A/N: LOL do I really use reckless abandon that much? How many times did you count it, Guest? :3
Alright. I have the chapter count for the number of remaining chapters guys and fixed up all the notes! It should be quicker updates to the end from here on out! You ready? Because I'm ready! Let's go! Straight for the finish line!
Thank you for the sweet reviews guys! I really appreciate it! You all are so spectacular, and I thank you for always being so supportive and wonderful and just amazing, awesome, fantastic, awesome (said it twice because it's truuuuuue) people! Thank you so much! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own GMW otherwise Maya would be kicking asses for real.
"Alright." Billy said, moving the candles on the dining room table so they were at each corner. All the documents and papers were scattered all over the table. "This should be everything we pilfered. Start looking. It doesn't matter what you pick up. Anything that can be used against the mayor counts."
"That's a lot of papers…" Katy said tiredly, slightly rotating her injured shoulder in its splint.
"We emptied the office pretty much." Billy shrugged. "We're lucky that he keeps all this stuff in just his desk and not in several bookcases."
"We have no choice." Lucas added, pulling his sleeves up and lifting up one of the old pages. "So let's get to work so we can form some semblance of a plan to proceed."
The rest did the same, picking up documents and reading through them. They skimmed the papers as best as they could in the dimmed lighting, trying to make sense of the scrawled words. This went on for a while, the four working tirelessly to sift through all the papers, looking over the pages, reading the fine print, scrutinizing what the information meant and trying to make sense of it all. But as time continued to pass and no one could find anything particularly noteworthy, save for a few scattered contracts for some of the whores here and there, they grew more restless. More irritated.
Because each lack of evidence only brought them closer to the idea that maybe all their planning and all the suffering they had to go through to keep the documents was for naught.
That the documents wouldn't help them at all with their plan.
"I don't believe it…" Billy groaned. "So many of these are utter bullshit! Accounts and bank statements and what not that don't tell us anything. They can't prove that Jed is up to no good."
"Not to mention all these town archive documents detailing events that have happened in the past through the growth of the town. These are all the most ridiculous." Katy added. "These town land plots don't even show us anything but the layout. It's unnecessary."
They lapsed into silence once again, staring at all the documents on the table in slight dejection.
And then Maya's head lifted in surprise as she picked up one of the documents.
"Wait…" Maya suddenly said slowly, carefully scrutinizing one of the yellowed pages along with another form. "Take a look at this. I found a land deed for Mr. Shiffley's inn. It looks like he only has about .7 acres of land from his deed, yet his bank statement has him paying for an entire acre of land."
"…He's being swindled." Lucas rubbed his chin in thought, his brows furrowed as realization dawned. "We went about this the wrong way. By themselves, these documents don't make sense, but we can use the bank statements to check for any possibly discrepancies."
"We'll never get anywhere if we do this randomly, though. It'll take too long. We need to organize the papers first. Put all the bank statements together, any contracts for Bull's Sleaze together, basically anything that is the same type should go together before we start comparisons. I don't know why they weren't just kept organized in the first place." Maya gave Billy and Lucas both dirty looks. "If you two were smart, you would have kept them properly matched to begin with."
"Why am I getting attacked?" Billy scoffed in offence.
"How about next time, Maya," Lucas growled in response, "You try emptying an entire office worth of documents and records and keeping them organized when you're pressed for time and might possibly have to be on the run because the distraction in your plan is inadequate from lack of experience."
"Inadequate?" Maya's gaze turned molten. "That sure wasn't what you were thinking a few nights ago. I managed to 'distract' you with my supposed lack of experience, didn't I? So how inadequate am I, really?"
Lucas' eyes narrowed dangerously as they glowered at each other. Katy looked away uncomfortably, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck at the obvious implication. Billy winced, knowing that if he didn't intervene, a fight—with or without guns—was surely to break out between the two.
"Do you guys need a room?" Billy drawled, "Because Katy and I can leave so you can take care of your obvious need to…"
Maya's lip curled in disgust as she turned her lethal glare on Billy, and Lucas stared him down coldly, definitely not amused by his unnecessary commentary.
"What? You both know I'm not wrong."
"So… shall we get started?" Katy said, bringing them back to the task at hand, "I found a discrepancy here too. It appears Miss Howard made a deposit of some acquired gold from her late husband in her reserves that were never actually added to her calculation of wealth in her account statement."
"So Jed's stealing gold too?" Billy said, "The rumours have been true."
With renewed drive and determination they got back to work, designating areas of the table for specific types of documents. With all four of them working to separate and organize the papers, they managed to get through it relatively quickly. Then they matched peoples' statements with their land deeds. As suspected, many people were being swindled: their gold stolen, paying for more land than they owned, owning less land than they were promised. Jed had been duping them for years.
When they had for the most part separated what they could recognize, only a few records remained, ones that could not be categorized so easily.
"Hey. What do you make of this?" Maya hobbled over to Lucas. "It's an edict signed by Jed and some of our current town advisors and some other men I don't know. But the title in front of Jed's name is chief advisor, not mayor. This is from when you lived here. Do you recognize these names?"
Lucas leaned over Maya's shoulder, taking a look at it with narrowed eyes.
"Yeah. Some of the men were advisors when my father was mayor. But as far as I remember, many of them died suddenly from unprecedented circumstances."
"Highly suspect considering they signed their names here. And look. The beginning clause of this edict is the establishment of a saloon and whorehouse for the pleasure of the townsmen."
"Bull's Sleaze..." Katy muttered in recognition, "This edict has to have been in effect for at least twenty years then. Bull's Sleaze was established about a year before I had Maya."
"They're planning to turn this town into a brothel town it seems. To force the women of the town into prostitution." Maya nodded slowly. "This has been planned for a long time."
"It looks like it was never officially passed by my father too. This is evidence of treason." Lucas said, leaning down closer to get a better look at the paper, "This was passed by Jed himself without consent of the mayor. He's been steadily working towards this goal."
"Well that explains Jed's psychotic obsession with the women of this town and sex." Maya said, glancing over her shoulder at Lucas. "And acquiring them."
"Yeah."
Their gazes met and they both froze, suddenly realizing just how close they were to each other. Maya was practically leaning against his chest, and Lucas was almost pressing her against the table. With narrowed eyes, they both broke their gazes and stepped away from each other in disgust.
"That does make sense. Look, I rearranged all these separate plots of land we kept finding so they formed our town. And well… it's our town, but it isn't?" Billy said, sliding his rearranged mapped out plots to the middle of the table. "This design of our town. Some stuff is the same, but it looks like they've already mapped out each whorehouse and designated prices and what women should be in each. They've completely remodeled the entire town. And no doubt all the stolen gold and extra payments by the townsfolk are being collected to fund this transformation."
Katy picked up another form, her hand shaking as she read it through.
"And this… It's a list of names. Women. Girls. Stars beside their names and their names crossed out. He's been steadily collecting these girls." she said, appalled, "Women from years ago. Women from now. I see my name on this list. There's Missy's."
Billy's fists clenched angrily.
"He's been going through this list slowly." Katy continued," All these women and girls are either in the whorehouse now or have been at some point in the past. And there are more names on here that haven't even been scratched out yet and it looks like he's continued adding to this list. Topanga's name is on this list. And it also has a Riley Matthews on here. I'm assuming she's Topanga's daughter? Maya, your name is on here as well. And all three of you have stars by your names."
Lucas' eyes narrowed dangerously. "You were next."
"How the hell did he become so interested in turning this town into some kind of sick twisted Prostitution Land?" Maya said through grit teeth.
"…It reminds me of something. We had a guest over once when I was a kid. A traveler who visited our town and stayed at our home back when my father was mayor." Lucas said pensively, "He had tales from traveling around different countries in the world. He talked about visiting Edo in Japan and spending a night in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters, a small enclosed district in the city. It was strictly there for the purpose of prostitution, but was considered a cultural delight for many of the men. My father found it appalling. But some of his advisors were intrigued by the tales. Back then, I just thought it was because the stories were interesting."
"So your father found it appalling but so many of his old advisors, including Jed, are on this treasonous edict…" Maya wondered aloud.
"Lucas… do you think this could be the reason why Jed killed your father? Maybe he discovered the plan?" Billy asked. "Maybe some of those advisors who signed were also killed because they no longer wanted to be a part of it."
Lucas' jaw clenched tightly, his breathing a bit harsh.
"If that's true, then that's just another reason for me to kill him." Lucas growled lowly.
Katy stared at him in alarm, her brows rising in surprise as she took in the expression on his face and in his eyes. That dark, empty look in his eyes that made her wonder just how dangerous Lucas Friar really was. Maya rolled her eyes with a scoff in disgust.
"Anyway, we have plenty enough evidence that Jed has been up to no good. This will definitely ruin his reputation." Maya said, "So the first thing we need to do though is get these deeds and statements to these people who have been robbed."
"But most people are asleep by now, if not at Bull's Sleaze." Billy said with a tired sigh, "And what can we even do? Ride through the night, sneak into people's homes and leave their documents so they can see Jed's crimes? Go to the saloon and give the women back their contracts? And what do we do with the brothel town plan? Go to town square tomorrow afternoon and make an announcement or something? It's a terrible idea. There has to be some way."
They stared at Billy, blinking in slight surprise. When he noticed they were looking at him, he looked a bit sheepish.
"What? Why are you all staring at me?"
"That's actually not a terrible idea." Lucas said, "We can split up. Someone can take care of the saloon. Someone else can take care of the deeds and such."
"I'll go to the saloon." Katy picked up the stack of contracts. "I have some unfinished business to take care of there anyway."
"Are you sure?" Lucas asked her, "Jed might expect that to be the first place you'll come back. He could have his men stationed there."
"It has to be me. I'm the most familiar with that place, and I'm our best bet of getting back in without causing a disturbance that will alert Jed's men that we've returned. Plus, those girls and other women are comfortable with me. They would be less frightened if I told them what was going on as opposed to a man they don't really know." Katy turned to Billy. "And if you show up, you'll be putting Missy in automatic danger. You have to stay away."
Billy nodded in understanding, though he looked down at the table, his fists clenched. He wanted to see her. He wanted to make sure she was alright. He'd left her behind and at the mercy of Jed and though he desperately tried not to think about it, he knew part of him deep down was wondering if Missy was even alive anymore.
"Alright." Lucas replied with a nod, "Then Billy and I can get the statements and deeds to the townsfolk."
"In that case, I'll go with you, Mama. I need to go to the pharmacist and pick up an anesthetic I was prescribed to help dull the pain so I can heal more comfortably, anyway. And I can help you get the women all their contracts." Maya said, straightening from where she was leaning on the table and taking her cane. Everyone looked at her in alarm at her declaration, and Maya knew they had probably assumed she wouldn't be participating at all. She frowned in annoyance. "I'm not just going to sit in here waiting around while all of you carry out the plan. That's not me."
"You're injured." Lucas pointed out.
"I'm injured, not crippled. And I'm not staying. There's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise."
"Maya stop." Lucas said through grit teeth, "That's unwise. This is about your wellbeing—"
"My wellbeing is my concern and my concern alone. What I choose to do with my life and with my body—whether ill-advised or not—is also my decision and my decision alone." Maya snarled, "But then, you would already know all about that, wouldn't you?"
They both fell silent, Maya glaring at Lucas as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking seriously irritated with her.
"Well… since you're kind of worse for wear and can't really walk, Maya…" Billy interrupted carefully, glancing between the two of them with unease, "Wouldn't it be better if you went with Lucas so that he can—"
"No." Maya snapped. "Now shut up. Both of you. We don't have time to argue this. I'm going with my mother to the saloon and you two are going to return deeds."
"Well then I guess it's settled." Katy stated, before anyone could start arguing or fighting for real, "Now I'm sure we're all wanted fugitives, so we need to be extra careful not to get caught. We have an advantage because it's way late in the night and people are most likely drunk or asleep, but don't underestimate Jed."
"It might be best if you two disguised yourselves as males when traveling through the streets." Lucas said to Maya and Katy, "Especially if the townspeople know there is a bounty on the heads of two blonde women. You'll automatically be suspect if you're together."
"That makes sense."
"We can meet back here as soon as we're done. And try not to engage anyone in a fight. All of us have to do this quickly and stealthily."
"So are we all in agreement with what we have to do?" Billy asked, looking at them each in turn.
They all nodded, their expressions serious and resolves set.
"Alright then… Let's gear up and head out."