“Lester’s gotta point,” Gregor said as he stood up from the table. “Wake me when there’s work, Jerg.”

Gregor shuffled over to the vegetable table, brushed some scraps off of a wide bench and sat down on it. Unsatisfied, he stood up and began to kick the bench little by little until it moved from the shade of the thatch overhang and into the sun. Then, Gregor carefully laid himself down and rolled over with his back to the group.

The yard was silent now, except for the occasional sounds of Harold chewing his pie and mumbling to himself. Torren remained quiet, eating slowly, bringing one spoon full at a time to his mouth and cleaning it off completely before reaching for another. Jerg had stopped eating at this point. He sat there with his elbows on the table, resting his chin in his hand, staring off into the distance.

Ellis wanted to ask him what was the matter, but he resigned his worries and kept focus on his mission. As the minutes passed, Ellis found small excuses to look around at the others, to observe them and make sure they weren’t acting suspiciously. His first attempt was simple. Ellis pretended to drop his spoon; then, as he reached down to pick it up, he stole a glance at Lester—

He was still reclined against the fence with his eyes closed.

After a few more minutes, Ellis stood up and stretched his arms, swinging them from side to side and stealing a glance at Gregor—

He was still lying on the bench with his back to the group.

In time, Harold became restless. Without anything to do and nothing left to eat, he started tapping the table repeatedly and whimpering. Jerg recognized this and came to his rescue.

“Harold, can you help me with something?”

Harold jumped up immediately and followed Jerg over to the shed. Suspicious, and full of anxious energy, Ellis stood up and pretended to stretch his legs as he followed them with his eyes. Harold was brought over to a large basin of water. Together, he and Jerg started to dunk various articles of dirty clothing into the water and scrub them.

“Are you that uncomfortable?” Torren grunted.

“Huh?”

Torren gave him a strange look of impatience.

“You keep stretching like an old man.”

“Uh…yeah. I got a condition,” Ellis said, as he sat back down. “It makes my joints hurt.”

“Ain’t you a little young for something like that?”

“Unlucky, I guess.”

Torren shook his head and looked away.

In the distance, the tower bell rang. One hour had passed already.

Ellis felt his body grow warm with tension.

Byles was to be gone two hours. Only two.

If they didn’t catch the thief within that time, they would be failures. They would have failed their first mission together— failed to live up to Perry’s expectations.

Ellis couldn’t let that happen.

“Gregor!?” Torren called over to him.

There was no answer.

“Gregor!? You still alive?”

“Piss off!”

Torren rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the table and into a standing position.

“C’mon, you can’t just sit there all day.”

“What do you need to do?” Ellis said a little too enthusiastically as he jumped to his feet.

“What doesn’t need doing? For starters, we’ve been holding off repairing that fence for weeks.”

Ellis followed Torren’s gaze to the gap in the fence where Lester was still laying with his eyes closed.

“Gregor, get up.”

“Get Mellis to do it,” Gregor mumbled in response.

“I don’t mind.”

Torren sighed.

“Fine. Follow me.”

Torren lead Ellis over to a spot near the shed. The whole time, Ellis could feel Torren trying his best to walk as quickly as possible so that the two of them always stayed a few feet apart. Torren seemed to not want anything to do with him. While following Torren, Ellis passed by Harold and Jerg who were continuing to wash the clothing in silence. Jerg gave a quick glance to Ellis, but looked away just as Ellis tried to return a smile.

“Carry these.”

Torren pointed to a pile of long wooden poles, roughly cut, about six feet in length and a few inches in diameter. Ellis walked over to the pile and began to size them up.

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“I think if we each took an end, we co—”

“Is complaining all you can do?”

Torren glared silently at Ellis until it was clear that neither of them wanted to speak to the other. Ignoring him, Ellis bent down and scooped two of the logs under his arm. He braced his core as he stood up and started dragging them through the dirt toward the fence.

“Move Lester.”

Torren hoisted the leather tool belt over his shoulder and stood next to Lester who was still reclined against one of the fence posts.

“Lester.”

Rather then answer him, Lester let out a long sigh. Taking his hands from behind his head, Lester pushed himself about a foot to the side and reclined once again. Torren responded by throwing the tool belt down with force— the metal inside clanged loudly as it hit the ground.

Lester sniffed the air and said nothing.

Torren went to work on the fence without a single word to Ellis.

It was over fifteen minutes before Ellis found an opportunity to do something helpful. Torren, after removing the old bit of fencing, had to shave off excess wood to make the new poles fit. Once it was time to put the first one into place, Ellis decided to grab the other end and help him align it. Together they brought either end of the wooden pole into position and then secured it into place. Rather than thank him, however, Torren immediately sat down cross legged and went back to work shaving down the second log.

Eventually, Ellis leaned himself against a support beam and let the minutes roll by.

From his position, he could easily see Jerg and Harold a few yards away— they were beginning to hang the clothes up in a sunny spot to dry. He couldn’t see Gregor unless he leaned far to one side, but he reasoned him an unlikely suspect anyway. Right in front of him, Torren was still working on the fence in silence, while Lester remained reclined against the fence post.

The longer Ellis waited, the more nervous he became.

Everyone was still here, which should have been a good thing. Except, it meant that they couldn’t find out who the thief was. If no one tried to steal the necklace, then they would be no closer to solving the mystery. Ellis was so preoccupied with worrying about their plan, that he didn’t notice Torren had gotten up until he crossed directly in front of him.

“Where are you going?” Ellis asked, suddenly.

Torren didn’t answer.

Ellis lifted himself from the support beam and followed after Torren.

Torren, feeling his presence, looked over his shoulder with a sour expression.

“Where are you going?” Ellis asked again.

“Inside,” Torren said as he stomped his foot down. “I’m going to close the front door to the shop, if you’ve got a problem with that?”

Torren turned to face Ellis as he spoke— his hands were balled into fists.

Ellis was confused.

Torren’s intent was clear, even if Ellis didn’t understand where the animosity was coming from.

But it was fine. Ellis didn’t need to follow him inside. If anything were to happen, Mary would give him the signal.

“Do whatever you want.”

Torren looked Ellis up and down before turning his chin away from him.

Ellis watched Torren disappear into the shop.

The yard was completely silent now; there were only the sounds of the main road, muffled by a slow, tumbling breeze.

“Ellis?”

Jerg’s voice shattered his concentration and made him nearly jump.

“Hm?”

“Could you give me a hand with something?”

Ellis looked from Jerg and back to the house. His heart started to beat more quickly, but just as he started to panic, Torren appeared again at the back door.

“Sure,” Ellis told him, with a breath of relief.

Ellis followed Jerg toward the main road, stopping just on the other side of the fence. There was a sliver of grass and dirt, roughly five feet long, between the edge of the fence and the side of the shop. A few yards off, Ellis could hear the hustle and bustle of the main road.

Ellis looked around.

“What do you need, Jerg?”

“What I need,” Jerg said as he turned around with a stone cold expression, “Is for you to tell me the truth.”