Trust is a coin that spends further than brightmarks. Treasure it.

* From the writings of Elligan Hardy, either a forward-thinking religious leader or a confidence trickster. Sources are divided.

“Where’s Saladeen?” Carrus asked as they convened the meeting. He was in his office with Eve, his most trusted bouncers, and the prostitutes who had volunteered to help stage a rescue the night before. Basically, everyone he had told about the situation he was in. He had also told Saladeen about the meeting three times on the ride back to the Pit.

“He wasn’t in his room,” Eve said with a shrug. “Any of you girls seen him?”

“Not since last week,” Jenny, one of the Pit’s best workers, said.

“Him and Sarina left about a half hour ago,” Brogue said.

“You didn’t think to stop him?” Carrus asked.

Brogue shrugged. “I made sure he didn’t take the lumographs, and you haven’t paid him yet.”

Carrus chewed on this. The thief probably wasn’t disappearing on them, but they couldn’t afford to wait for him either. “Okay, we continue without him. We have Bracken’s blackmail material now. Not just what he had over me, but what he had over the whole town. Now we have to decide what we do with it. Seems like we can either go to the sheriff with this or go straight to Lord Bermont himself.”

“The lord is a petty oaf,” Jenny said. “He wouldn’t lift a fat finger to help us.”

Abe, another one of the bouncers, grunted with agreement.

“And the sheriff has his own picture,” Eve pointed out. “He might not be thrilled to hear we know about that. And we don’t have the manpower Bracken does. If we just hand the pictures over, there wouldn’t be anything stopping him from executing us to keep his secret.”

“We don’t have to tell him that we know,” Lucy, a newer girl with a bright smile and a pleasant attitude, said. “We could hand him all of the lumographs and say we didn’t look at them. Just handing them over to the proper authorities like, ya know?”

“And if he doesn’t believe us?” Jenny asked.

“We don’t necessarily have to give the pictures to anyone,” Eve suggested. “We could always blackmail the sheriff into getting rid of Bracken.”

Carrus chewed his lip. “I’d rather not become a blackmailer if I can avoid it.”

“We’d only be blackmailing him into doing his damn job and arresting a criminal,” Eve said.

“Even so,” Carrus said.

“Plus,” Brogue added. “What’s to stop them just arresting the lot of us and beating us till somebody told him where the lumographs are.”

“I could take them and disappear,” Eve said. “That way you don’t know where they are and they can’t get the information out of you.”

“And how many of us get tortured to death before they are convinced of that?” Abe asked.

“None of you are dying for me,” Carrus said, insistent.

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“Well,” Eve said. “We have to do something quick before Bracken figures out who robbed him. I’d rather take my chances with the sheriff than with him.”

Carrus nodded. “Eve’s right, but not about the blackmail. We’re just assuming the worst of the sheriff here. He was probably just as scared and desperate as I was. Let’s just tell him that we stole the lumographs from Bracken and that I’m the only one who has seen them. I’ll give him all of them as a gesture of good will. Once he’s out from Bracken’s thumb, I’m sure he will want to be rid of him. Besides, the sheriff comes in here when his wife goes to visit her sister. If you can’t trust your secrets to your brothel, who can you trust?”

“This plan relies an awful lot on him being a basically decent person,” Eve pointed out.

“So did telling all of you that I killed Denison, and that worked out alright.”

“Speaking of,” Eve said. “When you said you were going to give the sheriff the lumographs…?”

“Not that one obviously,” Carrus said. “I believe in people, but I’m not an idiot. I’m not handing the sheriff evidence of a murder I committed.”

“Well, that’s something at least.”

It didn’t take Carrus long to walk to the station from the Snake Pit, after he had destroyed his lumograph of course. The sheriff’s station was stone building near the centre of town. It had been decked out with glass windows, which were expensive this far from Inveritus, and had a mythic scene of the Creator battling Armageddon carved into the front doors. A little bit ostentatious for what amounted to a guard house in Carrus’s opinion. He entered the building and was greeted by a gruff man with a thick beard in the guard’s uniform.

“Hello,” Carrus said. “I’m Carrus. I run the Snake Pit. I need to speak with the sheriff please It’s important.”

The man picked at something in his teeth as he looked Carrus up and down. “You got any weapons on you?”

“No.”

“Down the corridor, third door on the left.”

Carrus went through the indicated door into the sheriff’s office. Oak bookcases flanked an oak desk. At that desk sat a pudgy man with a round face and food-stains on his uniform.

“Sheriff Barten,” Carrus said politely. “I’m Carrus. I run the Snake Pit. I have something I think you will be interested in.”

“Ah yes,” the sheriff said. “Fine place, fine place. Not for me though. At least, not while the wife is in town aye?” The man chuckled and his chins wobbled. “What have you got for me?”

Carrus presented the lumographs. “All of Philious Bracken’s blackmail material.”

Barten’s eyes went as big as dinner places. “Close the door! Creator’s tears man, how did you get these?”

“The short answer is I stole them from Bracken. He was putting the squeeze on me and saying we couldn’t go to you for help because he had these pictures. Now I’ve taken the pictures away, and I’m hoping you will help me.”

Barten looked down at the lumographs in his stubby fingers. “Did you look at these?”

“I did,” Carrus said. “But I’m the only one who knows, and my lips are sealed. I honestly don’t think it’s that bad though sir.”

Barten looked at him with hope in his eyes. “Really?”

“Really. But I do run a brothel. Some people can be a bit prudish about that sort of thing. Probably best we keep it between us. What do you say?”

The sheriff gave him a genuine smile. “You have yourself a deal.” He let out a happy little chortle. “This is great. With these pictures out of the way, we can shut down Bracken’s whole operation. We’ll have to move fast, before he can send word to Merrywood and have the bosses down there send him reinforcements. We’ll go today. Thank you, I mean it.”

“You’re welcome,” Carrus said, getting up to leave.

Once Carrus left the station he was so pleased that his trust in the sheriff hadn’t been misplaced, and that he would soon be rid of his Bracken problem, that he stopped in at a little café in town for an overpriced apple pastry. It was wonderful. The apple was sweet and just a little bit tart, the pastry was buttery and rich, and it was flavoured with cinnamon all the way from the del. When he was finished, he just sat at his table, drank tea and watched the people of Cadersville going about their days. Housewives hung wet clothes, messenger boys ran back and forth, bakers filled the street with the smell of bread, while a nearby stable tried to fill it with the smell of something a lot less appetising. He sat there for perhaps an hour, just soaking in the city he lived in. And for the first time in a long time, Carrus felt at peace.

Perhaps everything would work out after all. He could escape the hangman’s noose, make things a little safer for the girls at the Snake Pit, and enjoy an apple pastry every now and then.

Carrus took the scenic route back to the Snake Pit, wandering around town and enjoying the life of the place. Eventually he returned to his brothel and Eve met him as he came in.

“So,” she said. “The sheriff’s corrupt.”