Alex felt compelled to throw it from his window, but instead sighed and put the thin chain around his neck. He certainly didn’t want to earn her ire. He stowed the note back into the box and closed it gathering up his file and making his way back down the stairs and out of his office. He made his way to Salvadore's Diner and pushed open the doors to see it was already crowded. Salvadore saw him enter and immediately saw the wrapped hand. Instead of his normal boisterous greeting he just waited for Alex to make his way to the bar.

"Alex, what did you do to your hand?" Salvadore looked over Alex and again had that look of concern.

"Sal, I'm fine, look I wanted to ask your opinion on something with this case, since you're church trained you might have some insight I'm missing." Alex tried to deflect the concern but looked up to see the deadpanned look Salvadore was giving him. "I got my ass a little bit kicked tonight, I'm ok though."

Salvadore shook his head and turned away sticking his head into the kitchen and hollering out to the staff behind the wall. "Someone cover the front, I’m heading to my place for a few to help Alex out with something." He turned away without getting an answer and motioned for Alex to follow him to a side door near the back of the diner. As they walked through the door it led to another room just as big as the diner but adorned with furniture, book shelves, and a few other doors in the back of the room. It was pretty Spartan and in all the years Alex knew Salvadore he was never aware that he lived in the same building as the diner.

"Sal you live here?" He looked over the bookshelves and saw an impressive array of manuals and books regarding medical knowledge and religious knowledge as well as a myriad of other topics. Alex was, to say the least, impressed.

Salvadore chuckled and moved to one of the shelves. "What are you needing my help with Alex? I'd assume something religious since you brought up my church time."

Alex shook his head and opened up the folder for the case pulling out the paper of symbols Emily drew for him. He handed it over to Salvadore who looked at them with some interest. "The woman who spoke to you, Emily, said she was commissioned to put these in a painting she made for a missing noble. She said they un-nerved her somewhat. Another… lead that I ran into tonight also told me those were what I needed to follow to find the missing person."

Salvadore frowned, “Alex, they're probably right, I can tell you what these are without looking it up, at least where they come from. I don’t know the meaning but you can look through my library to see if you can find something. These are way markers, Cults use them as signals when they try to hide things from the church and the inquisition. It used to be a real problem before the war happened, and some people blame the war on these cults. There used to be rumors back when I was an initiate that you could use ink mixed with gold and blood to actually do magic. That’s all superstition though, who ever took that noble either is in a cult or the noble has something to do with one if she was commissioning it in her art. My bet is on the former." Salvadore looked at the books on the shelves and found a few of the religious books talking about cult worship. He placed them on the coffee table next to one of the couches and motioned for Alex to sit down.

Alex did, and the books reminded him of the ones found at the Delacroix manor. "Sal do you know anything about a book called "The Old Ways" or "Torches in the Forest" I found copies of those at the scene and now that I know you're something of a reader I thought to ask you."

Salvadore sat next to Alex and gruffly snatched his injured hand and unwrapped the gauze. "Ill have to check and see what I’ve got but The Old Ways sounds familiar" He was completely ignoring the grunts of pain from Alex as he absently prodded around the mans wrist with his thumbs. "Your wrist was dislocated you idiot. Brace." Before Alex could respond or even ready himself a sickening pop and then fresh pain shot back up Alex's arm again. "You could have had nerve damage if I didn’t reset it. If you get hurt again you come to me. Remember I did this for years. We'll get some ice for it when we head back out to reduce swelling, But you need to go easy on it for a day or two to let it heal up a bit."

Alex grunted his acknowledgement not really finding the ability to use words that wouldn’t amount to a string of profanities.

Salvadore laughed at Alex as he watched him in obvious pain. "Ok, you big baby, I’m going to go back up front, and tend to the place. I'll let you study in peace." Salvadore stood up and started back toward the door Alex finally looked up at the man as he was on the way out.

"Hey Sal?" He waited for the man to turn around. "Thanks again, for everything." Sal just waved him off, smiled, and headed back through the doors to the diner.

Hours passed as Alex waded through book after book finding absolutely nothing but general dogma from the holy books. Nothing at all that could help him find the answers he needed. After some time he closed the last of the books that Sal had pulled down for him. He closed the file and got up replaced the books on the shelves and headed back into the diner. He sat at the bar and waited as Salvadore was talking to other patrons. He rubbed his eyes and he felt so tired after all the days events. Sal eventually came back to where Alex was sitting and he clapped him on the shoulder.

"Wake up Sarge, you find anything?" Alex only shook his head in response.

"I just wanted to thank you again Sal, for letting me use those books. I'm gonna head back and try to get a little rest. Today has been a long one."

Salvadore laughed at him again "Fair enough, go get some rest, let me know if you need the books again."

Alex waved at him and turned to leave, he made his way out along the street and finally back up to his office. He unlocked the front door and headed up the stairs stopping for a moment to double check that the door to his office was still locked. He headed in, dropped the folder on his desk, and then promptly fell on to the couch immediately dropping off into sleep.