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Maybe … maybe that is normal for him? You know the man almost entirely by reputation, having barely spoken with him. Furthermore, now that you think about it, you do not think that you have ever actually called out when he was the Overseer on duty before in your eight years here. Could it be that this is just how he deals with Lepers that bother him by asking to call out of work? You would not put it past him – the man is a sanctimonious, petty ass … but then there was that paper that he was reading so intently.
Now, you know that in his capacity as an Overseer, the man must read quite a bit. In fact, Overseers are basically just senior clerks who have been given some authority, so you cannot immediately jump to any conclusion. And yet – the presence of that paper, right next to the Roll Call, on the night after four Guards turned up dead … you cannot help but wonder if the Guards have learned something or are on their way to figuring something out.
As your neck is starting to strain a little from craning upwards under the weight of your mask, you allow yourself to look down, only to recoil with a start when you notice that you are standing directly over the spot where you found the body of the smuggler. Deeply uncomfortable, you sidestep away from the flipped flagstones, and then deciding that you have lingered down here too long, you start your ascent up the tower.
Your climbing is not as efficient as usual, as your mind continues to spin your guilt into more and more fear. Things only get worse when you are taking your usual break three-quarters of the way up the tower, when it occurs to you that the paper could be about what happened at the Refinery. You were seen after all. You were in men’s clothes at the time, and you were pretty far away from that watchman, but … is it possible that he got a description? Beyond height and clothes? By the time that you have gotten back inside the Belfry, you are so nervous that instead of immediately heading over to grab the salt and return to the well to take care of the Strangeness you left behind, you start pacing around in circles.
How much do they know? How much could they know? And where are all of the missing Guards? Right before you well and truly manage to work yourself up into a frenzy of panic however, a thought blazes across your mind. If that fraying piece of paper has you so worked up, then you should just go find it and read it. Now, obviously, there is no way to definitively prove that the Guards know nothing … but, on the other hand, based on the contents of that paper, you could prove that the Guards know something about what you have been up to last night, or the night before that … or really, anything about you at all. Or father, for that matter.
So assuming that the Guards do know something, and you are able to learn what they know by reading that paper, what could you do with that information? Well … that depends, doesn’t it?
