“You think maybe they took them to create a hideout they can't be traced to?” Jason asked. “Use a bunch of those rods to stack the spaces?”

“That wouldn’t be practical, and they didn’t take enough of the rods.”

“Well, we just keep collecting puzzle pieces,” Jason said. “Eventually we’ll have enough to figure out the picture.”

* * *

Jason and Clive were in Jason’s lodgings, poring over notes. Jason’s were scattered over the refreshments table in the lounge area, while Clive laid claim to the dining table. More than a week into their investigation, Jason’s lodgings were so deep in notes, maps, lists and magical tool design documents that Madam Landry refused to have her staff clean around it.

“You just tell me when your done and I'll send people in,” she had told Jason. “Just don't leave it too long, or I'll send people in anyway.”

In almost three months, the thief had done seventeen jobs. Every day Jason and Clive would go from victim to victim, scene to scene, gathering information.

“They’re basically doing two kinds of jobs,” Jason mused. “The first type is public, usually some kind of snatch-and-grab of valuables. These jobs are in open places with plenty of escape routes. The loot is frankly, not worth the risk. It tends to be highly specific, which would make fencing it tricky.”

“A lot of adventurers have been taking that angle,” Clive said. “The Magic Society has sold a lot of appraisal tools in the last few months.”

“The other type of job tends to be specialised magic equipment. Rare, valuable, sometimes restricted. They’ve taken much bigger risks for these jobs, as well. Every time they’ve come close to being caught it was on this type of job.”

“Whoever this thief is,” Clive said, “they either have an interesting understanding of magical tools or are working with someone who does. Aura masking, material deconstruction, bypassing magical protections. Her methods speak to an eclectic magical knowledge, most likely specialised for this kind of work.”

“A professional thief,” Jason said. “That’s hardly a surprise, at this point.”

“I’d love to meet them. Their unorthodox approach to magical study would be fascinating to discuss.”

“The whole point of this is so you can do exactly that,” Jason said, sorting through the piles of paper in front of him. He frowned, looking at them all. “There’s a lot of paper in this city for a place with such a small lumber industry.”

“This is all reed paper. There's a local reed that grows prolifically in the delta,” Clive explained absently, not looking up from his own notes. “It's a fairly easy process to produce paper from it. Pulp it, a little bit of magic and here you go. It's one of the local exports.”

“Reed paper,” Jason said, running a sheet between his fingers. “I wouldn’t have guessed that. This is high-quality stuff.”