The Warehouse was unguarded, its contents, while valuable, were not the sort to be stolen. Massive palates of lumber, mostly cedar and other building equipment lined the building, creating a network of passages that reminded Steeple of a maze. After a few minutes of navigation they found the scene of the crime toward the back of the building, where Roland would have been hard pressed to escape.
Sawdust and wooden splinters littered the spot. There were many, many footprints but after some investigating Steeple and John were able to pose a workable theory of the crime.
There were dozens of footprints, most of which belonged to the guards who had discovered the body. Roland’s own stood, flat in the center of the chaos, his feet had been planted. Whatever had killed him left only faint trances, as if he stood, supported by the sawdust for a time. Unfortunately that left a third, as yet unaccounted for, set of prints. Made of a light traveling boot’s heal. John, now mostly recovered, was able to follow those tracks to a window, where he found proof of it being pried open, whoever left by it, entered by it as well.
When Vendramino shows up the necromancer brings with him the murder weapon, which he hands to Steeple upon his request. Whispering to the spirit of the blade Steeple gets a rudimentary response - it says that it was carried by a man, and that it has only been wetted with blood once. It seems to be unable to contribute much else.
When Steeple asks Vendramino about Roland's spirit the necromancer informs him that Roland's spirit is beyond contact, though there are other ghosts nearby and they might have seen something.
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Topic: Steeple, John - Framed (Read 24044 times)