Rupert scanned the writing as his hand stopped wiping away the pigeon droppings. It was not often that you saw a child write instead of speak. Now that he thought about it, it was not often that a child didn't talk back when they were being yelled at, either. But instead of not wanting to talk back, maybe it was a different case for Tash... maybe she couldn't.
Yes, that made sense. She didn't speak because she was not able to. Rupert suddenly felt pangs of guilt set in as he nodded quietly.
"...That won't be necessary, Miss Romansage." He waved his hand as if to dismiss the notion. "You're mute, I see... ah, but where are my manners. My name is Rupert Zeiss. That's pronounced 'syss'. You may call me Mr. Zeiss, or Rupert. Now then, Tash... where are your parents? Who would let a young girl like you out with such a big dog unsupervised, hm?"
Perhaps it seemed odd that Rupert had changed his tone so suddenly, but Rupert was more than a little used to this situation. His time as a prosecutor had been short, but he had dealt with young children who couldn't speak at least twice in his career. He couldn't help but feel a bit partial to Tash having learned this about her.