The bakery yard is bright with noon light and hot with the smell of bread. Pete Mercer freezes beside his delivery van, one hand on a crate, when he sees Encyclopedia holding the button and blue scrap.
Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown
The button matches Pete's cuff, and the jam looks like bakery jam.
Pete Mercer
That came from my jacket. But I did not steal anything.
Sally Smith
Then why was your button in the drain, Pete?
Pete's face tightens. He glances toward the bakery door, then at the van, as if measuring whether to talk or bolt.
Pete Mercer
I lost that button on my route. Somebody must have been near the alley before I was.
Encyclopedia notices the open back of the van, the stacked crates, and a smear of strawberry jam on the side step. The trail has not ended, it has only moved here.
✓ Quest Accepted
Verify Pete Mercer’s alibi
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn who framed Pete Mercer
“I will examine the strawberry jam smear on the van's side step.”
SUCCESS (Superb Investigation, rolled +1)
Encyclopedia leans in beside the van and runs a fingertip through the strawberry smear. It is sticky, fresh, and bright against the pale metal.
Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown
Fresh jam. Not dried from earlier.
He looks from the step to Pete's boots, then to the open cargo bay. A small trail of flour dust crosses the step, but the jam sits on top of it, not under it.
Pete Mercer
I told you, I was here working. I did not touch that drain.
Sally crouches and points at the step. The smear is low, too low for a pocket snag, and it lines up with the van's rear door edge, not the bakery doorway.
Sally Smith
Then somebody brushed the van after the delivery, and that means the trail was planted here.
Pete's shoulders drop a little. He jerks his chin toward the service door, where the counterman's boxes still stack up untouched.
Pete Mercer
The only person who was back and forth here was the counterman.
“Is the counterman hiding something?”
YES (VeryLikely, rolled 54)
Encyclopedia glances toward the service door, noticing the counterman has stopped stacking boxes. The man is watching them with a rigid, unnatural stillness, his hands gripping the edge of a crate so tightly his knuckles have turned white.
Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown
He is not just busy. He is waiting for us to leave.
Pete Mercer
He has been acting strange all morning, Encyclopedia. He kept asking me about my route, specifically which alleys I take to avoid the main traffic.
“Is the counterman hiding something about Pete’s route?”
YES, AND MORE (VeryLikely, rolled 9)
Arthur
You are sharp, kid. I am not just watching the street, I am watching for the man who paid me to make sure Pete took that specific alley today.
Arthur
My name is Arthur, and I have been working for the wrong people to pay off a debt I should have settled years ago.
Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown
The jam on the van was not just a mistake, it was a deliberate marker for someone else to find.
“I press Pete Mercer for the route details”
SUCCESS (Legendary Interrogation, rolled +1)
Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown
Tell me your route, Pete. Start at the bakery and go in order.
Pete Mercer
I load at the side door, take Mercer Lane to the corner, cut past the school yard, then hit the shops on Oak Street. I never take that alley unless I am sent to the rear gate.
Pete speaks fast at first, then steadies as he points, step by step, to the ground beside the van.
Pete Mercer
This morning I stopped there to pick up a sack that slipped. That is when I noticed the jam smear on the step.
His hand lands on the flour dust by the doorway, and the fresh tracks line up with the van, not the alley.
Arthur
He is right. I saw him come in by the side door first. The alley was for somebody else.
Arthur’s shoulders sag, and the service doorway behind him feels suddenly too open, like a confession with a missing name.
Quest Complete
Verify Pete Mercer’s alibi
Skill Upgrade: Investigation Superb→Legendary
“I ask Arthur who paid him”
SUCCESS (Legendary Interrogation, rolled +0)
Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown
Who paid you to frame Pete?
Arthur
A man from the freight office. He came in after closing, said he needed Pete blamed before morning.
Arthur
He wore a gray cap, kept his face down, and paid in crisp bills. I never got a name.
Pete Mercer
Pete's shoulders ease a little, but his eyes stay on Arthur, waiting for more.
Arthur
He told me to leave the jam smear on the van step, so it would look like Pete had handled the load.
Arthur rubs a hand over his mouth, then points toward the street beyond the yard. The open doorway behind him frames the bakery interior, quiet and bright, while the flour dust and the strawberry jam smear sit there like matching signatures.
Arthur
If you want the man, ask the freight office clerk. He was waiting for somebody to make the story look clean.
“I ask the freight office clerk about the gray cap man”
SUCCESS (Legendary Interrogation, rolled -2)
Leroy Brown crosses the yard to the freight office window, notebook in hand. The clerk inside is half turned away from the street, sorting invoices under a buzzing lamp.
Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown
I ask about the man in the gray cap.
Freight Office Clerk
The clerk blinks, then points with a pencil. 'He came by before dawn, yes. Said he was collecting a sealed crate for the bakery, but he kept his head down and left in a hurry.'
He frowns at the notebook in Leroy's hand, then at the yard, as if trying to decide whether helping is worth the trouble.
Freight Office Clerk
He signed the paper with only initials. Looked like he knew the place, though. Not a customer, more like somebody who did not want his face remembered.
Leroy gets the dispatch slip copied before the clerk can change his mind. The carbon leaves a dark smear on his thumb, and the clerk notices the stain.
Freight Office Clerk
You boys can keep the copy, but if that gray-capped fellow comes back, I want the police told first.
Pete straightens at the word police, while Arthur shifts in the doorway, suddenly less certain. The copied initials sit in Leroy's notebook, but the clerk's warning hangs in the air.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the gray-capped man
+ New Item Acquired
Dispatch slip copy
“I examine the initials on the dispatch slip for any familiar handwriting.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Deduction, rolled +0)
Leroy studies the initials again, then flips the copy under the light. The clerk's cramped office goes still behind the window as the shapes on the paper click into place.
Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown
Those initials are not random.
The letters match a hand Leroy has seen before, neat but rushed, the kind that presses harder on the last stroke. He keeps the copy steady, comparing the slant with the name on the bakery crate tag in his memory.
Pete leans in, hopeful, while Arthur's face tightens at the doorway. The freight clerk stops shuffling invoices and watches Leroy's notebook instead of the street.
Freight Office Clerk
Well, what is it? I know that hand, don't I?
Leroy traces the initials once more and finds the match. The gray-capped man is no stranger from outside the yard. He is tied to the bakery's own deliveries, and the paper proves it.
Arthur recoils, suddenly trapped by the paper in Leroy's hand, while Pete straightens with relief. The copied dispatch slip is no longer a clue. It is evidence.
Quest Complete
Identify the gray-capped man
Quest Complete
Learn who framed Pete Mercer
New Gift: Local Network Informant