>>6254338“I realise now the pain that my careless deeds have caused. What was done in this town was inexcusable, and it was done on my orders. Things are falling apart, and I see no way to fix this,” you read, squinting at the shaky script, “All I can do is offer up my life, that my company and my family name are spared the weight of my shame. If my deeds should come to light, know that I acted alone.”
“Loyal to the end,” Evelyn sighs, resting her chin on one hand, “I’ll admit, I never thought the boy had it in him to end his own life. Does it make any sense to you?”
You stare down at the note for a long moment, then look up at Evelyn. “Maybe he felt guilty about poisoning the land here,” you suggest in a low, flat voice.
“First of all, we’re NOT poisoning the land. It sounds as if you’ve been talking with some of those troublemakers in-” she replies sharply, before pausing and taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped. This is a very stressful time, as you can imagine,” she continues, shaking her head, “I wasn’t expecting you to have some wonderful insight that would answer all my questions, but there needs to be a formal report. Part of that involves interviewing any recent contacts, and…”
“And what?” you ask cautiously.
“And I suppose that I want to stay busy,” Evelyn answers with a shrug, “Oh, I completely forgot. Have you found any leads on Master Barbeau?”
“Even better, I’ve found Master Barbeau himself.”
“That’s good,” Evelyn nods slowly, then leans back and gestures at her desk, “I think that’s everything I needed to ask you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to have a lot of paperwork to do…”
That sounds like your cue to leave, and not a moment too soon. The longer that conversation went on, the more it seemed like Evelyn was going to try and pin the blame for Theo’s death on you. Better that you leave while you still can.
“Oh, Master Pale?” Evelyn adds as you’re starting through the door. You freeze, slowly turning back around. “If I don’t have a chance to see you before you leave,” she continues, without looking up from the papers on her desk, “Take care of yourself, won’t you?”
“I’ll do my best.”
>I’m going to stop here for today. I want to take some time out to plan ahead for the next session, so I’ll probably skip over next week and start back on the 21st of the month. I suspect that next thread will take us through to the end, so I want to do some extra prep work>Thank you for playing today!