"Excuse me, does Mr. Laurel live here? Is he home?"
There was no wind today, and the city was shrouded in fog again. The morning sun could not penetrate the clouds very strongly, and the whole street looked a little gloomy.
While the drunk was looking at Shade suspiciously, Shade was also looking at him. Although the client, Mrs. Lemaire, could not provide a photo of the lawyer, the appearance of the drunk in front of her was completely inconsistent with the appearance of the lawyer described by the client. This was definitely not a lawyer.
"Laurel? Go find him at the tavern down the street."
As the drunk said this, he wanted to slam the door. Xia De suspected that this guy had just come out of the tavern as well.
Thinking in his heart, he stretched out his hand to pull the door, and no matter how hard the drunkard tried, he couldn't close it. Xia De showed a smile on his face that he thought was very friendly:
"Sir, I would also like to ask, when did Mr. Laurel move here? Also, what kind of job does he do?"
Because I didn't want to breathe through my nose to avoid inhaling too much alcohol, my voice was a little muffled at this time.
"He, he was already here when I moved here three years ago. He's a lawyer, specializing in solving legal problems for others, helping them deal with inheritances, divorces and the like... hiccups!"
The drunk mumbled, and Shade thanked him, allowing him to finally close the door.
With his hands in his pockets, he looked at the door in front of him, then turned around and looked at the busy street. A carriage passed by, and the newspaper boy looked at him hopefully. The housewife with the child walked along the wall while scolding him. After Shade rejected the newspaper boy, he looked towards the tavern at the street corner:
"Even though we have the information, we can't believe it completely. We still need to meet the lawyer. If that doesn't work, we can just break into the house. Since he's a lawyer who has been practicing for many years, it's impossible that he doesn't have a lot of documents."
If it was midnight, when Shade knocked on the door just now, he could have used magic to confuse the drunk and sneaked in quietly. Unfortunately, Shade's magic was limited during the day, and the strangers favored by the Silver Moon were strong at night... ... but not that strong.
The pub at the end of Queen Mary Street is called the Hog's Head Tavern, and you can tell from the name that it doesn't have any special features.
Although it was nine o'clock in the morning, there were still quite a few people in the pub. After Xia De pushed the door open and walked in, he took a sip of the strange smell of alcohol and fermented food, and then saw that almost half of the tables were occupied.
Because it is open on the street rather than in a narrow alley, at least the hygiene here is good. There is even a young man wearing a hat sitting against the wall playing the lute, and the sound blends perfectly into the hustle and bustle of the pub.
Xia De looked around the tavern and concluded that the fire protection measures were incomplete, so he walked to the bar. He knocked on the table, took out his wallet, and raised his voice in the noisy environment and said:
"A glass of water... No, a glass of rye beer."
The busy bartender glanced at him:
"5 pence".
Shad took out 7 pence and put it on the bar. The bartender looked at him in surprise.
"Who is Mr. Locke Laurel?"
the detective inquired.
"Just two pence more?"
The young bartender said in surprise, but when he saw Xia De wanted to take back the money, he quickly swept the small coins into his own hands:
"Twopence is money too... That's the tall man over there playing Rhodes with the others by the wall."
The client described the attorney as a man with brown hair, dark brown eyes, taller than Shad, and with a beer belly.
Following the direction pointed by the bartender, I saw five or six people gathered around a table near the wall. The man sitting at one side of the table was the only one wearing a white shirt.
Although this place is not the slums of the northern part of Tobysk, the people living here are generally hovering between the line of food and clothing and hunger. On weekday mornings, most of the people hanging out in the pub are idlers, so they dress casually, making the lawyer in a white shirt very eye-catching.
"Do you know anything about Mr. Laurel's situation?"
Shade did not continue to walk over, but asked again. The young bartender with dense freckles on his face showed a mercenary smile and twisted his fingers. Shade thought for a moment and pushed the glass of rye beer to him:
"It's my treat."
"you... ... "
The bartender had probably never seen such a person before, but he still put the glass of beer on the shelf behind him, then took out five pence from the small cardboard box and stuffed it into his pocket:
"He's a lawyer and he comes to play Rhodes with us every Wednesday, Friday and weekend."
"He's been a lawyer for a long time? Does he spend a lot of money gambling here?"
Xia De asked again. The bartender looked at him for a while, and seeing that he had no intention of paying, he said helplessly:
"Yes, he has been a lawyer since he moved to this street five years ago. As for playing Rhodes, it's just a hobby, not even a gambler. I guess educated people can control themselves well."
Shade put his arm on the counter and turned to look at the lawyer who was playing cards with his back to him. From the current situation, it is very likely that Locke Laurel is a real lawyer. Combined with the divination of the Prophet Association, it is basically certain that this person is correct. But Shade still needs to confirm it one last time before the investigation can be considered complete.
And what's very coincidental is that Shade can barely be considered a Rhodes player.
After bidding farewell to the bored-looking bartender, he sorted out the deck and walked towards the group of people playing cards. Of course, all the special cards had to be taken out and replaced with ordinary cards. This tavern was not a safe place.
Then he pretended to be attracted and stood with the crowd, watching the lawyer and a sweaty and rude middle-aged man playing against each other. The latter was obviously unlucky, and he cursed every time he touched a card. In the end, he even threw his cards on the ground viciously, threw away the handful of change and cards on the table, stood up angrily and walked to the bar, apparently he had no money to continue playing.
"Anyone else want to play cards?"
The victorious middle-aged lawyer looked very proud. People were whispering about the exciting situation in the previous round, but no one seemed to be interested.
Of course, Shade would not go up immediately. Instead, he waited until Lawyer Laurel looked a little impatient before he spoke loudly behind the crowd:
"If you don't mind playing cards with strangers, I think I could give it a try."
People made way for him to the table, and Shad placed his old set of Rhodes cards on the round wooden tabletop.
The lawyer looked at him politely, picked up the wine glass in front of him and took a big sip, then made a gesture to invite him to sit down:
"A round costs 5p. A bust doubles the amount, a blackjack triples the amount, and a king or queen quadruples the amount. Only the highest multiple is taken. I remind you, this is not a game for young people."
The stakes are relatively small, but it would be terrifying if the losses continued.