Mas fell into the water and regretted his decision immediately. Fluid filled his ears and nose as he thrashed for the surface, panic racing through him. Shreds, what was wrong with him? He turned to grab the wall he’d just emerged from but clutched only waves. Be still. Count.
He floated up. When his nose broke the surface, he snorted and coughed and snorted again. His whiskers were still too wet to Air-sense, but at least he could now fill his lungs with air and not drown. Count again. Perhaps he could get his hammering heart to slow momentarily to get his bearings. A long breath out and he shook his head. Now he could hear. He twitched his ears, first one way, then the other. There. Shouting. Must be Lakeside. Okay. Something to swim towards.
The shouting was getting louder when Mas touched the lake wall. Then there was a scuffle. He found a rope over the side of the quay and pulled himself up. He shook himself again and flung his arms out. Then they descended on him. He fell back on his behind, and it was all he could do to stop himself winding up back in the lake, then collapsed in a melee of limbs and shouts. Someone in the distance had the good sense to ring the bell for the constables and more folk sounded as if they were approaching. There was always an audience for a fight in Lakeside.
Mas grabbed for the nearest limb that wasn’t his own and bit into it. The yell that came back wasn’t Bobbins, so he figured he’d found their killer. The next challenge would be keeping hold of him, under the influence of that ‘tears’ drug, the kid was super strong. Luckily, since Bobbins was holding the other half of him down and he’d had a dose of it himself, between them they seemed to be winning the struggle.
The constables arrived, blowing the reed whistles they seemed so fond of. Whether it had the intended effect of warning the locals to cease and desist or whether it just egged folks on, Mas was never sure. In this case, when the constables were close enough to work out who to arrest, both Bobbins and their murderer ran out of steam at once. The drug wore off quick, it seemed.
The constable in charge seemed to be Don-po again. Either he was in trouble or Knia had promoted him to dep and Mas hadn’t known. He wondered how much else had passed him by in these last few spans when he’d been so distracted.
“What have we got here, then?” he said.
“Your murderer, as promised,” said Mas.
“Which one?” said Don-po, gently toeing Bobbins snoring form.
“Your call,” said Mas.
“Arrest them both and sort it out in interview, Sarge?” said the female voice of Don-po’s new assistant, Omari. Knia had promoted him, then.
“I think that’s an excellent call, Omari. Tie ‘em up while they’re out of it.”
The subsequent questioning and arrest of Kwat for the murder of Adelite and the young midwife Anda was followed swiftly by the release of Bobbins with all charges dropped. While Mas knew full well that Bobbins was far from innocent, he thought it better to know where Bobbins was and roughly what he was up to, along with what the impact of the new drug ‘tears’ would have. Jumping on all that from a great height at the outset had so much more potential to drive it underground again, and at least he knew where to find everyone now.
Bobbins was so relieved that he offered to take Mas and the constabulary to the Bocado to celebrate. It seemed like it was going to cost him as everyone said yes. Mas reported in to the mother and father of the dead girl and claimed an extra three spans of fees. So grateful were they that they paid up without question, and Mas went to celebrate with a clean conscience for once.
A big cheer went up when Mas entered the bar, and the drinks began to flow. A huge banquet had been laid on with an amazing stuffed Lakeside Toothfish as its centerpiece. It seemed like the kitchen had outdone themselves and everyone in the bar had a tray of snacks within reach. As the evening wore on, folk brought instruments: a hollow log drum, a reed pipe, and a visiting story-teller had brought a three-string lute. The tables and chairs were pushed back and there was dancing. Most everyone in Lakeside liked a party, so by the time things were in full swing the bar was rammed full, with more dancing and drinking spilling onto the street outside. It was one of those parties, that if a person remembered it, they probably hadn’t been there.