Case (Sort Of) Closed ((Open))

[Dusty Dawson]

With her back turned, Dusty was quite unaware of the peculiar activity of her look-out. She was even less aware of the disease's desire to make her it's new host. After all, she was busy matching up the tumblers to grant them access.

As Iphigenia advised, Dusty was quick to enter the shop and held the door open for the other woman. Once the two were inside, the door was shut and once again locked.

"A kid, huh? Good eye." she smirked, "Unless it was just a really short fella."

The shop was dark, even darker than outside. While there were at least some street lamps out there, the shop had almost no source of light. Dusty took a moment to let her eyes adjust and then moved over to a counter, the spurs of her boots lightly clanging.

"Alright. If I remember right, they got some books here. We might need ta move 'em somewhere else. If ya find a candle light it up!" she said and fished around her pockets, "I think I still got a book o' matches. Meanwhile, I'm gonna be takin' a look through their store room. See if anythin' don't add up..."

Producing the matches she held them out to Iphigenia, "Here ya go! Now then...you're gonna want ta keep an eye out for a pattern. See if our buddy, Mr. Rathbone has been puttin' in orders with more'n one company."

[iphigenia]

Iphie quickly followed Dusty inside the shop. Once the door was shut and locked she spared a glance around. She noted the generally neat appearance of the front of the shop. Without comment she took the offered matches and glanced around for something to light that wouldn't cast too much light about. The lamps would be far too bright and might cast light outside.

Glancing at the desk she spied a small bundle of candles. Stepping over to it, she untied the string and pulled out a single candle before retying the knot the same as it had been. She struck a match and lit the candle, it didn't provide much light but it did its job well enough. She began looking for where the money books might be kept.

[Dusty Dawson]

Dusty paced about, giving the front of the shop a careful examination. Nothing seemed to be too out of place. She supposed that nothing any particular interest would be found here, aside from the contents of any of the records. So, the detective made her way towards the counter and the door behind it. This one was not locked. Presumably due to the fact that the shop had been locked up for the day, in the first place.

It was a well maintained store, the door pushed open without so much as creak. The other side was a modest-sized office. A desk and a shelf that contained some unmarked books were the only decorations.

Dusty entered the office. Although it appeared very uninteresting, it was always prudent to make sure everything was as it appeared. She walked around the desk, looking at the floor. No carpet and no obvious signs of storage. Her boots made a quiet and consistent thud against the floorboard. Again, no signs of anything out of the ordinary.

[iphigenia]

Well he isn't dumb enough to leave things lying around the front desk. Iphie thought to herself, though she had expected as much, she still would have preferred the quick and easy style infiltration she used to do. It was always nice when the target object was sitting on a pedestal in the open. She glanced at the floor, hoping possibly for scratches or scuff marks to indicate something heavy slid across it regularly. She didn't see anything of the sort, nor did she see a hidden trapdoor. Giving up on the front, she walked into the back room where Dusty was already searching.

[Dusty Dawson]

"No luck there, huh?" Dusty glanced over to Iphigenia, "Ain't much here, neither. Least not as far as what I'm lookin' for. Now...if I was a smuggler, where'd I stash the goods..."

Dusty leaned against the desk as her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. There was always the possibility that the goods in question were stored somewhere off-site. That was a notion that would make things very difficult. But, it didn't mean that this little mission would be a waste. After all, records had to be kept. And a person who was in the position that this Rathbone fellow was in seemed to be the type that would use his legitimate employment to his advantage. He didn't appear to be the type with enough influence to set up his own operation. The kind of resources that required were far out of his reach.

"This guy's mid-level all the way..." she spoke aloud, but not directly to Iphigenia, "Ain't the owner here, an' I doubt he's pullin' the strings on the other end o' things. But still...if he's orderin' the stuff here, which I'm sure he is, then he's gotta have some space to store it all 'fore he goes an' ships it anywhere else."

Dusty pushed herself away from the desk and threw a grin Iphigenia's way, "Alright, partner, I'm gonna see 'bout that store room. This here's probably the head honcho's office, but ya might be likely ta find the books here. Seems as good a place as any ta get some record keepin' done, yeah?"

[iphigenia]

Iphie stepped over to the desk as Dusty stepped away from it. "Do you think he'd be that obvious?" She asked? She wasn't sure about how to hide money and secret transactions but she assumed it wouldn't be in the books out in the open. "Did you look under the desk for a loose floorboard? That's where I'd hide it." It certainly seemed like the most obvious place in her mind. Of course while growing up that was where her father had kept their meager savings and she had taken to hiding her precious things under a stone in the temple. "Though I might need to move the desk if he did."

[Dusty Dawson]

"He ain't in much a position to be obvious or not." Dusty said, "The only reason he can perform his little operation is because he's got ties to a legitimate business. A shop like this is always gettin' a fresh supply o' stock in. So, one o' the fellas they deal with got a little somethin' goin' on with him. He puts in the order, they slip a little somethin' extra in with it, he moves it along elsewhere."

Dusty paused for a moment, "Now, if he's got a little book to keep track o' that stuff? I can't say for sure. I would assume it's likely. However, I'm not so certain he would keep it here. Especially right under the boss' nose. Unless, o'course, we're dealin' with the type o' fella who's brazen 'nuff ta pull that off." There was yet another pause, as Dusty looked off. She recounted her brief interactions with Mr. Rathbone and then looked back at Iphigenia, "Can't say for sure, yet. Only times I spoke with 'im he was real nervous-like. The situation didn't give me a good look at 'im."

In the mean time, we should concentrate on who Mr. Rathbone's been dealin' with. Once we figure that end out, we'll get a better idea o' what we're lookin' at."

[iphigenia]

Iphie nodded. She wasn't sure exactly what would stand out in the way of legitimate and illegitimate business so she just pulled out a book from the shelf and flipped through it. It was full of pictures of strange artifacts and pottery. She slipped it back onto the shelf and pulled out another. This one was full of writing as well but it only went over laws of trading for different cities. She frowned and put this one back too. She began shuffling through the books, making sure to pull each on out, just in case they were hiding something. Most of them were quite useless. Finally she came to a much smaller book and, flipping through it, she found all sorts of dates and names. She found Dusty's name in there as well. She glanced through it and looked for any strange meetings or markings to indicate something was going on. Still, she wasn't sure what would be out of the norm, so she decided to take it back to Dusty and have her look at it.

[Dusty Dawson]

Dusty was back out of the office and found a second door. This one led to the store room she had been looking for. The contents, however left something to be desired. At least as far as person seeking incriminating evidence was concerned. Everything was in order, neatly organized. Dusty took the lamp that Iphigenia had located and brought in with her. With no windows in the room, it was quite safe to light it up and shine a better source of light on her surroundings.

As she strolled around the stocked shelves, her new partner had entered, bearing a book. Dusty turned to greet Iphigenia and the much sought after book. "Well, lookey what we got here." she grinned, "I take it ya got somethin' good, huh?"

Dusty set the lamp down on one of the crates and waved Iphigenia over, "Let's take a look-see."

[iphigenia]

Iphie handed the book over. "I don't know what to look for so I figured you would have much better luck." She took a few steps back and leaned against a wall. Her arm was really beginning to bother her. Allowing the diseases the small bit of free reign had empowered them and they struggled against her. She closed her eyes and focused, her other hand massaged the shoulder.

"Anything of any use?"

[Dusty Dawson]

"Looks like ya should get some more o' that medicine, eh?" Dusty remarked as she took the book and flipped through the pages. Her name caught her eye. Penned in as an appointment for "Consultant". Rathbone had left out part of her full title...most likely on purpose. A few other names popped up.

"Kahn Shipping." she mumbled to herself, "Good find! Now, just a couple more minutes to take a quick gander an' we'll be all set."

[iphigenia]

"I'm fine." Iphie muttered resentfully, still rubbing her arm. Quick gander around here? Nothing but rats and dust as far as I can tell. Not much for the secret passageways or hidden doorways." She glanced around as if simply stating there were none would bring one into existence right outside the field of her vision. There was nothing. "Unless you mean a quick peek at that shipping place you mean." She perked up. That was sure to be far more interesting than this place was.

[Dusty Dawson]

"Yeah, probably right...but it never hurts ta be certain." Dusty grinned and picked the lamp back up, "I'm just gonna make sure I didn't miss anythin'..."

Dusty paced about the store-room. It wasn't very big and didn't reveal much of anything. At first. Secret passages usually used some form of mechanism to open. Dusty looked for the obvious signs first. And when she came to one of the wall-mounted candle holders, she noted the numerous smudges on the brass surface.

"Hmmmm..." grabbing, it she jostled the holder until it finally started to turn towards the right. Finishing it's motion, an audible click echoed in the room and the floor next to Dusty began to sink. Gears ground out as further clicks brought the floor down in the form of steps to a tiny little tunnel.

"Bingo!" cheered the detective, "C'mon! Let's see what we got tucked away down here!"

Lifting the lamp, Dusty descended the newly formed stairs.

[iphigenia]

Iphie frowned at the sudden appearance of hidden stairs. This was a sudden change from the dull presence of the shop prior to its discovery. She didn't like it. However she followed Dusty down into the dark stairway. Whatever was down there, she doubted that it would be too much for her to handle.

[Dusty Dawson]

The lamp provided a decent amount of light. A good thing, considering how sparse it was down in the tunnel. Actually, it was pitch black. Leading the way, the two found it was a long stretch. Curiously, Dusty noted the tracks that had been planted in the ground. It reminded her of a mine...and coming from a country that had prided itself on mining, she certainly knew enough about them.

Yes, it seemed like they were about to hit paydirt. Dusty followed the tracks along, until reaching the end. Support beams had been constructed around the earthen walls. Obvioiusly, this operation had been going on for some time. Still, she had to wonder how such a complex means of storing and transporting goods had been constructed without raising a few curious eyebrows.

At the other end, the found another small chamber and the end of the tracks. A cart, like one would find in a mine, stretched out to the middle of the room. Like the store room, this one didn't appear to be anything spectacular. Noticeably absent, however, was anything that appeared to be a traditional door. A long section of wood, however, did strike up a bit of a contrast with the stone walls. Around the room a few small crates were stacked up on the floor. Dusty walked over to one and lifted the top to peer inside.

"Well...this much more interestin' than your basic spells an' potion recipes." Dusty remarked, pulling out a vile of greenish liquid.