Gaspar quickly moved through the house and peeked across counters, opening and closing cupboards quickly before moving on. He had a practiced style, and Gavin could only shake his head. He imagined that Gaspar had broken into countless other homes like this, doing this dozens upon dozens of times before.
“How often do you take jobs like this?” Gavin asked.
“Do we really need to have these conversations?”
“I was just curious.”
“Save your curiosity for another time. Curiosity gets men killed while working.”
Gavin chuckled. “The man I trained with said that curiosity made you stronger.”
“Maybe in your line of work,” Gaspar said. “The kind of work I do, curiosity can end with a knife in your back.”
“The same thing can happen in my world.”
“Right, but in your world, you deserve the knife in your back.”
“You don’t think thieves do too?”
“Not the kind of thieving I do,” Gaspar whispered.
“And what thieving do you do exactly that makes it so you don’t deserve such a fate?”
Gaspar ignored him, and he continued rummaging around the room. He disappeared through a doorway, and Gavin followed into what he realized was a bedroom. Gaspar had the wardrobe pulled open and finished sorting a stack of clothing, then pulled out a drawer and worked through that.
“There’s nothing here,” Gaspar said. “Some of Erica’s clothing, some for a boy about the size she described, and nothing else. Not really.”
“Did you expect anything else?” Gavin asked.
“You never know.”
And here Gavin thought that he was the only one who’d been on edge and suspicious of Erica. Gaspar had been as well, which shouldn’t have surprised him. You didn’t get to be a skilled thief anywhere in the world, especially in a city like Yoran, without having some level of suspicion.
“I guess now we have to hope that Wrenlow can get information about the layout of the Captain’s home for us to use,” Gavin said.
Gaspar pushed past him, heading back out into the main part of the home. Once again, he traced his hand along the counter, working through it as if he might find something more. He turned and straightened. “I might be able to help with that.”
“You might be able to help how?”
“I might know someone,” Gaspar said.
“You told Wrenlow it was impossible. Who might you know?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Why?” Gavin asked.
“Well… because she used to be my wife.”
Gaspar moved past him and stepped out onto the street, closing the door behind him. Gavin swept his gaze around the house one more time and noticed the glow still coming off of the dagger.
He walked outside and closed the door, then looked over at Gaspar. “You know you can’t just leave it at that.”
“I think that I can,” Gaspar said. “Besides, I don’t owe you an explanation.”
“You don’t owe me anything, but I sure would like it if you’d share.”
“Yeah? Well you’d better get used to disappointment.”
Gavin laughed and followed Gaspar along the street. His mind worked through the various types of people that Gaspar might have been married to, and he wondered if Gaspar would even allow him to meet her. Whatever else happened, Gavin was determined to follow the thief, if only so he could see who would have married him.
Chapter Five
The house Gaspar led him to was nothing like what Gavin would’ve expected. This section of the city consisted of enormous well-appointed homes, but this one was quite different than even the surrounding ones. There was something incredible about the massive stone structure that sat apart from the others and loomed high over the surrounding landscape.
The home was enormous and enclosed within a low outer wall. It could have been a manor home, but for the lack of a high surrounding wall and the bells trees that usually grew in the gardens within.
“This is where your wife lives?”
Gaspar shot him a glare. “Don’t make me regret letting you come with me.”
“I’m not going to make you do anything. I just thought—”
“There’s your problem. Don’t go digging into my past unless you want me to do the same with yours. I’d wager you got more skeletons than I do.”
Gavin laughed. “I’d take that wager. Besides, you aren’t going to be able to deter me.”
“I think I can try.”
Gavin was unaccustomed to seeing Gaspar unsettled like this.
Maybe I should be kinder to the old man.
Gaspar was doing this to help, though Gavin hadn’t even wanted to accept the job in the first place. He’d been drawn into this because both Gaspar and Jessica had wanted him to take it.
“What’s her name?”
“There you go again, asking questions you don’t need to know anything about.” Gaspar stared at the wall, looking as if he were debating whether to head inside.
“If we’re going to visit her, at least tell me her name.”
“I said I was going to visit her, not you.”
“If she might know something—”
“If she knows something, I’m going to be the one to ask those questions. Not you.”
“Fine,” Gavin said, raising his hand. “But I think I need to go with you because at your age you’re probably deaf in one ear and someone has to catch the other half of it.”
Gaspar’s frown deepened. He let out a heavy sigh, opened the gate, and made his way toward the door of the home. Gavin followed him. He was going to have to ask Jessica about this later.
Did I even have to wait?
He tapped on the enchantment and waited a second for it to transmit, then said, “Can you ask Jessica about Gaspar’s ex-wife?”
There was a pause, and then Wrenlow coughed. “Ex-wife?”
“Right. That’s what I said. Gaspar claims she might know something about the Captain, so see if Jessica knows more.”
“I can find out, but I don’t know if she’s going to say anything. You know how she feels about him.” There was a
