"Why leave the Pocket Watch behind?"
Under the cover of night, the two church clerks who had worked hard all evening finally turned and left.
Almost immediately, Amira looked at Reginald, making no effort to hide her confusion.
"I shouldn't have to remind you how important that thing is. Aside from Anke, it's practically the only thing we've found in our investigation so far. More than one victim has said they've seen it."
"It doesn't seem magical in the slightest, and even the contents are hard to understand. But handing something so important to him only adds an unknown risk. I can't see any reason for it."
"Or do you think Anke might uncover some secret? If that's really what you believe, wouldn't it be better to talk to him honestly instead of misleading him like this?"
"Don't you think your words contradict each other?"
Amira's words were harsh, but Reginald glanced at her without the slightest sign of being moved.
"If carrying it around serves no purpose, where does the unknown risk come from?"
Faced with that rather pointed question, Amira was briefly at a loss for words.
"I know you don't agree with putting another victim at risk, but you saw what happened today. If Anke hadn't taken the risk himself, we might have missed too much..."
As he spoke, Reginald wore an unusually rueful expression.
"I think sometimes we ought to learn a thing or two from Mr. Anke."
"Learn from someone who thinks all of this is a nightmare?"
After a long silence, Amira looked around and spoke in a low voice.
"At least he seems quite willing. Maybe nothing will happen even if he carries it around, and after studying it, he might really surprise us."
Reginald's stance was clearly firm.
"That willingness is