"I think your father would be proud of you–" Meredith glanced up at Cullen; the way the sun was shining through the window and onto his face made him look so much older than he was.

"Why do you act like he's dead, he lives in fucking Ohio." He turned and the moment was lost.

"Language." Meredith warned, rising from her seat. "I don't want you talking to Orsino, he's a bad influence."

"He wouldn't hate Carver just because his brother is wanted by half the county."

"No, he wouldn't. You're right." She sighed, looking at the blond. "Sometimes I wonder if you would be better off with him."

"Mother.."

Meredith shrugged one hand, crossing the room to her filing cabinet where she was glancing through papers once more. Glancing to the rookie cop, she took hold of his lapels, straightening them for him. "I'm so proud of you, Cullen. Just think of it, soon enough you'll be Captain."

"Like Captain Rainier." Cullen gave her another little smile, ducking his head. Moments like these where Stannard acted like an actual parent were few and far between. He had learned to appreciate them.

"Yes." The commissioner's smile faded, her lips pressed together tightly. "Just like Captain Rainier."

"So, anyway, it went down like this: I got this tip there'd be something worth witnessing from this guy who must have been tweaking out on something, I don't know. He slipped me a package full of cash and said there'd be more if I had proof I was there."

"Photos are proof enough, but why?"

"The guy, Riley, his name was, was saying how his boss needed some pictures of you. It was you specifically. Captain Rainier, he said. Even showed me what you looked like."

"I see you were unscrupulous enough to take the job." Thom's response was dry.

"Hey. Cash is cash. How do you think I pay the rent for this shitty place? The way he said it though, meant he wasn't fucking around. I kind of like living."

"Right." Thom looked around, the feeling he was being watched growing. "And his next instructions were to bring it to the commissioner's private residence?"

"Oh, shit no. Riley, the junkie, took the whole thing and dropped it off at her house. Said I was too suspicious."

"What does this Riley look like?" Thom pulled out his notepad, writing down the description.

"Uh, like he hasn't bathed in months. Kind of balding, but he doesn't look really that old. Red eyes. Really bad skin. And he's white with dark hair."

"Okay, good. And he's the one who took the pictures to Stannard?" Thom looked back up at him, waiting for more information.

"Yeah."

"You know I'm probably going to have to bring you in for this."

"You can look the other way, I guess? I mean, shit, I'm helping you, aren't I?"

"It depends on how important this information ends up being, honestly. So let's hope you're telling the truth then."

"Shit, I don't even know where the commissioner lives. And I don't even know why you were so important to them. If I were you, I'd be lying low until this shit blows over. Somebody's out for your career, and it's not me. I'm just the middleman here."

"I'll keep that in mind." Rainier lifted his glass of water to his lips. Tethras insisted on buying him a drink, and he would prefer to keep a level head in case anything went wrong.

"So, tell me the details about you and the Carta girl. I swear this shit won't make it onto the page."

Rainier sighed, putting his empty glass back down with a loud clack, and shifted where he sat, scrubbing at his tired eyes with the heels of his palms. Running his hands up through his hair, he asked quietly; "What do you want to know?"

Varric quickly clicked the top of his pen upside down against the table top to get the point out, as he started jotting down notes. "Mind if I tape this?" The dwarf slapped an old tape recorder down on the table beside the notepad.

"Why not, right?" Captain Rainier leaned his elbow against the table, all but spitting his words, "It isn't like my job's on the line or anything."

"Easy, tough guy. This is for me to use, not for the site. Gotta keep up with the times." Varric scooted his own drink away from Thom's arms in case he decided to bump everything off the surface of the table.

"And you believed him? Captain, Tethras is prone to extravagant lies." Stannard tapped her fingertips on her cup of coffee, impatient enough already.

"He knows details no one could fake." Thom stood taller, hands behind his back. "I have a gut feeling he's telling the truth. Everything points to this Riley guy. It's more than a hunch now, it's a lead."

"You still need a full name, Rainier. You know his first name and what he looks like. The city has a population of thousands." Stannard frowned,

"I can find that out easily. Anais has to know someone who knows this guy."

"You better not be wrong." Meredith stared him down, but Thom wasn't backing off. "Your entire career is depending on this one case. Fail me, fail this entire precinct and you're out, understood?"

He refused to budge, if anything, standing taller than before, a determined look in his eyes. "Yes, Commissioner."

"When have I ever been wrong before?" Thom asked, nonchalant in his demeanor as he raised the binoculars to his eyes.

"I can think of a few times, Rainier." Anais covered her mouth with her fingers to stifle a yawn. "Are we really doing a stakeout?"

"I am. You're just here for company."

"Thanks." she was tilting her seat back and propping up her little legs on the dashboard.

"Watch the leather. This isn't my car." He reached over to buff out a mark her heel left when she dug it in.

"You don't even have a car." The dwarf leaned her tights-clad calf against his hand.

"I did. Once." Thom glanced over at her, distracted.

"Once?" Cadash mused, crossing her legs.

"Someone put a car bomb under the hood. Then another someone clipped it parked on the street. A little fender bender, but the whole thing went up in flames."

"No shit. I think I heard about that."

"Yeah." Thom's hand settled comfortably right below her knee. "Why are you dressed up?"

"What? Oh, you'll never believe this. I had a date." Anais put her legs down once more, leaning forward in her seat in excitement.

"Yeah, it was this hippie chick named Calpernia. Weird name, I know. I met her at the Hanged Man. Apparently she used to know Janeka, so we got to talking."

"Oh." Thom glanced back out the window, fighting the disappointment in his voice. He was only half listening now.

"I kind of ditched her though. Not that I feel bad or anything; she was probably crazy ex girlfriend material. Like anarchist vegan level of crazy."

Rainier perked up just a mite more, lifting the binoculars to his eyes again. "I think that's our guy." Anais snatched the binoculars from his grip and looked into them. "Yep, definitely. I'd recognize that red sweatshirt anywhere." There was a black design on the back. A flaming sword.

"That's Riley? Looks a little unassuming for the right hand man of a drug kingpin." Rainier watched him through the darkened windows as he approached the warehouse's double doors.

"Don't doubt him. I heard he once threw a guy through a brick wall."

The man threw both giant doors open without a second thought. Doors that would ordinarily need three men or a mechanism to open.

"Shit."

"Can you see what's in there?" Thom asked, as the dwarf fumbled with the binoculars.

"No. Too dark inside."

From the window, Captain Rainier could see a faint red glow. "What is that?

"Pure dwarf dust crystals glow just like that." Anais nearly dropped the binoculars. "But if it were pure lyrium, it'd be blue."

"So what is it?"

"My guess is some new kind? I wanna check it out." She slid across the seat, hand on the door.

"Anais, wait–!" Thom hissed, watching the double warehouse doors in case anything was happening.

"I'll be fine." She started across the street, crouching to make herself seem even smaller.

"Fuck. At least wait for me." Thom slipped out of the car, closing the door quietly and following her in.