Page 62 of Storms & Sacrifice
A knock on the front door pulls me from my morbid thoughts. Not sure who would come by this late, but after all that, it can’t be good. Khazak stands and opens the door, revealing a tired-looking Ragnar on the other side. He’s holding some papers.
“Ragnar.” Khazak is as surprised to see him as I am.
“Can I come in?” He looks even more stressed out than he did earlier. “It’s important.”
“Of course.” Khazak steps to the side to allow him to enter. “What is going on? Did you learn something new about the attackers?”
“Not exactly.” Ragnar walks into the living room but doesn’t sit down. “Thog Grimrock was killed in the explosion at the prisontonight.”
“What?” Khazak sounds taken aback.
“Holy shit, yeah,what?” I stand from the couch to join thetwo orcs.
“The bomb at the prison was placed on the outside wall of his cell.” His face is deadly serious. “Since the first robbery, everything connected to this case has been difficult. No evidence, no leads, nothing except Thog.”
“Yes, it has felt as if we have been playing on the defensive for some time now.” Khazak nods his head toward me. “It was not until David figured out they were manufacturing black powder that we learned anything new at all.”
“Because that did us so much good.” I figured it outjustin time for them to still take us completely bysurprise.
“No matter what we do, we’re always two steps behind them,” Ragnar gripes with me. “The only lead we had was Thog, and he didn’t want to talk to us. Not until earlier today,at least.”
“What do you mean?” Khazak’s eyes go wide.
“Earlier tonight, I got a message from Thog, one he managed to get out through the prison guards,” Ragnar explains. “He said he wanted to talk to me about something important. I was actually just leaving for the prison when the first bombwent off.”
“His death... This cannot be a coincidence.” Khazak is starting to make the same connections I am.
“Exactly what I kept thinking. Couldn’tstopthinking.” Ragnar looks between the two of us. “So much so, that before I went home tonight, I went to the prison to check the visitor’s log and see if anyoneelsehad spoken to Thog. Guess who he got a visit from yesterday?”
“Who?” I have a sinking feeling I already know the answer.
“Naruk Redwish.”Called it.“He’s made anumberof visits to Thog in the last month. I know it’s not out of the ordinary for a legal advocate to visit a client in prison even after conviction, but after what he did to the two of you, I thought the timing was just too strange. So, I did somemoredigging. Did you know Thog was in amassiveamount of debt?” Ragnar hands some of the papers he is holdingto Khazak.
“What? No.” Khazak starts to read over the paper. “These filings show thathewas the one who purchased his father’s factory back from the city. Two years ago, not long after his father’s death. Once he fell behind on payments, the factory was about to be reseized when a third party stepped in, purchased the building outright, and assumed Thog’s debt. Why were we not given these files when he was firstarrested?”
“I don’t know, but it made me think back to the day of the second robbery. Officer Silentfang came into the central station looking for the building records, butneitherof us could find them. When we both went to the eastern station to look, Deputy Keenguard already had them. So, why didn’t she also give us these, too?” Ragnar hands over his remaining papers. “I did evenmoresearching. That ‘land management’ company that owns the factory and Thog’s debt? It belongs to Councilman Murbank. The same person who owns the shipyard where thefirstrobbery took place and who hasalsomade a number of visits to Thog in prison.”
“What are you suggesting, Deputy?” Khazak asks with a hint of hesitation.
“We know Thog knew more than he was letting on but wouldn’t say anything because he was protecting someone.” Ragnar starts to pace a little as he talks. “But what if he wasn’t protecting them because he wanted to. What if he was doing it because hehadto?”
“You think the Councilman—”
“Just hear me out.” He’s talking with his hands now, too. “What if, in order to pay off his debt, Murbank made Thog take responsibility for the first robbery? And then what if he got nervous Thog would talk and decided to take him out while he had the chance?”
“Why kill him?” I ask. “It’s not like Thog ever actually told usanything.”
“Until whatever it was he was going to tell me tonight,” Ragnar counters. “Remember the last time we spoke, and how it seemed like I was so close to getting him to say something? I think finding out that whoever he was covering for was going to hurt people got to him, and we probably weren’t the only ones to notice. That might even be why Redwish wasvisiting.”
“If the plan was for him to take the blame for the first robbery, why all the theatrics?” Khazak interjects next. “Why did he run when we arrested him? Why the strange unburnable book?”
“Maybe he didn’t know exactly how it was going to happen?” Ragnar reasons. “He obviously didn’t know anything about the last two robberies or what was happening tonight, probably by design. He couldn’t tell us what he didn’t know.”
“So, Murbank told him that when he was arrested to make it look real?” I’m starting to join in on Khazak’s skepticism.
“I think he knew what was expected of him, just not when or how it would be coming. In the moment, his panic was probably real.” Ragnar sounds completely confident in his theory. “Just like the rest of it—the less he knew, the less he could tell us. Think about it: after his confession, he was all we could focus on, even with the other robberies, because he was theonlysource of information we had. The book was enchanted, so that it couldn’t be destroyed, which he obviously didn’t know about since he tried to do it anyway. Making sure we found it gave us no choice but to tie Thog to all the robberies and kept our focus on him instead of anywhere else.”
“This is...quite the conspiracy you are painting, Ragnar.” Khazak sounds exasperated. “Do you have any proof?”
