Shining reviewed his mental list of activities for the assembled team. “I think priority one is talking to Mr. Thrift. That sounds like our strongest lead. Soft, that’s your job. Ace, go with her. Take some comms with you.”
While Shining wasn’t expecting trouble, he’d much prefer to have his ponies not traveling alone. Soft and Ace headed out of the room, pausing to pick up small radios. The electronics might have limited range but they were better than nothing. Exactly how limited their range was in Port Talon remained to be seen. It was also not an entirely covert solution, as anypony seen using a radio too often might look suspicious.
“I don’t know if we’ll get any new information from the candy shop, but we have to consider it.” Shining paused to decide who to send. “Puppy, you go. Be subtle about it, but try to find out as much as you can. Maybe get some tips from Soft. Flash, go with him. I think you could learn a lot from a Senior Guard’s experience.”
Puppy and Flash grabbed radios and left. Shining turned to Mag. “Those are our only leads for new clues. We’ll also have to figure out what to do with what we already have. Suggestions?”
Mag gestured to the large map that hung on the wall. “The roads around here seem very straight and simplified. I suggest finding out if our map of the area is accurate.”
Shining turned a questioning gaze to the two griffons.
“It’s a bit simplified,” Stormfeather agreed. “I could lead a few of your team around to scout.”
Shining nodded. “Airborne, go with him.”
The pegasus and the griffon left the room. Shining added, “Also, we’ll need somepony to comprise a ground element for more accurate mapping.”
“Just a moment,” Mag broke in. “What time did the mayor expect us? And where?”
“A late dinner at the restaurant right next to the courthouse,” Báistí replied.
“Could we possibly get that moved up a bit?” Mag asked. “I’d hate to impose, but it would really work out better for our schedule.”
Shining glanced at the intelligence pony, irked slightly that Mag was speaking out of place, but knowing that he wouldn’t do so without good reason.
“I could probably arrange that.” Báistí headed for the door. “I’ll be right back.”
“I think Pikop and I would be good for mapping the ground,” Mag said. “It’ll probably take a while, so if for some reason I get back too late to attend dinner, I think Soft would be a great candidate to go in my place and talk to the mayor.”
“Hmm, I’ll keep that in mind,” Shining replied, a slight grin on his face. He looked around the room at the team members that still had not been assigned tasks.
“Dim, I’d like you to continue working on the evidence in case anything new comes to light. Cyrus, help her however you can. Rough and Skydancer, come with me.”
Shining and his two sergeants went topside. The midday sun was bright, and Shining put on a green baseball cap. It was a fairly inconspicuous hat and useful, too. He glanced skyward at the ship’s mast, the cap shielding his eyes from the sun.
“I hate to say this, but I think we should take the flag down.” A ship full of ponies was a pretty big giveaway, but at least they could pretend to be from another country.
The sailors had finished getting the ship squared away and Shining convinced them to retrieve the flag from the mast. While he was at it, he gave the crew a quick brief about security. The sailors didn’t know anything about the ongoing investigation, but they did know who the investigators were. Shining cautioned them not to mention the Royal Guards in conversation while they were out in the city.
There was some paint on board, but applying enough of it to disguise the ship would be a large undertaking. Shining was forced to admit that the ship might be a liability. He made a mental note to investigate the possibility of obtaining quarters ashore to base the team of Guards. That might be difficult, as Princess Celestia had only budgeted for the team’s welfare aboard the ship.
Báistí returned a few minutes later. “The mayor will be waiting for you at five o’clock.”
“Sounds good.” Shining threw a look to Skydancer. “Radio Mag and tell him the time.”
The pegasus sergeant went to get a radio. Shining turned back to Báistí. “After riding the ship for so long, I’m raring to get back to solid ground. Care to show us around?”
“Sure, there are plenty of things to see within a short walk of the docks,” Báistí agreed. Shining and Rough went with her down the gangplank. Just beyond the wharf was a small market that sold things brought in on ships. There were goods from around the world, as well as plenty of fish, something not sold at seaside markets in Equestria.
Skydancer caught up with them. She glanced at Báistí before addressing Shining. “Captain, Lieutenant Magnifier is busy with his mapping project. He suggested that when Detective Touch was done with her interview of Mr. Thrift, she could take his place at dinner.”
“Did you get that set up?” Shining asked.
“Yes sir. As a side note, comms effectiveness is somewhat degraded over the distance from the ship to Mr. Thrift’s shop. It’s my guess that the radios won’t reach much further than halfway across the city.”
Shining frowned. It was something to keep in mind. If needed, they might have to set up radio relays to boost the signal.
“Lieutenant Magnifier can’t make it?” Báistí asked.
Shining shrugged. “These things happen. However, I assure you that Detective Soft Touch is very good at making conversation.”
He felt slightly conflicted about deceiving their hosts, but decided that it was justified. After all, they had only met Báistí and Stormfeather that day. They would have to earn his trust.
Báistí didn’t seem to notice and maintained a good attitude as she led her guests along the waterfront. After touring for a bit longer, they returned to the ship to prepare for dinner.
Dim had a little more information about the collected evidence. It wasn’t much, but Shining read over it to see if anything popped out.
There wasn’t anything unusual about the scuttle hole that had been made in the bottom of the pirate boat. It would have sank the small vessel eventually, but apparently it was bad luck of the pirates that a concerned citizen had soon found it and brought it back to safe harbor
The radio found aboard the boat couldn’t be repaired, but it was a fairly common model and wouldn’t require much effort to listen in if frequencies of interest were obtained.
Shining finished reading. He looked around, expecting Puppy and Flash to be back by now, but remembered that they had to trek up north to the bridge and back down to Silver’s Sweets. Maybe it had been a mistake not sending two pegasi.
Just before it was time to head for the restaurant, Soft and Ace returned. Shining excused himself from the main room and invited Soft into his office. Not only was it a more private area for the debrief, but it prevented Báistí from hearing anything she might say.
The two of them sat down on either sides of the desk. Soft said, “It was corn.”
Shining blinked. “What?”
“Oh, sorry sir. I’m talking about the fifty bushels that were listed on the shipping manifest. It was fifty bushels of corn.”
Soft was sometimes awkwardly disconnected. Shining suspected that while she understood ponies extremely well, she sometimes forgot that that they couldn’t understand her the same way.
“I suppose corn makes sense for a farm store that Mr. Thrift runs,” Shining said, “but why would Hookbeak’s associates be handling that?”
“I might have been able to learn that if I had more time,” Soft replied. “It was a bit of a delicate conversation. You can’t exactly walk into a seed feed store and start talking about pirates out of the blue.”
She smiled. “But I did learn who delivered the product to him. It’s a griffon named Gilgamesh. He’s come to Mr. Thrift before with corn. There are some grain silos behind the store where he holds crops.”
As a prince, Shining had to know a little about what kept countries running. Between harvests, grain and other foodstuffs were often stored. Usually, there was some form of depot or grain elevator where farmers would collectively keep their products, almost like a bank.
“Did Mr. Thrift know where Gilgamesh obtained the corn?” Shining asked.
“No, but after I asked the question, he did seem interested as if it hadn't occurred to him before.” Soft shrugged. “In my opinion, Mr. Thrift himself is innocent of anything.”
“Did we get Gilgamesh’s home address?”
“Sure did.”
“That’s great, good job. Add it to the map when you get a chance.”
The two of them left the office. Soft passed her notes off to Dim for cataloging with the other evidence. Soft, Rough, Skydancer, Shing and Báistí headed to dinner. The courthouse was only a few blocks off the river. Shining saw that it was split into an administrative side and a judicial side. The police were lumped in with the courts. It was good to know in case he ever needed the location of police headquarters.
The restaurant was close by and the small group went in. A portly, older griffon waved to them from the back. Báistí headed for him. “All of you, I would like to introduce Mayor Gudgeon.”
The mayor offered friendly greetings. “A pleasure to meet all of you. Please, have a seat.”
Shining introduced himself. “I’m glad for the chance to talk to you, mayor. Hopefully we can get our business wrapped up quickly and get out of your mane.”
Gudgeon chuckled, although Shining wasn’t sure if it was his slip of the tongue in saying mane or if that was just the griffon’s nature.
“I’ve asked the waiter to keep this section of the restaurant clear tonight so we can talk about whatever you want,” Gudgeon said.
“That’s very nice of you,” said Soft, taking the lead on the conversation. “You certainly seem to have the hang of your job. Have you been in office long?”
“This is my second term,” Gudgeon replied.
Soft nodded. “The city looks like it’s doing very well. I do appreciate a functioning government.”
Shining’s eyebrows went up. While he knew it wasn’t a personal shot at him and his princehood, he wondered if the griffons would think so. They hadn’t greeted him that way, however, so perhaps Soft was betting that they didn’t know.
Soft suddenly glanced at Shining. “Oh! Sorry sir, this meeting was supposed to be for you.”
“It’s all right, Detective. We haven’t even had appetizers yet. There’s plenty of time.”
Soft nodded as if that was exactly what she had expected him to say. “Thank you. I don’t often get the chance to talk to public figures and I went a little overboard.”
“Do you have designs on office yourself?” Gudgeon asked.
“I’ve thought about it,” Soft said. “I don’t really know where to start. How do you go about campaigning?”
“Well, in my case I was well enough known around Port Talon that much of the publicity was free.” Gudgeon chuckled.
“What did you do before?” Soft asked. She guessed, “Business?”
“I owned a few.” Gudgeon put on a modest tone.
The waiter appeared with a tray. It was laden with something that was pink and thinly sliced. It smelled like the fish market from earlier.
“Ah, excellent,” Gudgeon remarked. “Salmon, caught right here in Port Talon.”
Most of the ponies looked slightly put off. Shining silently apologized to them and lifted a piece of fish from the tray. It tasted about like it smelled, which to a pony palette was not particularly appetizing. However, it would have been rude to refuse and the rest of the Guards followed his lead.
“You sound knowledgeable about fish,” Soft said after swallowing and taking a sip of water. “Was that your business?”
“Oh no. Textiles, mostly.”
“I could use a nice souvenir for my mother,” said Rough. “She likes scarves.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, then. My business mostly worked with industrial applications.” Gudgeon smiled. “But I’m sure Ms. Báistí could suggest a good garment shop.”
The waiter returned to take their orders. Soft glanced at Shining.
“While we wait for our food, I was hoping to talk to you about a few things,” he said to Gudgeon. “We appreciate the help our liaisons have been able to provide, but I hoped to discuss a few legal boundaries.”
“Like what?” Gudgeon asked.
Choosing his tone carefully, Shining said, “Stormfeather, of the city police, is the only one in on the investigation who has the power of arrest. I was hoping for some permissions that would help us. Stormfeather can’t be everywhere at once.”
Gudgeon narrowed his eyes. “What specifically are you asking for?”
“I’d like to have my team given the power to arrest and serve investigation warrants.”
“I don’t think that’s doable.” Gudgeon shook his head. “As I understand it, the rules for your arrival here were hammered out between our respective national leaderships. As a lowly mayor, I can’t do anything about that.”
“What about getting more police working with us?” Shining asked.
“It’s possible. You’ll have to take that up with the police chief. I can ask him to help, and I will, but I can’t make him assign his officers to a case like this.”
“Thank you,” Shining said sincerely.
“I certainly hope cases like this don’t come along too often,” said Soft.
“They certainly don’t,” replied Gudgeon.
“As a baseline, so we don’t get erroneous crimes confused with our case, what is crime generally like around here?”
Gudgeon looked slightly uncomfortable, although his reluctance to talk bad about his city was perhaps understandable. “I think that would be another question for the police.”
“Sure,” said Soft soothingly. “I wouldn’t want to put you on the spot.”
“Port Talon is a good city. We have a few problems, but what city doesn’t? Getting these pirates out of here will certainly slow some of the crime.”
“I’m sure it will,” Soft agreed. “We’ll do our best.”
“Thank you. It is a shame that the local police don’t have much to pin on them, but perhaps you can pull something out of the air.”
“Oh, speaking of the air,” Shining broke in. “I wanted to talk to you about radios. Our communications need more range and I was hoping we could set up a repeater.”
“That would be the jurisdiction of the city zoning office,” Gudgeon informed him.
“Well yes, but the courthouse looks like the tallest building in town. It’s an ideal place for an antenna. Please, mayor. It’s just a small thing.”
Gudgeon considered it. “I don’t suppose it would hurt, especially if it’s only temporary.”
“Thank you very much.”
The food began to arrive and conversation dwindled. Soft had stopped talking so Shining figured she had learned whatever she wanted to know.
By the time dessert orders were being taken, the mood was lighter and casual words were being passed around the table. Shining talked to Gudgeon about the local fishing. While the two of them differed in opinion on what to do with the fish after it was hooked, catch-and-release versus catch-and-eat, they found some common ground. Shining was slightly envious of Gudgeon’s extensive ocean fishing experience.
The meeting and dinner wound down and after some final goodbyes the Guards got up to go.
“Stop by my office any time,” Gudgeon advised with a smile.
It was a short trip to return to the ship. When they arrived, the rest had finished their assignments in the city and were waiting for them.
Puppy was the first to speak. “Silver, of Silver’s Sweets told us that Nougat Yummies were her top selling candy. It’s also impossible to track who bought some because apparently everyone around here likes them.”
“Silver gives free samples, though,” Flash put in. “I just had to flirt a little.”
Shining shot him a look and turned to Mag, Pikop, and Airbone who had spent the day mapping Port Talon. Shining saw that the large map on the wall had been modified accordingly, but Mag was apparently still not happy with it.
“The streets are definitely drawn simplified,” Mag said. “There are unmarked alleys and nothing is nearly as neat and straight as the map indicates. However, we even stopped at a map store and weren’t able to get something better. For now, what we have will work.”
“How does the city look? Anything noteworthy?” Shining asked.
“It’s pretty much what it shows on the map,” Airborne replied. “To the east there are some farms. It looks like they grow a lot of corn.”
Shining turned to Soft. “And did you learn anything interesting at dinner?”
“Well, there’s definitely something on the mayor’s mind,” she replied. “Despite that, he’s certainly willing to help us. He was hard on the pirates despite many griffons in the city being oblivious to their actions. I think I’d like to know more about his business. He seemed to steer away from the subject. Also, he knows a lot about sailing.”
“How do you know that?” Shining asked.
“It’s related to fishing,” she explained. “The way he talked, I’m guessing he’s an expert.”
Recalling the conversation, Shining decided that she was probably right. It hadn’t registered with him, because he hadn’t been looking for the small details at the time.
He wished that Soft had been able to learn more from the mayor, but she hadn't had a specific piece of information to gather. Covert interrogations were driven by requirements, and without knowing what she was looking for Soft couldn't exactly steer the conversation in order to uncover it.
Shining checked the time. “All right everypony, we had a solid first day. We’ve got some more leads to check out tomorrow but there’s also a lot of work to do in order to establish our base of operations here, so all of you get a good night’s sleep and we’ll start again in the morning. By then, I’ll have an idea of where we should start.”
