Crow listened quietly as Gavin announced that he wanted to stick with the plan to work in small groups. It didn’t matter what they decided to do. The villagers were already on the lookout for unfamiliar faces, so they weren’t going to give anything away no matter what size of group approached them. He glanced over his shoulder at Alistair and Rikki, who had just walked up to listen in as well. Since the knight wanted to split them up in groups of three, he fully expected Gavin to arrange that the knights would be working independently from the thieves. However, he was surprised when the other man announced that he would go with him and Olivia.

Turning back to look at him, Crow had to fight to keep his expression neutral. While this change in the plan didn’t necessarily hurt the efforts he had made the night before, he was astonished that Gavin would choose to work alongside him. Could it have been because he didn’t feel comfortable with his interrogative skills? [i]No,[/i] he narrowed his eyes slightly. [i]He’s trying to keep me close.[/i] Perhaps the knight was catching on to his secret more quickly than he had expected. He was going to have to keep an eye on him to see if he had really figured anything out or if he was just being cautious because of his mistrust in criminals.

Casting a glance at Penelope, he frowned as she tried to trade places with Olivia, only to have the idea be shot down rather quickly by her former suitor. He didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone with Alistair and Rikki—mostly the latter—but he couldn’t see any way to separate her from them without raising even more suspicion in Gavin. As much as he disliked the thought, it looked like she was going to be stuck with them. He just hoped the two thieves wouldn’t test her patience too much.

[color=fdc68a][b]“Unless you have a problem with working with me, thief?”[/b][/color] Gavin’s voice caught Crow’s attention.

He turned towards the knight with an apathetic shrug, “Well, if you’re asking how I feel about working with you personally, then yes, I do have a problem with it. But if you’re talking professionally, then I don’t have any qualms with working with you.”

Gavin studied him for a moment, seeming dissatisfied with the thief’s answer. Crow wouldn’t have been surprised if the knight had been hoping that he would squirm more against the idea of conducting the interrogation alongside him. But, of course, he wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of letting him know how annoyed he really was with the change in plans, so he held the man’s gaze evenly and said nothing more on the matter.

“Fine,” Gavin growled at last, breaking the tense silence that had fallen between the two men as they stared each other down. “We’ve already lost too much time this morning. Let’s get moving.”