Terrence smiles. "He sounds very sweet. I hope you hear from him soon."

"The kind of Christian who inspires everyone around him to virtue. I daresay I thought he would be a saint. We often discussed my work on Nodens. Fascinating deity. It's very difficult to reconstruct anything about him."

Oh, he's that Tolkien! Cool. "Oh, fascinating! I've read your paper on Nodens. It was quite interesting. Did Best help with that research?"

"Indeed. He had this idea that there are current worshipers of Nodens-- similar to Murray's Witch-cult, if you'd ever read it. And if we track down the worshipers we could learn more about Nodens."

"...Since they'd be carrying the torch for an older tradition that wouldn't have written much down? Very interesting. Did it go anywhere?"

"I don't believe so. He was pursuing that angle for his second book-- not about Nodens, of course-- when he stopped corresponding."

"I see, I see. You wouldn't... happen to have any of his work from his second book project, would you? It sounds relevant to some of my work - uh, the history of outsider spiritual practices - and if I can't find Best to ask himself, it occurs to me to ask if you might have the next best thing."

"I don't, but I think I have some of his letters-- unfortunately, my desk is quite, quite messy."

Terrence chuckles. "Oh, I've been there. ...I'd appreciate if you might be able to find any - but you've already been so generous with your time and I don't want to put you to too much trouble."

"All right." And they can talk about mythology until it's time for Terrence to go home.

Slipped in somewhere near the end of their conversation - "Oh - before I forget, you don't happen to know a Deville of Best's acquaintance, do you?"

"I've never heard of the man."

"Perish the thought, then. I'd heard the name, thought I'd ask." And he moves the conversation on. Anyhow, yeah, excellent excursion, Tolkien seemed surprisingly with it, at least about his work.

Terrence has had a NICE DAY. He reads more British Gods on the train back. Hey, anything about Nodens in here?

Yep! They don't know much except that there were three inscriptions with Nodens's name on it and absolutely no sense of who worshiped him.

That evening, Jing Yi reads the file he got from the police.

Herbert Roby’s body showed a gaping stabbing wound above the left collarbone and was completely drained of blood. Georgina Roby had been killed by two slicing wounds: one to the front torso and the other to the neck and head. One was a lefthanded blow and the other right-handed, possibly by a heavy bladed instrument. The wounds on both bodies indicate the attacker was extremely strong and the forensic surgeon thinks two different weapons had been used on the two victims. No murder weapons were found.

The glass balcony door into Alexander Roby’s upstairs room had also been broken from the outside. Alexander claimed he had been there all evening and would not say how the door had been broken, but he claimed responsibility for the murders. 

Yeah, this is not the gruesomest murder he has encountered. Though the balcony door being broken from the outside, and Roby having no explanation is odd. One might almost guess Roby is covering for someone.

The next morning, everyone except Jing Yi reads--

Jing Yi doesn't read the news. It's depressing. Also, he was busy.

He is gone from the apartment in the morning and arrives mid-morning just, like, fucking covered in hickies and very disheveled.

Which is quite a sight, from Sal's perspective, as he comes to visit their apartment. "Who is the lucky companion?"

As much as he would like to gush about how Evie is the greatest, he has some tact. "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."

Terrence smirks as he opens the door and puts on the coffee pot. "Well, I hope everyone had a nice evening."

Jing Yi is saying nothing, but will admit to looking a bit smug. "How was Oxford?"

"Pretty nice. The professor was odd, but surprisingly pleasant company all the same. I didn't learn much of value, aside from that Best was married, so I might be able to find her. Carla or something, he wasn't sure."

"William Way is dead and it happened exactly the way it did in his vision. That's not what I'm here about, though."

"I saw that in the papers. Dreadful news."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised it made the papers. He was prominent enough."