by Pete Prown
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Dorro’s first stop was the smeltery, where he flagged down Fibbhook, the bullish foreman who had tossed the angry bookmaster out on his rear end not a week earlier. He still had not forgiven the thuggish overseer for manhandling him, but he had a job to do and accordingly asked to see the crime scene.
“Come back for more?” snorted the big Halfling with a nasty smile, but he became serious when informed of the nature of Dorro’s visit. “Happened upstairs in the boss’ office. Your Pie Thief broke in last night sometime and walked off with the contents of his safe, easy as … pie. If I’da been here, I woulda grabbed the rat and snapped his neck. No rat like a dead rat, I always say.”
“Charming,” murmured the bookmaster. “So he crept up these stairs, jiggered the door lock, and cracked that safe in the dark. It would be easier, of course, if you told me what was in the safe—there might be clues there.”
“I can’t tell because I don’t know,” growled Fibbhook. “Mr. Bindlestiff keeps his personal business affairs to himself. I’m his foreman. My job is to make sure the workers are working, and if not, to get rid of them and get new ones. And if it takes a nasty poke in the ribs to make someone work faster, I’m not above that either. I have many skills that the boss finds useful.”
Thinking Fibbhook a big, dumb animal, Dorro decided to move on and see if there were any thoughts in his head: “Who do you think the Pie Thief is?”
“I don’t know who your silly village thief is, but I knows who pinched the boss’ papers. It was that Dwarf boy and those two pesky kids—the girl and your nephew!”
“Now see here, sir! My Wyll is not a thief!” snapped Dorro.
“Oh yeah? Then why did I catch them sneaking around here not three days ago?” said Fibbhook with a growing smile as he realized Dorro didn’t know a thing about it. “Oh, the lad didn’t tell you, that’s it. Well he did, and I done caught him, that bratty yellow-haired girl, and the Dwarf chap Orli, right where you’re standing.”
Dorro’s mind was racing. Wyll, you fool, why didn’t you tell me? And what made you do such a thing? But he already knew—Cheeryup. Dorro loved the girl dearly, but knew that her combination of brains, ambition, and energy made her take risks, as he’d learned in the past few months. And sweet, guileless Wyll Underfoot would follow her anywhere. He was mad for her, even if he didn’t know it.
“What did you do to them—you didn’t get violent, did you? Remember, I’m the sheriff now!”
“Calm yourself. I didn’t do a thing. I just told them to get lost. That Dwarf said something about giving them a tour, but now I see it was just a ruse. I should have stayed around to catch the little rats in the act.”
“Let me be off and question the Dwarves. It may be that we can close this unfortunate chapter quickly.” Dorro wanted to get to the Dwarves before anyone else could. That way, he could manage the whole blasted matter, and better still—keep Wyll and Cheeryup out of it!