"So Temple's incompatibility stood out."
"Yes! Because everyone else was very polite to the lady, but he was the only one who ignored her. I don't think he would be very popular."
"…How did Miss Bella treat Mr. Temple?" Hitzfeld thought about it and asked again.
"Miss Charles loves to sneak up on him."
"Ok?"
"I've heard from others that it was because Miss Charles once kicked a ball at Mr. Temple's head, but he dodged it, and she became interested in him."
"…Shouldn't she stay away from such strangers?"
"Ah, so we don't understand what she's thinking... Since then, she likes to run to that carriage to cause trouble for him, either kicking the ball or throwing snowballs at him."
"Where did the snowball come from?"
"On the window sill... It snowed in Wayne late that night. It snowed quite a bit, and a lot of places were frozen."
"Has he escaped?"
"They all dodged, and when there was no space to hide, they all caught the ball steadily."
"And no dissatisfaction?"
"From what I understand and what I have seen with my own eyes, no."
Then he is a real weirdo.
Hitzfeld thought to himself.
No wonder the little girl is interested in him.
"Oh, yes!" Miss Mary suddenly remembered, "When I was delivering the midnight snack, I seemed to hear Mr. Temple advising Miss Charles to take her mother off the bus as soon as possible."
"Is this what he said?"
"I think I remember correctly..."
"Is that all he said?"
"It seemed to say something like 'It's not safe in the car'." Miss Mary shook her head reluctantly, "I'm not sure if that's what I was thinking."
She probably meant to say "brain filler".
But she didn't know the word, so she could only explain it to the girl this way.
Hitzfeld quickly wrote down the content in his notebook and asked, "From what you saw, did all the men in the car wear hats?"
"Yes." Miss Mary nodded immediately. "After all, it's the season... Even Mrs. Charles wears a hat."
"Including Mr. Tompley."
“…Of course.”
"Can you recall the color and style of hat Mr. Thompley wore?"
Hitzfeld looked up at her and continued, "We didn't find his hat in the photos of the scene or in those rooms. This thing is very important."
"It was probably black..." Miss Mary pretended to recall, "It should be a set with his coat, and it seems to be made of the same material... It has no brim, not a felt hat, but a thick, slightly furry hat that covers the entire head."
“Can you draw it?”
Mistress Mary looked very embarrassed.
She knew nothing about drawing, so Hitzfeld pulled a large notebook from under Leon's arm and asked her to try, and found that she had almost drawn a bucket.
"That's all." Hitzfeld put away his things and reached out to shake her hand.
"Thanks for the help."
"Miss Hitzfeld—"
Seeing her turning to leave, Miss Mary quickly called her back.
The woman looked a little embarrassed. "Are you sure you can find out... what's going on?"
The question is too straightforward.
Li Ang frowned and stared at the girl, intending to see how she would answer.
Then I saw her raise her eyebrows.
"Of course," she said.
"If Mr. Sheriff needs help, I'll give him some inspiration."
……
"How do you have the guts to promise that?"
On the way back to Yunyou Hotel, Li Ang couldn't help complaining to her.
What detective would make such a guarantee to others before solving a case? No one can guarantee that his crime-solving rate is 100%. If he fails, wouldn't that ruin his reputation?
“I do see some problems.”
"That's not OK!"
Leon rebuked reflexively.
After climbing two steps, he responded: "Huh?"
"I said I have a little idea." The girl repeated, "Instead of telling me what to do here, why don't you go find Mike and the others and get Mr. Larson's observation records for me."
Chapter 15 Relationship
Going upstairs and pushing open the wooden door of Room 503, Hitzfeld did not see Ashley and Lily here. There was only a large kettle on the stove, which kept making the sound of boiling water.
She just raised her eyebrows, immediately locked the door, took off her slightly heavy winter skirt and threw it on the bed, and began to take off the black stockings covering her lower body.
Strictly speaking, it's a bit of a stretch to call this pantyhose, it's too thick, a bit like leggings in modern clothing. But for some reason it can maintain its thickness while showing that kind of wonderful texture that's a bit transparent, so Hitzfeld can only call it that.
"Really... Even though the temperature is below zero, I still feel a little hot after running around..."
He took off his gloves, socks, underwear and other items and spread them on the quilt to dry. Then Hitzfeld went naked to the bathroom to get a bucket of water. He picked up the kettle on the stove and added boiling water to it. He dipped a clean towel in the water to soak up the moisture and simply wiped his body clean.
Like most hotels in this area, Yunyou Hotel’s sign also claims to provide automatic hot water.
But this is a poor place after all, and some water pipes are not installed properly and always have problems. When she went upstairs just now, she heard someone making a fuss. Probably the hot water pipes were frozen.
So don’t think about taking a shower if you live here. Just clean yourself up like this first, and then go home and take a shower when you are done.
The cleaning was completed after changing the water three times. The girl put on her short clothes again, found the bed against the wall and sat on it, then wiped her hair with another dry towel.
If Xia were here, she would definitely be surprised that I could live so comfortably.
Hitzfeld thought of his busy lover who was away.
I am not like Xia. I have gotten used to running around and investigating cases for so many years. I can fall asleep at any time even in the wilderness.
Let’s ignore the question of whether she can sleep or not, and just talk about resting. The girl admits that she is quite picky about where she wants to rest.
She will feel a little uncomfortable at first in any unfamiliar environment. If the conditions are relatively simple, she will not be picky, but she will definitely be unhappy living there.
But it’s different now, she’s so leisurely and natural at this moment... If it were her old self, she would definitely just sit on the bed and wait, unable to relax at all, and wouldn’t even think of taking this time to clean and wash her hair.
She knew where this change started - she actually had many opportunities to show her pickiness, but almost without exception, Xia Yibing was with her on those occasions.
Because she was there and she lived with her, her picky attitude towards unfamiliar residences had been gradually worn away. She could now control herself freely even when the woman was not around, and would never put herself in a difficult position.
It’s a pity that I didn’t bring any clothes.
Looking at the gathered quilt with regret, he suppressed the urge to crawl in and take a nap with the ring. Hitzfeld quickly put on his socks, gloves and long skirt. Just as he stepped on his boots, he heard the door lock being turned forcefully.
The visitor seemed to have not expected that the door was locked. After twisting it twice without success, he began to knock on the door.
But the force was more like pounding on the door than knocking... As soon as Hitzfeld heard the noise, he knew who was outside and walked over quickly to open the door.
Ashley was standing outside the door. The tall girl was stunned when she saw her. She put her raised fist behind her back and looked a little embarrassed.
"Where have you been?" Hitzfeld asked her sternly.
"No... I didn't go anywhere..." Ashley stammered. At the same time, a big white Sherlock dog jumped out from behind her, stood up and pounced forward.
Hitzfeld had anticipated this and quickly dodged to the side.
"Woof!" Lily's chin hit the door frame and she got up and barked in dissatisfaction.
"Let me guess." Staring at Ashley's arm - strictly speaking, the small square corner of her arm that was exposed from behind - Hitzfeld whispered, "Did you hear me asking for something, so you went to ask them for it?"
Ashley immediately became dejected and took out something, which was a worn-out notebook with a brown and yellow cover.
The characters "Papaconi" were written in sloppy handwriting on the surface of the book. Obviously, this was the observation notebook carried by the zoologist.
"I thought I could at least help you a little..."
The notes are taken away from her, and Ashley struggles to explain her behavior.
"How much did you hear?" But Hitzfeld did not let her go and tortured her about where she was at the time. "Were you hiding among that group of people? But I didn't see you with Lily?"
"I knew that would be very conspicuous." Ashley nodded, "So I sent Lily away."
As for how much I heard...
She raised the corners of her mouth.
Basically, your conversation with the flight attendant is verbatim.
Hitzfeld isn’t angry about that aspect.
This was unavoidable. There were indeed quite a few people gathered at the time, and the gravel road was already very narrow. Next to the ditch... the nearest group of people was less than meters away.
If she wanted to hear it from this distance, she would definitely be able to hear it, but the crowd's attention was not here at the time, so she had the opportunity to ask questions carefully.
She was angry about another point: "Do you know why there are no stray dogs around here?"
"Ah?" Ashley was stunned and hadn't reacted yet.
However, she was born a "savage" after all, and she quickly realized that the girl meant that it was unsafe to leave Lily alone.
In the wild, any animal can be prey.
There are no stray dogs in the slums, so they must have been caught and eaten.
"Lily won't run too far!" She quickly defended, "And I've inquired about this case. People nearby think it was done by evil spirits... They don't dare to get close. Lily is very safe running along the ditch!"
Hitzfeld reached out and gently pressed his forehead: "Maybe it was my mistake to let you stay..."
"Heath!"
Ashley unconsciously turned up the volume.
Although she already knew a lot of words and had no problem communicating with people normally, at times like this, she was still not very good at expressing her emotions accurately.
"I just...want to help you!"
"Have you ever thought about how I would feel if something happened to you?"
The girl quickly interrupted her.
"Your mother... entrusted you to me before she died. If I can't take good care of you, how can I cope with myself?"
"You took good care of me!" Ashley shouted, "You're the best person! Heath! What are you worried about?"
"I don't understand, why do you have to help me?"
Hitzfeld was even more puzzled by this.
She actually had doubts... doubts as to whether Ashley had any feelings for her that had soured.
When Ashley was first brought into civilized society, she was very young and her mental age was even younger. Children at this stage will spontaneously imitate many of their guardians' behaviors, but unfortunately, her and Xia's way of getting along cannot be used as reference material.
But Ashley must have noticed something. If she mistakenly believed that this was how same-sex people should get along...
Unlikely.
After thinking about it, Hitzfeld ruled out this option.
Sometimes I do that kind of thing with Xia... Ashley should have vaguely noticed it.
This child just looks a little naive, but she is actually very precocious. After she understood the truth, she quickly distinguished the difference between the two relationships.
Hitzfeld was sure that the other party only treated him as a relative.
So why...
