Crocken stood looming over Ex-Junior Executioner Fullbrite.
Fullbrite's father had offered him a chair, but Crocken had declined to sit in it.
Fullbrite cowered on the middle of a floral-patterned sofa. Her knees were tucked up against her chest, and her right hand, the one with the bandages, was clenched by her heart. Her maskless face seemed full of anger and determination, but did not make eye contact..
Crocken held two axes, one in each hand. His own, and Fullbrite's.
"Yes, it's mine," Fullbrite managed to say.
"Do you wish to revise your previous statement?"
Fullbrite shook her head furiously. "No, I told the truth," she said with just a note of defiance, that was tempered by hiccups.
"Then why was it found in the armory?"
"I don't know!" said Fullbrite.
Crocken said nothing.
"Was my mask there?" Fullbrite asked.
"Was it?" Crocken repeated.
Fullbrite glared at him angrily.
"You have nothing to add?" Crocken prompted.
Fullbrite stared at her axe.
Crocken could hear Fullbrite's parents shifting uncomfortably on the couch behind him. He did not look at them. They were petty aristocrats, well mannered enough to know not to interrupt guild business.
"I've been thinking…" Fullbrite began.
Crocken nodded silently to encourage her to continue.
"I was walking with a friend the night my things were stolen," Fullbrite looked at the arm of the couch as she spoke, "And she was the only person who saw where I hid them… I've been looking for her, and I can't find her. I think she was the one who took them."
"Could you identify her?"
"Maybe?" Fullbrite frowned, "Her name is Nora. She has red hair… and little horns that she hid under a scarf."
"Could you sketch her face?"
Fullbrite shook her head, "She had a mask on."
"An executioner?" asked Crocken. This seemed like the lead he was looking for.
"No," said Fullbrite, "just a mask like some people wear. Not one of ours."
"I thought you said this was a friend?" Crocken said, "but you never saw her face?"
Fullbrite shrugged.
After a silence, she asked, "What are you going to do to me?"
Crocken had actually not come to do anything but ask questions, but he did not feel the need to tell her that. She had already paid the price for breaking her guild vow, and there wasn't enough evidence to connect her with the disappearance of the wand other than the strange coincidence of finding her axe in the armory more than two weeks after it had been reported stolen.
"If you see this Nora again, let us know," said Crocken.
Fullbrite nodded. She was looking at the axe now. "Can I have it back?" she pleaded.
"No," said Crocken.