Act Fourteen - Interlude: Merchandise

   “What do you mean, they just turned up?”

    “Exactly what I said on the phone, Negotiator,” Dastun only uses that tone of voice when he and Roger have argued about something. I stand quietly in the corner with my hands folded in front of me. “The case and the figures were dropped off at the precinct by a man dressed in a black jacket and wearing a hooded raincoat.”

    “There hasn’t been rain for months, Dastun. It’s been snowing almost daily since…” Roger trails off. Since just after the large battle at the bay. When he was shot. When he started having the nightmares.

    “I know that just as well as you do, but this man was wearing a hooded raincoat, and no one got a glimpse of his face.” He pushes the case towards Roger. “Isn’t it enough, just this once, that your case is finished? Can’t you let anything go without pushing until there’s no room left for interpretation?”

    Roger takes the case by the handle and opens the lid, examining the figures. He glances at me and I nod, stepping forward to inspect them.

    “That’s why I quit the Military Police, if you recall.”

    I close the lid on the case and Roger latches it, lifting it from the table and turning to open the door to Dastun’s office before he motions me to precede him from the room and lead the way out of the building.

    Roger seems angry, but he ignores whatever’s making him so mad as we get in the car and asks me how the fittings for my dress went that morning.

    “Roger,” I interrupt him quietly as he starts the Gryphon.

    “Yes Dorothy?”

    He glances at me in the mirror, and suddenly I don’t feel like asking him any serious questions.

    “Does it have to be black?”

    He chuckles.

***