The black Harbor Unit sedan cuts across the boardwalk and stops dead in their path. The ocean keeps moving, but the engine’s idle flattens everything else into a hard, ugly hush.
Officer Miller steps out with a tired face and a folder tucked under one arm. His gaze flicks from Dallas to Elena to Jackson, like he already knows this ruins the morning.
Dallas Fontaine
Dallas says the Harbor Unit had one meeting to ask for, and it could have waited.
Captain Miller
Miller exhales. It could have, but it did not. This stays off the public desk, and I need you all to hear it before it gets messier.
Elena Vane
Elena folds her arms and studies the folder, her expression cooling. So that is the part they did not want on the table.
Jackson shifts beside Dallas, jaw tight, while Murderbone plants himself at Dallas’s leg. Miller lifts the folder a little higher, offering the evidence like a bad apology.
Captain Miller
If you want your wedding week to stay yours, you listen now. Then we decide what this costs.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Captain Miller to leave them alone
“I step forward and hold out my hand for the folder, keeping my eyes locked on Miller.”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +3)
Dallas steps in, steady and unhurried, and holds out his hand. Miller looks at it, then at Dallas’s eyes, and the folder comes loose from his grip.
The handoff is clean. Miller’s shoulders sag a fraction as if the decision costs him more than the paper does.
Dallas keeps his stare on Miller while the folder settles into his palm. The Harbor Unit seal shows through the cover, and a district card peeks from inside beside the words, no public desk.
Captain Miller
Good. Now you have it. That is the access note and the route request they are hiding behind.
Elena Vane
So he brings it to us in the open, on our boardwalk, and expects us to smile.
Jackson glances from the folder to Miller, then back to Dallas, reading the room like a door left ajar. Murderbone stays planted at Dallas’s leg, watching Miller instead of the sedan.
Captain Miller
I am not here to keep you from the beach. I am here because someone inside wants this handed off before noon.
+ New Item Acquired
Harbor Unit folder
“I open the folder in front of Miller”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +3)
Dallas flips the folder open right there on the boards. Miller does not stop him, just watches, jaw tight, as the pages fan out between them.
Inside are the district card, the no public desk note, and a typed route slip with a Harbor Unit stamp. A second sheet shows the same address marked twice, as if someone wants the handoff remembered.
Captain Miller
That is the part they do not want seen in the open. The office, the time, the signature, all of it points to one clerk.
Elena Vane
So this is not a favor. It is a paper trail with a collar on it.
Jackson Temple
The route stamp matches the internal chain we pulled earlier.
Miller exhales through his nose, then reaches back and taps the sedan roof. The door stays open, but his stance shifts toward the road.
Captain Miller
If you are taking this seriously, then we move now, before whoever sent it decides to meet you first.
Murderbone leans harder against Dallas’s leg, eyes fixed on Miller, while the blocked boardwalk and the open folder hold everyone in a thin, uneasy pause.
“I read the route slip aloud to Elena”
Dallas Fontaine
Route slip says a private office, no public desk, district address, and a noon handoff.
Elena Vane
That is not a casual appointment. That is someone trying to keep the exchange off the books.
Captain Miller
Then you see why I came in person.
“I tell Miller to leave us alone”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +1)
Dallas Fontaine
Leave us alone, Captain. Not today.
Miller exhales, then straightens from the sedan door like he is putting a hard edge back on his face. He lets the folder stay in Dallas's hands.
Captain Miller
Understood. I did what I could, and I am out of your way.
Elena Vane
He backs off too cleanly. That means he is either honest, or very practiced.
Jackson Temple
Good. Then let the man keep his one quiet morning.
Miller steps away from the blocked boardwalk and closes the sedan door halfway, leaving the folder, the route slip, and the beach air between them.
Murderbone
Watch him, but do not chase. The line holds.
For a second, nobody moves except the gulls and the curtain of light on the water. The interruption loosens, but the evidence still sits open in Dallas's hands.
Quest Complete
Get Captain Miller to leave them alone
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Fair→Good