I started to ask why, but thought better of it. Detective Almond wasn’t in a very good mood. Of course, when was he? He always made it clear that he didn’t like being called out here.
I wondered what had happened that had made him hate the place so much. After all, he was the original bailiff, way before Chase’s, or Roger’s time. At some point, he must have liked it. I would have asked him, but that was a conversation for another time.
I took advantage of the twenty minutes it took to walk to the castle to tell Detective Almond about the bookie Dave had owed money to. All the while I was scheming about ways I could help Manny out of his situation.
Clearly the police were short on suspects. Manny not being in the system, admitting that he and Dave had argued, and that he was good with a crossbow, made him an attractive suspect. I hadn’t realized how attractive, or I wouldn’t have sent him with the police so easily.
“I know John Healy. I’ll check your bookie angle,” Detective Almond promised as we passed Gus at the castle gate. “How did you find out about that?”
“One of the men working at the museum told me.” I didn’t think Phil would want me to mention him during a police investigation either.
“One of them, huh? Is there something else I should know, Jessie?”
“No. Sometimes I forget things. That’s all.” I laughed. “You know how it is with the wedding and all.”
Gus didn’t challenge us as we entered the castle. The police bring out a certain fearful respect from Village residents. No doubt Gus had some past dealings with them too.
We walked past the feasting area where there were dozens of shields and tapestries hanging on the wall. None of them were real or valuable. Anything worth money was kept in the main part of the castle where the king and queen lived.
“Well, well.” Bart rolled to his feet. “You’re here again, Jessie. And Detective Almond. To what do I owe the honor?”
Detective Almond shook Bart’s massive hand. His much smaller one looked like a doll’s in comparison.
“Bart. Good to see you. I’m here on official police business. I need the employment records for Jessie’s assistant.”
“Manawydan Argall,” I supplied.
“You know, you should have a warrant for that information,” Bart said.
Yes!
“But you’re not going to make me get one, are you?” Detective Almond smiled at him, but it was like a sheathed sword. It could come out and cut you at any time.
Bart looked at me. “I suppose it will be all right. Although, if Manny sues the Village, you might be in some trouble.”
Oh well.
“The police think Manny doesn’t exist,” I filled him in.
“Okay.” Bart shrugged and sat back down in front of the computer. “I’ll look him up.”
We waited as Bart searched through the employee records. There were a lot of them. It took a while. Then a tiny screen popped up. “Nope. No Manawydan Argall. Sorry.”
“What? I filed his employment application with Adventureland. It has to be in there. Can you look again?”
Bart looked again. He even cross referenced. “No. He’s not in here.”
By that time, Chase was there—probably alerted by one of his security men that the police were in the Village. “What’s going on?”
Detective Almond explained everything about his search for Manny. “Have you seen him around the Village?”
“Not since you took him in,” Chase answered. “There has to be personnel information about him in the computer.”
“Nope. Sorry. He’s just not in there.” Bart shook his head.
“I had him fill out an application,” I argued. “Adventureland sends me a check for him every two weeks. Doesn’t that mean he has to be in the system?”
“Bart, check with corporate,” Chase said. “Something is screwed up. In the meantime, we’ll look around for Manny. That’s about all we can do.”
Detective Almond’s fleshy face got a tough look on it. I could see something of his younger self in those taut lines.
“I can do a little more than that. I’m issuing an arrest warrant for Mr. Argall. If any of you see him, call me. Chase, detain him when he shows up. I’ll talk to you later.”
*
“I’m sorry, lady,” Bart said after Detective Almond had stormed out of the castle. “If you’d given me a few minutes, I might have been able to come up with something for your friend.”
“That’s okay,” I told him. “I didn’t expect you to lie about it. I wonder what happened to the information.”
“Bart’s going to track that down,” Chase said. “Aren’t you?”