They split into three pairs by early afternoon, each taking two of the six properties Isla had identified. Mercer and Tamsin took the warehouse near the southern docks first, a squat brick building that Hollis Trading used for overflow storage during harvest season. Isla and Corin covered two smaller properties near the tannery district. Bex and a pair of watchSIX DOORSmen Priest had assigned checked the remaining pair closer to the council quarter.
The first three doors opened onto nothing. Empty storage, dust undisturbed, no sign anyone had passed through in weeks. By the time Mercer and Tamsin reached the fourth property, a narrow townhouse tucked behind Hollis Trading's main office, exhaustion had begun eating at the edges of Mercer's focus.
"This is taking too long," he said, watchi
