17 Zi'Da 719
Listening further the land troops revealed that they hadn't found any suspects and that Nellies' girls all gave different reports of who attacked them. Balthazar resolved to put his mind to the case and try and help the girls. Nobody deserved to live in fear and Balthazar didn't have any promising leads on Morgan so he had the
time to take a trip.
Within the trial Balthazar was sitting a table in Nellies' brothel, looking over the girls as they moved from one thing to the next. He'd bought some stew with bread and whiskey- though as soon as the cup was empty he manifested water to fill it. In part this was to prevent anyone from thinking he needed a refill and in part it was to remain sober while trying to assemble clues. The reports he'd heard from the land troops seemed true enough. At least four times in the break Balthazar had been there, he'd seen some of Nellies' girls come from a room in a state of undress with bruises over the exposed parts of their body and cuts on their face. Seeing the aftermath of these attacks convinced Balthazar that he was doing the right thing even more.
Time taught the mage he could not sit in a brothel undisturbed forever when Molly, one of the prostitutes in her forties who had always been shuffled around Idalos due to her... what some would call homely appearance, approached him to collect his now empty stew bowl and bread plate. Balthazar thought she looked quite nice but she'd never open up to him about her past so it was a moot point. Balthazar set his bowl on his plate and held them out to her when she arrived to help lighten the load.
"Have you... have you picked a girl yet?" Molly asked as she took Balthazar's dishes into her hands. What else could he be there for?
"Not quite. Could you come back when you're done with the dishes? I'm curious about a few but I don't know how to pick and could use a professional's opinion." Balthazar replied. It wasn't exactly a lie... but it was certainly deception. He had no intention of partaking in Nellies' primary service.
"I'm sure- I don't think... I don't think I'll be much help." Molly replied nervously enough that it made Balthazar feel bad for asking, but he had a job to do.
"All the same, I trust your opinion." Balthazar said. A small smile crossed Molly's face which she tried to hide before taking the dishes back to the kitchen to clean them. She reemerged a few bits later wiping her wet hands on her apron. Balthazar raised his water filled glass towards her as she approached and when she arrived he gestured to the chair across from him at the table. Molly seemed uncomfortable with the idea.
"Miss O'Hara doesn't like me to sit with customers who ain't paid."
"Fair enough. Sit and talk, take what I owe you when we're done." Balthazar said as he set a bag of nels on the table. He who could live among the elements had never placed much value in nels but his time aboard a merchant ship had taught him that others did. Molly nodded and sat down in the chair he'd gestured to. Balthazar smiled a smile that he hoped came off as warm and friendly rather than creepy and weird. He leaned forward and folded his hand on the table in front on himself. "The girls in room one, three, and seven seem like they've had better days." Balthazar began, trying his best to watch Molly for her reaction. She glanced over to the rooms he had mentioned and tensed when she realized which girls were in those rooms.
"They were attacked on their way home from work. Beat real bad. But don't think that means you'll pay less for 'em. Madame Nellie thinks customers should pay more to help cover the doctors and all." Molly replied quickly, very quickly. A more experienced investigator might have noted how that line sounded rehearsed but Balthazar took it to be nerves and disregarded it.
"Beat? Nothing else?" Balthazar inquired, curious as to why the women's decency was left to them. He'd not really been an investigator long enough to connect all the dots as to why that sounded fishy, but it still did.
"Well their faces were cut up real bad too." Molly added, but Balthazar had already known that. At least he steered Molly to the topic he wanted to talk about.
"Really? Did anyone find out who did it? Surely Madame Nellie is doing something." Molly tensed again when Balthazar said that and again he missed it.
"They didn't see anyone's face. Madame Nellie says its probably a group of men because none of the girls seem to be describing the same guy." Molly replied a little slower than she had the first time. She looked like she was thinking hard... harder then she should have had to be given the questions.
"Does she? Is Madame Nellie here tonight?" Balthazar asked, thinking that she might be a better source of information than Molly. Then again Molly had served her purpose wonderfully anyways.
"Oh she is but I don't think she'd wanna talk you." Molly replied with a slightly frightened look. But the mage pushed.
"Well if I told you to take twice what I owe you from the bag, would get her for me?" A gambit for sure, but a welcome one. Molly smiled and nodded, then reached into the bag and took her nels before trotting off to get Helen O'Hara, the owner of the brothel. A lot longer passed than the time that had passed when Balthazar was waiting for Molly to do dishes but eventually Madame Nellie did come to Balthazar's table, without Molly. She walked with a sort of sway that seemed to hypnotize lesser men and while Balthazar was a great mage- his eyes were still drawn to her hips.
"I hear you've been asking about my girls." Nellie said with an allure in her voice that unfairly drew Balthazar's focus to her words as she sat across from him.
"Uh... yes! I have." Balthazar shook his head slightly and looked at the table. "I wanted to help look into the attacks. I thought you might have a lead." Oh how the truth spilled from the fool's mouth.
"I'm not looking for a bounty hunter. I can help the girls myself, all I need customers to do is pay a little more for their medical expenses." Nellies replied in a cool but dismissive tone before beginning to rise. She saw no value in the mage before her.
"I'm not looking to be a bounty hunter. I just want to help you and your girls." Balthazar pleaded. A cruel smile crossed Nellies' lips and she sat down at the table with the detective.
"And what makes you think you can help us?"
"I'm determined, and I have a particular set of skills that most people do not." Balthazar said as he waved his hand over the lantern lighting his table and the candle extinguished itself before suddenly reigniting with a blue flame. "I think I can handle a few brutes picking on your girls." When Balthazar had finished talking, Nellie's grin had morphed into a smile and she gave Balthazar a slight nod.
"Alright. Esmeralda, one of the girls who was attacked, says that the man who did it had a scar on the right side of his mouth making it look like he's smiling. Now I didn't know what to do with this until a few breaks ago someone told me a man with a similar scar was in the Buckle & Chain tavern. Naturally I can't leave my girls unattended but I suppose you could look into it for me?" Madame Nellie said. Balthazar nodded and stood up.
"I'll look into it." Balthazar said confidently before taking his leave of Nellies' Brothel.
