Conversation · Titus Hardie

"Yes. But there were so many. Twenty, maybe thirty rifles."

"Guys, this is Revachol. Anyone could get a gun around here. Anyone."

"Look, fucko --" Glen steps forward. "Ruby and I are pretty tight. She would have showed me the gun if she had one. She knows I love guns."

"Yeah, everyone knows Glen loves guns."

"I don't know, Glenny." Ratface leans across the desk. "Ruby's a little secretive, isn't she? Wasn't like she told you every little thing..."

Look who's finally speaking! Ratty's been uncharacteristically quiet since you started theorizing. Maybe he has something to gain from implicating her?

He probably just doesn't like her.

"So you like waving your guns in people's faces? Doesn't mean she does too."

"Nah, man -- she'd totally wave her gun in your face if she were here right now. And you'd fucking PISS yourself."

It's clear this one is protective of her.

"Easy now, Glen." He turns to you. "What he's is trying to say is -- people who don't have guns don't shoot people. You need a gun for that. And you can't prove she has one."

You don't need to prove anything. Doubt is enough for now -- and Titus must have some.

"C'mon guys, she's one of you. Of course she's carrying -- you all are."

"Nah..." He taps his coat pocket. "This kind of heat is not easy to come by. It took us some time get gunned up to where we are now."

Still -- he's thinking about it now. And he knows gunning up has nothing to do with this.

"Klaasje said Ruby takes care of things. You don't do that without a gun in Revachol."

"She organizes things. She doesn't whack people. That's not the kind of person she is. She's a... talker."

Hmmm... This one does not like Ruby. May prove useful.

"There is a small -- 28% -- chance that shot came from beyond the roof."

"Yes, god damn it, I know what a 72% chance means. It means there's a 28% chance it isn't that." He thinks for a moment. "And 28% is no small chance either."

"Just making sure we're on the same page." The lieutenant pretends to take a note. "It doesn't all fit. We're just sharing info -- candidly."

Titus doesn't reply -- probably a good sign.

It doesn't all have to fit. The chance is still way smaller than it coming from the roof. And he knows it.

"Now what the hell are we supposed to do with that?"

"That still leaves a 72% chance it did."

"He's trying to woo us with cop science. Forensics shit. I've heard this mambo jambo."

"Yeah, but the mambo jambo he's saying goes against his theory A."

"It does?"

"Yes." He pinches the root of his nose.

"Firmly?" He shakes his head. "Firmly doesn't go well with could've. There's a route to the roof. Me and the boys need to check it out. That's what we've established."

"But a route," he forms a gun with his hand, "does not put that bullet in his head. A gun does that. And Ruby doesn't carry one."

"That key I found here." (Point at the window.) "Maybe it's for a secret route?"

"Your maybe isn't good enough, cop. You found some key -- did it have Ruby killed him written on it?"

"Good one."

"It was in your box. I take it Ruby has been in here?"

"Yeah, so what -- she's been here -- there's some key here -- so she killed him? It's a whack in the dark and you goddamn know it."

Is it? It proves there are things about the Whirling-in-Rags that he doesn't know. He must see that.

"Workshop Spare actually. It was in your box. Ruby's been here, right?"

"There is a secret route in the kitchen that leads straight to the roof."

"How...?" He looks sincerely curious.

And a little -- just a little -- worried.

"Through what looks like an abandoned pinball workshop."

"Hmhm. People say there was a pinball arcade here, some time before the hostel -- what was it called, Theo?"

"East Delta Pinball Arcade." The old man coughs. "Weird place -- went bankrupt."

Weird... how? You're wearing the pinball maker's coat.

No time to waste on this.

On this mere cameo. I get it. Moving on.

"Okay, but..." The man looks around. "How'd she get up? There's no room for a staircase in this building. Or an elevator, for that matter."

"The elevator is outside the building. It's an old dumbwaiter -- used for moving pinball machines up and down from the workshop."

"Good one, Kim."

"Thank you."

The lieutenant is glad he got the floor plan right there.

"From there -- a door leads straight to the roof. You can just step outside."

"Ruby could have gone up -- shot him -- come down -- all under seven minutes."

"That's quite the theory..." He turns to Eugene. "We need to have a look at that secret passage, boys."

Right there, underneath the calm and the cool, a nervousness. He's thinking: Ruby could have fucked us all over. How did I not see it?

"I'm on it, boss. Right when the law clears, me and Angus are going up there."

"It's a dumbwaiter, not an industrial lift. How about I go instead of..."

"Shush now." He turns to you. "You got something else to back this route up? Or is that it?"

"The elevator is on the outer wall of the building. It's an old dumbwaiter -- used for moving pinball machines up and down from the workshop."