Her head tilts.

"Frequently, people are sloppy. Scrolls that have been cast from are obvious. There's a sort of - outlined paleness to them. I could see someone burning a cast scroll, but why not just keep it and dispose of it somewhere else? Panic or monofocus? Sloppy. Hrm. Like I said, I can track and kill a monster, but this is out of my experience. So too with the guard. They are not meant to solve crimes more complex than a knocked-over market stall. I am attempting to leave it to the one with relevant skill. Is this wrong? Should I be volunteering more speculation and information?"

"Oh you've been perfect, if you tried to tell me absolutely everything we'd be here all week! Do feel free to volunteer whatever you think is useful, especially if I'm looking stupid, of course, but it's my job to ask questions. That's really what investigating is all about, mostly, asking questions and tugging loose ends until something useful falls out", John explains before tapping his notebook. "I think I've seen everything I need in here, so now it's off to question more people. Oh, do you know where that housekeeper Hans might be found?"

Another sharp, focused nod. "Hans lives in Soup Row but may also still be praying at the shrine. Shrine is closer."

"Might as well check the shine first then, if you wouldn't mind directing me?"

Another sharp nod.

On the way out the guards mention that there's not much they can do. They'll leave the trainee to watch the place and make sure nobody robs it, knowing it's empty, but they have other work to do.

The shrine is two blocks over, past a bunch of one and two story housing, some stores and artisan workshops, and a few gardens (the kind you grow actual food in). It has Japanese aesthetics. There is a lot of symbology around the number nine- Nine altars with different symbols, a three by three square of dots on things, and so on.

Hans proves to be here, having waited for the priestess to come back.

"So you haven't figured anything out yet? And yes, I'll tell you all I can. Old Gulliman is a good sort and I want to help. Saved me from being scammed for a magic charm once."

John nods agreeably about the guards announcement that their trainee is specifically the guy they've designated as getting their "dues" before moving on. The scenery on route to the shrine is really quite pretty, and he appreciates the chance to be in a nicer neighborhood without having to shrug off various scowls from security types.

John smiles at the story before getting into his questions. "Yes, I'd like to know what time you came into the house, and if you knew him to have quarrels with anybody besides those Wizards Guild fellows".

"Uh... I head over around noon on cleaning days, which is twice a week. Eriusday and Otenaday."

"Today being Eriusday," the priestess adds.

"Uh, right. As soon as I hear the noon bells I head over so it's probably around twenty minutes after that. I have a spare key and a little tag that makes it so the spell on the house doesn't scream, so I just let myself in and started cleaning. But when I noticed the mess in the study I knew something was wrong. Mr. Gulliman never leaves spell stuff unlocked. I think his worries about other wizards are... Well, paranoia more than actual concern, but he always locks up his notes and says it's so nobody can copy them. But they were sprawled out clear as day. I looked around the house for him a bit and asked the neighbors, who hadn't seen anything concerning, and then I went here, to priestess Kymar, and asked for Galasa's blessing. If he has quarrels with anyone... Well, he complains about noisy neighbors sometimes, and he goes on rants about bad products from merchants sometimes. In addition to the ones about nobody appreciating his spellwork."

Twenty minutes after noon, not much use there. Though if the neighbors hadn't heard the house scream, then they defeated the alarm somehow, and he'll make a mental note of that. "Thank you. Oh, one more question, do you know if he took social calls with anyone?"

"What, like with a lady or something? I don't think so. He gave up courting years ago. Says he's married to magic. Meets with friends at the cafe, not at his house. It seems a bit sad to me but who am I to deny a man his castle, especially if I'm being paid to keep it up to shape?"

"And which cafe would that be?" he asks with pen at ready.

"Juniper's place, with the cat sign. Occasionally somewhere down in the wealthy district, but mostly there."

"Oh, is it the one just a block over?"

"Unless another one opened up when I wasn't looking, yeah. You can ask for Juniper to be sure. I hope you find him. I hope nothing terrible has happened."

"Me too, lad, me too. Off I go, then!" he says with a wave of his hat as he strides down towards that cafe. Can he find any friends or acquaintances in there?

The owner (a cat-person, but a different kind of cat-person than the other one) noticed that he didn't come for his usual dinner last night. There are a few acquaintances here: Nicar, Gannett, Sami, and Jules. Playing cards and sipping beer. 

He's popular for consistently losing coppers on card games and explaining foundational magic concepts when asked by the room at large. Everyone's heard that he's missing.

First he'll ask the owner what time Gassul's dinner generally is, then he'll ask the acquaintances if they know anybody he'd invite over to his home. 

No wonder he's popular, John kinda likes him too now. Hopefully he can fit in a card game after he finds this guy.

His usual dinner is creamy potato soup in a bread bowl, with a glass of wine and a small platter of cheese, nuts, crackers, and fruits.

The card acquaintances have various opinions. One says they heard his brother was heading in this direction. One says he swears he was seeing a- Er, that he was celebrating Otena with one of the night priestesses if you know what he means. The others are pretty sure that's incorrect as he doesn't actually have a sex drive. He'd totally invite important magic-heads to his home if any of them would accept, and they have a few names there. Mostly ones that match names from the letters. There's a bit of a side-track discussion about a wizard named Sinnah, famous for the eponymous Sinnah's Fly, which to hear Gassul tell it was like the combined work of Jesus Christ and Albert Einstein in wizardly achievement. He's tried to explain how beautiful that spell is to people several times and they only barely get it.

(It's an elegant swoop of symbols each dependent on every other symbol with absolutely no redundancy or wasted space, that takes a lot of staring at until it makes sense. It's already optimized to Hell and back and there is no room for so much as a 1% improvement no matter who tries; The little tweaks you can usually do to make a spell a bit more powerful or a bit easier to cast all make stock Sinnah's Fly worse. It lasts much longer than older Fly spells. It doesn't require holding focus to keep the spell up, unlike older Fly spells. It lets you go much, much faster. And it casts another spell when the first one ends, Feather Fall. The two big downsides being: It's much harder to cast (in skill, not raw power), and more dangerous to use; It has no protection against slamming yourself into things accidentally like older versions.)