Whispering Verse

"Does Mr. Laurel live here? Is he at home?"

There is no wind today, and there is heavy fog in the city. The morning sun could not penetrate the clouds very strongly, and the whole street looked a little gloomy.

When the drunk man looked at Sha De suspiciously, Sha De was also looking at him. Although the client, Mrs. Le Maire, could not provide a photo of the lawyer, the physical characteristics of the drunk man in front of her were completely inconsistent with the physical characteristics of the lawyer described by the client. This was definitely not a lawyer.

"Laurel? Go to the tavern at the corner of the street to find him."

As he spoke, the drunkard tried to slam the door. Shade suspected that this guy had just come out of the tavern.

Thinking in his mind, he reached out and held the door. No matter how hard the drunk man tried, he couldn't close it. A smile that he thought was very friendly appeared on Shade's face:

"Sir, I also want to ask, when did Mr. Laurel move here? Also, what kind of job does he do?"

Because I didn't want to breathe through my nose to avoid inhaling too much alcohol, my voice was a little muffled at this time.

"He, he was here when I moved here three years ago. He is a lawyer, and he specializes in solving legal problems for others, helping them handle estates, divorces and other matters... Hiccup!"

The drunk man muttered, and Shade thanked him and allowed him to finally close the door.

He put his hands in his pockets and looked at the door in front of him, then turned around and looked at the busy street. The carriage passed by, and the boy selling newspapers looked at him expectantly. The housewife leading the child scolded her as she walked forward along the wall. After Shade rejected the boy selling newspapers, he looked in the direction of the tavern at the corner of the street:

"Although I have information, I can't believe it all. I still need to see the lawyer. If it doesn't work, I just break into the house. Since he is a lawyer who has been practicing for many years, he cannot not have a lot of documents."

If it were midnight, when Shade knocked on the door just now, he could use illusion to confuse the drunkard and then sneak in quietly. It's a pity that Shade's magical skills are limited during the day. The stranger who is blessed by the silver moon is a strong person at night...actually not that strong.

The pub at the end of Queen Mary Street is called the "Pig's Head Tavern", and you can tell from the name that it doesn't have any special characteristics.

Although it is nine o'clock in the morning, there are still many people in the pub. After Shade opened the door and walked in, he took a breath of the weird smell of alcohol mixed with the smell of fermented food, and then saw that almost half of the tables were occupied by people.

Because it operates on the street rather than in a narrow alley, at least the hygiene here is pretty good. There is even a young man wearing a hat sitting by the wall playing the lute, and the sound blends into the tavern just right. in the hustle and bustle.

Shade looked around the environment in the tavern, and after coming to the conclusion that the fire protection measures here were incomplete, he walked to the bar of the tavern. He knocked on the table, took out his wallet and raised his voice in the noisy environment and said:

"A glass of water...no, a glass of rye beer."

The busy bartender glanced at him:

"5p."

Shade took out 7 pennies and put it on the bar. The bartender gave him a surprised look.

"Who is Mr. Locke Laurel?"

the detective asked.

"Just two pence more?"

The young bartender said in surprise, but seeing that Shade wanted to take back the money, he hurriedly swept the small coins into his hand:

"Twopence is money too...that tall man over there, playing Rhodes with the others by the wall."

The client described the lawyer as a man with brown hair, dark brown eyes, taller than Shad, and a beer belly.

Looking in the direction pointed by the bartender, I saw five or six people surrounding the table against the wall. The man sitting on one side of the table was the only one in the group wearing a white shirt.

Although this is not a slum in the northern part of Tobesk, the people living nearby are generally hovering between the line of food, clothing and hunger. On a weekday morning, most of the people hanging out in the pub are idlers, so they dress casually, which makes the lawyer wearing a white shirt stand out.

"Do you know what's going on with Mr. Laurel?"

Shade did not continue to walk over, but asked again. The young bartender with dense freckles on his face showed a philistine smile and twirled his fingers. Shade thought for a moment and pushed the glass of rye beer to him:

"My treat."

"you......"

The bartender had probably never seen such a person before, but he still put the glass of beer on the shelf behind him, then took out five pennies from the small cardboard box and stuffed it into his pocket:

"He was a lawyer and came to our place every Wednesday, Friday and weekends to play Rhodes."

"He has been a lawyer from a long time ago? Is it expensive to gamble here?"

Shade asked again. The bartender looked at him for a while. Seeing that he had no intention of paying, he said helplessly:

"Yes, he has been a lawyer since he moved to this street five years ago. As for playing Rhodes, it is just a hobby, not even a gambler. Probably educated people can control themselves well. of."

Shade put his arm on the counter and turned to look at the lawyer who was playing cards with his back to him. Judging from the current situation, it is very likely that Locke Laurel is a real lawyer. Combined with the divination by the Prophet Association, it is basically certain that this person is fine. But Shade still needs to make a final confirmation before the investigation can be considered concluded.

And it just so happens that Shade can barely be considered a Rhodes player.

Saying goodbye to the bored-looking bartender, he walked towards a group of people playing cards while sorting out his deck of cards. Of course, all the special cards must be drawn out and replaced with ordinary cards. This kind of tavern is not a safe place.

Then he pretended to be attracted and stood with the crowd watching the showdown between the lawyer and a rude middle-aged man who was sweating profusely. The latter was obviously unlucky and cursed every time he touched a card. In the end, he even threw his cards on the ground viciously. He didn't want a handful of change and cards on the table. He stood up angrily and walked to the bar. It seemed that he had no money to continue playing.

"Anyone else want to play cards?"

The middle-aged lawyer who had won seemed very proud of himself. People were whispering to each other about the wonderful situation of the previous game, but no one seemed interested.

Of course, Shade would not go up immediately. Instead, he waited until Lawyer Laurel looked a little impatient, and then said loudly from behind the crowd:

"If you don't mind playing cards with strangers, I guess I could give it a try."

People made way for him to walk to the table, and Shade put his old set of Rhodes cards on the round wooden tabletop.

The lawyer looked at him politely, took a big sip from the wine glass in front of him, and then made a gesture to sit down:

"It's 5p a round, double the bust, triple the blackjack, quadruple the king and queen. Just take the highest multiple. Let me remind you, this is not a game for young people."

The stakes are relatively small, but it would be scary if you kept losing.