Chapter Seventeen: Pursuit

…

Navi and Link checked in with Inspector Keporra. The standard arrangement was that the victim would be taken to the coroner for autopsy before releasing the body for funeral preparation, and there was no reason to alter the usual progress of care. In fact, Link was partially inclined to recommend that the coroner skip the autopsy; after all, what was so unusual about the way Yoanna Merrill had been killed? At the same time, Navi explained to the woman who had come on behalf of the noble house that she and Link would be pursuing a lead before reporting to the deceased's father. It probably did not look very professional, but Navi seemed willing to chance the discourtesy if only to gain a better understanding of what the "Thieves' Guild" actually was.

Once Keporra was informed and the arrangements made, Link and Navi found their driver and proceeded to a destination almost on the opposite side of the district. The street itself was Stable Road, though it was usually known by the moniker "Old Stable Road". As the name suggested, it was an older area of town lined on either side of the road with stables and businesses focused on transportation, many of them inherited. Bicycles and carriages mixed with the like of oxen and goats bound for the aptly-named Butcher Row, and the road had been laid wide enough to accommodate a great amount of traffic coming through at any time of the day. Link understood that there was some greater value in driving a small herd of cattle to the city rather than sending them to butchers local to the other provinces, although he had not desired to plumb the depths of an industry that provided his usual supply of cheap meat. Most of the area smelled of feces and rot, especially as one approached Butcher Row. It was not the reason Link had chosen an area further away from the focus of the stench, although he was grateful to not be dealing with it.

No, the nobility liked lingering near Butcher Row even less. After all, there were servants for those related tasks.

Some of the well-off coach companies had converted their businesses to remises, and they mostly catered to the nobles that regularly traveled to the other provinces. Link had learned that this was because, while the nobles had access to their private carriages, they preferred remises so that they would not damage their own carriages over some of the rougher, unpaved terrain outside of Hyrulia. They were one of the few businesses that the nobles could not touch, as those who bought or claimed a remise tended to so severely restrict business that they would fold in a span of only a few months. Link had considered working for one early during his probation as a contingency should he fail the probation and be kicked out of the Watch. Not that he was actually worried about such a scenario, but he would need some money to travel back to Subordo if it had happened.

Befitting an area preferred by the nobility, many of the buildings at this end of the street were newer and cleaner with hardly a closed business in sight. A couple of nearby blocks were completely occupied by a whole business's worth of remise and service shop. Link had directed the driver to a side street next to one shop in order to hide the presence of the Watch carriage.

When the carriage stopped, Link stood and started unbuttoning his uniform jacket. "What are you doing?" Navi asked him.

"Makin' myself comfortable," he answered.

"You're on duty; you can't be out of uniform," she pointed out.

"We might be on-foot a while," Link said as he slipped the jacket off and dropped it in his seat. "This jacket's too hot for that."

Navi crossed her arms. "Fieldview, this is really suspicious," she said as her hair turned blue. "The regulations say that no police business can be conducted if a uniformed officer does not appear as such."

"You got the badge," Link said, indicating her jacket. "Besides, what kinda 'police business' do you think we'll be conducting?"

"We're about to make contact with someone associated with a group called the 'Thieves' Guild'," Navi said. "Which means that, if your 'contact' does anything suspicious, I will be arresting her. And you'll draw reprimand if I have to explain you ditched your uniform just because you were 'uncomfortable'."

Link gave her a disappointed look and picked the heavy cotton jacket back up. "Can I at least leave it unbuttoned?" he asked as he pulled it on.

"That will be fine," Navi said. "Something for me to grab if I need to strangle you."

"Trust me," Link said, buttoning the jacket anyway. "If you don't learn anything from this, I'll present myself for the throttling." He reached over and opened the door. As Navi followed, Link strode to the front of the carriage. "Hey, Constable…"

"White," the young woman at the reins responded. "Constable Reverie White."

"Ya hungry?" Link asked.

Constable White blinked at Link, surprised by the question. She recovered herself with a shake of the head, causing her bobbed black hair to bounce. "What constable isn't?" she asked in return with a faint smile on her soft face.

Link reached into a pocket and pulled out a pair of Rupees. He chose the red Rupee and tossed it up to Constable White, who quickly caught it. "Go get yourself a sandwich," Link told her. Then he pointed up the road toward Butcher Row. "There's a nice place over that way."

Constable White gave the Rupee in her hand a difficult look before asking, "Detective Sergeant?"

"What are you doing?" Navi asked Link.

"Less of us, the better," Link said. "It's hard talkin' with too many Watch officers around."

Navi heaved a sigh and thought for a moment. Then she told Constable White, "Go have yourself an early lunch."

White hesitated as she looked at the Rupee again. Then she set the reins aside and said, "Yes, Detective Sergeant."

Navi watched White climb off the carriage. Then she turned to follow as she realized that Link was walking out onto the main street. "Fieldview, wait a moment," she called.

"I was wonderin' if you were gonna come or not," Link said over his shoulder.

"I don't have much choice," Navi pointed out as she fell into step behind him. "You may not be a provisional officer anymore, but I am your field supervisor. I can't let you wander off on your own. Especially after you just ditched our driver."

"I suppose you'll be holdin' my hand like this a while," Link said with a sigh.

"I don't like it any more than you do," Navi told him. "If it bothers you, transfer."

"Pass," Link said. He glanced at a store front as they strode past it. "Nope, not there…"

"Huh?" Navi asked before looking back at the store. "What?"

"Forget it; she's further down."

Navi had to exchange a quick nod of acknowledgement with a passer-by. Then she asked, "Who are we looking for, exactly?"

"Old man, white hair, trench coat," Link quickly rattled off. "Probably reading the newspaper or a book."

"'Old man'?" Navi asked, her hair shifting to purple for a moment. "I thought you said this person was a 'she'."

"Yep."

Navi waited for an explanation. Then, as they crossed the street to the next block, she asked, "Won't you tell me why?"

"Where the old man is, she's nearby," Link told her.

"What, is the old man her father?"

"Ooooooh," Link replied while shaking his head, clearly amused with her assumption. "Oh, no."

"Some… other acquaintance?"

Link shrugged one shoulder and said, "Something like that."

"Constable Fieldview, I will refuse to go further unless you give me some answers," Navi told him.

"Okay, you wanna do some police work?" Link said over his shoulder. "We're gonna bust a pickpocket."

"What?" Navi snapped, her hair turning maroon.

"Look, just follow my lead," Link said. "The Thieves' Guild works in certain ways, and if things don't go right, they won't stick around."

"How exactly did you encounter these people?" Navi asked, her hair flashing maroon for a moment.

"You'll find out."

Navi wanted him to talk more, but she could not think of anything short of ordering him to explain himself. She was not inclined to do so because she suspected that Link would find some way to turn it against her. So, she decided to bear with his silence for a while. As much as she wanted to know why Link was being obstinate about keeping this situation secret, she had to admit that he was probably doing it for a greater reason other than to annoy her. Link was about to introduce her to what sounded like some criminal group, and she began to wonder if Link was protecting the innocent members. She recalled him explaining that the Thieves' Guild mostly harassed the nobility. She wondered if he was trying to protect the members of this group that may not have been involved with the shooting.

Then again, this "Thieves' Guild" seemed to suit both his and Reba's ideas in a small sense. If he was obstructing her, it was probably to make sure that he did not accidentally expose the whole Guild to her, lest she be forced to arrest all who identified themselves as members. She had to admit that, if there was a connection, it would be absurd to arrest the people they were going to for information. It appeared to her that Link may have already used them as a source.

About half an hour later, the above thoughts began to feel like a small glimmer of hope brought about by naivete, surely a result of the two-year gap since she had last seen Link Fieldview. Other than hearing him muttering to himself, he did not say anything to her nor did she think she needed to question him anymore. Traffic both on foot and on the road had slowly increased, the presence of the local nobility much more prominent. They had traveled Old Stable Road almost out of Hyrulia before anything happened.

"There he is," Link finally said, pointing across the busy street. Navi looked through the remises on the road and noticed that, near the front of a small grass field, an elderly gentleman occupied a public bench. As Link had stated, he sported a thick shock of white hair and wore a dark blue trench coat. Navi was not sure why since the weather had been mildly cold with the impending winter only a couple months away, but she thought that the man looked quite conspicuous wearing a trench coat.

"Don't make eye contact," Link warned over his shoulder.

"Do we approach him?" Navi asked as she watched the old man fold away the newspaper he had been reading. Then he stood up. "He's leaving?"

Link heaved a heavy sigh. "Oh, man, I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this…" he groaned.

"Do what?"

"C'mon…" Link's pace quickened, and Navi almost stumbled following him. With the sidewalk crowded, she bumped a few elbows as she tried to keep up with Link. Her hair had turned purple, a signal of her confusion since Link was not even trying to approach the old man.

Link was having his own difficulties, as the thick crowd was making it hard for him to navigate. He glanced to the street on his left, and then he jumped out into it when he saw that it was clear.

Someone else had also stepped into the street. Link immediately locked his eyes on a tan-skinned young woman about his age. She wore a brown robe top that had been fastened tight around her abdomen by a purple, handwoven belt and a pair of tight-fitting, black hose. Her hair was black and woven into a long braid that she had coiled on top of her shoulders and around her neck almost like a loose scarf. When she spotted Link, she gave her dark eyes a roll and immediately darted back into the crowd.

"Oh—there she goes!" Link hollered.

"Wait, what?!" Navi snapped as Link suddenly sprinted past her in the opposite direction.

"This way!"

"Oh, sh—clear the way!" Navi hollered as she chased Link down the sidewalk.

People tried to move aside upon seeing the two Watch officers hustling in their direction. They allowed Link and Navi to follow the young woman into a nearby alley between a remise and its business office. The path was narrow, barely wide enough for one person to fit. Link had sight of the young woman and watched her turn right at the end of the alley. He had a decent idea of her paths through the neighboring streets and chased her in the same direction, Navi lagging behind just far enough to keep an eye on him.

They followed her one block, watching her slip her arms out of her sleeves so that her robe was billowing in her wake while revealing the tight, white, sleeveless shirt she had been wearing underneath. Then, she cut across the street and into a larger alley. As they chased her, dodging around a wagon that had almost pulled to a stop in their path, she hollered ahead, "Sala sala bin!"

Link and Navi chased her into the alley, and they heard a sharp series of whistles echoing off the buildings. The young woman turned left on the next street and almost immediately crossed in a diagonal path to the next street corner on the opposite side. Link missed colliding with two bicyclists while Navi had to run in front of a rider, startling the horse and almost throwing the man off.

Once up the street corner, the young woman unfastened her belt and ripped her billowing robe off. She approached an old woman sitting on a stoop in front of one building and threw the robe onto her lap just before turning the opposite direction and crossing the street. The old woman was pulling the robe onto her lap when Link, turning sooner than the young woman had, was close enough for her to offer a wave while saying, "Hello, Link."

"Hey, Granny!" Link said just before ducking past a wagon.

Having run into yet another alley, the young woman pulled the coiled hair over her head and then ripped her hair free of her scalp, causing a wave of long, deep burgundy hair to spill out.

"Hey, Layla!" someone ahead of her called. "You know your boyfriend's chasing you?"

The young woman, "Layla", saw the older man standing in a back door. Once she was close enough, she threw the wig at him and declared, "He's not my boyfriend!" She quickly rounded the corner near him.

When Link had caught up to the man, he told him as he dashed past, "I'm gonna marry her!"

"Good luck with that, Link," the man said to his back with an amused grin on his face. Then, upon seeing Navi closing in, he quickly threw the wig inside and shut the door. Navi pondered at the door as she ran past, but she decided that she needed to follow Link so she would not lose sight of him.

Link watched Layla duck into an alley on the left. Then he heard the unmistakable rattle of a fire escape being climbed. When he turned into the alley, he saw Layla hauling herself up the outside of the fire escape on a building at the dead end ahead of him. The ladder had been lowered, and Link rushed forward to start up after her.

Once she reached the top, Layla encountered a woman wearing a robe draped open to reveal her shoulders and cleavage as she sat on a windowsill with a long cigarette holder (only containing the extinguished remains of a cigarette) dangling from the corner of her mouth. The woman removed the cigarette holder to ask in a teasing voice, "Playing hard-to-get with Mister Fieldview again, Layla?"

"Not my boyfriend…" Layla moaned as she climbed through the window. The woman watched her step into a hallway of smaller rooms and duck into one room.

Then she turned as Link finished climbing the fire escape. "Whew…" he uttered as he paused to catch his breath. "Okay, which room?"

The woman pointed with her holder as she replied, "Third on the left. And I expect you to keep it clean in there."

Link climbed into the window and set foot in a hallway covered in deep, burgundy carpet and purple walls. He quickly moved to the door the woman had indicated and opened it. Inside, Layla had taken a seat on the end of a wide bed, leaning forward as she caught her breath.

Link then heard the woman cry out in surprise. He turned to see Navi climbing in through the window, the woman having vacated to the fire escape to get out of her way. "Oh, hey," he said. "I didn't know you were keeping up."

"This better be worth it, Fieldview," Navi growled at him as she approached, her hair bright red. "I don't like flying in front of people."

Link indicated the room with a hand. "After you, Detective Sergeant," he told her.

Navi stepped into the room and examined Layla, who had turned wide-eyed at the sight of Navi entering. "Is this your contact?" she asked Link.

"Yep," Link answered as he pulled the door shut. "This is Layla. She's one of the thieves of the Thieves' Guild."

"I thought… you said you weren't… bringing anymore Watch into this," Layla said, still trying to catch her breath.

"Well, I had to change things up a bit," Link told her as he used his sleeve to wipe sweat off his brow. "I'm working at Homicide now."

"Homicide… that's in the Central District, isn't it?" Layla asked. Link nodded. "Well, what… what are you doing here?"

Link shrugged. "I thought I'd make sure you didn't forget about me."

"I wish I would," Layla told him.

"A sentiment I share," Navi spoke up as she glared at Link.

"It's not like I'm complaining about not breaking the law," Layla said, "but it's very hard to do my job when you just show up whenever you want."

"You could always quit and come live with me," Link suggested, giving her a smug grin.

"I'd sooner drop dead," Layla replied in a disgusted tone. She glanced at Navi again to see that Navi's face had blanked. She sighed and asked Link, "Did you just show up to harass me again, country boy, or did you need something?"

"Well, now that you mention it," Link said. "I got a couple questions."

"The first two answers are 'no' and 'eat shit'," Layla immediately told him.

"You hear about the noble girl who was shot dead this morning?"

Layla's hostility melted into surprise. "Shot dead? Really?"

Link nodded. "Right in the middle of the big Old Trail crosswalk," he said.

Layla glanced back and forth between both Watch officers. "Waaait a minute, you don't think it was us, do ya?" she asked.

"The shooter set himself up on one of your escape routes; I found your mark."

Layla shook her head. "No, no, no, Link," she told him. "I already explained it to you. The Thieves' Guild doesn't murder the nobles; that just pins too much attention on us!"

"Do any of your people carry firearms?" Navi asked.

"And give in to the temptation to shoot them?" Layla asked with an insincere laugh on her throat. "That'd be insane!"

"Know who runs on Old Trail and Eighty-Fifth North?" Link asked.

"As far as I know, nobody," Layla replied. "The guy who was running it got killed last year. I think they were leaving it unassigned because it wasn't really worth it to begin with; too much traffic, not enough nobles to pickpocket. The number of shootings in that area has been ridiculous." She glanced back and forth at them before adding, "Whatever noble you two are investigating must've been out of her mind to be in that neighborhood. Know who it was?"

Navi pulled out a notepad while Link answered, "A daughter of House… what was it, Merrill?"

"Merrill?!" Layla cried in surprise.

"Yoanna Merrill," Navi added. "Daughter of Lord Marcus Merrill."

"Know her?" Link asked.

"No," Layla admitted. "But if we're talking about House Merrill, then it definitely wasn't us."

"How can you be so sure?" Navi asked.

"Remember a couple years ago?" Layla asked Link. "When I told you about the list of nobles we try not to target?"

Link nodded. "Yeah, I believe so."

Navi narrowed her eyes, causing her hair to turn purple under the room's dull light. "You have a list of nobles that you don't steal from?" she asked.

"Well, we realized a long time ago that not all nobles are absolute shits," Layla replied. "I'm sure you've met a few that don't look down on you, huh?"

"So far, I haven't been that confident," Link admitted with a grin.

"There are," Navi said as she nodded. "I've noticed."

"We try not to steal from the decent ones," Layla explained. "Some of the ones who might've bought up a small business or two generally aren't so bad. Struggling Houses are rarely worth it. But then a few of the larger Houses have actually proven they have a conscience. The kind that treat their business employees right and won't let their spoiled brat kids shove them into machinery. The kind that don't mind leaving a tip or donating to some of the homeless around here."

"Out of curiosity, where does House Merrill fall?" Navi asked.

Layla shrugged. "I'm not sure; I only know they're on the list. So if someone killed the lord's daughter, it might've been someone their lord pissed off."

"You mean like a feud between Houses?" Link asked.

"It's possible," Layla said. "Some of these guys think they're above the law and aren't really concerned about hiring an assassin."

Navi crossed her arms as her hair turned bright green, catching Layla's attention. "For a bunch of 'thieves', you certainly know quite a bit about the nobility," she remarked.

Layla stared at Navi's hair for a moment. Then she shook her head. "Like I said, we don't like to target the good ones," she replied. "Some of us in the Guild spend a lot of time reading the news or watching the city offices for information on their properties. Many of the larger Houses have one or two of us staffed somewhere on their estates." She shrugged and added, "It's a good way to sneak out some of the more expensive stuff."

"You certainly aren't shy about your group's criminal activity," Navi observed.

"Well, I assume Link already told you about us," Layla said, pointing at him. "Besides, unless I mention something specific, you can't really arrest me."

"I could search you for stolen property," Navi pointed out.

Layla stood up from the bed and opened her arms wide to remind Navi of the skin-tight clothes she was wearing. "You think I have anything on me? Be my guest." Navi pulled one corner of her mouth back and gave a faint huff of a laugh.

"Think you could dig up some information on House Merrill?" Link asked. "Maybe point us to a House that might wanna target them?"

"Probably," Layla said with a nod. "Anymore these days, no one really asks why. Many of our archivists can be pretty chatty, and it isn't like the information is forbidden, either."

"How soon can you get the information?" Navi asked.

"Day or two," Layla said. "I have my usual work to do, but I'll start asking around as soon as I can. Where should I bring it? Y'know, just so you don't have to chase me again?"

"Can you bring it to the Homicide division?" Navi asked. "We have privacy rooms for your safety."

"I've been to the Watch's headquarters," Layla said with a sour look on her face. "I've crossed high-traffic streets that were safer than that building."

"Wanna drop it off at my place?" Link asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"The only thing I wanna drop of at your place is your sorry ass after you've been pounded to a pulp," Layla replied as she glared at him.

"The Homicide office will probably have to do," Navi said. "It would be easier to catch us there rather than try to arrange a meeting."

Layla heaved a sigh. "Okay…"

"Fieldview, we should get going," Navi said as she turned to him. "We've delayed meeting Lord Merrill as it is. Where's the front door?"

"Uh, we… probably don't wanna go out the front door," Link said.

"Why not?"

"Well, it probably doesn't look good, two Watch officers walkin' out the front door of a brothel."

Navi's eyes widened while her hair turned stark white. "B—brothel!?" she snapped.

"Dear Nayru, what's going on with your hair?" Layla asked.