"You mean..." Charles narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the report before him.
"Detective Isengard Stanton spoke very highly of your abilities." He raised his head and looked at Klein's face.
"But he seems somewhat averse to you personally..."
"Have you had any dealings with him before?"
"No." Klein shook his head, answering without hesitation.
"I've never dealt with him privately. Although he's a very famous private detective, most of my social contacts are confined to the Guild."
"Could it be because of the Rustig affair..." Charles speculated.
"Probably not..."
"I tested the waters a little... he didn't show any particular reaction to the name Rustig..."
Actually, I was pretty terrified at first too. I thought I'd be hauled straight off to prison. After all, the bounty on my head is several tens of thousands of pounds.
For most detectives, that's more money than they could earn in a lifetime... Klein grumbled inwardly.
Later, he had deliberately found an opportunity to go Above the Gray Fog and perform a divination. Only then had he discovered, torn between laughter and tears, that Detective Isengard Stanton was actually the detective Lorne Dysenk had hired back then to investigate him in return.
No wonder he'd seemed so familiar back then... so that was why!
"Then I suppose he simply dislikes members of our Guild." Charles did not pursue the matter.
"Still, you provided quite a few useful ideas during this joint investigation, which considerably sped up our efforts to apprehend the culprit..."
"That Devil exposed quite a few weaknesses as a result."
"Well done."
Charles nodded in satisfaction, took a thick envelope from his drawer, and handed it to Klein.
"Keep up the good work."
Klein took the envelope and gave it a habitual squeeze, then smiled.
He was quite pleased