Chapter 70
They were about to leave when Jay slapped his hand on to his forehead. “One last thing,” he said.
The sergeant stopped and looked over at Walter questioningly. Walter shrugged.
“I just need a piece of paper on Watch letterhead saying that we are authorized to find this person's hidden treasure without their permission. Legally speaking I mean. As long as you're willing to sign that and give me a copy I'm happy to help.”
The sergeant looked confused for a moment before smiling, “What, you don't trust me?”
Jay laughed just as Walter smiled, “I don't trust anybody Sgt.”
Walter grinned but the sergeant didn't seem bothered by Jay's request. Walter seemed downright pleased. “It's good to see you using your brain for a change Jay.” he said.
Jay had realized that anyone could ask Jay to find something for them – even if that something did not belong to them. Although the sergeant was wearing a uniform that did not mean that what he was asking Jay to do was aboveboard. Walter seemed ok with it which gave Jay a bit of confidence that things were legal but just to be sure he wanted something on paper.
Sgt. Hills sighed as he took out some paper. “Can I borrow a kit real quick Walter?” he asked. Walter nodded and the secretary handed Sgt. Hills a square leather bound writing kit. He wrote out a quick note describing what he was asking Jay to do as well as stating it was for official business and entirely legal. He signed it and took out a small wax kit and affixed his seal.
“There. How's that?” he said as he used some finishing sand to dry the ink before handing it over to a pleased looking Jay.
“Perfect, thank you. That's all I needed then.” Jay said with a satisfied smile as he rolled up the paper and put it up against the opening of his backpack and stored it.
Walter nodded to the two and they left the meeting hall.
There was a carriage waiting for them in the front entrance courtyard. The back had windows with bars on them and K'tharkle City Watch badges drawn on to the side doors.
“Ride up front with me. Unless you prefer riding in a cage.” Sgt. Hills said in a joking manner as he hopped up and got in the driver's seat. Jay pulled himself up on to the bench beside him. The carriage took off once they had gotten settled.
The ride took some time but Jay enjoyed getting to watch the people and businesses go past as they went by in a riot of colors and sounds.
Their carriage was painted bright blue with a black stripe running down the side and the words CITY WATCH painted in white inside the stripe. It was easily identifiable and most people shied away from the vehicle as it passed.
They pulled up in front of a large manor situated on the outskirts of K'tharkle. Jay could make out the city wall off in the distance from where they were.
Jay looked at Sgt Hills questioningly. “Didn't pay his taxes.” the sergeant replied.
Jay couldn't imagine losing a manor this large due to unpaid taxes. Jay resolved to make sure Boland was helping him pay all of his taxes properly. He had flown under the radar so far due to him only recently coming in to any money but as time went on it was a sure thing the tax man would come looking for him.
They hopped down off of the cart as another Watchman came up to speak with the sergeant. They discussed something for a few moments while Jay looked about the manor grounds. They were not in great condition and was overgrown with weeds. There appeared to have been a fire.
Jay looked closer at the ground in places and realized there had been multiple fires. What would cause fires to break out in multiple places like that. An attack? Was the manor attacked?
“Ready?” Sgt. Hills asked as he came around to Jay's side of the carriage. The other Watchman stayed with the cart. Jay nodded and the two of them went inside.
They walked in through large heavy double doors that swung open with the barest touch. Inside the sound from outside grew muffled and their footsteps sounded much louder. The floors were wood, stained and polished to a vibrant shine. Or at least they would shine if more than a few candles were lit in the foyer.
It was obvious to Jay by the various spiderwebs and dust around the place that it had been abandoned some time ago. The house smelled the way you would expect an old abandoned manor to smell – musty with a hint of something else – perfume or incense perhaps.
“This way.” Sgt. Hills said as he picked up a lantern off of a nearby table and lit it. Jay saw there were more and took one for himself without being told. Jay wasn't about to depend on someone else for light when he could carry a light himself.
The lit lanterns cast long dark shadows that moved with the two men as they continued on. The windows in the manor had all been covered over and the darkness was absolute wherever the lantern light ended.
The sergeant walked Jay further in to the house, winding through a number of rooms, each with various belongings covered in light colored sheets of cloth. Finally the sergeant found what he was looking for and opened a door which Jay might not even have noticed. It hid in plain view due to the way it fit in perfectly with its surroundings.
Part of the wall swung open and the sergeant proceeded in to the passage. Jay followed along behind him as they walked down a spiral staircase, their footsteps and breathing the only sounds they could hear, only occasionally interrupted by the lanterns making metallic squeaking noises as the lanterns gently swung on their handles.
They came off the stone staircase and entered a large basement. Across from them the wall was entirely dominated by a large safe door closed shut.
“There she is.” Sgt. Hills said, pointing to the massive safe door.
Jay nodded, “Quick question – it looks like you already know where the treasure is? I mean, that safe door kind of gives it away doesn't it?”
The sergeant laughed and nodded, “Sure, I can see why you'd think that. There are two schools of thought on that one Jay. One side believes that the safe holds all of the missing wealth we can't seem to find. The other side believes that we're wasting our time and that there's nothing of value inside.”
Sgt. Hills adjusted something on his lantern and the light bloomed brighter. “You're here to break the stalemate. It's going to cost a ton to get this safe open so why bother when we can have you come by and tell us if there is treasure in there?”
Jay shrugged and walked over to the door, looking out for traps as he did so.
“We had someone clear it for traps already just so you know.” the sergeant offered helpfully.
Jay nodded, “Thanks,” he said absentmindedly as he continued to look for traps, “but I always like to double check that sort of thing. Just in case, you know?”
Sgt. Hills nodded. He was like Jay, he always double checked prisoners for weapons before taking custody of them even if they had already been checked by someone else. You never knew how much effort the other person had put in to it – and that was not something you wanted to leave up to chance when your safety was on the line.
Jay found no traps and was now checking over the safe door itself. It was certainly trapped but Jay had no intentions of opening it. Instead he activated his Treasure Sense. The sensing appeared to be based off of his hands – whatever was under his palms was what the ability focused on. Jay moved his palms in a serpentine pattern starting with one corner of the wall the door hung from. It took almost a half hour but Jay covered the entire wall. Finally he stopped and turned to the sergeant.
“So?” Sgt. Hills asked excitedly.
Jay shook his head, “So here's the thing, I can sense about twelve feet out. Now I have no idea how far the vault goes, but I can assure you with confidence that I did not feel a single thing along this entire wall. That means I did not detect treasure within twelve feet behind this door. That's a huge area to be left empty in a vault wouldn't you say?”
Sgt. Hills nodded, “So there's no treasure in there!”
Jay cringed, “Let's be careful with our words. I could not detect any treasure within twelve feet of the door. Could the treasure be shielded from my abilities somehow? Hidden by magic? Set back further than 12 feet? I don't know enough to answer those questions. All I can offer is my findings – I make no assumptions about the actual vault contents.”
Sgt. Hills made a hmmm sound and nodded. “Ok, that's fair. Still, that's more than we had before you came here.”
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Jay grinned, “Glad I could help. While we're here do you have any other spots you want to check?”
Sgt. Hills startled out of his thoughts and nodded, “Sure. Right this way.”
He turned and went back up the winding stairs and through the hidden door. They shut it behind them and walked out of the room and in to a parlor, white drop cloths draped over all of the furniture.
On the floor was a bloodstain that someone had obviously tried hard to wipe up but with only middling success. An outline in chalk had been drawn around it in the shape of a human.
Jay raised an eyebrow, “Tax evasion, huh?”
Sgt. Hills nodded, “Right. And murder. I didn't mention the murder? Tax evasion and murder, sorry.”
Jay sighed. He hated not knowing what had gone on there but it was really none of his business and it was definitely not anything he needed to know to do his job.
They walked on through a number of sitting rooms, a ballroom, and finally came to the kitchens which were quite spacious. The sergeant took him on a winding path through the kitchens until they came to a bolted door. Opening the bolt he led Jay down a staircase. And then another. And then another.
The stairs let out finally in to a cramped room with a corridor leading off to the side. The sergeant went to move down the corridor but stopped. Jay could see that there was another door at the end of the corridor but did not join the sergeant.
“Come back here, I think I have something,” Jay said as he used his hands on the wall perpendicular to the entrance. Jay moved along until he was sure. The hair on his arms was standing up and his skin was covered in goosebumps.
Sgt. Hills stomped back over to Jay, his footsteps loud on the stone floor. “What, here?” It was an odd spot. The room was designed to funnel people to the left as they entered from the stairs and then walked down the hallway. There was nothing to the right but a stone wall, its surface featureless.
Jay stopped, “Do you have any chalk?”
The sergeant shook his head but stomped back up the stairs and shouted “Watchman! Someone bring some chalk. And a sledgehammer!” He thought for a moment before adding, ”And another Watchman to swing it!”
Moments later a short thick set Watchman came down the stairs with a stick of chalk and a sledgehammer. Jay took the chalk and began to work on the wall again. Any time the sensation of goosebumps intensified he'd stop and make a mark on the wall with the chalk. He continued until he had checked the entire wall.
“That's it. Four spots. Looks like a system of shelving or something, all set up neatly.” Jay said.
The sergeant took a good look at what Jay had drawn before speaking with the Watchman wielding the sledgehammer.
“Go easy. I just want you to take out the wall, not what is behind it. Can you do that?” Sgt. Hills asked the Watchman.
The thick set Watchman was apparently a virtuoso with the sledgehammer because he understood exactly what the sergeant wanted. He set himself up using the sledgehammer as a guide – extending it and his arms to help position himself the correct distance from the wall so that the head would only strike the surface and not any of the treasure behind it.
Finally feeling confident with his positioning he gave the sergeant one last questioning look as if to say, “Are you sure? Once I swing this thing there's no going back.”
Sgt. Hills nodded and the Watchman went to work. It was deafening and Jay clamped his hands over his ears as the sledgehammer striking the stone was terrifyingly loud in the confined space. Sgt. Hills waved Jay up the stairs a bit until the Watchman had finished. Stepping back from the wall the Watchman waved the sergeant back down.
The three all peeked at the same time through the settling dust from the shattered stone. On the other side of the shattered wall was a small unit of shelving, four shelves to be exact. On the top shelf appeared to be a control panel of some sort with a row of buttons. Below that was a thick pouch of something. Coins? Gems? Jay wanted to know but it wasn't as if he would get a share of it so not knowing wasn't so bad really.
Below the pouch was a thick sheaf of papers bound and sealed. Below that was a thick leather bound book shut with a locking metal hasp. The Watchman reached out as if to touch one of the buttons before the sergeant yelled at him and he snatched his hand back.
“Don't touch it if you don't know what it does! How many times do I have to tell you!” the sergeant yelled at the Watchman before sighing. “Good job with the sledgehammer. You can go for now. Have someone send for the magic team. Tell them we have a control panel of some kind. That should get them excited. Go on now, go.” he finished as he shooed the Watchman back up the stairs.
“Let's head further in, not much more we can do with that until the magic team sweeps it for traps and such.” the sergeant said as he turned and led Jay down the hallway to the left. They came to a simple door and on the other side Jay was surprised to find a recreation room. There was a pool table and couches with a giant fireplace on one side that Jay instantly was interested in.
“Try this room Jay, we didn't find anything in here but maybe you will.” the sergeant said only wincing slightly as they walked past another stain on the floor with a chalk outline of a body.
Jay looked at the sergeant with a raised eyebrow.
“Ok. Murders plural. Tax evasion and murders. Plural.” he said with a slight lopsided smile.
Jay sighed but couldn't help smiling as well. The sergeant was growing on him.
Sgt. Hills continued, “The bad guy was chased and led us in to this room before we got him. He didn't try to escape but instead went further in to the house, in to this room. Why?”
Jay began to work on the room. He took each wall, one at a time, and ran a serpentine pattern search on them. The walls were a bust except for one spot that Jay found odd.
“Just mark it with chalk.” the sergeant said helpfully when he saw Jay pause.
Jay turned to look at the sergeant and gave him an exasperated look as Jay made a pretend mark in the air in front of the fireplace.
“Oh, ok. I see what you mean.” the sergeant said a little guiltily.
Jay chuckled as he said, “There's something behind the fireplace. The rear of the fireplace needs to be broken open.”
Sgt. Hills nodded. “Wait here,” he said as he went back down the hallway and yelled up the stairs. After a few moments a Watchman came running. The manor was apparently lousy with them. “I need a Watchman and a sledgehammer again!” the sergeant yelled in a booming voice.
A few minutes later another Watchman different from the first came in with the sergeant.
Jay pointed to the rear of the fireplace. “That needs to go. No idea what is behind it but I'm pretty sure the valuables are set back a ways from the wall.”
The Watchman nodded unquestioningly. It seemed he was used to working with specialists and knew the drill. He walked up to the fireplace but had to use some creative moves to use the sledgehammer in the smaller space. After ten minutes or so he managed to smash a path through the wall.
The sergeant nodded in thanks, “Good work. Wait here for us to return. If anyone but me or Jay comes through here you restrain them. If they resist do whatever you need to do, we're not playing around in this manor, got it?”
The Watchman nodded seriously as Jay considered what it would mean if someone other than the sergeant or Jay were to exit the fireplace instead.
“Is this safe?” Jay asked as he followed the sergeant on hands and knees and crawled through the fireplace in to an adjoining room. “Probably not.” the sergeant answered as they crawled. The two of them stood up and used their lanterns to cast light about the stone room.
The room was shrouded in darkness and was long and shaped like a rectangle. On the long sides of the room were lines of beds, five to each side. Tubes and equipment went from each bed to a table of devices next to it. At the far end of the room appeared to be a medical operation theater complete with operation table and counters with rows of instruments set out.
In a corner near the fireplace was a mound of clothing, bags, shoes, and other articles of clothing all in a messy heap. A bowl set on a cabinet next to the mound held a number of what appeared to be coin pouches. Jay thought that must have been what his ability had focused in on.
“What the hell..” Jay said as the sergeant shuffled Jay right back out of the room.
“Out, out, out. You don't need to be in here right now.” the sergeant said as he apparently saw something he didn't like, something that Jay had missed. As they left the room and stood back up Sgt. Hills walked briskly over to the Watchman and gave him quick orders in a clipped precise manner.
“Notify dispatch we have a mass casualty event. We're going to need the crime scene guys here as well. Tell the shift commander we need more people, and enough transport for ten patients. Go. And hurry.” Sgt Hills said to the Watchman who paused only long enough to get his orders before he ran out of the room.
The sergeant steered Jay out of the room and in to the hallway as he spoke, “You did a great job today Jay and we're very thankful for your help. Now though I think we need to part ways so we can do our jobs. You understand? Watch business.”
The sergeant continued to walk with Jay as he spoke and they had now reached the top of the stairs. “It's important that what happened here stay between you and me. I brought you in to help out the Watch, not to spread gossip, so don't go disappointing me now.”
The sergeant handed Jay a purse of coins as they walked out of the manor. Two K'tharkle Watch carriages had just arrive at the manor and parked off to the side to make room for the arrival of more. Watchmen exited the vehicles with suitcases of tools, others carrying evidence bags, portable lighting, as well as other crime-scene related things.
Sgt. Hills shook Jay's hand, “Thank you again Jay, you were a big help! You certainly found the treasure. Sorry I can't give you a ride home but things here are about to become a little hectic and I'm needed.”
Jay shrugged, “I don't mind taking a cart home. Hope everything works out for you.” he said seriously as a number of white painted carriages arrived, the Watchmen making room for them as a number of healers handed stretchers to the Watchmen to carry inside for them before they stepped down from each and were hurried inside.
“I think things have a good chance of working out now. See you around Jay.” Sgt. Hills said with a handshake before he ran off to help organize the Watch response to whatever it was Jay had uncovered.
As Jay walked down the driveway and on to the road he saw another carriage pass him, this one far fancier but still with Watch markings. He recognized the woman in the window as the woman he had seen in class the other day wearing what he had thought was a military uniform. Jay didn't know her exact rank but it was sure as hell higher than sergeant. Whatever was happening had drawn the attention of the higher-ups in the Watch.
Jay was suddenly thankful he had gotten out of there before they had arrived.