"No, it's difficult to complete all the work in three days. We work in two shifts, and there is another one this morning."
"When exactly?"
"About three or four in the morning? I can't remember clearly... I wasn't the leader at the time, and I was still sleeping."
"What's the specific price?"
"A snow clam can be bought for 21 goli. The price of red apricots is about the same as that sold in the town. The same is true for other fish."
"That's very cheap." Hitzfeld said in amazement.
She had bought red apricots and could only say that the prices in the town were terribly low. She might not be able to spend all her savings in Green Town in two lifetimes.
"Do you know that the Resin Railway Company can buy these materials and sell them at a high price in other areas?"
"know."
"Then you won't feel unwilling?" Hitzfeld was even more surprised. "If you can get out of town and set up your own sales outlets in other cities, you can continue to earn profits that are dozens of times higher than now, or even more, to develop it."
"This..." When it comes to this topic, Makan was obviously hesitant.
"Let me tell you the truth, Miss Hitzfeld." He lowered his voice. "If you want to say that we are unwilling, I'm sure everyone feels a little bit unwilling... But who can blame us for the entire transportation line being controlled by the Reising Company? Even if we go by water, our own ships can only deliver people and goods to the other side. The dock on the other side has ships from the Reising Company and its partners. It is difficult for us to compete with them under the current conditions."
"Besides, everyone is actually used to it." At this point, his expression seemed relieved again, "People in Green Town are actually not that utilitarian. We don't need so much money to live happily. It's pretty good to maintain it like this."
“Is this your own idea?”
"I dare not say 'we', but most people should think so."
After asking a few more irrelevant questions, Hitzfeld ended the conversation, left the group and walked towards Ethan.
"What did you ask?"
Ethan didn't bother her just now. This is basic respect.
Moreover, being a little further away also allows him to have a better overall view. His gun is fully loaded with bullets, so he can fire at any time if anyone makes any unusual movement.
"Some questions that might help."
Hitzfeld was reluctant to say more.
"Let's go."
"Mr. Sheriff should wait impatiently."
Without having to show proof, the three were let into the wire mesh gate. As expected, Sheriff Lister was pacing around on the platform.
The way it paced back and forth really looked like the police dog that followed it around.
"Ah! You are finally here!" He immediately came over after seeing the three people.
"Sheriff." Hitzfeld nodded, "We are just here to take a quick look."
"Where is it?" she asked.
"There." Lister pointed to a shadowy giant beast in the night.
That's the front of the car.
There was no electricity on the platform, only coal lamps for lighting. The light was not enough to clearly illuminate the car body. Hitzfeld asked the police officer for a lantern, carried it all the way to the front of the car, went up the steps, passed through the small door of the cab, and entered the boiler room.
The faint orange light dispelled the darkness, and with the reflection, everyone could clearly see a huge boiler.
Even though its lid was locked, five bodies could be stuffed in just by the sheer force of its presence.
Really big.
Hitzfeld admired in his heart.
"Are you sure it's here?"
“It can only be said to be basically confirmed.”
Liszt followed behind, wiping his sweat with a handkerchief as he walked.
"The dogs were barking all the time here... They only barked near the remains of the body, not anywhere else."
"So it's not completely confirmed yet?" Darent said in a somewhat unfriendly tone.
"How can we be sure of this?" Liszt was not so polite to him, pointing at the huge stove: "Don't you see how much coal slag is in here? It took us a lot of effort just to take it out... How can we find it in such a short time?"
Cinders are black crumbs.
The charred corpse's tissue turned into powder in a similar manner.
With these two things mixed together, it was really difficult for Lister to accurately separate the components of the corpse.
"But at least we can determine the time of the crime."
Lister said.
"The train only stopped here for half a day and one night. The murderer was responsible for everything that was arranged yesterday."
"Then how do you explain Luke being missing from town for over a week?"
Ethan retorted.
"This... the surrounding mountains and forests are so dense, isn't it easy to hide someone?"
"No." Hitzfeld also refuted him.
"Since the murderer knew there were dogs in the police station, it would not be a wise choice to hide the body nearby, no matter when the murder was committed."
"So Miss Hitzfeld means—"
"Maybe Luke has never moved." said the girl.
"Perhaps he has been lying here, on a death journey following the Ressin 3."
Chapter 22: Mei'er
"Death trip!"
Lister, Ethan, Darent, and the police officers who followed were all shocked by this statement.
Imagine how horrible it would be if the murderer took Luke's body back on the train to avoid being exposed, or as Hitzfeld said, left it in the boiler room.
Death journey... isn't it just a death journey?
And it’s a one-way ticket with no return!
"Hitzfeld." Ethan frowned. "Are you judging by the degree of burning?"
The degree of burntness of the corpse was far beyond that of ordinary cases. The skinny, deformed and twisted appearance was simply not something that could be achieved by one or two ordinary furnace incinerations.
Therefore, Inspector Lister's inference is definitely not valid. According to that inference, the murderer only had thirteen hours in total to burn the body - or maybe even less.
Because the stove that the murderer could use to burn the body was on the train, and the train had not arrived in Green Town thirteen hours ago.
If we take into account the factors of concealing one's tracks and finding a single empty space, the murderer probably had less than six hours to use the boiler room to burn the bodies, because only late at night would there be the least attention here, and the noise in the boiler room was quite loud.
So Ethan has actually accepted the statement that "the body has always been on the train."
He even had a more terrifying idea - maybe the postman Luke was not a corpse before the train arrived in Green Town this time.
He might still be alive at that time, and the murderer might have locked him in a room and killed him when the murderer thought the time was right - most likely halfway.
He thought this idea was very likely to be the truth, because it was difficult to preserve a corpse for a long time. If Luke was a corpse when he was taken away from Green Town, it would be difficult for the murderer to cover up the stench of the corpse for such a long time.
If Ethan can think of it, others can certainly think of it too.
Hitzfeld had already opened up their minds, and it didn't require a rich imagination, it could be outlined using only fear as fuel.
Two young police officers were already pale, with goose bumps all over their bodies. They kept turning their heads to look at the door behind them, and their calves were shaking.
When they thought that such a brutal criminal might be hiding within their area, they couldn't help but want to quit their jobs and run back home.
"This news must be blocked." Liszt was also very scared, and his voice was trembling.
But he was undoubtedly still very sober and worthy of his position: "No one is allowed to tell anyone what you just heard or saw! Do you understand?"
"Yes!"
"It doesn't matter." Hitzfeld shook his head. "We came to the platform with great fanfare. The murderer knew very well that the secret of the boiler room had been discovered. It wouldn't be difficult to further infer other possibilities based on the timing. He's not that careless."
"Then..." Darent said in a deep voice, "the scope of suspicion has been basically narrowed down."
No one else said anything, they all knew what this meant.
The town's residents rarely go out, so they are definitely not suspects.
The murderer who killed Luke was among the group of people who left with the train when the Reising Line 3 returned from Green Town last time.
"I can't be completely sure." Darent suddenly said again.
Lister and his group looked at him in confusion. Hitzfeld and Ethan knew he was referring to the identity of the body - because the face was completely burned, before being confirmed by the family, it was not ruled out that it was Eugenie Copperfield, and the real Luke was still alive.
If we want to draw a definite conclusion, we have to wait until we get back to town and find Luke's family and confirm it with them carefully.
But it will definitely be too late.
At least Hitzfeld couldn't make it, she had an appointment to keep.
"Dallent, go with the sheriff on this matter." Ethan made the decision, "I'll go with Hitzfeld to the castle. We may be back later."
"Okay." Darent saw his eyes and understood that coming back late meant "it's possible to stay there overnight."
"Mr. Sheriff." He also straightened his collar seriously, "I want to borrow your official seal to write a letter."
"Why are you writing a letter?" Liszt's face was full of distrust of him.
"Oh, there is no office of Reising Company in Green Town. We need to contact the nearest city and ask the local police station to cooperate with us in investigating these people. We need to find information from their archives and confirm who were the specific members and passengers on the return trip of the last bus."
Liszt immediately slapped his forehead - indeed, there would be passengers on the return trip, and it would be difficult to investigate without asking for help from police stations in other places.
"I'll send someone to get the stuff right away!"
After assigning the tasks, Hitzfeld and Ethan returned to town first.
"I think you should eat something before you go."
Sitting in the bumpy carriage, Ethan felt that he heard the girl's stomach growl at least four times along the way.
"I have to keep my word." Hitzfeld blushed a little.
"When we borrow money from a gold merchant, they often change the meeting time." Ethan shook his head. "We are the strong party investigating the case. Breaking the contract does not constitute a moral loss for us. On the contrary, it can put pressure on the person being investigated."
"Is this something you learn from experience?" Hitzfeld pursed his lips. "You guys have been doing this kind of thing a lot, right?"
"It was the captain's idea." Ethan also grinned, "She is not popular in the bureau... You should be able to tell that the main reason is that she doesn't like to follow the rules. She won't miss any opportunity to weaken or put pressure on her opponent."
"I like it very much." The girl nodded, "But not this time... Ethan, not this time, because the people and things we are facing this time are not ordinary."
If he were just an ordinary mayor, this would be a good idea.
But Bar-Glarrant's hold on Town Green was too strong.
She must give the other party enough respect.
"You took the case, so we will cooperate with you."
Ethan also nodded and did not insist.
The alleys along Lake Tonks were too narrow for the carriage to enter, so Hitzfeld decided not to go back and asked the driver to go directly to the west side of the town and told him to find a restaurant to stop at.
Green Town was not big, and it would take a while to walk to the end. She wanted to buy some simple food to eat on the way.
"Is there anything else we can help check?"
Ethan asked her again midway.
"Basically nothing." Hitzfeld thought for a moment, "Oh, right - can you help me collect folk songs and fairy tales about this town?"
"And the letter we sent halfway to inquire about Eugenie's situation...are you sure they can make it in time?"
She didn't think much about it when she delivered the letter, but now that she recalled it, the address Ethan wrote was actually the train.
If the reply doesn't arrive within three days and the train leaves, can they still receive the news if they stay in the town?
"They are human beings, not machines." Ethan smiled. "They will send a specialist to deliver the letter directly to the town. This place is not big, so it is easy to find someone."
"I hope so."
"Dong dong!"
“We’ve reached the place to eat!”
