For Crow, the rest of the trip to Wheldrake was spent in silence as he worked on trying to come up with a way to convince Gavin to leave the interrogation for the next morning. It wouldn’t be difficult to persuade the rest of the group, since Olivia and Alistair were more interested in each other than the mission, Rikki would be quick to side with him on any decisions he made, and Penelope still trusted that he knew what he was doing. He just hoped that having the majority on his side would also be enough to make Gavin back down, since there wasn’t much else he could say to sway the stubborn knight. It wasn’t much, but it was the best chance he had to buy himself enough time to fulfill his deal with Jaxon. He had to try.

When they finally arrived in the village, Gavin promptly began to make plans for how they would conduct the interrogation this time, saying that he wanted them to split up. Crow stood aside with his arms folded loosely over his chest, listening to the exchange with a patient expression. He just had to bide his time until the knight stopped running his mouth, so he could make his suggestion to postpone the whole thing. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait for very long.

As Penelope turned to ask his opinion of Gavin’s idea, he nodded. “It is a good idea,” he admitted, indiscreetly glancing up at the black sky before meeting her gaze with a frown. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to matter tonight.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gavin growled.

“Well,” Crow sighed. “It’s so late now that anyone who’s even still in the tavern here will be too drunk to trust. We missed our window, so we might as well start our questioning tomorrow, when there will be more reliable voices to listen to.”

“So, you just want us to waste more time?” Gavin shook his head. “No way. I want to get this mission over with as soon as possible. We’re going to conduct the interrogation tonight and leave in the morning.”

“You’re only saying that because you don’t think we’ll find anything either way,” Crow rolled his eyes. “If we only question the village drunks, sure, we won’t hear anything useful. However, if we wait to ask around in the morning, there might be something worth waiting for.” He glanced at the others. “Let’s get some other opinions. What do you all think?”

As expected, a cascade of approval followed his question as Rikki, Alistair, and Olivia pitched their agreement with his plan to hold off on the interrogation. Lastly, Crow turned to Penelope with a smile, “What say you, darling?”