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L ance had some serious explaining to do, but if I pressed it, he was going to fuck up my nose again. The Madame set it so it was straight, but if it got broken again, it was going to hurt like fuck and might end up permanently crooked.

I was going to get it out of him, I just needed to figure out how to talk to Lance again. Especially since it felt like someone knifed me in the gut when they all disappeared into the bath house and I knew what they were doing in there. I should have been with them.

I felt stupid I let it go on this long and I’d feel even dumber if I told him. I just needed to find a way because it was needed.

Lance had originally wanted to talk to Athan and Tarja, but the Madame gave us the information we needed. She told us the only disease in Nestran that attacked the body and the mind was Black Paranoia and it did different things to different people.

The Madame said it mostly amplified things and lowered any barriers that might tell someone something was wrong.

If someone thought their spouse was cheating before they got it, they became obsessed with that and took it too far.

If they thought someone was swindling them, it started out with them just trying to prove it and ended in violence.

She told us if someone was fantasizing about murder, but wasn’t acting on it, Black Paranoia would eventually push them to it without treatment.

The Madame also said even though they kept treatment to themselves, the Barons took it very seriously because someone with Black Paranoia would attack one of them.

They usually locked themselves in their castles until it died out.

We were about to walk to Ollie’s farm to borrow horses again when we found Trevils waiting outside the tavern. He tipped his hat to Lance.

“If you’re going to be working with me, I’d rather talk where the food and drink is better.”

“I can do that. I have something you might not have figured out yet.”

I knew damned well Trevils didn’t know that because I hadn’t figured it out.

I hadn’t been to all the crime scenes, but I’d gotten a lot from the ones I’d seen.

Anything I’d missed, Trevils would have figured out.

The Madame was right. Sometimes you couldn’t tell until someone got naked.

You certainly couldn’t tell when they weren’t even in the room.

This was going to drive me insane.

“Good because he’s going to strike tonight,” Trevils said.

Damn. And I didn’t know who he was or what I was going to do with him when I found him if he ended up being Baron. If the Ghoul was a Baron and hiding that he had Black Paranoia, they’d just treat him and send him to Guttertown to kill.

“What do you mean he’s going to strike tonight?” Lance asked.

“The murders always happen after a Day of Respect. Always. They started further apart, but he’s escalating. If I’ve profiled him right, he’s going to strike again tonight, but I couldn’t tell you where or who his target is.”

“It’s going to be someone with a pretty young girl of marrying age,” Lance said.

What the fuck? That was a theory, but I hadn’t confirmed it. Lance seemed sure.

“I need a drink for this,” Trevils said, knocking back his Bloody Mary.

Fuck, I did, too, and Lance’s new drink was potent.

“So, I refuse to tell either of you who or how because they are under my protection. The Ghoul has what we’ve managed to narrow down to Black Paranoia, and he spent a lot of time in the bedroom that had to belong to a teenage girl.

He also rolled around in their bed and he didn’t do that in any other room. ”

The only person I knew who was under Lance’s protection was his new cook, who was also under my protection for helping Momma.

I had a lot of questions about the Whispering Raven’s new cook, but I also knew Lance wouldn’t be protecting him unless he had a very good reason.

So, even if I had a million questions about how he figured all of that out when he shouldn’t have, I could let it rest.

And even though I had no idea what the fuck was going on, Trevils seemed to. Which annoyed me because I hated being in the dark.

“Say no more,” Trevils said. “I might not have a name or face, but I know why you are protecting them. I’ve done similar in the past, but it’s not an option right now. What else did they find?”

“The Ghoul is pissing in the house,” Lance said, wrinkling his nose.

Gross. And I couldn’t tell someone pissed in the house over all the gore. Trevils couldn’t, either. Unless it was on cloth, most people couldn’t.

“Did he piss the bed?” I asked.

“Dunno. Does it matter?”

“Has your friend considered they might be the same?”

“He’d find that offensive since he doesn’t piss in the house. And he’d be able to tell.”

What was happening right now? Why was anyone pissing inside?

“Yes, of course. I shouldn’t have even thought that. Don’t tell them.”

I heard someone laugh from the kitchen and Trevils looked panicked.

“Fuck, he’s here?”

“I’m not saying a damned thing,” Lance said. “Could be Ollie making jokes.”

Yeah, Ollie wasn’t nearly as funny as he thought he was. That answered one thing. Lance’s new cook was pretty good at digging into crimes. I just really didn’t need him looking into mine because he helped my family.

“And you shouldn’t,” Trevils said. “We know the Ghoul strikes after the Day of Respect and he’s hitting families that aren’t at a wedding.

I took the liberty of sending men to the merchant district and Lower Cutwart to find out who has wedding and name-day celebrations planned as well as who isn’t invited.

“There are six in the Merchant District and five in Lower Cutwart. If we’re narrowing it down to homes with girls of marrying age, it’s going to be three in the Merchant’s District and four in Lower Cutwart.

I hate saying this because it makes me feel disgusting, but if we’re going to go further and do houses with girls that would get the Barons to overlook the fact that they don’t come with land and money, we’re down to four potential targets.

Two in the Merchant District and two in Lower Cutwart.

“I’ve only got a limited number of men I trust. The rest of them would walk in on an active murder and then turn around and walk out as soon as they realized they were dealing with a Baron.

They’d completely bypass me and tell the Barons for coin.

I’m going to need your help to cover a house and I still don’t know what to do when we catch him so he actually pays for it. ”

“Well, I’m Guttertown born and bred, so I know how we’d handle it,” Lance said.

What? I was also Guttertown born and bred and the only solution I’d had was figuring out how to get away with slitting a Baron’s throat without an innocent person going down for it.

“I’m listening,” Trevils said.

Lance told us his plan. It was actually genius.

If we did it just right, the Ghoul would meet the same fate anyone else would and the Barons couldn’t lie or pin it on anyone else.

I wouldn’t be the one to kill him, but I didn’t need to kill every single arsehole in Nestran that needed to be squashed like a roach.

I just needed to figure out how I was going to be in two places at once.

I didn’t want Lance alone with the Ghoul out there.

The brothel and the tavern were always packed after the Day of Respect because people always acted like one day off a week from fucking and drinking lasted longer than it did.

The brothel couldn’t really spare me but the Madame would bring in a cousin since people’s lives were on the line. She wasn’t letting Beck anywhere near this. Ollie and the mysterious cook couldn’t leave the tavern. Not the day after the Day of Respect.

We could do this, but if Lance found the Ghoul instead of me and the Ghoul harmed one hair on his beautiful head, I was going to blow this entire plan.