[h2] Ferd Smith [/h2]


	As Richard walked up the stairs Ferd responded, "Ferd or Fred are both fine with me, I've been called worse things." He smiled at his own joke. He furrowed his brow at Richards comment about the house not looking very good a few years back. True the first floor had always been a bit messy, but was the man blind? Rot and decay covered nearly every inch of the place, save for the outside. Ferd felt the corner of his mouth tugging down into a concerned frown. Hopefully Richard wasn't one of those detectives that only accepted the cold hard reality they were used to. That would be a bit uncomfortable.

	"You mentioned a connection in Boston? What's the name, I'm from those parts myself, maybe I know him." Ferd commented distractedly. He'd been hired to find a book huh? Didn't sound very outside of Jeremy's realm of interest, but why in the world hadn't he just gone and done it himself? At the mention of North Africa Ferd's ears perked up. Really? Was Richard saying that because Jeremy had told him about the cave he was looking for, or had the book Richard had recovered mentioned Africa? Was it possible Jeremy had gotten ahold of one of those journals he'd been so interested in a few years ago? 

	Ferd had to admit being here with out permission didn't exactly look good. They should probably make their presence known to the local authorities sooner rather than later. Ferd thought he remembered Richard mention something about some peeper hanging around nearby. One of them should probably go check that out.

	Val's hand on Ferd's shoulder was a surprise. Ferd looked at the slightly shorter man. Interesting bloke this one, not the callous sort of criminal, then again he might merely be checking in on Ferd out of self preservation. It didn't pay to have jumpy unreliable along on a heist. 

	Ferd gave Val a half smile, "Yeah everythings fine Val. Thanks for going along with me just now." Ferd nodded at the door, "I think I'm gonna take a quick ankle outside, Richard mentioned something about something about some dewdropper kickin around outside. I'm hopin it's just some Jack out on a bender, but you never know. After than I think I'll head down to the local bull pen." Ferd jermed a thumb towards the stairs Richard had just waltzed up. "Ole Rich makes a point, we don't need the coppers comin in and gettin the wrong idea." Ferd stood up from the wall strolled towards the door. 

	Almost on a whim he turned back to Val and said, "Wanna come along? Thought I'd try and find me a quilt along the way, might not be a bad idea to have us a chin." With another nod at the stairs Ferd went on, "Rich like as not can handle the snoopin here for now, to many bodies ed just get in the way." Ferd turned to the other two men and said, "One of ya's is welcome to come along as well, but we'd best at least make sure there's two of us together at all times. Oh and if the two that stay end up blowin outa here before me an whoever gets back they outa leave a note. Least that's what I'd say we should do." Ferd stopped waiting for an answer, still working through what little information he'd gotten his hands on at this point. He had some general leads at this point, but as usual nothing concrete.