68

“This belonged to my father,” says the girl, “I made it for him. What happened? I was expecting him and my brother last night.”

You’re surprised she hasn’t attacked you just for having her property on you. As far as she knows, you’re a thief. You decide not to complicate things, and so tell her the truth. You were, walking down from the plateau, you saw the skid marks, investigated the carriage, and took the dead man’s money because you thought he probably wouldn’t need it any time soon. By the end of it, the girl is visibly shaken and biting back tears. There’s not much solace you can offer, but you wonder whether it would be better not to go into detail. You haven’t mentioned that the man looked like an empty husk of skin. The last thing she wants to know is that her father not only died but likely died at the hands of some demonic life-leaching monster. Then again, if she investigates the wreck herself, perhaps to recover the body, then she’ll see for herself the state of the corpse.

To tell her the whole truth, turn to 94. To leave the details out, turn to 51.