"I expect that there is a mill and that there was a fire at the mill," Lenore says, thoughtful and a little bit distant, mind rotating all the possibilities. "But even if it is as simple as that, a tragic accident, there are other parts to this that we're not being told. At any rate, we're going first to the mill to see what we can learn. Then we go to the mayor's house and act like we believe him. No matter what we learn, I expect I'm going to want to replace him, and it may be an immediate necessity to replace him. But in order to do so, we need someone to replace him with. If we just kill him and leave, the problem recurs with some new asshole. If we kill him without having a candidate in mind, we may be at risk of having the entire city turn against us. Thirty soldiers isn't enough to hold off the populace, not even with you, not even if you're as good as they said. And slaughtering farmers and shopkeepers who are just trying to defend their home after they've no doubt had a miserable few months in one way or another... not ideal. On many levels."

Lenore grimaces. It's a wretched puzzle of a situation, and all the plans she's come up with to try to find a replacement are gambles. "The replacement has to be human. They have to be local. They have to be someone that the people already trust, to some degree. They have to be competent enough to run a small city, and they have to be willing to work with the vampires. All that, and we have to find this person under the nose of the current mayor, in a situation that may already be a trap."

So, y'know, no pressure.