You weave through the tent city, making your way to the beggars’ camp, carefully clutching a bag of bread and fruit. As usual, the place is filthy and littered with the forms of many homeless, idly sitting around or sorting through piles of junk. You reach the beggars’ spot and find that only Silas is present; despite the horrendous surroundings, he seems quite relaxed, lying back in his tent and reading a tattered old book, as if enjoying a pleasant morning in a fine house or park.

You greet him, and he looks over.

“Good morning. This is a pleasant surprise.”

He invites you to make yourself at home, and you do the best you can, sitting carefully on a crate. You glance about and ask where the others are.

“Oh, they went out to begin their morning rounds a while ago. I am due to leave shortly as well; I’m just waiting for Leif to get back so he can take over here; he should be back any minute now.”

You consider asking him what he and the others actually get up to during the day, but seeing as you were lucky enough to catch him before he left, you figure you’d better cut to the chase. You speak softly, and ask him if he’s seen the news recently and hand him today’s paper, whilst recalling the details from yesterday’s. He takes it, a faint line forming across his brow as he listens and reads, and you wait quietly, after you’re done regaling him with your concerns. He scans the paper for a few more moments, then starts flicking through the rest of it, looking at the regular stories completely unrelated to The Slaughter.

“It’s fine,” he says. “There’s nothing for them to go on, so they can only go through the motions. Don’t worry about it.”

You idly scrunch the bottom of your shirt. You reiterate that you’re sure none of you left any evidence lying around, but, what if someone saw any of the three of you at some point? Or worse, what if Soza puts two and two together and concludes that the only people who’d have it out for him were the bunch of beggars he was harassing only a few weeks prior? Most of the items he got from them were among the items stolen, after all. Silas dismisses this, continuing to scan through the paper, apparently looking at the sports section.

“Soza is the kind of man who leaves a trail of enemies and disgruntled acquaintances in his wake, though few would make their disdain publicly known. We’re certainly not the “only” people who’d consider acting against him. But, considering the break-in didn’t involve forcing a door or window, and was described as “sophisticated” even by the detective, it suggests the crime was committed by a calibre of criminal much higher than what a beggar likely is, or, is capable of employing for such a task. If anything, Soza’s likely to turn his attention to some other, likely rival, and come to conclusions about how they had it out for him. And, it’d be a better angle if whoever was behind it was someone on equal or better footing with him. That store, which stood undisturbed and un-robbed for decades, got pilfered almost immediately after he gained ownership of it. At that point, the embarrassment and damage to his reputation would be far worse than the value of the lost stock. He’d be better off just going with the “elaborate thieves got away with it, but it won’t happen again” story, and hope that his peers don’t look down on him too much for it.”

In the end, it seems to boil down to evidence; if the police find none, then there’s no reason why Soza would look this way, and either the trail will go cold, or, Soza will go on a wild goose chase before the trail goes cold anyway…

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

You exhale. He seems so sure, but if it comes down to it, he’d be in a much worse position than you or Ameronis; if the Law comes after you, the two of you could easily flee, but Silas… But no, it’s fine. He’s right.

You glance around as he continues to flick through the paper, and have much of your vision obscured by Rufle, who suddenly appears on the scene and occupies most of the space you’re currently existing in; you look further down the alley and see Leif making his way towards you all. Silas looks up from the paper, closing it and folding it up before handing it back to you, then begins sorting through items in his tent. You greet Rufle, and Leif too, and remember your bag of food and offer it to them; Leif gratefully accepts. As he and Rufle get settled in, Leif also asks what brings you back. You relay to him your concerns, but with the updated addendum. Leif listens in silence, then turns to Silas.

“Are you sure? You might be able to pull something like that off on your own, but this was different; you had two other people to worry about. And, while you and Valine were in the shop, and seem sure neither of you were spotted, how do you know that Ameronis, lurking around outside suspiciously whilst keeping watch, wasn’t seen? If she was busy watching the shop, was she also paying attention to her surroundings? What if somebody peered out of a window and saw her at some point? And, you said you had to make a quick escape? What if somebody followed you? We’re not that far from the crime scene, and on the empty streets at night, it wouldn’t be hard to keep track of three people walking together.”

You idly scrunch the bottom of your shirt. Silas emerges from his tent and stands in the doorway, carrying an old bag. He looks up at the sliver of sky visible between the factories.

“Ameronis was sure that she wasn’t seen, but…” He drums his fingers on the tattered bag, and you and Leif sit watching him in silence while Rufle lies in his spot, chewing his knotted rope.

“It’s still very unlikely. They haven’t indicated that they’re looking for suspects, or have any evidence or witnesses, but… I suppose it can’t hurt to be sure. I shall make some… enquiries. See if I can find out where we stand. After that, we’ll see.”

You glance at Leif, then back at the folded newspaper, a small pit forming in your stomach.

“I’ll let you know what I find out as soon as I can, maybe tomorrow or the day after. But for now, I must be off.”

He gives a quick nod to you and Leif respectively, and marches off down the alleyway in his old, ragged suit. You cannot begin to imagine what he’s planning to do or who he’ll speak with, but all you can do now is wait. And hope. Surely, it’ll be… fine.

You exhale and pat Rufle on his big head; he licks your hand and wrist. Nothing else to do now but wait and carry on with your day; you still have things to do, after all. You ask Leif what his plan is, but for now, he has nothing to do except rest and guard their camp until Finnegan arrives to take over in a few hours. He mentions that Marion Drexler is due to help out at the soup kitchen for lunch today, so if you’re still set on seeing what you can do to help the beggars, you could always show up there and try speaking to her.

Maybe. This situation seems so hopeless, though. But you never know. It might be worth finding out more, at least.

You stay and chat with Leif for a while longer before you too take your leave. You still need to collect your clothes from the washhouse, but then will have several hours to kill before work at Stardust tonight. Maybe you can find something to do to take your mind off things. Ameronis would probably be good for that. Where is she, anyway?