Beth and I walked over to kiss her, "thanks mum," I said, "I love you."She hugged me and patted my bottom, "I love you too, honey, now don't do anythi...g that either I or you will regret." We kissed her again, then each of us took one of Dave's hands and led him upstairs.We walked into the bedroom and sat down on mum's bed. Dave looked a little alarmed for a second, but Beth crawled up to the far side and patted the middle of the bed. Dave slid up next to her and I sat on the other side,. That was the main reason supposedly, the shame afterwards, that caused my father to take his own life.”“The details ... yeah, not much mystery about that. Your father gambled you know, sometimes more than he could afford, but everyone said that he was something of a lucky bastard. His family in the old country, I forget those details, had money and he came to Empire City right at the end of Prohibition with a decent chunk of it. This place was a bar even then and he bought it, the whole. We have gone through all the nearby forest for dead wood; even breaking off dead branches from trees. This means we either have to go much farther from the cave, and our collectors will need protection, and it will be more trouble to drag or carry the wood back to our ash fireplace.”“You need a solution to the problem?”“Yes. I haven’t thought of anything yet, and no-one else has offered a practical answer. Any ideas?”“Hmm ... it seems a very practical problem, so there ought to be a simple. " He took my words in stride, never giving an inch. I hoped whoever was out there had no bad intentions, because Ed might take his head off.We walked forward, and I was aware of four more of our crew placed strategically near the gangway. Whoever the Judge sent was probably laughing his butt off right then. But ... Better safe than sorry, especially when playing for these stakes.At the foot of our dock stood a nondescript man, wearing clothing designed to keep anyone from noticing that he.