Whitman was not very talkative during our journey. My natural inclination was to press him for details on the case, but years of working alongside of him had acquainted me with the distant facial expression he adopted when his brilliant mind was at work analyzing facts and theories. I knew even as he stared up at the glass tunnel the tram ran through that he was turning the merits of the case over in his thoughts. I sat there feeling quite useless, but Jiles has always been of the persuasion that my ability to be silent when need be without being told to do so was one of my greatest talents. If you can call such a thing a talent.

We arrived in the tram station of Ironforge almost an hour later. It was very busy that day and it took us some time to work through the bustling crowd of dwarven citizens. The dwarven people are not tall, but their broad shoulders make walking through a crowd of them like crawling through a quarry. A young gnome boy met us in the reception area of the city. He must have known something of Jiles because he stared at him with dark wide eyes and an indemonstrable smile. He hurried us through the cavernous city to an inn near the main office of the city guard. A cherry wood sign hung in the front of the building with the words The Furnished Den carved and painted prominently on it. The manager was a human that served as a liaison in the city for Jiles. Besides information, he always kept a nice room ready for Jiles' arrival. Jiles spent several minutes talking to the manager in hushed tones, he then handed him a rolled parchment. The man nodded and handed Jiles a key to the room.

It was not until we had settled into our room, had lunch, and Whitman smoked a cigarette before there was a rapping sound at our door. During this entire time Jiles had not explained any further details on the case other than what little he had told me in Stormwind. His distant expression had not abated during the course of events since we were at Ironforge and I knew that trying to ask about the case would only affect his concentration and place me in the path of his ire.

The knocking came again and Jiles said, "Captain Ajax, please come in and join us."

An older dwarf with a braided beard that hung below his waistline entered. He wore the mithril chainmail and dark blue cloak of an Ironforge city guard. More than this, I noticed he wore a gleaming badge shaped like an eagle that denoted his position as a captain of the guard. He did not sit with us, and it was obvious he did not wish to stay long by the way he huffed in the doorway.

"You sent for me, Whitman. So here I am. I thought this whole mess was done with last night!" his voice was loud enough to echo in the hallways, though I knew he was talking at his normal volume.

The volume of the dwarf captain's voice did not unsettle Whitman. "You were supposed to meet us at the hotel lobby nearly an hour ago, Captain. I sent for you because you were not there. My associate, Cornelius Smit, and I had to rush to make it to Ironforge in time to meet you at our designated time, but you were in absentia when we arrived."

The captain waved a mailed fist, "Bah, I have important duties to tend to besides meeting with humans in hotel lobbies!"

Jiles mouth almost curved to a smile, "I am sorry to pull you away from The Dragon's Gullet in the middle of your dice game."

The captain looked incensed, I had heard of dwarves turning red in the heat of battle before but seeing in person was frightening. He veritably shouted, "Who do you think you are to come to my city and accuse me, a captain of the Ironforge guard, of drinking and dicing while on duty?"

Whitman's knowing smile surfaced, "My deepest pardon, Captain Ajax. But you told me, or rather some things about you told me that you were engaged in those activities."

The dwarf scratched his red beard and looked utterly confused. His outburst forgotten for a moment as he tried to decipher Whitman's words, Jiles continued, "You see, my good captain, you wear a finely made satchel at your waistline, I believe that six dice of different sizes fill it. You must be a proficient player for you to have put them in such a fine bag, raptor skin is it?"

Ajax nodded slowly with a suspicious squint below his bushy eyebrows. "So I play dice, but this bag doesn't tell you that I was playing it this last hour."

"Ah, but it does Captain. There are six distinct bulges in the satchel, but there are supposed to be seven. In your haste to leave The Dragon's Gullet you must have left your four sided on the table."

Ajax quickly jerked open his satchel and sifted through the contents with a large finger. His face went from angry to amused in a matter of seconds. "I'll be damned."

Without waiting for the dwarf to confirm or deny Jiles' observation, he continued. "As to your whereabouts, that was a lucky guess. The Dragon's Gullet is known as the drinking hole for dwarven soldiers of rank. Since you are a captain of the guard I believed I would find you there."

Ajax seemed to forget his anger, he laughed hard enough to hurt my ears. "Har, your good, Whitman!"

The dwarf walked from the doorway to the empty chair at our table and hopped onto the seat with a thud. He reached over and grabbed our unfinished wine bottle and finished it in one gulp.

After a disgusting belch he leaned back and asked, "I'll neer know how you humans get drunk from that colored water you call wine. Anyways, what do you want to know? I caught the bloke red handed y'know?"

Jiles responded, "Captain, if you were the one that caught Kelner, then perhaps you would be kind enough to divest the details of his arrest to us."

I assumed that Kelner was name of the murder suspect.

"Hrmph, if my superiors hadn't told me to be here I would be drinkin right now."

"You will be able to do so as soon as we are done. Now the account of the arrest, if you please."

Ajax snorted and recounted the story of the arrest as follows:

"I came on me shift as usual last night. Been on the city guard about twenty years now. Nothin unusual was about on my walkthrough, just the occasional brawl that needed a bustin up, but beyond that things were nice and calm. I was makin my way through the arcane district when I heard an explosion. Now, mind ya, that's nothing unusual. Those damn gnomes blow their labs up all the time down there, so long as it is contained we don't even fine 'em. But there was something about this explosion that was different. I could just feel it in me gut. So there I was, runnin up the stairs to one of those apartments when out burst this real pretty human lass. She's got smoke trailin off of her and she has a mad look in her eyes. She was screaming something about her dead master and so I ran in where she came out of. The place was black as a miner's arse, looked like a goblin bomb went off right in the middle of it. On the floor was a nasty lookin site. Now mind you, Whitman, I fought against the Scourge few years back, so I be havin a strong stomach, but seein that twisted burnt bastard was still a hard thing to look at, the damned carpet was still on fire around the corpse. Anyways, I turn to the corner and standin there white as a sheet is Kelner. Not a mark on him. I tried to talk to em, but he wouldn't say a thing, so I took em in."

Jiles interrupted, "At which point your supervisors sent word to Stormwind, after which I was contacted."

Nodding, the Captain responded, "Aye, but no reason to send you out. He was the only one not smokin, and everyone knows a mage's spell don't hurt him none."

"Indeed, Captain. Thank you, enjoy your time off duty."

Captain Ajax jumped up from the chair and was almost out the door when Jiles called after him, "Captain, just so I am clear on all the details. Kelner was the deceased mage's apprentice, correct?"

"Aye.", the captain impatiently affirmed.

"Then that leaves only one last question, captain. Who was the young woman whose screams attracted you to the crime scene?"

"Ah, her?" said Ajax, "She was another apprentice of Chelton, new one. Her testimony is what we are condemning Kelner on. She's stayin at The Lion's Den if'n you want to talk to her."

"So she does affirm that Kelner slew his master with a fire spell?" asked Jiles with a studious expression.

Again the captain affirmed Jile's question impatiently. When Jiles nodded a farewell to him he left without another word.

Jiles placed the tips of his fingers together and closed his eyes. My familiarity with my friend told me he was analyzing every syllable and word of the captain's account. Nearly twenty minutes of silence later he opened his eyes and turned to me.

"Well, Smit, ask your questions. I know you have been holding them back until now. Your awareness of my desire for silence up to this point is a testimony to your value as a companion. Since I cannot do anything more until we visit Kelner in prison, ask what you will."

I cleared my throat nervously. Asking Jiles a question always resulted in an enlightening response, but more often than not it earned me a berating for asking something that should have been obvious to me. "Well Jiles, I suppose many of my questions were just answered by the good captain's account. Um, I suppose I am a bit curious why you were contacted about this, it seems to be an open and shut case."

"Things are not always as they seem, Cornelius."

I nodded, "And yet most times they are."

He smiled, "So you illustrate the importance of unhindered perception of the facts. No case is open and shut if proper investigation has not been made. It is sadly obvious that in this case, that investigation has not been done yet. Hence the reason my services were called upon."

"But Jiles, the only witness of the crime says he did it, and he was not affected by the explosion, which indicates that he was the caster of the spell. Two things that make a strong case against the man."

Jiles thought about my assessment of the case for a moment. He leaned back in his chair casually and tapped his foot on the carpet. "Indeed, Smit. Things look bleak for the apprentice Kelner. A witness and physical evidence are strong pieces of any case. But one thing is lacking that I must get to the bottom of."

I was beginning to feel that this case was a waste of my time. Occasionally Whitman and I went to solve crimes that were, despite what he said, open and shut. Those cases did not truly need his exceptional skills in the art of deduction. My wife was the hardest part to deal with after those cases, making me feel guilty about leaving her for needless excursions.

Thus my frustration broke through in my tone when I asked, "Well, what is it that you need to close this case? What could eliminate the fact that Kelner was the caster of the spell that killed his master, and that the witness, a victim herself, verifies he is the murderer?"

Jiles sprang from his chair and placed his hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle but energetic shake. "Motive, Smit! I must know the motive for what it is before I can close this case. And only an interview with the accused himself will provide me with that all important piece of the puzzle!"