." He said while pointing his finger towards the steps that lead up to the different living spaces. "Nor do they keep good company." The other two looked at each other and an understanding passed between them. It was time to make an arrest.
