Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry its been so long since I last updated. As always I own nothing Games Workshop does.
By the time Karl returned to the temple it was very late so he simply went to sleep. The next morning he and Werner left the temple, after many thanks to the sisters and leaving a generous gift, and returned to the inn. Once they were there Karl told him about what had happened the night before, while brushing over how he got the drop on their tail.
"So Marco has been tailing us, interesting." Werner said after Karl had finished telling him what had happened.
"You know who he is?" Karl asked.
"Oh yes," Werner replied; "I have had run-ins with him before when I've been here in the past."
"I see." Karl said. "Is that why you said it was interesting?
"No, I said it was interesting because I happen to know who Marco works for. His unofficial patrons are the Leitdorf family. His men protect their interests in the city and harass their business rivals. In exchange the Leitdorfs use their influence to protect him from persecution; as well as making sure a good deal of money finds its way into his purse.
"So you think the Leitdorfs sent him to spy on us?"
"I don't know, while he does work for them he is not exclusively theirs, he'll work for anyone who'll pay him. We cannot assume it is the Leitdorfs who hired him to follow us. When we meet them we shall attempt to find out if he is acting on their orders or not.
"I'll make the necessary arrangements to meet with them but it will take a day or two. Meanwhile you have to find a way to speak with Esmeralda, find out what they are up to; if they are dealing with Von Galt I am sure it was on the Leitdorf's orders."
Karl left the inn and headed back to the Stoker home. As it was daylight he placed himself in a shadowy alleyway instead of on the rooftops. Luck was with him; he had been there for less than an hour when he saw Esmeralda come out of the house. Even better, she was alone. He let her get a little ahead of him and then started to follow her.
She went to a pastry shop and got some sugary treats and then to a toy merchant and bought a doll. After she left the shop she began to walk in the direction of the Stoker house. Before she could get there Karl hurried up to her and caught her arm. "Pardon me." at his words she spun around, her free hand going to her bodice where he knew her knife was. When she saw who it was, however, she relaxed and her hand dropped back to her side.
"Oh, you startled me. You are the investigator's assistant correct? You were with him when he came to the house. How can I help?"
"I was wondering if I could talk to you."
"Well," she said, giving him a flirtatious look; "Lady Selena is correct; you are a rather nice looking man so I have no objection to talking to you. So tell me what did you want to talk about?" Her tone and look were flirtatious but Karl could tell it was an act.
"I was curious about a number of things. Such why you were at the house of Von Galt late at night; why you left your house again later that night and met with a man who has been following Werner and myself. And why, while we are asking questions; is a Strigany acting as a ladies maid, a rather unusual occupation for your people I'm led to believe."
As he spoke the look she had given him left her face to be replaced with a look that was a mixture of surprise and anger. "You were following?!" It was half a question, half an accusation.
Not wanting to reveal the truth about himself Karl said simply; "We are investigators."
Obviously she wasn't fooled. "And I thought that there wasn't a city person in the world who could follow me or Bohemas." Her anger was gone, replaced with a look of amusement mixed with respect. "Well, as it stands, I don't mind telling; in fact, I think we can help one another.
"As you say, I am Strigany, and Bohemas is my brother." She stopped and looked around the street. "Perhaps we could go somewhere a little more private; I do not want an audience."
Karl nodded; "Do you have any ideas?"
She nodded simply in affirmation. "I do; the master and his son are away and I can get you into the house unseen. Selena gets upset if she wakes up from her nap and I am not there, especially now." This last tone had an angry note to it.
She returned to the house with her purchases, Karl following at a discreet distance. When they arrived he went around to the back and after a few minutes she let him in through a servant's entrance. She quickly led him upstairs to her room, a small but comfortably furnished affair, where she gestured for him to sit down in a chair while she sat on the bed.
They sat there for a minute in silence before she began to speak. "As you said, I am Strigany. A few months ago I quarreled with my family and left our caravan. I had no particular reason for coming here other than, as the richest city in the area; it would have the best opportunities. I was in the market one day when Lady Selena got away from my predecessor in the market and got lost.
"I found her crouched in a corner crying and helped her home. By the time we got there she had become attached to me and begged her father to let me stay. It was not a difficult task, with the caravan I often helped with the children, and I'll admit; I became fond of her. Then it happened."
She paused and took a deep breath, seemingly fighting back tears. A month after I arrived here my other brother, Boamos, came to see me and try to bring about reconciliation. We spoke once and we were going to speak again when he was murdered; just like the others."
"Others?" Karl asked.
"Yes," she hissed, anger entering her voice; "You think the ones you and the Brother are investigating are the only ones that have happened? They're just the ones people care about. People have been dying or disappearing for months."
Karl sat there for a moment. More murders, Werner would have to know about this! Wait, thinking of Werner made him pause, he had to think like Werner, what would he ask if he were here? Then it came to him.
"Forgive me, but how do you know that these are connected? In a city this large surely there are killings and disappearances all the time."
"I know that!" She snapped. "But there are too many similarities. Many of deaths and disappearances have occurred at the same time, when Morrslieb is at its quarter. Also, many of the deaths have been of prominent people in the underworld or the various guilds. The deaths are from all the various gangs and trade organizations. No one group profits from these and it has the various groups are now at one another's throats. Just like the deaths you two are investigating."
Karl sat back and thought. So this was wider spread than they had known. He would have to tell Werner so they could go over this. But first he had to get the answers he had come for. "So who were you meeting and why is he following us? Also why did you go to the Von Galt estate?"
She seemed to calm down a bit. "The man you saw me with is my other brother, Bohemas. When Boamos did not return the caravan came here and Bohemas contacted me. We agreed that Boamos's death is connected to the ones you are investigating. We agreed that the best chance to discover the killers is to follow you.
"As to why we went to Von Galt." Here her anger returned. "The Stokers are planning to marry Selena to that old…" here she spat out a word in a language he did not recognize but he guessed it wasn't very flattering.
"Wait a moment," he said; "The Lady Selena has the mind of a child. How…"
Before he could continue she interrupted him. "Because they made a deal with Von Galt. He stops his campaign to become the Elector and supports the Leitdorfs. He himself doesn't amount to much but he still has connections to more than one of the noble families. If he decides to support the Leitdorfs they'll support them as well.
"Von Galt is also deeply in debt. The dowry promised from the Stokers will be more than enough to both cover those debts and return Von Galt to solvency. But most important of all is Lady Selena. Von Galt is an old man, who apparently spends most of his time obsessing over the family name. Before her murder his daughter was his only child.
"As it stands, the family will die with him. Selena may have the mind of a child but she has the body of a woman. She is more than capable of giving him children, preferably a boy to carry on the family name.
"It would suit her father as well. Von Galt cannot have long left to live. If she has a child and Von Galt dies then the child will be his ward and the influence Von Galt has will be his. That night we went there so Franz could work out the final details and Von Galt could have a look at her."
Here she snarled with barely controlled rage. "She was terrified the whole time. Especially with that old…" more words Karl could not understand; "Poking and prodding her like she was a horse; and her brother just standing there!"
Before Karl could say anything a bell started to ring. "She's awake." Esmeralda said, rising and heading for the door. "I have to go now. Just go back the way we came up and take care you're not seen."
Walking back Karl pondered what he had learned. While it answered the questions they had had, the answers seemed to just result in more questions, especially the news of the other deaths. Where they related to one another? Esmeralda had said they were but Karl could just hear Werner saying they needed more evidence than her say so. If it was true and they were connected why had they shifted to victims who were sure to attract attention and what were they trying to accomplish with it all?
Returning to the inn he immediately went to Werner's room. Inside he found Werner looking visibly shaken and a young man in the room with him. The man was dressed in the clothing of a servant wore the livery of the Lord High Justice.
"You've returned, thank the gods!" Werner exclaimed as he entered.
"What's going on, what has happed?" Karl asked, looking from one to the other of the two men in the room.
"We must go at once," Werner said; "The Lord High Justice has been murdered in his office."
Author's Notes: Well, are you confused yet? Despair not we will before too long start to get some answers. If you didn't know this world has two moons Morrslieb is the smaller one and is considered evil. W ell that's it for now. Please keep praying for Shawn, persecuted Christians, Saeed Abedini, an American pastor jailed in Iran; and everyone else who needs it, including Amir Hekmati, an American in poor health also being held in Iran, and all who lost their jobs to the shut down. Bye for now and may Jesus bless you all.