Rook jerks awake in the chair, wrists cinched hard to the metal arms. Gasoline soaks his shirt and drips onto the concrete, sharp enough to sting Dallas's eyes.
Rook
What the hell... Fontaine?
Murderbone stops pacing and plants himself between Rook and the dark hallway. Dallas keeps the lighter low, the ledger tucked tight under his arm.
Dallas Fontaine
You moved cargo for Voss, and you helped bury the trail that led to my daughter.
Rook
I only handled the paper. Tate ran the dock side, Bell ran the files. Voss wanted everything clean, so they made sure witnesses disappeared.
Rook swallows, eyes flicking to the ledger. The wet footprints by the blue door lead out toward the corridor, and the utility cart sits abandoned where someone recently passed.
Rook
If that book has the route sheet, you're close. There was one name above Bell's. He never said it out loud, but the call came from a man who sounded like he owned the harbor.
Dallas leans in as the lighter catches, throwing a weak gold flare across Rook's face. The warehouse answers with a distant metal creak, and the next question hangs there with the flame.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get the name above Bell
“Check the ledger for any names or initials listed above Bell.”
SUCCESS (Superb Investigation, rolled +3)
Dallas flips the ledger open beneath the lighter glow, thumb tracking the lines above Bell’s entries.
Dallas Fontaine
There.
A penciled notation sits above Bell’s name, a neat set of initials and a harbor office code, written smaller than the rest.
Dallas angles the page closer. The initials match the hidden contact on Sloane’s slip, and the code points to a higher office than Bell’s cleanup desk.
Rook
I told you, he never says it clean. That name is just what the calls used.
Murderbone’s ears snap toward the corridor as the utility cart gives a soft metallic rattle somewhere in the dark.
Dallas tears the page free at the fold, keeping the name and code in plain view while Rook watches with widening fear.
Rook
If you know what that means, Fontaine, you know who is above Bell...
Quest Complete
Get the name above Bell
“I press Rook for the name above Bell”
FAILURE (Legendary Interrogation, rolled -4)
Dallas tightens his grip on the torn page, holding it just out of Rook’s reach.
Dallas Fontaine
Name above Bell. Say it.
Rook swallows hard, eyes darting to the ledger, then to Dallas’s face.
Rook
I never met him. Nobody did, not in the open. They called him Mr. Vane on the phone, like that made him clean.
Rook
If I give this up wrong, Fontaine will know I’m lying and I’m dead either way.
Murderbone stays rigid, nose angling toward the corridor, while Rook’s voice thins to a whisper.
Rook
He handled Bell through office transfers, paper only. Brown envelopes, coded pickups, always one step higher than the rest of us.
Dallas studies the name on the torn page. Rook’s fear turns to something uglier, resignation mixed with shame.
Rook
That’s all I know. If you want the real name, you’re going to have to find who signs Vane’s orders.
Find who signs Vane’s orders
“I press Rook for the name above Bell”
SUCCESS (Legendary Interrogation, rolled +1)
Dallas lets the silence stretch until Rook breaks under it. The man’s gaze drops to the ledger, then flicks toward the blue door like he expects someone to hear through it.
Rook
Vane is not the name. It is just the voice on the calls. The initials above Bell belong to a man named Alden Pryce.
Rook
He signs the off-book orders, clears the pickups, and keeps Bell clean when the paper gets ugly.
Rook swallows, then gives Dallas the extra piece he was trying not to hand over.
Rook
There is a marina office in Far Harbor, third floor, west side. Pryce uses it when he wants no dock cameras and no harbor brass.
Murderbone’s ears sharpen. From the corridor, a slow scrape answers him, soft metal on concrete, like someone shifting a cart by inches.
Dallas Fontaine
Alden Pryce. The name fits the initials.
Rook stays frozen in the chair, eyes wide, waiting for Dallas to decide whether the new name is enough or if the man has more to trade.
“I pull out my phone and film him as I set him ablaze I tell him the girl you killed was my daughter asshole.”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +1)
Dallas lifts his phone and starts recording, the screen catching Rook’s face in a hard white glare. The lighter flicks alive in Dallas’s other hand.
Dallas Fontaine
The girl you killed was my daughter, asshole.
Dallas snaps the flame low, and gasoline on Rook’s coat catches with a sharp whoosh. Heat blossoms fast across the chair and the man jerks against the restraints.
Rook
Jesus, wait, wait, I told you what I know!
Murderbone lunges up instead of in, blocking the corridor with a snarl as the scraping outside stops dead. On Dallas’s phone, Rook thrashes in frame, face slick with terror.
Rook
Pryce is real, he is real, he handles the marina office records. That is all I ever touched!
The flames lick higher along the soaked fabric, smoke curling under the blue door. Somewhere beyond it, something metal shifts once, then falls still.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify Alden Pryce
“Grab the ledger and head for the blue door to confront whoever is waiting outside.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Dallas lifts the ledger clear of the heat, tucks it under his coat, and steps for the blue door. Smoke drags behind him like a curtain.
Rook
Pryce. Third floor marina office. That is all I ever saw.
Murderbone holds the threshold, then shifts aside as Dallas reaches the door, the dog’s stare fixed on the corridor beyond.
The blue door swings inward on a soft creak. A draft from the hall pulls the smoke out in a thin, choking ribbon.
Dallas catches a glimpse of a lone figure at the far end of the passage, half turned, already retreating.
The Unknown Figure in Hallway
He heard enough.
The voice cuts off, footsteps snapping away down the corridor. Dallas has the ledger, the doorway, and a name on the run.
Quest Complete
Identify Alden Pryce