“Is Lawyer Laurel living here? Is he home?”
Today was windless, and the city was again enveloped in thick fog. The morning sun could not penetrate the clouds very strongly, and the entire street looked somewhat gloomy.
While the drunkard eyed Xia De suspiciously, Xia De was also observing him. Although Mrs. Lemeier, the client, could not provide a photo of the lawyer, the drunkard's appearance did not match the lawyer's description given by the client. This was definitely not the lawyer.
“Laurel? Look for him at the tavern at the street corner.”
With that, the drunkard tried to slam the door shut. Xia De highly suspected this guy had just come out of the tavern himself.
Thinking to himself, he reached out and held the door, not allowing the drunkard to close it no matter how hard he tried. Xia De put on what he considered a very friendly smile:
“Sir, I’d also like to ask, when did Mr. Laurel move here? Also, what kind of work does he do?”
Because he didn't want to breathe through his nose to avoid inhaling too much alcohol, his voice was a bit muffled at this time.
“Him? He was here when I moved in three years ago. He’s a lawyer, you know, he specializes in solving legal problems for others, helping people deal with inheritances, divorces, and things like that… *hic*!”
The drunkard mumbled, and after Xia De thanked him, he was finally able to close the door.
With his hands in his pockets, he observed the door in front of him, then turned to look at the bustling street. Carriages passed by, a Boy selling newspapers looked at him hopefully, and a housewife, scolding her child, walked along the wall. After Xia De declined the newspaper Boy, he looked in the direction of the tavern at the street corner:
“Although I have some information, I can’t fully trust it. I still need to meet that lawyer. If all else fails, I’ll break into the house. Since he’s been a lawyer for many years, he can’t possibly not have a lot of documents.”
If it were the middle of the night, when Xia De knocked on the door just now, he could have used a Miracle to confuse the drunkard and then quietly broken in. Unfortunately, Xia De’s Miracle was restricted during the day. An Outsider favored by the silver moon is a strong one at night… actually, not that strong.
The tavern at the end of Queen Mary Street was called “The Pig’s Head Tavern.” Just by the name, one could tell it wouldn’t have any special features.
Although it was nine o’clock in the morning, there were still quite a few people in the tavern. After Xia De pushed the door open, he inhaled a strange mixture of alcohol and fermented food smells, then saw that almost half of the tables were occupied.
Because it was operating on the street rather than in a narrow alley, at least the hygiene here was decent. There was even a young man wearing a hat sitting by the wall playing a lute, his music blending perfectly into the tavern’s clamor.
Xia De surveyed the tavern’s environment, concluded that its fire safety measures were incomplete, and then walked to the bar. He tapped the counter, took out his wallet, and raised his voice amidst the noise:
“A glass of water… no, a glass of rye beer.”
The busy bartender glanced at him:
“5 pence.”
Xia De took out 7 pence and placed it on the bar. The bartender looked at him in surprise.
“Which one is Mr. Locke Laurel?”
The Detective asked.
“You’re just giving two extra pence?”
The young bartender said in surprise, but seeing Xia De about to take back the money, he quickly swept the small coins into his hand:
“Two pence is still money… That one over there, the tall man by the wall playing rhode cards with someone else.”
The client described the lawyer as a man with brown hair, dark brown eyes, taller than Xia De, and with a beer belly.
And looking in the direction the bartender pointed, he indeed saw five or six people gathered around a table by the wall. Among them, the man sitting on one side of the table was the only one in the group wearing a white shirt.
Although this was not the slum of Tobesk's North District, the people living nearby generally hovered between subsistence and starvation. On a weekday morning, most of the people loitering in the tavern were idlers, so their attire was very casual, making the lawyer in the white shirt quite conspicuous.
“Do you know anything about Mr. Laurel?”
Xia De did not continue walking over, but asked again. The young bartender, whose face was covered in freckles, showed a worldly smile and made a rubbing motion with his fingers. Xia De thought for a moment and pushed the glass of rye beer towards him:
“It’s on me.”
“You…”
The bartender probably had never seen such a person, but he still placed the beer on the shelf behind him, then took five pence from the small money box and put it into his pocket:
“He’s a lawyer. He comes here to play rhode cards every Wednesday, Friday, and on weekends.”
“Has he been a lawyer for a long time? Is gambling here expensive for him?”
Xia De asked again. The bartender looked at him for a while, and seeing that he had no intention of taking out more money, he said somewhat reluctantly:
“Yes, he’s been a lawyer since he moved to this street five years ago. As for playing rhode cards, it’s just a hobby; he’s not even a gambler. Perhaps cultured people can control themselves very well.”
Xia De rested his arm on the counter and turned to look at the lawyer playing cards with his back to him. From the current situation, it was highly probable that Locke Laurel was a genuine lawyer. Combined with the divination from the Prophet Association, it was basically confirmed that this person was fine. But Xia De still needed to make a final confirmation to consider the investigation complete.
And quite coincidentally, Xia De could barely be considered a rhode cards player himself.
Bidding farewell to the seemingly bored bartender, he walked towards the group playing cards while organizing his deck. Special cards, of course, had to be removed and replaced with ordinary playing cards; this kind of tavern was not a safe place.
Then he pretended to be drawn in, standing with the onlookers, observing the match between the lawyer and a sweating, crude middle-aged man. The latter was clearly unlucky; every time he drew a card, he would curse with foul language. In the end, he even angrily threw his cards on the ground, abandoning the handful of change and cards on the table, and angrily stood up and walked towards the bar, apparently having no more money to continue playing.
“Does anyone else want to play cards?”
The winning middle-aged lawyer looked very pleased. People whispered, discussing the highlights of the previous game, but no one seemed interested.
Xia De, of course, didn't go up immediately. Instead, he waited until Lawyer Laurel seemed a bit impatient, then said loudly from behind the crowd:
“If you don’t mind playing cards with a stranger, I think I could give it a try.”
People made way for him to the table. Xia De placed his old set of rhode cards on the round wooden table.
The lawyer, being well-mannered, looked him over, picked up the glass in front of him, took a big gulp, and then gestured for him to sit:
“5 pence per game, double for busting, triple for twenty-one, quadruple for drawing a King and Queen. Only the highest multiplier applies. I warn you, this is not a game for young people.”
The stakes were relatively not very high, but if one kept losing, it would be terrifying.