Chapter 5
The mood at the shop was extremely strained that morning. Although Gareth was still more hung over than upset, Martin had already apologized to Gareth twice for forgetting him.
Tom showed up late with a bandaged arm, a black eye and a very pronounced limp. He had been jumped by two men wanting information on Martin’s cargo. Fortunately a night watchman had rescued him.
Rachael had already made note of Gareth’s condition and with a viciousness normally reserved for spurned women, took great delight in telling Gareth all the details of her job in a very loud, high pitched voice that went right through Gareth’s head. He longed for yesterday, when he couldn’t get her to say five words to him.
Around noon, a package arrived for Gareth. The messenger said it came from the Rusty Mermaid and he was told to deliver it only to Gareth. Gareth opened the package to find a note pinned to the shirt he had traded to Crow.
The note said, “Crow feels you failed to warn him that some people might want the wearer of this shirt dead. He wants to discuss this with you tonight at the Mermaid.”
When Gareth unfolded the shirt he found blood all over it and a five inch, mostly vertical slash on the left side. Gareth gulped. This had been meant for him.
The bloody shirt was very disturbing to both Martin and Tom. Rachael seemed undisturbed, saying the assailant probably didn’t like his taste in clothing. Martin decided to close up early, hoping to discuss it with Tobias.
Tobias looked at the shirt and in a relaxed voice, as if Gareth weren’t even involved, stated “Odd. The person that did this knew nothing about knives. The stroke has a downward motion across the ribs. The blade could not have penetrated deep enough to do serious damage. Maybe a warning but at the worst, this attack would only create a bad cut with lots of blood.”
“Easy for you to say, you weren’t the one supposed to be in the shirt.”
Tobias looked sternly at Gareth and said, “You don’t know that you were either. It still might have been this Crow you told us about. We’ll be making that meeting tonight.”
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