Peony leaned back in her chair and put her hands on her stomach. “Phew. Thank you, Claudia. It’s not often I get to sit down to such a large meal.”

“My pleasure.”

Gregor was already looking away from them, his red eyes narrowed at the wall.

“Grugg liked it too.” The cyclops grinned warmly.

It was a matter of coincidence that their new residence had an almost identical layout to their previous safe-house. Bart had suggested they check to see if it was the same people who had built it, but all of their groans at having to look through books had thrown a wet blanket over that idea.

A lounge with a couch and a couple of other chairs faced the crime board - the place where they had stuck all their current case information to—on the west side of the bottom floor. The east side was an open space where the dining room table and chairs sat, before the fireplace on the far wall. The kitchen was in the north-east corner, whereas the northwest led down to the basement. A staircase in the center of the northern wall led up to the bedrooms.

Decor and furnishings had been kept to a minimum. While they certainly had the coin to turn the building into more of a permanent home, there had always been an apprehension that hung in the air. That something would force them from it eventually, or they’d turn their eyes toward the capitol.

“Give me five minutes to settle and I’ll give the brief,” the Investigator continued. “Almost a shame we can’t all go on it, if I’m honest.”

“Wanting to keep a closer eye on us?” Bart glanced up from the book he was reading.

Peony rolled her eyes. “The intention had been that we would work together more often. So far, with the Nightshade going into hiding, we haven’t been able to.”

“Peony misses us,” Grugg leaned back in his chair, causing it to wail out in pain. “Wants to watch Grugg punch criminals again.”

“Not totally incorrect.” She stood up and gave a brief smile. “I’m invested in your continual growth. While your current efforts have earned you some coin and the thanks of the City Captain, I feel like you have been having it too easy.” She paused. “Not that I invite hardship onto you, of course.”

“Could have fooled me,” Gregor murmured to himself.

“Grugg not sure he could punch criminals any harder.” He wrinkled up his nose. While the wizard could definitely continue to learn new spells, his strength was already more than handy for dealing with everything they had come up against so far.

“It’s not always about power, Grugg.” Claudia shuffled from her chair to go sit on the couch while the Investigator prepared her files. “There are a lot of others things we could learn to improve our Detective work, as well.”

“See.” Peony clicked her fingers. “This is why Claudia is coming with me tomorrow.”

Grugg pouted and relented to leaving the dining room area to sit in front of the crime board as well.

“Bart and Gregor, if you don’t mind?” The casual nature of the Investigator slid away as she intended on getting back down to business. “I’d rather not repeat myself twice, or have you three mess this up because your shared brain cell has gone missing.”

“Grugg’s turn with it,” the cyclops nodded.

While the wizard join them on the couch, Gregor went and stood against the wall nearby. Arms crossed and a furrowed glare at proceedings.

“Alright.” Peony stretched out her neck. “It’s a pretty simple one, but there’s a reason this is being assigned to you.” She raised a hand to preempt their banter. “There’s a small quasi-village to the north, out in the woods near the swamp. It has been reported that stagecoaches have been seen arriving there but not leaving.”

“Cannibals,” Gregor said with a knowing nod.

“What’s a quasi?” Grugg whispered loudly toward Claudia.

“Probably just means it’s really small.” She grimaced and recoiled away from how close to her ear he was.

He nodded knowingly. “Oh, like for ants.”

Peony clenched her jaw and looked over at the wizard for moral support, or at least some manner of normality. He was still reading through his book, and didn’t catch her glare. Perhaps she should swap one of them out so that they could have at least one useful thought amongst them. With a deep sigh, she calmed herself as the clothesmaker tried to get the cyclops up to speed.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Her eyes went over to the ratman, who seemed to be grinning at the proceedings. She raised an eyebrow, and he gave her a nod.

“So,” she said loudly, to gather their absent attentions once more. “The assumption is that there is something untoward going on. While the people there mostly keep to themselves, and aren’t too fond of strangers, we have reason to believe there may be a connection to Nightshade there.”

That got their attention.

Grugg practically levitated from the couch in eagerness. “Peony sure?”

“No. But you’re going to find out. You’ll be outside the jurisdiction of the city, and as far as the Crown authorizes you to act… as you see necessary… we don’t want to have to clean up a village of corpses after the fact.”

“What if they start it?” Gregor grinned, the end of his tail swirling in the air.

She sighed. “If they still want to attack you after Grugg bends the first person in half, then I doubt my sharp tone will dissuade the inevitable.”

“Careful,” Bart said, turning a page, “that almost sounds like permission.”

“Honestly, I’d rather that than you destroying part of the city.” She shrugged.

Grugg didn’t feel like that would happen. Not this week, anyway. The future held plenty of mystery, calamity, and uneaten pies, but the Investigator should have a little more faith in them. They didn’t really destroy any of Helpart. Not intentionally, anyway. That lumber yard building didn’t count.

“You’ll have carriage in the morning to take you near to the location. We don’t want to find out what happens to stagecoaches first hand, I’m afraid. Apparently horses are less expendable than yourselves. Not my choice, I’ll add.”

“Horses pretty cool.” Grugg nodded, his single eye unfocused. Pretty tasty, too.

The wizard closed his book and sunk further into the couch. “Sure this isn’t a wild goose chase to keep us busy? I don’t want to get muddy just because we can’t be babysat for a few days.”

“Who said anything about mud?” Peony smiled softly.

“There will be mud,” Bart murmured as he closed his eyes.

“Any briefing specific questions, solely related to the brief and nothing outside that scope?” Her warm grin turned into a grimace.

After some grumblings and exchanged glances, they shook their heads.

“Fantastic. Just how I like it. I’ll leave the brief here for you all… for Bart to read when I’m not here, which is right now.” Peony lifted up her hat and put it back on, tidying up her clothing before giving them all a nod. “As much as I’d love to stay and have my brains melt out, I have some work to catch up on. I’ll be back in the morning to see you all off.”

“Bye, Lady,” Grugg waved her away as the rest did the same.

Barry closed behind her, leaving the Private Eyes to their own devices.

The wizard sighed and pushed himself up from the couch, then stepped over to pick up the brief folder. “Best I actually read this, then. Since I’ll actually retain it.”

“Unlike spells,” Gregor added.

Bart narrowed a glare back at him before opening up the paperwork, leaning himself against the short table.

“Grugg tired. Might have breathed in too much criminal wall dust.” He grimaced and stuck his tongue out.

“It’s been quite the day,” Claudia agreed. “If you need any uniform repairs, then put them in the basket later. I’ll try to get to it when I’m not helping Peony.”

She gave Grugg a pat on the leg as she rose to head to bed. They said their goodnights, leaving just the three who would be taking the case tomorrow in the room. Gregor moved away and came to sit on the couch, still with his arms crossed.

“What Gregor think?” Grugg raised his eyebrow, but his large blue eye was clearly showing signs of needing sleep soon.

“Seems simple on the surface, ser Grugg.” He narrowed his eyes. “Which makes it all the more suspicious.”

“Doesn’t seem to be banditry,” Bart added, still shuffling through the pages of information. “It’s not even wagons or carts as such, but the type of stagecoaches that carry people from one place to another.”

“And then vanish in the mud.” Grugg nodded.

“How many stagecoaches, ser Wizard?”

He raised his eyes up from the folder. “Around a dozen.”

The ratman nodded slowly. Grugg rubbed at his chin.

While they might be a little out of control and unorthodox in their methods, the group had seen enough oddities to know when something didn’t quite align right. That many coaches, presumably with passengers, vanishing without a trace would have surely prompted the local Crown Guard, hired mercenaries, or even adventuring groups to go investigate.

To allow it to happen with no further recourse was something that made even Grugg’s iron stomach gurgle with anticipation. Or it might just be all the vegetables he had eaten.

“Want to make bets?” Gregor moved his clawed hands to rest behind his head, one leg crossed over the other as he grinned.

Bart exhaled through his nose, not least because the position made the pistols on the ratman’s hips clearly visible. “On what the cause is? What are you raising?”

Gregor’s tongue ran across his sharp teeth. “Dibs on the next magical item we find.”

“…even if it’s something I can use for spell-casting?”

“Especially if it’s that, ser Hat.” Gregor beamed and looked over at the cyclops to see if he was in.

“Grugg definitely think Nightshade is behind crime.” He nodded lethargically.

Gregor snorted. “How hopeful of you. I still say cannibals. Ser Wizard?”

Bart rolled out his shoulders and closed the folder. “My guess would be a criminal front using the village as a proxy, and the captives and coaches are being sold off or ransomed. The villagers have no choice but to play along under the threat of violence or the same fate being forced upon them.”

The ratman narrowed his eyes. “Did the briefing tell you that?”

“No.” The shapeshifter smiled and adjusted his peaked wizard’s hat. “It’s as vague as the good Investigator said.”

“And criminal gang is Nightshade,” Grugg murmured, his eye half closed. There was some nuance between his bet and whatever the wizard had dribbled on about, and he wasn’t a huge fan of nuance. Unless it was cooked right.

“Let’s turn in,” Bart said, the tension of their competition washing away in seeing how tired the cyclops was. “We’ll have plenty of time on the way to argue, I’m sure.”

“Can’t wait,” Gregor said with a grin. He pushed himself up off the couch and headed for the staircase.

The wizard put his hand on Grugg’s shoulder. “Staying there, friend? Don’t want to go get out of your suit, at least?”

Grugg didn’t respond, but his snore was indication enough of his intent.

A ball of happiness inside him, his dreams took him through glory and success over the discovery of the reemerged Nightshade.

Oh, and there were some goats, too.