37. Ollie

S peak of the devil. The man of the hour came in shortly after Lucy had her freak out about getting in bed with a murderer. I was so glad she didn't want to know who it was because she'd lose her shit if she found out she was protecting Neco Argent. She wouldn't turn him in, but she'd definitely light my arse on fire.

That could be hot.

As soon as Old Man Aimes came in, I swooped in with a drink and Lucy came by with stew and bread. We didn't need the girls this early. Only Basselt was here in the kitchen. Lucy disappeared to help him. I was still processing that Basselt could just sniff her and figure out she wasn't a boy. That was weird.

"So, any news on the Trulos District murderer? I heard he hit Lower Cutwart a few nights ago. I also heard a rumor there were two different murderers."

"How'd you hear that, boy?"

Fuck. Aimes's watery blue eyes immediately snapped to attention and took me in. He was taking my measure. I just grinned and shrugged. I played it off.

"Trevils was in here talking about this Blight. He said he slips into your house in the dead of night and leaves no evidence. Lower Cutwart is next door. My friends were there when they found the bodies. They said it was really messy and one of the daughters was pretty. It's a shame when a pretty girl dies. Just curious."

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Better than anyone I know."

"There are two killers. The Blight started first. Trevils has been looking for him for a while. Trevils is calling the second one The Ghoul."

Oh, man. Beck said Neco was a little ambivalent about his serial-killer name. I hoped he didn't take out Trevils because the Ghoul was so much cooler than The Blight. Also, I'd never say that to Neco because I didn't want my throat slit and he seemed kind of sensitive about being called a serial killer instead of an assassin. It was honestly kind of one of those potato/po-tah-to things, but I wasn't going to have that conversation with him.

"The Ghoul is the one who made Lower Cutwart their hunting ground recently, right? Seems like they are making their way to Guttertown. The Barons will have Trevils stop investigating if he comes here."

"That doesn't mean he's going to stop looking into it. But yeah. The Blight only kills men. No one has figured out how he's picking them or how he's getting into the houses without waking anyone. The Ghoul kills entire families, and he paints skulls on the walls with their blood."

Gross. Neco would never.

"How is he leaving without getting caught? He has to be covered in blood. Even if he's taking the time to take a bath, he'd still have to leave the house covered in blood to fetch the water. The Trulos District has a river that feeds to the ocean, but Lower Cutwart is pretty landlocked. They have a lake, but it's a walk from the town and he'd still be seen covered in blood."

"You'd make a half-decent inspector. We don't know. We're pretty sure the Blight is sneaking into the houses and that's how the rest of the house doesn't know he's there. We don't know how the Ghoul is getting in.

"The people in the house who are old enough appeared to have been gathered in the sitting room. They were picked off, and he chased a few. The kids were in bed at the time. They were all killed in their bedrooms."

"Well, if they were knocking on the front door, someone would have seen them. Especially in Lower Cutwart. And if they were from Guttertown or Lower Cutwart, they would have been kicked off the stoop in the Trulos District," I said.

"All things Trevils has considered. There is one thing all the victims have in common, but it might not mean anything. There was a pretty sixteen-year-old girl among all the Ghoul's victims.

"Like I said, it might not mean anything. She'd be of marrying age, but she'd have no say in who she's married off to. Her father would have the final say and he's going to pick who makes him the most money. There's been six Ghoul murders, and they started in the Trulos District.

"Merchant sons can be ugly as sin inside and out, but men will marry their daughters off to them because of money. There are the outliers who will tell them no because they give a shit, but if the Ghoul is a merchant boy killing because he's getting turned down for marriage, it just wouldn't happen that many times. The sixteen-year-old girl might be completely unimportant. It's just the only connection we can find so far."

Neco would know. I preferred slinging drinks instead of the dark stuff. People came to the Whispering Raven to cut loose and have fun. I liked giving them that. Lucy wanted no part of this because of how dangerous it was. I just didn't like thinking about people getting killed.

Still, Neco might have pulled away, but he was still one of us and we'd protect him.

"Was the bloody skull in every room or just one? I feel like that could be a clue."

"He got creative with the blood in every room. It was a skull in the living room. Most everyone died running from him. There were a few in the halls. He painted a smiling face in the kids rooms. There was one bloody butterfly in every house."

Gross. Neco at least had a code, and he wasn't finger painting with people's blood.

"I feel like the butterfly is important," I said.

"So does Trevils because he's not discussing any theories about it. He doesn't want anyone influencing his ideas, so he never discusses them until he's come up with a theory on his own. Not even with me and I've known him forever. You know, you're pretty good at this. You could make a living at it."

"No way. This shit is too dark for me. I just needed to be reassured it wasn't coming to my backyard. We just hired four new girls. One is slinging drinks and the other three are making music. You should come back tonight and hear them perform. They are talented."

"Oh, I heard about them all the way in the Trulos District. A few of the fancy famous singers there are taking offense at some people saying Guttertown trash has more talent than they do. The whiskey makers are pissed off, too, because they are worried about losing their customers.

"A few of them are trying to replicate your Bloody Mary, but they don't know what spirit you're using or the exact recipe. I checked them out because I thought you and Lucy would want to know. They think all you're capable of brewing is shitty stuff, so they tried to serve everyone tomato soup with their cheapest bourbon in it. I told Trevils he should have arrested them on principle because even without the bourbon, the tomato soup was vile."

Ugh. Lucy was going to be livid. They'd never figure it out unless she shared her vodka recipe with them and she wouldn't.

"Arseholes," I growled.

"I did you a solid. I spread the word that the real Bloody Mary couldn't be replicated outside the Whispering Raven and if they wanted to try it, they needed to make the trip to Guttertown."

"Thanks, Aimes."

That was what the rest of Nestran didn't understand. Everything was about money with them. We barely had that in Guttertown, but we understood some things were more valuable. Aimes couldn't do a lot of jobs because of his leg. He did what he could, and we bartered with him.

Lucy and I gave him free food and drink when no one was around to bitch about it because Aimes was a big part of our childhood. He watched us a lot when Caitrin was working late at the tavern. He could have been a total grump who hated children, but he told us fascinating stories and we adored him.

We took care of him now that we were adults because we still liked his stories. Aimes helped us when he could by talking up the tavern.

Aimes helped me in more ways than one. He got me information to help Neco and Guttertown and he brought the tavern some new business.

It was a shame the only person outside of Guttertown who saw what a treasure Aimes is was actively looking into one of my best friend's murder hobby and would see him hang for it.