So, what is it?Cabernet Cabaret is a narrative concept album, delivered in the medium of rap. Think Hamilton, but set in Eorzea with a film noir beat in place of the American Revolution. The story follows a private investigator hired to find a woman's killer, as she becomes increasingly entangled with the case.This album was written in full by me, but I am obligated to tell you that the lyrics, sample loops, and drum kit are not my own performance. Those were generated by AI at my prompting, and I spent many, many hours compiling hundreds of iterations, isolating their stems in VirtualDJ, and splicing things together in Audacity. The entire project, between storyboarding, lyrical composition, iterations through prompting, the splicing and post edits, and animating the lyrics for video took me the vast majority of my spare time (and entirely too much of my downtime at work) for over three months. I would estimate a little over 500 hours of effort has gone into this beast, and I hope you find that it was all well worth it.If you like what you hear, and you wish to support me, I would encourage you to check out the merch shop I set up over at FourthWall. I have it set up to charge the absolute minimum (I make three bucks a purchase) because I want people to be able to afford that stuff, but it would delight me to know people like this project enough to want to own objects and apparel that proudly depict its imagery. More than anything else, I'd encourage you to pitch in for the vinyl campaign. If we can get 100 people to commit to buying the album on vinyl, we'll get an authentic pressed 3 disc EP, with a triple-gated dust jacket, printed lyrics, and more. I think it's cool as hell, and I'll be the first one to commit to the campaign because frankly even after hearing these songs many hundreds of times, I still enjoy listening to it.And if you can't afford to buy any of the fun stuff I set up, that's cool too. The album is available for free on Bandcamp, can be found (with animated lyric overlay) on YouTube, and should be showing up on Spotify and Apple Music by the end of July.-Spirit

PRIMAL | FAMFRIT | MIST | WARD 22 | SUBDIVISION APT 8

HOME

Walked out from the last mess with blood on my coat.
New day, but the same city.
The same game, and fresh notes.I’m the one that you come to when you
Got a riddle that’s elusive, target reclusive
I can deduce it, for a fee, I see what others don’t
With cold reads and hot leads, I find lost ghosts
The Brume hides its worst lies under gray skies
And a coat of snow and ice but while
The frost conceals, my cost reveals the story
And that’s why, as I dry off, there’s a knock
Rappin’ at my office door.The knock is resonant. He’s hesitant
To enter till I call him in
Out of his element, with vellum ink
Traces on his skin
Hunched with a lean he adopted
I motion opposite
To the chair across my desk
His act a mess, and he struggles
To keep his limp same side,
Juggles his persona but
His act can’t hide
He isn’t slummin’,
But there’s no gun at his side
Keeps his eyes low, his voice too
I lean back as the seat cracks
And creaks, as he tents hands, and speaks“You Aud?”
That’s my name, so I nod,
but we haven’t met
I strike a match and I offer a cigarette
He declines
But he takes the seat across from mine
“The bottom line,
There’s someone I need you to find.”I take a drag.“A woman’s dead,” he goes on
“Murdered. Break of dawn.”
A crack in the voice says more than he lets on
What’s she to him? A child or a lover?
And what’s with the fake limp, he undercover?
Another case of a client saving face
Disguising grace under a coat
Of greasy glaze, and he won’t
Give me his name, but all the same
I’ll take his money, find his honey or this missing dame.Cold start, cold cash, snow overhead
A man too polished and a woman dead
With a need to know where her story led
And who had seen her last before they cut the threadCold start.
No talk.
Just pay me.
Blood on your mind, a woman’s tragedy.Drop the gil. Say the terms.
I’ve spoke with enough rich blokes
Not about to get burned.He clears his throat and he fumbles
He stumbles tryna get the words out
The body’s not even around anymore
Temple knights took her to the morgue
Pays a retainer, but he’ll pay more
If I can explain her death, who and why for
And the trail is fresh, the scene’s still hot
So I ask, what’s your peace worth?
I bet it’s worth a lot.“She was.”He says, “She was.”So I pour myself a glass of gin
Toss it back
Let’s begin.To the Brume.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Snow over stone, flurries at low light
No police post, just scurries and rat bites
Cordon strung loose, just a rope and a sign
A coat of snow,
Sticky blood and a chalk outline
Or is it two?
I needa get a closer viewSo I tiptoe down through the mud
Step lightly tryin-a void the blood
Step under the rope
To get a scope of the crime sceneI see two outlines
One tall
One slim
Poorly defined
Thin one’s her
But who is him?The slim profile was more exposed
Cobblestones froze with a slice of red
Where her neck was slit
Looks quick
And while it still was wet
A scarlet silhouette
She stumbled, must have crawled
For just a coupleWere they a couple?If the picture paints a portrait of a woman laid to rest
It understates the mess where the tall one fell
Snow sticking to pooling blood
Of grueling rush
The killer took his time on him
The grimness of the sticky slush
A rush of copper odor assaulted me
This was not a simple robbery gone bad
This was murder, plain as day
Made to pay
A part of him was stripped away
Or many, the blood tells a story but each patch speaks above the other
I feel the gin coming back up
I focus on my breathing to recoverHunched over with my knees bent
I look over the snow where a piece went
Like a marble, or something made of glass
The badges must have passed up
When they hauled the bodies out
I sweep the snow aside and I’ve got it now
A linkpearl.
Still squawking.
But there’s no one else there talking.
Just static.
Musta got knocked loose when the man was assaulted
Got jarred from his ear and the soft snow halted
The impact
But it still cracked
If it were intact could be a smoking gunCold hands, cold trail, but a pearl still hums
You had your hand in the cookie jar but dropped some crumbs
And you left in a rush, but not clean enough
And I’ve chased worse ghosts when the city gets rough
Cold hands, cold trail, but a pearl still hums
You had your hand in the cookie jar but dropped some crumbs
And you left in a rush, but not clean enough
And I’ve chased worse ghosts when the city gets roughEdrin.Pearl safe in tow I called a chocobo
Took a ride to the east side tavern so
I knew he’d be there, half past when
Guy on the force
Good cop, old friendEdrin’s nursing a glass
And he raise it to me
Take a seat and I wave for a shot or three
This place is an old dive
And when they arrive
I swear I can smell the dishwater in the glass.I pass that one to Edrin.Smalltalk is boring me, and it’s time for biz.
I’ve been exploring, see, and what I wonder is
About a man who died and what name was his
Disturbed at my words Edrin gives me a look
Smirk gone, brows raised like bait on a hook
He says guy’s no one
No where
No record
Viera male, cause of death stab wounds
Blood loss
Heart lossHeartbreak?
I correct him.I was wrong.Heart loss, by the killer, took it
Cut his chest open and took the heart,
Cut him apart and took it whole
Aud, I’ve seen the hole
I blink.
I can’t think of what to say but now the mess makes sense in a grotesque sorta way
He says the file on him turned up nothingBut for her there was a word
Or two about the way she earned her due
A smuggler
name was Rinnan
She dealt in wine and linens
Word was the plates that she was spinnin’
Crashed
And when they came down on her ass,
Well…Two bodies, two graves and the falling snow
A dead bunny and a carrier of ill cargo
Carved up the boy and they slashed the girl
But the coppers and the killer missed the old linkpearl
Two bodies, two graves and the falling snow
A dead bunny and a carrier of ill cargo
Carved up the boy and they slashed the girl
But the coppers and the killer missed the old linkpearlBack in my office, pearl on the desk
I’m taking notes. I needa know what I’m planning next.
The smoke tapers from my tray, cause I’m writing papers
Notebook open.Two dead.
Corpse removed.
Smuggler Rinnan
Heart’s missin’Rinnan. A smuggler. Criminal.
Need to know more about a woman whose career was being hidden.
Typical.Time to hit the beat.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Seems like word travels fast.
As I pass by the vendors
And I’m tippin’ tender
A small gil spender to unmask
The one who ended her, tight grasp
On my cash but I’ll flash
A little scrap to loosen lips
For a good tip, if you slip
Where the victim went to dip
After rippin’ someone off, flippin’
Stock, wine bottles and grinnin’,
Pushin’ bolts and colts’ linen,
The results of hob knobbing
With dodgy slobs and cobbled
Plots and dodging cops
With hot property, the lot’s
Not forthcoming but talks
When you pay properly.They get pliable, and hirable
The gil is so desirable, response
Don’t track, don’t require a bull-
Shit story, I need facts
Crack the truth, the more
He rattles his mouth
Prattles on, says she’s saddled
With debt, you can bet
He’s addled but won’t forget
Says he’ll settle accounts
With me, small amounts
Piddly, he thinks he’s clever
He never considered I’m better,
His lies are withered, and whether
They’re little clues or hidden proofs
I play along, aloof, and hide my loose
Investment, but middling lies
Can’t disguise what’s suggested by his eyes.Eyes.
Eyes don’t tell lies.I can trace the way his gaze delays
On a place she may have stayed away
From faces, I played him, but portray
Myself complacent, pay him, small change
In case it goes sideways, to erase
The by-ways I make
With a fiction, laced with the same
Sifted shit I picked through.Pay a fee for the truth, buyin’ heat and a lie
You get your money’s worth when you study the eye
Because the eye gets lonely and it looks for her
Even though she’s eating dirtThe hovel Rinnan was livin’ inside
Was a slum, hidden behind a dive
With women for rent by the hour
Air sour with spent ale and powerful
B.O., ripe with life breakers
Pissant pimps and drug traders,
Peddlers of measures
of street poultice pleasures
The landlord a man sordid
He sorted out business for room and board
With bribes, lucky me
I afforded his fee to get inside
He turned the key but the knob didn’t need it
The lock didn’t heed it
The hardware depleted
The landlord conceded
He hadn’t bothered to fix it
And half the time somebody picks it anyway.The place was lived in,
Best she could do, given
The state of affairs Rinnan
Was spinnin’ her plates in.
The landlord gets bored
And I pour over the unfortunate’s
Fortune, a motley assortment
Of re-purposed portage
Crates as tables and chairs
Poor repair, from a shortage
Of spare change
But her smuggler’s money’s explained
It’s been drained, like the bottle
Of product, empty and lain
Over a makeshift surface
Roselets Cabernet.
And three large, red stains.The furthest shelf in the flat
Along the back wall, wood slats
Collection of old maps
And a pile of loose scraps
Of broadsheets, stacked up
Card for tasting, tracked up
Wine not cracked up for high score
Rated a 4, box of pages packed up
On the floor, a who’s who
In the vineyard community
Prayer card reread to lunacy
A corkscrew, it’s bent too and she
Got a wood box of salt rock
With warm socks, kept dry
Comb, probably stolen, but why
Looks chosen by someone else
Weird keepsake, at any rateAnd the trash was packed
With corks and wax seals
More bottles, cheap stuff but still
A gil pouch, hidden, a few bills
No big deal, a bag of linen beside
With high priced dyes and designer styles
She was probably skimmin’
Were you drinking the product, Rinnan?
Unwise when you’ve got skin in the game
It’s a shame that it came to this
But it seems you got pissed
On your own stock
And you got clocked, got on someone’s list
I think I’ve got the gist
Bonded wines and fancy threads
Absconded, and wound up dead
And the brand that forced their hand
Some standout left out,
Roselets Cabernet.
I’m not much of a sommelier
But living in squalor
She wasn’t a big enough baller
To pay for this bottle.I sweep up the clippings
And glass, caps and drippings
The maps and cards
And other crap that seems part
Of her story’s wrap.Learned a lot about the victim
Still couldn’t have picked ‘em
Out of a crowd.
And I needed to know
Where the wine was going.
Time to stop asking nice.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Wine label
Under the table
She was able
To go undetected
Unrejected
While I scramble through the vineyard
Getting dots connected
Shady guy
Named Lance
Smile too high
He’s a fence
Eye the stock
Mostly hot
Tell him I’ll tell them how he got
If he don’t tell me bout theWine
What’s the time
You seen her climb
Up the steps
I will tell them what you klepped
Bottles glass
Sound’s harsh
When she pass
Who she parley with
How she travel, how she pack
Who’s the muscle, got her back
Who she know, who cut a deal
Do she meddle with a man, vieraEyes go dark.
Mouth goes flat.
Threats not enough to get into that
Gives me one crumbCrates, storage
Short two orders
Vintage porter
Bottles hoardedDitch my coat
Don a cloak
Rehearse the questions
Fake a note
Approach the slimy lookin’ man
With a ledger in his hand
Tell him the merch is long delayed
Tell him boss is pissed he paid
Get a hint before he’s on to me
The ruse expires quicklyGet one word
Clayhook.
Need to get away, book it
Out of sight, drop disguise
Hide away from prying eyes
I’ve heard of it.
Foundry place, caked in grit
Smells like shit
Take a scarf and wrap around my face
And now the race is onSmokestack
Ash and soot
Clouded sky
Grime underfoot
What I’m looking for
I don’t know
But I’ll bust down doors
Until I find itSee deal up the way. Two men dark, wearing gray
I can’t hear what they say, but papers swap and they walk away
I tail the one on the right
Slip behind him out the light
Out of sight
Think he hears my boots but he keeps walkin
Think he knows I’m here but he’s not clockin’
Where I am, and I watch him slip
Into a closed up scrivener.Ink shop.
Vellum ink?I crack the window in the back
Window’s high, boxes stack
Peek above the window ledge and see the table
Designer of product labels.Wine.
Special.
Roselet.
Cabernet.
Is the wine rebranded?
Hear the door lock pop and the reverie stops
Duck behind the boxes ‘fore it gets too hot
I hear the man walk on past a vacant lot
And now I start to socket how the pieces lockHot on the trail, and I melt the snow
Gutter swine dealing wine and blow
A tangled web of lies and deceit
New angle needed as I walk the streetThe man. Who was he?
Someone no one seemed to know
Wouldn’t talk to cops, wouldn’t be
Too surprising from the folks down low
But maybe me?
I need something else to go onSo I ask around. She left clues behind
What’s the deal with him, what could I align
With the mess of lies my retainer buys
Paint a clearer picture when the threads get tiedTwo more hours!
Spoke to every shady bastard on the block
Wrote down every maybe, scribbled fast
Heard anyone who’d talk
Stopped a lady
Must be eighty
Hobbled, slow gait
She seemed less averse to speak
And she had seen him, gleaner
Maybe once he was a gleaner
And she seen her
Seen them both beforeSaid she used to talk pretty
Walk pretty
Like a dame from the upper city
Had to break old habits living low and gritty
Got a finger broke talkin’ back to a bloke
Skinny guy, one eye
Dagger at his side
Hip flask, stank of ryeHotter on the trail, and I melt the snow
Gutter swine dealing in wine and blow
Dead woman from the high but she lost her name
Lost her life, is the skinny guy to blame?Chapel Street.
Kiln shop.
Pottery drop.
Skinny man ran runners from the back of the stop
He alone no posse
Cocky, not hidden
Heard you been breakin the fingers of women
“You a cop?” he looks smug with a hand on his knife
I answer the question with a right in the jaw
He staggers backwards and crash into shattering pots
Wipes the blood from his mouth and spits.
“You bitch!”
Between the bruise and the booze he is ill-equipped
To fend me off, I disarm him, then I harm him
Pull him up by the collar
I want answers, not dancin’ around the issue
And if you
Can give me what I want then I’ll give you what you need
Another day you get to breathe
Do you like my terms? I can offer better ones, for me.
I don’t need to linger
He starts talking when I break a finger
Then I break another.
Justice.I get a note, list of names,
Saw the fella night that someone got ‘em
Dame named Rinnan, second from the bottom
But who is the one depicted at the end?
Calenne.
Rosecut Hall. Boarding room. Third floor.Time for a visit.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Rosecut Hall
Past the projects and tenements
Row of townhouses down by the end of it
Loom the halls
Wailmourn, High Perch, Low Walk, Knights Call
And my target, Rosecut
Third floor walk-up
Made of brick and stone and rotten walls
Outside’s got a stairwell, for fire
Extends up to the fourth floor, but no higher
Looks like there’s been a collapse
Heap of iron and brick dust, and visible cracks
Rules out going in by the fire escape
Second entrance though, got a sagging gateInside, wood stairs
Broken in places
Creaky ones too but I’m seein’ no faces
Place is quiet and still, like a grave.Windows dim, no light like there’s soot on the glass
Third floor, six rooms, can check them all in a pass
It’s one hallway three doors each side
Two open wide
Tore up bad, no one inside
Third looks like the door’s been pried
But floor is crumbling and the beams divide
But it’s the fourth, room ten
Scribbled over, Calenne
Put your name on the door? That’s bold
Or stupid, maybe not a name? Just what she’s called
In the circuit of illicit activity
Underworld proclivity
We ‘bout to find out what she’s about.I listen close to the door
I hear the flowing of water, I don’t hear nothing more
Trace of light under the crack
Someone is home
But are they alone?
I draw my piece and I study the handle
It’s dark in the hall but there’s some light from a candle
I check the lock.No resistance, gone slack
Lock’s been jimmied, not a hack
Job someone who did it did it without cracking the wood
From the outside door looks exactly like it shouldNot good!The steam
The room is warm and wet
Water still running and the candle stoppers yet
To stop the taper of the wick
The floor is slickThe room is a small efficiency
Room’s a-lit but I didn’t see
Anyone, occupants, residents
No elements to say I was not alone
But I felt watched
Water from the bathroom door
Water pooling on the floor
So I encroach a little more and listen
Water glisten round my boots, and I listen
To the sound and hear the faucetToss it open
With my weapon up
And see that I am too late.Steam in the hall, floor slick, tap hissing
Bubble bath trail from a tub gone crimson
Got lavender, lemon, and rose in the steam
Cedar and chamomile to get skin cleanShe’s still in the water, eyes half open
Arm draped on the rim, skin heat flush and swollen
Curtain pulled down like she tried to stand
Slash marks on the palm of her open handBlood rings the tub and the bubbles tint pink
And the rub is the body shows signs of attack
Leaned back, cut across the neck
Blood spill, skin gone white
And the mark of the knife is prevalent
Relevant
Across the palm and the fingers on her right
Killer broke in, popped the lock
Approached undetected when they stalk
Into the bathroom, this woman’s refuge
But something tipped her off
She reacted
The first thrust impacted on her hand
Then she stagger back, into the bath?
I check her scalp, no impact, she was on her feet
Cut across the throat was neat
Killer might be practiced, kill routine
And the care to stage the murder scene
Laid back in the tub, towel on the rack
Bubble bath
Scent of lavender, chamomile
Lemon, rose and jasmine
Supposed to be the kind that heal
Now she just a has beenAnd I stop. I can hear the cops.
Paddy wagon gettin tied up
And I’m light on my feet
I ain’t got a warrant I ain’t got a writ
And if the badges see me up here I’m about to be in shit
I check the hallway, hear boots, that was quick
Who supplied the tip?
Far as I can tell this place is hidden under veil
Of smugglers and ne’er-do-wells
But footfalls on stairwells
Tells me I better beat it
Retreat it to the window
Fire escape, it’s unsafe
I can see it pull the plaster from the wall
But the cops are in the hall and I gotta go
Could really use a hand right now Halone!Now the stairs is creakin’
And the metal’s squeekin’
And I’m creepin down tryna remain unseen
Got two carriages, chocobo pulled
One lookout, watchin’
For my escape to botch and
I never been a god-fearing person
But when the metal started lurching
I kicked a window in and got out through the second floor
I slipped out undetected from an alley door
Took a look back at why I’m running forHuh.
Darnell.
Inspector Pike
Edrin’s partner.List ain’t a maybe
It’s a plan, it’s in ink
And the man who enacts it
Was faster than me
And the cops got involved just a bit too quick
Like they on a mission
But I got somethin’ that they missin’
The linkpearl
And an image of a bathroom murder burned into my mind.No prints. No trace. They never saw my face.
This linkpearl is the key. I need Velhaint.
Hope he hasn’t moved…

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Skysteel Manufactory!A towering, thundering
Engine of the sundering
Of complex parts
Smithing screws and bolts
But also wires and jolts
Specialize in mechanism
Or techanism
A prism of the range of brain
Locked up tight in a tank of the most fabulous mindsThe one I’m trying to find once wielded a hammer
A scammer, by the name of Velhaint
Spectacles
Tattoo of pentacles
Covered up with a buttoned up professional
Shirt and jacket
But he couldn’t hack it
With the rules and routine
And the glitzy machine
Had turned too corporate and mean
And when he took his cut it was a cut and run
Now he’s on the outs and employment’s done.He keeps a lair under the Boozin’ Mare
But he’s a thinker, not a drinker
Don’t know how long he’s staying there.
Hopefully long enough…Jigs in lock, no flex, no slack
Plates get checked, then stacked, then racked
Every part tracked, weight logged twice
Cut once, then buffed beneath the ice white lights.We go back, Velhaint and me
When he got reckless
Carried away and feckless
I had been tracking a missing necklace
And we helped each other
Or did he help me?
It depends who you ask
I solved the crime, but he did time
I tried to get him a pass
I did.
I swear I did.As I approach he is head down, holding one
Piece of a project, and a soldering gun
I knock polite, and he doesn’t say a word
I clear my throat, and I wasn’t sure he heard
“You’re in my light” is what he says as I emerge
From the verge of the roomIt was a frosty reception but okay I had it coming
He was slumming
We weren’t chumming but I think we hashed it out
I think we did.
Maybe a little doubt.
And then I mentioned the pearl.“Can you pull anything off it?”(Velhaint)
“Depends. Do you want truth, or noise that feels like it?”Room smells like burnt metal and old invention
He sets the pearl to settle, tightens up the tension
Runs a line to a box of smoke
Hold my breath while the pearl sparks — but nothing spoke.
I watch him start tweaking a frequency
From a row of knobs, in a sequence he
Was doing esoteric shit that I didn’t understand
But I could barely hear his mutter when the pearl shuddered(Velhaint)
“People think linkpearls record voices, but they don’t.
They trap echoes.”I knew he spoke but I hadn’t taken note
Of what he said
Because the pearl had spoken up though it was cracked and dead
And since Velhaint had never done as much as lifted his head
I assumed he hadn’t heard what I hadBits of breath, a laugh perhaps
The sound of clinking glass
A woman’s voice, some kind of passage
Or, “passage, he,” but the words cut off
She says
“Stage it.”
A crackle, something about a Third ShackleI ask Velhaint. He knows it.Former lockhouse for debtors
Now co-opted by heavy betters
Kinda place you’d go to write a mafioso some letters
Buy protection or a selection of the black market
Secure collection or hit up a loan shark it’s
Exactly what I was looking for.(Velhaint)
“It’s too far gone. I can’t get anything out of it. Sorry.”(Aud)
“You never asked where I got it.”(Velhaint)
“I'd only ask you questions if I wanted lies.
This was the last time. Get out.”

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Underhanded underwhelming nobodies
There are the someones, and the has beens
These guys make the never weres look like high knights
Let’s kick it.Pawn shop
On the corner of Dawn and Low-Walk
Dingy lighting, foul air
Dirty money and filthy hair
On the tough out front
Sleeves rolled up
Though it’s cold up
Mariner ink, likely Limsan vessel
Can only guess what kinda mess’ll
Send a shipman here from his crew
Roegadyn muscle
Must’a spit in the captain’s food
Or prob’ly drank his boozeThe inside must be frozen
Window’s gated, they’ve chosen
Not to fill with glass
Or prob’ly cracked
Rough neighborhood
Neighbors should get packed, and move anywhere
There’s no doubt this is where you go to find a lout
So I slide through the doors like I belong
And recap what I’m on
To find ‘fore I move onRabbit, dead. Heart, nicked.
Two throats, slit. Who ordered the hit?
The list, who is the author?
Three dead, is there another?The entryway is broken soul layaway
Grimy heirlooms, a hideaway
Of broken dreams and broken shit
Packed away, stacked up like sediment
A goon behind the counter talks to a bruiser like a bouncer
Looks like an ounce or more of Ishgardian white
Though it’s more of a gray, more like Gridanian light
Takes thirty seconds or more before the more
Depressing looking man checks the door
Eugh.
He’s got a wry smile
Too much teeth, swallowed bile
As his lips curl off-center
Gives his whole face a look like it’s bent or
Twisted like a puppet
And this muppet croaks out a greeting.
“Can I help you?”
He purrs it, like a lizard in heat
Throat’s unshaven, hair’s done neat
If neat implies a greasy comb over
Barely covers his dome overThe bigger man snorts, his pride insulted
He grabbed the bag and bolted to the back
To lick his wounds maybe, or hold up in there till I leave
But I approach the lizard and tell him
“Body knifed in a blizzard, two nights back
Chest was fissured, ruled a heart attack
He owed me money. Who I see about that?”
One side of his face droops
Like his skin’s unglued
Takes him a minute to reset his face
Think I might reset my lunch
Call it a hunch but I think this guy’s a dead end option
And I don’t want to look for clues when the lizard face is watchin’
But he gestures with an oily wink
At an ink-dark curtain to a back room stall beside a filthy sinkInside’s the bruiser
And a motley group of other losers
Wannabe street thugs
Meat lugs
Loan shark and a launderer
Doctored paper ponderer
Disappointing business is all the eye can see
And I think the forger has a case of fleasRotten signboards, ink wet hands
Petty thugs and criminals making demands
A man who’s strung out, wrung out
Tryin’ to cash in for chips
He must have bet it all, and I think I see his finger’s clipped
It’s a bizarre bazaar of the service of the street
And the vendors of the vice are bottom shelf cheats
The place gives me the creeps
Noble debt swaps
Lords favors, hush money, bribin’ cops
Well that seems important but one look at the shop
This man’s connected as a dog
He’s just missing the leash,
And I think he’s got mange
He isn’t in with police
But he can get you in chains.Rabbit, dead. Heart, nicked.
Two throats, slit. Who ordered the hit?
Three dead, is there another?
The list, who is the author?Figure I’ll take my chances with the launderer
Done the same dances, the same songs of Her
Royal Deceased, so I offer a piece
Of my retainer, to explain her
I describe her wrong to gauge his reaction
He wants the action
He can taste the cash but I hold fast
When it’s clear he has no clue
Okay, so let’s talk about someone you do
Man murdered, heart missing
Think they mighta been kissing
You know the man? Tall ears
Ever see him around here?
Of course he has, if you ask him
But he aint seen nothin but the bottom of a flask and
I can see he’s just a con in a hovel
Wannabe don
With an over-eager business modelAnd when I pitched the list?
Might a missed the only lead this crowd knew
When he pissed off and flew the coop
And the scoop with Calenne?
She was a writer, not a blighter
And her end, she mighta died
Too close to an insider
And when I tryta get more
The liars cook up another story
The more he plays pretend,
The less his pretense makes any sense.Same story same deal
None of these heels know a damn thing that’s real
And I’d be pissing through my gil
If I were dumber, and trusted a shill
Whatever circles were run by Rinnan
She was winnin’ compared to these fools
And she might still be, dead as doornail
More than these failure wannabe crooks
Writers of crooked books
And tainters of wasted papers
Even the loan shark is more of a loan fish
In a small pool, with no school
And the man? I can’t understand
How a fella goes unnoticed and falls into these hands
Rinnan was sinnin’, sure
But the viera was somethin’ different
Doubt he was as poor
As these poor bastards.
And still no leads on him, and the killer worked on him
Maybe Rinnan was just wrong place wrong time
Saw too much of the wrong crime and got burned
So my heel turned and I left the Shackle behindMaybe Velhaint was right. I was chasing ghosts in the dark
Got excited over a spark and a puff of smoke
What a joke.Back to my notes.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

The trail’s swept up tidy by a zealous clerk
Avery
Mighty fine work
Likely bought and paid, but now a loose thread frays
exposed
Time to pull and see where it goes.On every darkened dossier
Smeared and rotten disarray
Pages blank and boxes empty
Inquiry tanked, and the M C
A. D.
Dupuis
Prolific little parasite
Pervasive when he writes his initials
Symbols when he whites out and official
Creating riddles
Every dotted line is a scribbled
Assignment to consign
The facts to the sands of time
And while the paper trail is swept up
So is he, when his debt crept up
Just two beers and a joke before someone stepped up
And spoke, to let me know
Where this broke bloodsucker goesCover crime up with precision
In a line of bad decisions
Got a lot more he can say
And he might be made to pay
So now I’m out on a mission
To coax out an admission
Find out who he obeys
Reveal the details on the pageThe house is middle class
Little past the bridge, piddly grass
Crop, part of some hillside stops
Lots called Ashcroft Rise
Thought I come in fast, lock eyes
Got on task on the windows, lights
On, cast through the closed blinds
Action inside, shadows through the backlit linesHe aint sleepin
I wanna get to window peepin’
So I’m creepin
Sneakin’ to the room glow
Keepin’ to the shadows, I’m selective
I’m–(Pike)
You lost, detective?(Aud)
The weight on my shoulder is corrective
A cold directive
The grip’s offensive, I smolder
Collect my breathAnd turn to Inspector Pike.(Aud)
He says it so nonchalant(Pike)
That’s because it is nonchalant(Aud)
Excuse me this is my rap!(Pike)
And this my jurisdiction
I had a tip some plucky
Private eye might drop by
To pry in pursuit of a fiction
Or did it click that you’re not as quick
Or as cunning as you think
Running from drink to drink(Aud)
…What?(Pike)
You playing peeping tom, Aud?
You’re gone, you don’t belong
Take a look at the homes and lawns(Aud)
I–(Pike)
They’re above you,
Another view from the bottom.(Aud)
The clerk–(Pike)
The clerk nothin’. He doesn’t live here anymore(Aud)
What?)(Pike)
This isn’t a big reveal you’re working toward.
This is not your score.
Aud, this isn't even your rap anymore.(Aud)
What you mean he doesn’t live here anymore?(Pike)
I mean he doesn’t live here anymore.(Both)
Doesn’t live.
Here.
Anymore.(Aud)
He doesn’t need to threaten violence
I can read between the lines, he silenced
His own inside manA hush settles over the Rise.
The men inside are Pike’s
Talkin’ as if they didn’t just take a man’s life away.
I can even hear one say.Sometimes the house don’t even need to cheat. Folks’ll empty their pockets just trying to play.The bastard’s smug
I wanna mess up his mug but I’ve overstayed
My welcome and my exit’s overdue.(Pike)
Watch your back, detective.
Be seeing you.(Aud)
I turn to beat it
But a thought repeated in my mind
The house didn’t need to cheat
I just played myself, but I find
The gambling slip in my pocket
The gambling slip Avery had
He didn’t walk it
Back to where it needed to be
It’s without edit, just payouts and fees
I read the names, Sahrin, Saeji…
Wait, Saeji..
It’s on the skinny man’s list. Maybe
It’s time to get in on this game…

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Hehehe, yeah, huh, ante up!The port of call’s an old soldier’s hall
A stall outside, for rides
And a guide lets you inside
Scene’s alive with action
Folks packed in
A din and a smell like cloves oak and gin
And I’m broke
The up-front went up in smoke
Bribin’ lyin’ blokes and middle men
Well two nights in a row
I had dry toast
For dinner, and I wouldn’t get far in
On two notes and silver
Check the slip again, Sahrin
A winner, high chip stack
And-Uncashed.
Avery you sneaky motherfu-Chip change is quick lanes
Slips swapped for the chip gains
Mostly unexplained at this stage
But less fast on the cash out
Two bastards cast no doubt
Borrowed name for chip claim
It’s fair game, but the stakes
Are raised on the reclaim
The chips I drain have to remain
And that’s a real twelves-damned shame.Stack packed, good to go
Choose tack, what I want to know
Blackjack, it’s too slow
Table talk wouldn’t go unnoticed
I know this, take a walk
To the poker
Information broker over lies and jokers
P.I.’s can scrutinize or wield lies
Like a pro, sure, so I take a seat by
A Roe, and an Elezen
Fella’s in to his cups already
Pile looks depleted
I set down Sahrin’s pieces, ticket says his name
Hope I don’t meet him
while I’m fleecin’ his winnings for a gameBlinds are in, two in the hole
The bets begin, I stole the role
Chasin’ outcomes to the river
Not catching cards, catching a killer
Blinds are in, two in the hole
The bets begin, I stole the role
Chasin’ outcomes to the river
Not catching cards, catching a killerIt starts slow, no one talks or
Jokes, I test the fighters like a boxer
Jabs and quotes, need to outfox or
Bait these pros, the server walks her
Tray of drinks past me, I have her stop
Sometimes you gotta pay to see the flopSuffused with booze the room’s amused
I slowly lose, the mood improves
The flow of cash makes smooth
My probes and who’s who’s
The first clue backs a proof I’d started
Sahrin might be the departed
Streaky luck night of the murder
Then he ducked right out early
Stomach churning
And this guy’s surly his money’s never came
Back, it’s nothing concrete
but I bought a name with a small defeatThe tray comes back from another table
And I’m able
to see a bit of glass and a label
Roselets, cabernet
Bettors antsy cause it’s on me to play
So I raise
The play’s a bust, the ella flopped the nuts
The dealer cuts a new deck
A request, from a lalafell in a vest, a check
To address the lucky turn, she’s stern
Eyes narrow, they burn with authority
And the earned assurity of fair play
And her eyes linger too long on the new faceBlinds are in, two in the hole
The bets begin, I stole the role
Chasin’ outcomes to the river
Not catching cards, catching a killerA couple go, but the lala stays
The face that spoke of Sahrin plays
Loose with his lips if he’s paid
Well in chips, pre-flop eyes locked
He raise, I raise, no one else stays
Got two sevens, but I’m interested in another pair
Underworld woman and a murdered hare
Think he paired the top.
“Why you ask, you a cop?”
I’m not, but you’re close, not that I’d tell you
I play it off with another wager.My line of questioning is subtle
I try to double down on a thread
Drop a casual bet, pad the ledger
And then her, the floor boss, intervenes
She doesn’t want to cause a scene
But it seems I’ve hit a nerve, maybe“Aw, give her a pass, Saeji!”Elezen fella been sobering up, hot tea and coffee
His request gets the lalafell’s eyes off me
Suddenly glad his turn of luck robbed me
And Saeji? She could know something, she’s cagey
But if Sahrin really knew this lady
Doubt she’d allow me to playThe Roe that knows him
Or knew him could be holding something back
I see him sizing up my stack
Change the angle of attack
To a pair of Jack and soda
I push harder for what he’d know to
Tell me with a quip
And I push in all my chips.I’m all in, the room gets slow
I’m tryna pay for what you know
Cards blur in haze and smoke and glow
Smell of cigarettes and beer and rose
Waitress passed empties as she goes
Lipstick on glass, dark and moroseAnd then I froze.
Chips gone, ticket bare
For just a second, the lala stared. And she knows.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

The clock stops as the lot watches
The flop pop off, I caught
Two pair, but the room scares
Off the Roe, in defeat
He rises, “Bad Beat,”
They bring him whiskey, neat.
And me? Ushered out my seat
With a “Miss, come with me.”
And my take, I can see
Gets flipped to house rake
I’m made, can’t make a break
The brute’s got my collar
Perp-walked with the lalaRoom’s dark, packed with casks
Stacked with crates and old stock
Wine racks and a loading dock
The boss sits down across
Tough behind me, arms crossed
Starts cross-ex,
Where’d you get the check?
Make a habit of pickin’ pockets? Collect
A man’s winnings? No lyin’. Got it?
I tell her I bought it
Dealer in the Brume, Au Ra
Didn’t know it was hot
She nods at Beef Mountain“She said no lyin.”Tells me she applauds
My stupidity, I defend the liquidity
Of the asset, the man’s debt
Paid off remittance due
Cash out with this lousy IOU
She’s unamused, I say it’s true
You should ask him, though
She says, “Maybe so, as for his money
Maybe he’ll find this as funny as you do.”She doesn’t know…She wants to know my employer
Say I’m a Mithril Eye reporter
Rambler, bit of a gambler
Reporting on the best hidden dives east of Dorter
And this place, you watch
Hospitality top notch
Got meat and a potato when I ordered a scotchSpeaks a line before she goes
Says to find out what she knows
Leaves the room and the door closed
Trapped in back, and no one knows
Speaks a line before she goes
Says to find out what she knows
Leaves the room and the door closed
Trapped in back, and no one knowsThe thug chuckles when he cracks his knuckles
I stumble, the shot connects
My knees buckle
Feels like a carriage wreck
He leans in close enough I smell his breath
I reel back…Then CRACK!
Drive my head into his nose
For a second time is frozen
I get a moment, but he doesn’t fall
Grabs me by the collar,
I get smashed into the wall
Glass rattles, I try to duck
As he tries to battle
I dodge a hook, thinking that’ll–BOOM!Vision’s swimming
The blood I’m chokin’
I know the nose is broken
And my eye is swollen
I’m looking down, the crate is open
Almost falling now
The crate is open
The wine is speckled, my blood is showin’
Dripping from where the knuckles cut
The wall is holding me up
If only just, and I wanna sleep
Think I lost one, but I grit my teeth
He’s laughin’, I think
It echoes like he’s underwater
But I gotta
I gotta get on my feet
I get a lift, it doesn’t last
Tossed down on my back
He looms above me.Fuck it.
I drive my high heel in his sack
My muscles ache, but I’m back
Adrenaline high
Stumble and rise up
The crate is open
I didn’t bring a corkscrew
But you’ll do!
There’s a crash, and a sound of shattering glass
And a rumble as his ass hits the mat
Gotta scatter
I clatter, door to the dock
It’s locked, hear a lot of talk
I batter it open
Doesn’t matter it’s broken
When I go
Limping out under a night sky
I can hear a carriage go by
And I clamber inside
for an unpaid ride!Speaks a line before she goes
Says to find out what she knows
Leaves the room and the door closed
Trapped in back, and no one knows
Speaks a line before she goes
Says to find out what she knows
Leaves the room and the door closed
Trapped in back, and no one knows

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

By the time he spotted the stray
We were ten minutes walk away
Told me I couldn’t stay if I couldn’t pay
Guess I’ve got to do something ‘bout this blood.My blouse looks like a murder scene
Scrubbin’ out the blood in a tub
Then wiping down the mirror steam
Got my palms on the sink, and a drink,
A towel in my teeth for the scream,
As I set my nose–
And gods dammit, I liked that coat.
On the night that he died
He’d had burning inside
As the Roe had confided
Stomach pain unsubsided
He’d nicked ‘em on chips
The victim checked out sick
I felt I had to move quick
Wine coulda been poison
And right now the boy’s in
The morgue. I need a coffee…
And I had to see the body…Made of crumbling stone
With a dusting of snow
And a bust of Halone
And on a plaque, near it
A prayer for the spirit
It’s labeled the morgue
Cold storage for corpses
Filed in oak drawers
A place of reverence
A place of evidence
A residence for lost souls
With no guests, but guarded
By a high fence
Wrought iron, immense
And covered vents
Locked gate, closed shutters
And me in the dark, freezing…
With bolt cutters.What waits beyond is never certain
May flesh be freed from all its burden
May your breath return to ice and stone
May the Fury weigh what’s never known
In death, you find your home – your vigil
Ends.Floor is slick. Low arches.
Unlit wicks, wall sconces.
Dark as pitch. Limits sight.
Oil switch. Lanternlight.
Open tome. Coroner’s.
I’m a lone foreigner.
I really shouldn’t be here.
Find the page. Recent death.
Rin’s remains. Freezing breath.
Female, now deceased
No sign of disease
Cut through the throat
About fifteen degrees
By unknown assailant
Impact, bruised knees
From fall, and one hand
As for deceased man, unknown
No shoes, bloodstained clothes
Chest cavity exposed
Heart removed, never found
Hip contusion where he hit the ground
Abdominal slash…
Hell. That’s new.The drawer slide’s heavy
I keep my breath steady
Groan’s loud, but no one heard
Line crossed, feel disturbed
But I put a pin in
And lay eyes on Rinnan.
First thing I learn, I’m stung
She’s pretty. Pretty and young.
Second, the slashed neck
Not a clean cut, I inspect
End has a slight hook
Not noted in the book
Like she turned, or was turned
May have never learned
Who her killer was.
Now I know why my client sought her.She looks like his daughter.What waits beyond is never certain
May flesh be freed from all its burden
May your breath return to ice and stone
May the Fury weigh what’s never known
In death, you find your home – your vigil
Ends.I hear the passing of the beat
Booted feet on the street and snow
Lights gone low, close it slow
But the grind of oak and stone
Makes an echo, felt in my bones
Suck air cold through my teeth
Shrink down beneath the sheath
Where she’s stowed, flatfoot leaves
Door was never opened
More than I could hope but
I wasn’t done, time to scope out
The patient
Feet first, the sheet hides the worst
Tug it loose then regret, it was still wet
Catches on the body, sloppy
I drop it on the tile, white stark
Heaped in a pile, blood marks
Mar the surface, I’m nervous
Gotta focus now
See the slice on his right hip
‘Bout five ilms, end to tip
Cut was clean, didn’t skip
Shallow dip, but a bleeder
Any deeper might have slit the gut
And the chest? It’s a mess.
Skin sunk in where he’s got less
Have to address the hanging flesh
Covers up the hole, peel it aside
See the lungs cut up, see the spine
It’s exposed, not sure what I supposed
Killed him personal, worse than fury
But the story the Roe told me
Come at the stomach, place pressure
To take a measure, contents lesser
But still feels full, and a pull
Something firm, hard edges
Could be a staple, or a message
Something swallowed, in the hollow
Of his belly, couldn’t tell me
‘Fore he died but he could tell me tonight…What would you say if you could speak?
What would you do if you were me?
And I’ve come out all this way…
I see the scalpel on a tray.
There’s no time for indecision
Take it up for the incision
What message did you send
When you predicted your own end?I don’t know what this is?
Could have been dosed, I don’t know.
But this looks Garlean, Magitech biz
Looks sort of like a key?
Why did you hide this?
I see another lantern’s light,
So I duck out into the night.And damn.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

When I get there, the rope’s gone.
Chalk outlines no longer drawn
Taken by the snow.
But I know you were here…I walk alone on the cobbles
I know Sahrin was hobbled
Got cut in the gut somewhere hostile
And right here, he coulda wobbled
Put his hand down,
But the blood’s gone now, did he fall?
When the slash had passed through, did he call
For help? Or was he quiet
Did he lie at wait behind the wall, here
In fear, for a chance to bolt?
He was cold. He was bleedin’
No, he was retreatin’
He knew he had been made
And that’s when he ate whatever this is
Then got his heart broke with gravel kisses
Or had he swallowed it way back?
Did it make his gut react
When he packed chips in a win
Were you poisoned, Sahrin?
I say out loud, as if he’s starin’ me
in the face, but I know it’s just the snow
And me.(Sahrin)
I'm him.
I’m achin’, cut not deep but bad
I need an out, I’m found out
I could shout but it hurts to speak
And every time I breathe more of me leaks
I’m losing heat and I’m bleeding
Right here, I put a foot down hard
The ground is solid, if there’s a guard
I’ll see ‘em from this spot, and if not
Three directions I could go
Pursuer is behind me, that I know
So I was grazed by the blade
I enact a jump back as if on stage
Stomach bubble, try to gauge
Tilt my body, would a gurgle or a pain
Turn me towards the alley or the lane?
And I pick the alley, a bid to rally
To fight back, to…(Aud)
No, that doesn’t track
No defensive wounds.
And no shoes.
I kick my boots off and scoot towards the stairs
Let’s start again, when I met my end, I was scared
Feet were frozen, I’m impaired
And I tear ass down the stairs, tried to skirt
The corner, took a header ate dirt
Slipped, bruised on my left hip
Hurt, down where I died. I smell the ground.
I lay where he lay. My heart is pounding.
My feet are cold. I wince…And laying there, I see the prints.
Pressed into the ice, preserved
A curve
Two sets of tracks, indicate there was another up
Here, but I know it was a coverup
Boots could be the killer’s, prints same size
Could be Pike, or Pike’s guys
One heavy, one light
The patch of ice is slight
Why did I choose to die right here?(Rinnan)
I’m slick with snow and I know I gotta go
I’ve got deliveries, my livery is cargo
And if I don’t double time it the wine gets
Nicked by the cops, so I hustle
Descend the stairs holding my bustle
And I’m surprised, widen up my eyes
As the killer crests into view, knife askew
I panic, she’s quick and before I can stick
My foot in the ground and dash, I’m gashed
Blood from my throat, I’m slow to fall
The bruises, I drop to my knees, with a clatter
But the spatter doesn’t support the matter
No, the killer came from behind
I was minding my time,
Walking slow and mindful,
Cutter in my blindspot and lines up
A strike to my throat, and seize
Crash down onto my knees
One hand freezes in the mud
And the other fails to hold my blood.
End scene.(Killer)
I am you! I hold the blade!
I cut his guts and slayed a woman
Paid in cold blood, and trusted him to run
Just wide and shallow, sudden
He thought he flew, I pursued
He had spewed his poisoned guts
I knew he must be tired, he perspired
Then expired
And from that liar’s stinking corpse a parting gift
His heart, I carved it out and lift
To bring to my collection
Section of vivisection
Only way I sustain erection
Wait. Maybe put it on a plate.
Organ donor donner, he’s a goner
Doesn’t need the beater, and she’s on her
Last legs anyway
I savor the flavor after doing her a favor
Ugh, my thinking’s broke, gods
I need you to focus, Aud.
(Aud)
My blouse untucked, my arms spread out
My words are spoken to a crowd
Of voices in my head, clamoring to be the loudest
There was a fight or flight!Let’s wind it back. I’m on the attack.
The gash is when I lash out
You’re lamed and the same claim can’t be made for me
I see you stumble in the snow and go at leisure
The seizure of your heart happens, let’s see…
Here.
But first, the witness.
So I cut her throat
I don’t want blood on my coat
I turn her ninety degrees, push her to her knees
Her arteries are spent, her descent is quick
Now to finish off the prick
Two thrusts and he’s done.
Disappointing bun, but there’s one
Little task to start.
And when I carve, I am unbothered
This was a message, and you read it.
You read it, Aud!
You’ll forget it by morning, when you sober up.
Unafraid, I leave my footprints by her grave
Slender. The ender of her life was tall.
Fair... with a woman’s shoe,
wouldn’t do to have her coat dirtied.
But took two lives and a heart unhurried
While I scurry with the rats.I think I’ve seen all I can see
I grab my boots and raise the key
And though the guard is on the take
I’ve got a risk I need to make
A message, but a bold send
Edrin. Good cop. Old friend.
Trusting you. Pike’s paid, I know.
But I need you to tell me where this key goes.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Pins pushed in tight to the cork
The connections, a collection
Of thread light in color bends and forks
It never speaks but it retorts
As I remember every clue about dismembered
Men and murdered women, every ember
Of the flame surrendered
With an image and name
I exclaim, it’s too close for me to sleep
I’m in too deep and I can see
That I am close, re-post one pin
But most threads fray when I replay
The scene in my head, the slashes, the dead
The red yarn represents harm
Malice and dread, a chalice of red wine
The crime refined into glass bottles
Served at gambling tables, the labels
Remade by able-handed counterfitters
And the shitters play a role, whether
That’s integral or unwilling
And the billing, are they paid? Are they afraid?
Have they been made? Slain in their beds
Or their tubs.Names and places.
Pins and faces.
Red lines trace it
I can’t place it.
Rewind. Rethread.
Remind. I’m led.
Still ends in red.Notes stained brown from the grounds
Drips and round rings of a cup
Discard with irreverence, it isn’t evidence
But bottle of gin is my severance
I’m hesitant but pour a double
It becomes a pin, yarn encoupled
Tangled, discovery of timeline mangled
By the angle of a crooked guard
His connection to a selection
Of coverups and non-detection
And rejection, but perfection’s
Not another of his strengths, but I’m perplexed
Does he tug the strings? He works me like a puppet
A marionette to be misled
With clues razed down to ash
I run the thread into the trash, another on the door handle
It disappears beneath the puddle of a candle
Melted down into my table, solid piece
with burned out matches underneath
My web’s in shocking disarray, mocked
By a spider in the corner, clippings burned or torn or
Scored, a gpose on the floor that fell
I can’t tell where it goes and I can’t know
Because the cork no longer showsNames and places.
Pins and faces.
Red lines trace it
I can’t place it.
Rewind. Rethread.
Remind. I’m led.
Still ends in red.And Saeji maybe cagey but did she haze me
Was I lazy and she knew and I was played
I overstayed my welcome and I paid, the trade
Of slip got me a tip and a split lip and what’s the key?
What do you unlock?! I write it fifty times it doesn’t talk
And only silence from the one cop I can trust
Or think I can, maybe he knows the plan
Maybe he’s the man behind the pins and plots
And knives and lies and cover-ups but no
That’s stupid, what would he have to gain
By giving Rinnan’s name and the dame’s
Grade of trade, and the wine is still unexplained!
She smuggled it, but no one says a word
It was burgled, maybe, after death? Saeji?
Was she in on this with Pike and I’ve been crazy
To ignore the maze of ways the wine connects
And the list? Skinny man gave me the gist
Dug up every name I could have missed one
But none related, skated by unaided by Sahrin
I pull two pins and lose a file but I’ll cry a little
Later when I replace them cased by other
Facts and lattice, this one’s not as bad as
The last configuration but it’s misdirection
I was impatient, forgot order of operation
And on this occasion the timeline is…
Shit.It’s been two days!
As I replay
I haven’t slept
I haven’t ate
Ash overflowing from the tray
Knuckles bloodied
Can’t recall how they got that way
Pins on the ceiling
See them while I lay
The link pearl doesn’t play
It’s too quiet, these clues don’t say
A fucking thing!
I tried to make a circle
But it’s a spiral now
I’m crashing and I think I can hear her laughing!?

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

I don’t remember sleepin’
Just a sense of creepin’ dread
Fingers keepin’ thread in a loop though–What?(Moogle)
I’ve got a message for you, Kupo!!Yeah. Uh.
I took the letter, you can go.
Finger in the envelope to rip–
No, don’t stick around for a tip!
You can beat it! Ugh, moogles.
Hope he didn’t read it…Aud– investigation’s flawed
Cause of death was a facade
Need to speak in person
Pike’s immersion in the case
Is heavy, meet me at the levy
Type-setter’s, back gate
Make sure you aren’t followed
And you aren’t lateThings must be bad if Edrin calls for that
What he discovered could uncover
Perhaps another pin I’m missing
To catch the killer, send Pike off to prison
Listen, any little bit could be the hit
That cracks the case, I waste no time,
I hit the street, new coat
Tryin’ to dodge the heat!Scopin' dead-ends, tension swallowed
Hopin' that I wasn't followed
Broken moments, gone to ground
I need know this, what you foundGetting closer and I prowl
In shadows, evening hours
Don't see a post or lookout scour
And I approach, keeping low
Eyes are focused.
In the mail,
Edrin wrote about a tail,
Only one I see is mine
But I don’t fail to keep my mind
On snowy footfalls left behind.
On a mission, but I remind
Myself cover position.
When his haven enters view,
I stew a bit. He's never hid.
He must be shook, the place looks
Deserted, took concerted effort
On Edrin's part without alerting
The guard, and I wonder
How did he become the vetter
Of an old rundown type-setter?
The gate he spoke of's broken
Soakin' in an inch of slushy snow
Low on the frame's a hold,
It's cold, even through my gloves
And heavy, lifted halfway
I slip beneath amid the creakin'...Dust disturbed
But nothing heard
No one said a word.
I’m made sober
By the odor
I draw closer
And see a chair.
And seated there
Edrin at rest
With an opened chest.My breathing’s short and clipped
Nearly slipped with a gasp
But I hold it back
I raise my iron
If she’s here I’m gonna fire
And my body’s telling me to flee
Run until I’m tired but I’m wired
Coffee, gin, adrenaline
A good cop died today
For me and this case…
There are no marks on his face.
Ligature traces on his wrist — he was braced.
Sign of struggle? None — he was placed.
He was tied and died in the chair.
I stare, and don’t blink.
Listen for a clink, or a footfall
Take stock of exits, mapping walls
A single walkway over head
Sound of him dripping while
I try to keep the bile down
Check his pockets and around his coat
Look for clues
Or anything that uses
What he found, a message after death
What did he have left?
No drag marks, she didn’t carry him
She must have lured him and buried him
And a very slim chance she missed
A list or letter on his person
Done in like Sahrin and this version
Of her gory allegory is a baited snare
But she got sloppy when she got choppy,
She left behind one hair.
Clung to the fabric on my dead friend
Long and red. I raise it to my nose.
Smells like blood…
And rose.
Did my obsession lead you to your end?
Edrin. Good cop. Old friend.
Next time the dishwater’s mine.
I hear racket and get outta sight,
Could be Pike or temple knights
I can’t go back to my office, my pins tied up
They’ll be waiting, I’m skating a fine line.
I need to get somewhere to hide.
And bide my time.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

It’s called the Passlight
No question room for rent when you’re bent
And you’ve spent the night gaslighted
With intention to lay low, curtains closed
After Edrin I chose this, the wind blows
Through a dodgy window and I know
She has me figured out, no doubt.
Even last week’s broadsheet mocks me
Editorial story
by one Calenne Thorne
She was a reporter
before a knife blade tore her throat
Guess it was the last thing she wrote.Leaned back on a chair
My feet are on the desk
But I can’t rest, I stare
My eyes burn
And my iron’s turned to the door
I don’t know if she uses them anymore?
She’s like a ghost…
And Edrin.
I pulled you into this.
Me.
You won’t go home tonight because I pissed
Away your life on some key
I still don’t know what it unlocks.
I listen to the ticking of the clock.
The whistle of the wind outside
Waiting for someone else to walk
Into my room. The door is locked.
I leave it locked! But then
I check it again.I don’t turn my back as I resume my little vigil
If the door opens a crack I’ll riddle them with holes.
I check the closet
I check the box for safe deposits.
Back to the desk. The joke’s
On me, no pins, just notes
Outdated, saturated
With the lies I paid to buy
I flip it open
Just hopin’ something clicks.
The smuggled wine
The key inside
The skinny man’s lies
Pike’s lines inside my own rhymes…
Rinnan’s taster card flutters to the floor.
Guess it’s hard when you afford
Just the one.
She gave it a 4.I check the locks
I hear the clock
I see the box
And now my thoughts
Are on the tumblers.
I know this safe is humbler
Than the key I hold tonight
But the size and shape are right
The design is ostentatious
And ornate somewhat outrageous
And what’s behind its matching door
Was something worth dying for…Four.
The list.
The score…
It wasn’t wine.
It was the line she was meant to follow,
When he died.And Pike lied.
He was the one who silenced
The clerk, and went to work
Covering violence with a crooked
Cover story, the more he got designing
His little plot the more the wine
Turns up inside
And the wine was hot
The rotten bastard used his clout
To bury Rinnan’s death in doubt
He swept the story out
When Calenne was killed
The missing cases filled
The gamble hall, and transplanted still
In Rinnan’s home, a plant
Not a smuggler, that wasn’t real
It was a smear.
When the killer came she didn’t see her
She wasn’t in this
She was just a witness
My client wanted distance
So he hid his name.
Smart.And the taster card
If it’s a part of this, it seems
The wines depicted are outside her means
Which means that she received it
Sahrin could have retrieved it
He believed it would be useful
Fruitful.
I’m not much of a sommelier
I couldn't rattle off the style
But I pocketed a file
When I piled on that clerk
Paperwork, a manifest
A list of destinations
Libations, matched to the taster
And only one case where
Every single vintage tracks
Upscale nightclub, called Collapse.
From Saeji’s place a couple blocks
And the kind of place with locks
For private stock
Like a safe deposit box.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

[click]Okay.
It’s recording.This is for…
Whoever finds it.
If I don’t make it back.I think I’m being followed.
I don’t know if this is for the record or for my nerves.
Something’s been off.
Since the morgue.I’ve got the key.
I know where it goes now.
Collapse has safes – upscale, discreet.
Everything about that place is veiled.
Just like her.She was at the gambling table.
Next to mine.
I didn’t clock it then – just that rose.
That same scent.
Burned into my mind – Calenne’s bath.
Bubbles, florals… No rose.
It wasn’t hers.
The wine glass, dark lipstick.
I could smell it over the smoke.
And on Edrin.I haven’t slept.
I thought I did. But I didn’t.
I keep checking the door.
I check it again.I think I saw her.
I know I saw her.
Elezen. Tall enough to cut Rinnan’s throat at 15 degrees.
Long red hair.
She wasn’t looking at me. But she saw me.
I’m sure of it.
Her coat never moves. Like it’s sculpted.
Like nothing brushes against her.
Like air gets out of her way.This is probably stupid.
I’ll probably delete it.
But if I don’t —
If this is my swallowed key –
Tell them I wasn’t chasing ghosts.
Tell them I was right.[click]

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

(Overture)
It’s now or never,
I’ll be weaponless –
Have to get by on cleverness.
I need Sahrin’s evidence.
Tonight’s event, the stage is laid:
A gothic masquerade.
No faces,
One last charade
Before the final curtain falls.(Allemande)
The scent of smoke and sound of strings
Where patrons sip on finer things
A cold blue glow from sconces low
Casts shadows on the bar below
The glasses passed of dark red wine
For dancers in costumes confined
I play my part conceal my face
Beneath a mask and see her shape(Courante)
Red - hair worn long, Thread - connected
Get - into shadow, Head - turns and follows
Tray - in between us, Stay - undetected
Wait - she turns a-Way - I swallow
Hard - steps measured, Heart - pounding fast
Part - in the crowd, and Dart - past a server
Try - to track her, eyes - where she was last
Prize - nearly mine, I - can’t alert her
Then - I catch it, Scent - of the rose
Meant - to distance, Yet - she’s right here
Glance - to the wine, Black - lipstick shows
Stance - is relaxed, Chance to disappear
Break - couple’s dance, Fake - their motion
Take - her leader’s hand, Barely manage
Draws - attention, Cause - commotion
Cross - the ballroom, Lost - I vanish(Sarabande)
The ballroom’s muffled in my wake
And I don’t know which turn to take
The railing’s slick beneath my hand
The office door is left unmanned
Faking composure cold and calm
The key cuts deep into my palm
I hear the sound of booted feet
It’s just the echo caused by me(Gavotte)
The footfalls were just a spectre,
Hall’s unguarded, no detector
Aud you’ve really gone and lost it
I’m close, and there’s no trace of rose
The ghost is below, I’m coasting
She has no idea that I’m here
Austere, the face of dreary fear
But I beat her here, and now she
Can stew beneath. I hit the vault
Deposit boxes wall to wall
And all I need is to socket
The lock that’s labeled with a four
I pull the key from my pocket
And nock it into the drawer–(Gigue)
Grip. Hand on wrist.
Twist. Brought to ground.
Hard. Turned around.
Guard. Then another.
I wasn’t slick.
Baited and tricked.
Key took from grip.
All my pins and thread
Now I’m in the spider’s web.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

There was no alarm.
There was no call to disarm
Or to harm me.Just a strong grip
On the wrist for a trip
Down the stairs
No one stares
No one seems to care
Just the cost of doing business
When you’re in this deep
And the weight of it bears down on me
Drowning me
Take me around to see
She’s seated in a booth
Overstuffed sofa, whiskey overproof
Glass set where I’m let go
I’m inside her spider’s web
To meet her in her lair.
Long red hair,
Scent of rose,
Glass of cabernet
Only thing out of place is me
And as I sit the muscle hands her Sahrin’s key…Her hand’s extended
My case is ended
She’s been protected
By the one thing Sahrin did
To share the guilt
In gilded chests
His own a mess
Which no one questions
The key is pressed in
To her palm
She looks calm
And I consider –
That the key was hand-delivered
By a bitter private eye.And locked inside
The things I tried
To prove, the clues
Acquired, tired
Mired in the crime
As much as she.
Without the key
The tasters wasted
I cased a crime scene
Calenne’s routine
No one’s seen
Her hand
And the skinny man
A list from a grifter
Sifting through the Shackle
A pack of jackals
Liars who know my face
The pearl, a whirlwind
Of fractured static
At best erratic
At worst, a panic
That I might be crazy.
Pike’s corruption lazy
But without Avery
The link’s too hazy
The maze of bureaucratic bullshit
I stole it
It proves nothing
But makes me complicit
In a crime of my own
No proof of perjury
And my break-in surgery
Surely that’s no help.
One long, red hair on Edrin
The case is dead
To rights.All that work, and I still gift-wrapped it for you.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Haha, that’s right, have a drink.
But don’t make yourself too comfortable!There’s no truth in the city, you can’t balance the scales,
With a room full of echoes and uncertain tales
This isn’t justice, it’s design and decay
And I choose who gets to stayYou’ve been walking in circles
The walk where I go
Keeping notes in a journal
To know what I knowSahrin wasn’t the first, he was just the one who lingered
Curious hands, too light on the fingers
He took something that wasn’t his,
So I took something better.And the girl was a witness, brought her to her knees
She had to die for what she’d seen.
She should have run.
That’s what killed her, not me.There’s no truth in the city, you can’t balance the scales,
With a room full of echoes and uncertain tales
This isn’t justice, it’s breath and control
And I keep the strings tight that keep it wholeAnd the one life extinguished alone in the bath
A loose end the pearl blurted out before I smashed it.
She had a thing she didn’t understand,
Given to her by a clumsy man.People die for less.And Saeji’s place, you were there.
You’ve chased Pike and evaded his snare.
You’ve done well.
But there’s no one you can tell.There’s no truth in the city, no judge on the hill
No writ you can wave or a story to spill
You chase proof I design in the dark.
Your will is a lantern. Now extinguish the spark.And Edrin, it’s a shame about your friend.
This wasn’t personal, just a means to an end
And that end was to get you here.
And you followed, dutifully
Beautiful.You call it a murder, I call it a cleaning
You can’t see the details without deeper meaning
No hidden tracks, no concealing
Everything in plain sight, where it’s least revealing.I don’t have to threaten you.
I’ve already shown you the math.
And you’re good with numbers,
Or you wouldn’t have gotten back to me.If you have doubts, then walk away.
Order something expensive on your way out.There’s no truth in the city, no plea you can cry
Just a game you’re not part of and rooms that deny
Tell them I did it! No one will believe.
I end stories, detective, and there are none left to grieve.(Aud)
So, this is it. You’re gonna kill me?(Spirit)
Don’t be ridiculous.
I’m going to offer you a job.

PLAYLIST
NEXT TRACK

Cover crime up with precision
In a line of bad decisions
Got a lot more he can say
And he might be made to pay
So now I’m out on a mission
Not looking for admission
You’re the one who he obeys
And the one who sets the stage
You’re above me, at such a lofty height,
Untouchable…But not Pike.

PLAYLIST

JULY 3rd
at THE GUTTERLIGHT

GUTTERLIGHT

JULY 5th
at COLLAPSE

COLLAPSE