Duncan finally finished his meal, and when he was done, he asked for another refill of pineapple juice and then turned his attention to Little John. “So, I see you’ve done pretty well for yourself since the last time we talked. Decided to expand, eh—how’s that working out for you?” Starting off light, Duncan complimented Little John on his recent activities. But while it seemed like praise, there was actually a hint of sarcasm hidden within Duncan’s words. Little John knew this, and he responded less than pleasantly. “Yeah, the expansion has been great. Ever since I got my leash taken off, I’ve been able to spread my wings freely and grow. What about you, though, how’ve you been ever since you left your cushy job to become a deadbeat PI?” Duncan answered nonchalantly, “I won’t say I’ve been better off, but going private has its perks. More freedom for instance, less restraint from the law, not having to follow the rules all the time anymore… but then you know what that's lik

Towards the end of Little John’s explanation, Duncan didn’t interrupt at all. He simply listened and fell into deep contemplation once he was done speaking. Little John’s words revealed a lot of information to Duncan, who began analyzing and organizing what he’d learned. First of all, it was now certain to Duncan that whoever was organizing this auction had used Little John to exclusively get his items into the city. There could be many reasons for this that Duncan could think of, but he dismissed most of them and focused instead on one possibility. To Duncan, the most likely reason why the auction organizer used Little John’s organization that was primarily made up of ordinary people must have something to do with the disappearance of Little John’s men. Perhaps there were some supernatural items that required a kind of sacrifice in order to move them, or perhaps a ritual of some kind was being conducted that required the lives of many people as a sacrifice. In either case, the

“What did you mean by what you said?” Little John asked, referring to Duncan’s warning. Instead of answering directly, though, Duncan asked a question in return. “Do you know why I left the police force?” Shaking his head, Little John answered, “I don’t know. It was just so sudden—when I heard you’d quit being a cop, I couldn’t understand why you’d done it, and then nobody heard from or had seen you for a long time, so I eventually stopped thinking about it.” “Don’t tell me…” Duncan raised his hand, stopping Little John from continuing what he was about to say. Then he pointed at the chair, gesturing for Little John to take a seat. Hesitating for a moment, Little John eventually sat down. Only after that did Duncan finally resume talking. “I quit the force because I discovered a whole new world that was completely different from the ones I’d known for so long. This world was extraordinary and beautiful, but it was also dangerous and bizarre. I couldn’t help but be sucked i