Chapter Seven

  Part Five

  Line looked across the various types of cheeses and brown eggs on display, there were runes embedded into the wood designed to keep things cold. One of the men behind the stall smiled with an open warmth, while the other younger looking one busied himself with putting crates away in the cart behind them.

  “Excuse me, but do either of you know someone called Nicola Pines?”

  The younger man’s head snapped up at that name, but he remained quiet.

  The other man continued to smile “of course. She comes here every week to buy from us” his smile dropped a little “she never did come last week though, we were wondering if she was doing alright. Why? Do you know her?”

  “I do actually” Line showed her monastery token “Inspector Line. I just want to ask you a few questions about Nicola, if you’re willing to answer them. It’s just that you two might have been the ones to have seen her last”

  “Seen her last...? What, what do you mean by that? Is Nicola alright?”

  “that’s what I’m here to find out”

  The man frowned in disbelief “Jon, come here. You talk to Nicola more than I do, you might know more than me”

  “I was going to talk to both of you anyway. But most importantly I know his name, can I get yours?”

  “it’s Alden”

  Line smiled “you said that Nicola never came last week, but did she come here the week before?”

  “She did” Jon spoke up “she brought some eggs”

  So she did make it here, which means she was taken on her way back home “what time was this?”

  “around two thirty”

  A thirty-minute window, plenty of time to kidnap someone “was she alone?”

  “she was”

  “And how was she at the time? Was she her normal regular self?”

  Jon frowned “she did seem a little nervous, and it felt like she did spend a little longer to pick out some eggs than usual”

  Was she being followed? “did you see where she went after buying from you?”

  “she just went straight back to the direction she came from”

  “And what way is that”

  Alden pointed in the same direction that Line came from.

  Line thought back on the path she had walked to get here, and to the various alleyways she had past. There would definitely be short cuts amongst them. It’s just a shame that taking a short cut would’ve been the best opportunity to get kidnapped, if she had taken the streets she would’ve been surrounded by other people.

  “alright then. I might be back to talk to you later, if you’re not here I’ll just find your farm instead” Line didn’t wait for an answer, instead she just turned on her heel and went back the way she came.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Arasha and Ali followed close behind her, and when they rounded the corner Ali spoke up “well? Did you learn anything new?”

  “I’m not sure” Line organised her thoughts “it seems that the recent missing person might have been followed, and she would’ve been taken on her way back home”

  Ali frowned “does that help us?”

  Arasha answered “it means that the kidnappers choose their victims ahead of time, it’s not at random”

  “but it’s strange that none of the victims look alike. We might still be missing something”

  “excuse me”

  They turned, Jon had followed them.

  “Jon?” Line was surprised that he had followed them “what is it?”

  “I just... I need to tell you something”

  “which is?”

  “... I saw Nicola being taken”

  Arasha butted in “and you didn’t do anything!? You just watched!?”

  Jon winced “I’m sorry! I didn’t know what to do!”

  “you could’ve saved her!”

  “I...”

  “Arasha” Ali grabbed Arasha’s arm.

  Line spoke up before Arasha could say anything else “tell me what happened exactly”

  Jon nodded “alright”

  *

  Jon had just placed more cheese wheels on the cooling runes of the dairy stall. His farther, Alden, was busy talking with a customer, probably haggling some extra money out of them. Then coming round the corner was Nicola. She looked over her shoulder a few times before she reached the stall.

  “is everything alright, Nicola?” Jon asked.

  Nicola just smiled “of course, just ran out of eggs is all”

  Jon looked past her and noticed a figure duck back round the corner. The weren’t recognisable to Jon, and Jon recognised most people that past by this street “Niki, do you want me to walk with you?”

  She laughed softly “don’t be silly, I couldn’t possibly take you away from the stall”

  “It’s fine, with my father here-“

  “it’s alright, Jon. You don’t have to worry about me. Besides, I’ll just go straight home. I’ll be fine”

  Before he could say anything else, Nicola placed some gold on the stall and picked up a few eggs before turning to leave.

  Jon sighed “pa, I’ll be back”

  “Where you off too then?” Alden asked.

  Jon didn’t answer and just walked after Nicola.

  “oi!” Alden shouted after him.

  Jon rounded the corner and saw Nicola walk into an alleyway. Jon followed, trying to catch up with her. Now surrounded by shadow, he heard a small startled cry. It sounded like Nicola. Jon rushed around the corner of this alley to find Nicola struggling against someone. His hand was over her mouth so she couldn’t scream, the figure was pulling her back towards the alleyway exit where an old looking carriage was positioned in a way to block the view of the street beyond it.

  Jon froze. He didn’t know what to do, the further Nicola got from him the more he panicked, yet he couldn’t move. The man currently dragging Nicola away glanced back down the alleyway, Jon panicked some more and just ducked back round the corner to hide. The man definitely saw him, there’s no way he didn’t. But when no-one came around the corner, his panic subsided slightly. Jon poked his head round the corner to see an empty alleyway.

  Jon’s eyes widened. He quickly ran to the alleyway exit and looked up and down the street. He just managed to catch a glimpse of the old looking carriage make a corner and head north, following Yor’s River. That way would also be the longer way to his and his father’s stall. He ran back the way he came, but it’s not like he can out run a horse pulled carriage. He was an idiot. Why didn’t he do anything? Why did he just stand back and watch? What should he do now? What can he do now? He just witnessed a crime and did nothing!

  He stopped running just before his stall came into view and caught his breath. When he was relatively calmer he walked back to his stall, as if nothing had happened.

  **

  Arasha had her jaw clenched throughout the entire series of events as Jon told them. Ali was trying her best to calm Arasha down, and Line was eerily quiet.

  Jon winced “I’m sorry”

  “tell that to Nicola’s mother!” Arasha responded.

  “thank you for telling us, Jon” Line spoke up.

  Arasha glared but forced herself to remain quiet.

  Ali smiled “Jon, you can go back now. Well come to you if we need anything else”

  Jon nodded and returned to his stall.

  Ali continued “so at least we know where to look now”

  Arasha didn’t answer, she just began walking further north.

  Line gave Ali a small smile “let’s go”