Dallas kicks the door open into the hallway. Murderbone surges beside him. Under the buzzing fluorescent light, the figure in the grey coat freezes, one hand half-raised, a keycard flashing between their fingers.
The Grey-Coated Figure
Easy. I am not the one you want. Adelaide Wren is upstairs, room by room, before the cops or Bell's people can clear the place.
The hallway answers with a distant door slam. A thin strip of light leaks from the stairwell, and the grey-coated figure backs toward it, trying to keep Dallas talking while looking for an exit.
The Grey-Coated Figure
She used the motel as a pass-through. Bell's records, Voss's cleanup, all of it. Room 14 had the copies, but Wren took the real ledger before the fire.
Murderbone growls low, blocking the stairwell. Dallas spots a fresh scuff mark on the wallpaper near the ice machine, a hidden panel where someone has been coming and going tonight.
Dallas Fontaine
The panel is newer than the wall.
The grey-coated figure swallows hard and finally cracks, pointing with two trembling fingers toward the service corridor. Adelaide Wren is not just nearby, she is using the motel's back route to reach the annex files before Dallas does.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach Adelaide Wren before she clears the annex files
✓ Quest Accepted
Recover the real ledger
“I search the hidden panel by the ice machine”
SUCCESS (Legendary Investigation, rolled +2)
Dallas slides the panel open with one clean pull. Behind the ice machine sits a narrow service cavity, dry, dusty, and packed with fresh footprints.
He reaches in and finds a folded annex badge, a motel route sketch, and a stamped file tag marked for removal tonight.
The tag is recent. Whoever used this knew the hallway layout.
Murderbone noses the opening and snarls toward the service corridor, where the air shifts with a faint draft from somewhere below.
The Grey-Coated Figure
That path goes to the back stairs. Wren uses it when she wants to vanish before anyone can block the annex.
Dallas pockets the badge and route sketch, then spots a second mark on the wall, a grease line that points past the corridor door toward the laundry access.
The Grey-Coated Figure
If you want her, move now. She is clearing files, and she will not wait for your questions.
+ New Item Acquired
Annex badge
+ New Item Acquired
Route sketch
+ New Item Acquired
Stamped file tag
“I head for the laundry access”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Dallas rises from the panel without a sound and cuts past the ice machine, badge and sketch already in his coat pocket.
Murderbone slips at his heel, then pauses at the laundry door, nose working the greasy air pouring through the frame.
The Grey-Coated Figure
They are really going for it... then don't waste time.
Dallas takes the service route, shoulders brushing damp paint, and finds the laundry access standing ajar ahead of him.
Inside, washer steam hisses through the room, carrying the smell of bleach, detergent, and old paper.
Pinned to a rolling cart beside the dryers is a fresh annex transfer slip, still warm from the copier, with Adelaide Wren's run marked in red ink.
Murderbone
A new scent, fresh fear, recent footsteps.
At the far exit, a heel scuff answers from the next hall, and someone beyond the door draws in a sharp breath.