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The Case with No Client, Chapter 2 · Aggie McPherson Mysteries

0:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Howdy folks, this is part 2 of the Aggie McPherson Mysteries.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The case with no client, it is a direct follow-up to the case of the biting decision.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I would highly recommend that you go back and listen to those before continuing if you haven't.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For some reason you don't want to do that, I'll take a moment here and kind of catch you up.
0:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Probably not a great idea to listen to this if you want to go back and listen to those items, so, you know, take a moment, make it your mind.
0:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Still here?
0:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, in that case, in the case of the biting decision, I gave my fearson discovered that a group of neo-Nazi's had been targeting a reverend
0:56
[SPEAKER_00]: but she has since been contacted by the head of that organization, known as the Silver Shields, a Hado skull, and she has agreed to work with him on the condition that he'd leave Reverend Taggart and his people alone.
1:12
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also the payment of a extremely expensive piece of real estate in question, but in the meantime, while she is waiting for a Hado skull to a
1:25
[SPEAKER_00]: She's also noticed that he has been missing a particular piece from his trophies and is looking into what exactly is going on there.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So enjoy the show.
2:09
[SPEAKER_00]: The case with no client, chapter 2, a shorthand missile tail by Matthew C. McLean.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The hill district was as far as you could get from the river and the ocean it flowed to and still be in slotter key.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Which is the way Layla Rodriguez liked it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The closer you got to the river and, particularly the ocean, the richer and wider the city got.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And Layla had enough tourists wander through her shop.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She could always tell newcomers because they pronounced Slotter Key Wrong, and Slotter Key they almost always made it sound like Slotter Square, which is probably more right than anyone care to admit.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The clay under the city, and all it contained, was proof of that.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The Rolling Streets that gave the district's name assured the ignorant, arrived, panting and out of breath, stepping into her front parlor a little more likely to believe whatever have truths the credulous wanted.
3:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Fortune's told, dead relatives, spoken to, the lost found, all of the usual things.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Then there were clients like the Spritly Aggie McPherson,
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[SPEAKER_00]: A small brass bell, an heirloom from her grandmother, and only God knows how many mothers before her, hung above the shop's entrance.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It made the usual tinny sounds when a customer entered, but, as her grandmother had told her, the volume of the bell always matched the trouble the person brought with them.
3:35
[SPEAKER_00]: That morning, the bell sounded like a gong.
3:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Laila looked up for the book she was reading, a study on the entomology of Hebrew words, their numerical values, and how they're placed in the Kabbalah could change their magic.
3:49
[SPEAKER_00]: She caught herself in the mirror, she had behind the counter, positions so customers had to look themselves in the eye while making a purchase.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She could read volumes in how a person examined themselves in the mirror and had, more than once, ceased to transaction or made an alternative suggestion based on what she saw there.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Whoever had brought trouble to her shop, though, wasn't in the myriad, and Laila wondered, not for the first time, what her grandmother would think of her now.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She shared the same dark skin as all the women in her family, but her graying hair was put up in a scarf fit for a gypsy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Sprouting from the multicolored silk in a way of the mad and homeless, it contrasted strongly with the dark gown she wore, a brown ragged thing with bones knitted into it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They were a flair suggested by a colleague, their clatter able to punctuate important proclamations or frighten the annoying.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Out of boredom this morning, she had put a streak of purple down her right cheek to see what reaction it might elicit for many robes that walked in.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In her shop far from home and her motley assemblage of carnival wear, she found it felt like the one thing that truly belonged to her.
5:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So she led with that sight of her face, the eye above it squinting as she slowly turned to examine who had entered her shop with such trouble.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't exactly frighten her to see Aggie already standing on the other side of the counter, but it almost caused her to start.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For the inspector to move quickly and subtly wasn't unusual in Leyla's experience, but to be accompanied by the bell was.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Deverify this was her long-time customer and not some fan-tasm.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She said the other's name is a question.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie smirked in a way that, as far as Laila was able to tell, was her one indication of actual fondness.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Hi, Laila.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You're surprised to see me.
5:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Leyla Regigas, Bruhal of Slectorki, descendant of women who had burned at the stake rather than be enslaved, found the pride of her ancestors instead of tall.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This allowed her to admit the truth.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not you, but you usually don't trip the bell.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie glanced over her shoulder, eyes arcing towards the ceiling as she looked from the entrance and back to Leyla.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The proprietor took some small pride and still being in control of her space when her friend
6:16
[SPEAKER_00]: What bow?
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[SPEAKER_00]: To cover this, Leyla Perscher lips and sugarhead, letting her dangling gold earrings dispel the question.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's been too quiet today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie smile broadened, which usually indicated that she was about to amuse herself, Aggie's main occupation next to dressing in expensive suits and working to pay for them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it might help if you named this place and put a bigger sign up front.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Laila dismissed this notion with Bashar on a waggling of our fingers as if scooting not a schoolchildren away.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I get to the business from the roofs, any more with test my patients.
6:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I like the purple, it's a nice touch, should freak out the normies.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Lailus Mild is Aggie reminded her of what she liked most about the Inspector.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She tended to notice anything out of the ordinary as well as its source.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Without in mind Laila leaned forward putting elbows on the counter, would you like some tea?
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[SPEAKER_00]: That sounds delightful.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This elicited another smile from Laila, while Aggie might be a bit too concerned with the material world, at least she was always polite.
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[SPEAKER_00]: While the drawing back of the curtain behind the counter, the two of them moved in the Layla's parlor, it's old wooden floorboards making it feel as if they were stepping into the belly of a ship.
7:40
[SPEAKER_00]: As Layla prepared the tea agge asked, no little street urchin to help you out today, Luisa, Layla corrected, is old enough to start school and the sisters of the parish have been kind enough to let her attend Saint Veronica's.
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[SPEAKER_00]: If you're going to let those old crows get their claws into that little girl, after all you've taught her, hush now, the sisters mean well and they teach good, and Luis needs to learn how to blend in.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Layles set down the silver tray at the table Aggie had arranged chairs at, the teapot and cups delicately placed as any Japanese ceremony.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Besides, Varanish banista dragon, Tizigudomen,
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[SPEAKER_00]: as long as some priest doesn't get her alone in the rectory.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Leila held the pot gingerly, pouring the steaming liquid into the cups one at a time.
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[SPEAKER_00]: If anyone tries to have their way with that child, the burn and the fires of hell.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Please journal, I'll see to that.
8:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie worked in eyebrow at Leila.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I really do enjoy your accent.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Where's it from again?
8:50
[SPEAKER_00]: reconsidering her opinion on Aggie's politeness, Lailus sat down across from her.
8:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Rather than touch her tea, she steepled her fingers below her chin and gazed at her guest.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Dropping the thick edges of her accent, she asked, what brings you around today?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie picked up her tea and blew on it, whispering the steam into the air.
9:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a client that's got a remnant on his trail.
9:14
[SPEAKER_00]: then you need to let that client go, wayly answered, grasping your cup in both hands.
9:20
[SPEAKER_00]: If it gains enough force, it'll chew through anything to get it what it wants.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I just need to figure out why it's after my client.
9:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Technically, I'm not working for him yet, but I'd like to get a jump on it.
9:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Not like you to start to work for a client before an arrangement has been made.
9:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Who is this person?
9:41
[SPEAKER_00]: You know that's confidential, Lila.
9:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay then, Lila took a deliberately long sip from her cup before saying, best of luck.
9:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie leaned back in her chair, staring with a long, appraisal that Lila ignored by pretending to be very selective about a sugar cube.
9:59
[SPEAKER_00]: The silence went on long enough that Leyla was about to offer Aggie one when she finally responded, well, I'm not really working for him yet.
10:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Technically, Leyla offered, technically.
10:13
[SPEAKER_00]: In the future, if everything goes through, I'd be working for Hado's goal.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Lailus did so fast the tray and pot rattled on the table or earrings jangled in her bones or rattled, get out.
10:26
[SPEAKER_00]: She helpedfully pointed to the door.
10:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie didn't move, so you know him.
10:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I know he's an evil senfer guenza.
10:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm impressed.
10:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to do a lot of digging to even find his last name, or rather the stupid
10:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Layla lowered her pointed hand as Aggie's calm, salved, her quick-tumper.
10:54
[SPEAKER_00]: She smoothed the idiot bones on her gown as she receded herself, eyes on her guests in a steady-ing reevaluation.
11:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And for good reason, who would you get me a step with that?
11:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a long story, but it involves the good reverend I introduced you to.
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[SPEAKER_00]: At the mention of Reverend Taggart, Layla's sympathy over road or animosity.
11:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, is that puppy having more bad luck?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Probably, he seems the type, but I don't think it involves this.
11:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Then why?
11:28
[SPEAKER_00]: It'd be quick or take my instructions and go.
11:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Hado has given me his word that if I find out about his Revenant, he'll leave Taggart and his Congregation alone.
11:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Layla held her gaze on Aguey in the same way she might with a client who said they didn't believe in Greenland.
11:44
[SPEAKER_00]: If you stay out of it, it seems to me that the Revenant will solve the problem for you.
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie shrugged, scepter tea, maybe, or the silver shields might take him being targeted by a powerful supernatural entity as proof their cause is righteous, and do something stupid.
12:03
[SPEAKER_00]: She said her tea down.
12:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It wouldn't surprise me if a couple of them are just itching for a reason to go postal.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It could give them a reason to start shooting.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The silver shields have amassed quite the arsenal.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Layla contemplated the crack and honor T-Pot.
12:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Lots of targets for that in Slotkjaki.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And the weapons are all legal, so the cops can't do anything about it until the shooting starts.
12:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course.
12:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Lay the thought she might have spotted the odd figure hanging around her shop, but it hadn't concerned her much until Aggies News.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now she tried to remember any detail she could trying to make any connection.
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[SPEAKER_00]: None surfaced, but she did remember the strange young woman who'd come to the shop the other day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So you can see how keeping Hado and play might keep the piece until the more permanent solution can be wrapped at.
12:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Lay a look, picked up our cup again, and tried not to grin, imagining what a permanent solution for Hado's skull might look like.
13:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Fair point, but I couldn't help you if I wanted.
13:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Revenant are necromancy, and all my arts in that sphere are just tricks and trades for the global.
13:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have anything that might be protective.
13:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Not for Hado's skull, I don't, silver shields are no, I will not help that bus start door.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
13:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie conceded.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But Hado claims he doesn't know who sicted on him, and that he hasn't murdered anyone.
13:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Lately.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You have any ideas on how I might track it down?
13:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Lately I let out a laugh, strong enough that a caused her head to go back and into a chuckle from her visitor.
13:46
[SPEAKER_00]: When she leveled their eyes back to Aggie, her granted taken on a feral, cruelty that would have set Taggart back.
13:52
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you going to do if you find it?
13:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Talk to it, bargain with it, big!
13:58
[SPEAKER_00]: No, but I'd have a place to start.
14:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Layla shicker head.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I can provide a Greek for you in case you're unlucky enough to find it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing more.
14:10
[SPEAKER_00]: She returned to her tea, but when Aggie's gun remained and changed, Layla added, but she knew that.
14:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought that might be the case.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie said perhaps a bit too proudly for Laila's liking, but it couldn't hurt to ask.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So what's the real reason you came around then?
14:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I know the associate can't drive for a cup of tea.
14:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie put on a fake accent, something like a cereal box, leprechaun.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Lightly only stared and returned, and mobile until Aggie continued it in her normal voice.
14:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought you might have noticed something out of the ordinary lately.
14:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Clouds on the horizon, so to speak.
14:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Layla sat down her cup about to say that she hadn't noticed anything that was strange for slotter key.
14:55
[SPEAKER_00]: This was her guarded side, though.
14:57
[SPEAKER_00]: The front she kept for would be hooksters in the naive, but this was Aggie.
15:03
[SPEAKER_00]: They had always dealt with her squarely and never dragged trouble to her door, even when they could have.
15:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So Layla took a longer consideration.
15:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Then,
15:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing on the horizon, but the woman came in the other day.
15:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Little more than a wif, she had something strange she wanted to have said.
15:21
[SPEAKER_00]: What's that?
15:22
[SPEAKER_00]: A blasting rod.
15:24
[SPEAKER_00]: That inquisitive eyebrow of Aggies art.
15:27
[SPEAKER_00]: She sat down her cup and raised her hands, holding them about a foot apart.
15:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it about this long?
15:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Laila nodded.
15:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Made the black thorn with a brass tip mounted with a pointed rupee.
15:43
[SPEAKER_00]: She must have known what she had, and he normalty would pry out the ruby and sell it.
15:49
[SPEAKER_00]: True.
15:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Lay low, greed.
15:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Nonetheless, I told her not to break the rod.
15:53
[SPEAKER_00]: If it was charged, it could go badly for her.
15:57
[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't buy it?
15:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Aghi asked, although to lay lid, didn't sound like a question.
16:03
[SPEAKER_00]: God's no, Layley shick her head, minutely, but with enough force a few of her bones rattled.
16:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't mess with Goethek, Juju.
16:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead, Aggie's eyebrows did their dance of surprise again, even if Layla doubted much surprised her, the blasting rod was created demonically.
16:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yes, it's straight out of the grand grimoire.
16:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Layla scepter T. Will she observe the un-customary consternation on her friend's face?
16:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You surprised!
16:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I am, Aggie admitted in a way that suggested she didn't care for the experience.
16:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it would be a man.
16:39
[SPEAKER_00]: You're looking for a thief now.
16:41
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I'm just looking for leverage.
16:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It was Layla's turn to look perplexed.
16:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not understand.
16:51
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not important, did you get a name?
16:55
[SPEAKER_00]: The woman who had come in had been cagey, had introduced yourself, which wasn't unusual for first-timers in Delayley's shop, but she had been tall, red-haired, and two thinned the cool, damp climate of Slotter-Key.
17:09
[SPEAKER_00]: They parted ways when they couldn't agree on a price.
17:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The woman wanted too much, but Delayley didn't have much use for such a thing.
17:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Delayley told Aggie all of this.
17:19
[SPEAKER_00]: At the end she had it, I don't know where she had it next, but there are only so many places she could sell such a thing.
17:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I could not, I was really hoping you had bought it.