Dallas pushes into Professor Dayton's study, shaking rain from his coat. The room is cramped with shelves, dossiers, and occult curios, all lit by a green desk lamp and the amber burn of a cigarette in an ashtray. Old paper and tobacco cling to everything.
Professor Dayton
You bring trouble with you, Mr. Fontaine. That smell reaches the hallway before you do.
Murderbone pads in close, nails ticking on the wood floor, while Elena takes the rear of the room and scans the windows. Dallas sets the stolen Desk Nine logs on Dayton's desk beside a brass magnifier and a stack of marked index cards.
Dallas Fontaine
Take a look. Desk Nine was moving files through the museum.
Professor Dayton
Hmm. Covington paper, museum routing, and a clerk's hand trying to look invisible. This is not clerical error. This is choreography.
Elena Vane
Then someone inside the museum knew exactly where to hide the trail.
Dayton leans closer, his fingers hovering over a stamped line as if it might bite. Outside, a car passes slow through the rain, headlights dragging across the blinds like a searchlight.
Professor Dayton
And now they know you have the logs. If they are smart, they are already looking for this address.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what the Desk Nine logs reveal
“Point to the stamped line and ask Dayton to trace the specific routing path.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -2)
Dallas taps the stamped line with two fingers and turns the paper just enough for Dayton to see the routing marks. The professor’s magnifier hovers, then drops with a small click as he finds the sequence.
Dallas Fontaine
Trace this path.
Professor Dayton
Yes. Desk Nine routes through the museum records office, then to a liaison clerk, then outward to Covington approval desks. It is not filing, it is a handoff chain.
Dayton pulls a pencil across an index card, drawing the line in quick, angry strokes. His ash shakes loose onto the desk as he marks one office twice, then circles the same approval stamp Dallas saw in the annex.
Professor Dayton
That second mark means a live intermediary, someone feeding the paperwork forward while keeping the source clean.
Elena Vane
So the museum was only one relay point. Someone above it is steering the whole route.
A car passes outside again, slower this time. Elena shifts toward the blinds, and Murderbone lifts his head at the window. Dayton folds the tracing card once, then stops when the paper cracks under his thumb.
Professor Dayton
I know the shape of it now, but not the person. Give me a minute and I can name the office that starts this chain. After that, we should assume this room is known to them.
Quest Complete
Learn what the Desk Nine logs reveal