Saturday night. I decided to begin working the case right away. This family was dangerous, and there was no time to lose, more so if the creep kept abusing the little bird. I sat down on a shoddy diner writing down the basics, without much detail in case my notes were found. As I took a swig out of my second bottle of beer, I realised my guesses were not far from Sansa's. My main suspects were Joffrey and Cersei, both having taken over the company.

I left the diner to go to a slightly better place. A fancy little local called the Red Keep. The smell of cigars, alcohol and people assaulted me at once. I wasn't one for being surrounded by the crowd, but the drinks were good. I thanked fate every day that alcohol was legal now. I found my spot almost immediately. The woman beside me wore a modern, tight red dress. Her golden hair was at her shoulders and her very red lips held a cigarette.

Cersei Baratheon.

"Give me another, darling" she was telling the man behind the counter, as she pointed at her glass. As I sat, she whipped her hair and smiled, though it did not reach her emerald eyes, already hazy with drink.

"Well, well, look what the wind brought. Sandor Clegane. It's been awhile, Hound."

"Cersei," I greeted her, and asked the man in front of us for a scotch. As the tall, dark haired bartender left, I asked "New toy?"

She laughed.

"Oh, Osmund's a good lad, good with the drinks, and a real ducky shincracker. Joffrey's fond of him, too." She took the drink to her lips and gave me a sideway look. "He misses you, though, I'm sure he'd be real stoked if you came back to work for us."

I laughed roughly, knowing to others it was like steel grating on stone.

"Please. The only thing Joff ever cared about was how many guns I'd let him hold."

Her smile dropped, and when she spoke next, she was perfectly serious.

"He's head now. The business will get more dangerous, and we've got enough enemies as it is, but he won't listen. He is headstrong as all boys his age." She turned to face me. "I'm willing to give you a raise. Maybe even some extra benefits." She smiled again. I had been around her long enough to know exactly what kind of "benefits" she meant.

"Try your games with the poor brainless idiots that follow you around, woman. Thank God I know better. Get me a good, honest whore who wants only my money and I'll be better off."

"You and that mockery of honesty, please," she rolled her eyes, "get a moral compass and more money and you'd be Ned Stark."

Bingo.

"And then you could off me, like you did him?" I never was good at beating around the bush.

"Stark died in a mug, everyone knows that." She stated, but her eyes were cold and calculating now.

"Did he, now? Days after he took the deal of a lifetime off the table," I took yet another drink. "Seems once good ol' Robert was gone, Stark wanted nothing to do with Baratheons. Or was it Lannisters? Word on the street is, he wanted Stannis as head of the company."

"Yes, and the lobster would have done such a great job. Please. Besides, Joffrey is Robert's heir. Stark should have understood that."

"But he didn't."

"Men like that; it was all about his precious honor. If he had kept his mouth shut…"

"About…?"

Suddenly, the drunken haze was gone from her eyes. She sat straighter on her bench.

"Why are you asking so many questions? Did someone send you? Robb Stark, that Tully cow maybe?"

I raised my hand in a mock gesture of peace. "Calm down, Cersei. Just trying to make small talk. Damn you all, women, always paranoid about something." But I wasn't getting anything out of her now, I knew that, so I took one last drink, paid the bartender, and left. I hadn't missed the pair of mismatched eyes that had followed me back at the lounge, as I didn't miss now the tall man following me. Well, that one wasn't getting anything out of me. My feet automatically led me to my destination, where I was sure to lose my tail.

The Church of the Silent Brothers in Isle Street.