The Sergeant and Xia De met on the temporarily empty staircase to prevent anyone from seeing Xia De. The tall, thin, and seemingly astute middle-aged man took Xia De's credentials, examined them, and immediately stood at attention:
"How may I help you? What can we do for you?"
MI6 belonged to the Royal Army establishment and was not part of the police system. However, when MI6 agents were on duty, lower-ranking police officers had to cooperate. Although the Sergeant outranked a constable, he was still considered a lower-ranking police officer.
"This murder case is related to something I'm investigating. I need to understand some details of this case and identify the killer as quickly as possible before I can proceed with my next steps."
Xia De said, and the Sergeant looked a bit troubled:
"The case isn't complicated. We initially suspected it was part of the recent serial murders involving organ theft, which is why we brought so many people. But the body is intact, with only gun wounds and one stab wound, so it shouldn't be related to that recent incident."
The public safety situation in Middelburg was indeed worrying.
"However, there are too many tenants on the fourth floor. We've only done a simple screening of potential perpetrators and identified 21 possible suspects. If we want to speed things up..."
"Where is the crime scene?"
Xia De asked directly. This decisive approach further solidified the Sergeant's trust in him:
"In the victim's room."
"Take me to see it. Also, clear out everyone else for now. I don't want too many people to see me."
"Understood."
The Sergeant had the police take the 21 suspicious tenants to another room to wait temporarily. He then led Xia De to the room with the metal plate marked "11."
On the third floor of Sicar Inn, large rooms were divided into small, less private ones, while the fourth floor had actual single rooms, though they were as cramped as the guest rooms at Three Cats Inn. A desk, nightstand, wardrobe, and bed almost filled the entire room. The room was very tidy, with no strange odors. The windows and curtains were tightly closed, and the flower-shaped gas lamp on the wall was currently providing light.
"Why are the curtains drawn in broad daylight? There are no taller buildings nearby anyway."
Xia De thought to himself.
The deceased was still lying on the ground, but covered with a white sheet. Xia De lifted it and took a look. The bullet had directly entered the heart from the front, which was the cause of death. There was also a stab wound on the shoulder, suggesting a struggle had occurred there before the shooting.
"Look, this is a typical Carson Rick appearance."
The seemingly astute middle-aged Sergeant commented.
"What was his identity?"
"We just did a rough check of his luggage and found identification. Mr. Tales, the innkeeper, also confirmed that the person had been staying here since the beginning of the harvest month, claiming to be a merchant from the south, waiting for a shipment of goods in Middelburg."
Xia De nodded, then pretended to search the room. With the seeping stab wound, he could actually use Blood Echo to find the real culprit directly, but he still had to put on a show.
He was initially just going through the motions, but the Sergeant behind him was diligently providing explanations to Xia De, so Xia De had no choice but to act a bit more seriously.
This Carson Rick merchant's luggage was very simple, containing only personal clothing, a few novels, and a set of rhode cards. Besides that, noteworthy items included a ticket to the local "Stars and Three rhode cards Club" and a train ticket from Middelburg back to Carson Rick, tucked inside a book. He had actually purchased a ticket for next Tuesday, which was the first day of next month, in advance, suggesting he already knew the time of the pickup.
"Does the innkeeper know when this person usually went out and came back?"
Xia De asked again, and the Sergeant flipped through his notebook:
"He usually came downstairs for breakfast at eight, then went out. He returned at eleven for lunch, then took a nap. In the afternoon, he usually didn't go out, either staying in his room or going downstairs to play cards with people. After dinner in the evening, he sometimes went out, and once he did, he wouldn't come back overnight."
"His life is quite simple."
Xia De said, then pulled out the other person's wallet from the coat draped over the chair. It was black leather and looked very ordinary. The police hadn't checked this yet, so Xia De opened it in front of the Sergeant.
Inside were about 3 pounds in banknotes and coins, a few business cards written in carson rick, belonging to the deceased himself, a law firm, and a warehouse. Besides that, there was also the train ticket from when the person arrived in Middelburg and a few casino chips. The train ticket was punched, indicating it had been used, and all the chips came from a casino very close by.
"He goes out every night, could it be just to the casino?"
Xia De muttered, then reached into the other pocket of the coat and pulled out a pair of Gray Gloves. Checking the chest pocket, this time he took out a very new-looking pocket watch, a few coins, a handwritten receipt for the pocket watch, and a fountain pen.
Opening the watch cover, there was a woman's photo embedded inside, probably his wife.
"Looks very normal."
Then he casually picked up the fountain pen. It was brass-colored, about as long as Xia De's middle finger, but only about a third of its thickness. He looked at it and saw no problem, but then suddenly froze:
"Why does this fountain pen look so familiar?"
"Of course it's familiar. You used a Miracle on it and can recognize the trace."
This was precisely the fountain pen Xia De had received from Virgil Cameron on the night of the Great City Player finals. This fountain pen was later passed by Xia De to the Gray Gloves' intelligence system in exchange for 2,000 pounds. Less than half a month later, he actually saw it again here.
Pretending to examine the fountain pen, he confirmed that the thin thread and paper strip inside the pen cap were gone. If Xia De hadn't personally touched it, or even used Breath of Years on it, even if the pen looked exactly the same, he wouldn't have believed such a coincidence.
"Did Sparrow Detective cast some kind of curse on me? Why do I always run into Gray Gloves' people?"
He thought in astonishment, but outwardly, he normally capped the fountain pen and put it back in its original place.
"You don't have such a curse on you."
So this deceased so-called "merchant" was the receiver who had received intelligence from the Principality of Set and came to Punjab Avenue to pick up the goods. And the date of the pickup, Xia De remembered clearly, was the last day of this month, which was next Monday. Therefore, the deceased had purchased the ticket for the first day of next month, which was next Tuesday, in advance; and that's why the deceased had time to frequent casinos, unlike normal merchants who would be busy.
"But what does this have to do with me?"
Xia De thought to himself, stuffing all these items back into the clothes, then said to the Sergeant:
"Let's take a look in the corridor."
He blinked, trying to forget that he had just recognized the fountain pen, then followed the faint bloodstain left by the stab wound, watching the trail fly out the door, then turn in the corridor and enter the room on the immediate left.
"The killer is his neighbor."
Xia De said calmly. Although the Sergeant was surprised by the reason Xia De reached his conclusion, seeing his composed demeanor, he didn't ask further.
Once the killer was found, there would be plenty of ways to make him reveal all the details.
"Who lives across from him, and on his left and right?"
Xia De asked, standing in the corridor.
"Across from him lives a linguistics professor from the south, Professor Higgins. She moved in here last week and is visiting Middelburg for an exchange. That professor is also one of the suspects, but she doesn't look like a killer at all."
It wasn't folklore, which disappointed Xia De a bit, but if it really was folklore, he would instead have to worry about whether this matter had anything to do with Ring術士.
"But, it's a Carson Rick person again?"
Xia De now saw all Carson Rick people as Gray Gloves agents.
"The room on the right houses two people, Armand Bernhard and his nephew, Leicester Bernhard. They are also Carson Rick people, who came to Middelburg to live with local relatives, which can be easily verified. Also, those two are not on the fourth floor right now; they went out in the morning, so they can be excluded as suspects."
"Bernhard?"
These two names were the names of the two Vampire Xia De encountered in Between Life and Death, so they definitely weren't Gray Gloves agents.
"Good thing they went out, so I don't have to meet them."
Xia De felt a slight relief in his heart, then asked:
"What about the one on the left?"
"The one on the left is Mr. Bain Bennett, also a merchant from Carson Rick, who has been staying at the inn for half a year."
Another Carson Rick person, and coincidentally the killer, so he might be...
"Not my business."
Xia De suppressed the stray thoughts, emphasized it again in his mind, then said to the Sergeant:
"The killer is most likely him."
Currently, Mr. Bennett and the other suspects were being held in another room. Those people had strong opinions and didn't want their personal freedom restricted, but the Sergeant acted as if he hadn't heard them. Except for Professor Higgins, there were no other people of noteworthy identity inside.
"Are there so many foreigners here?"
He asked casually, pretending.
"During winter, train services through Sicar Mountain are also affected and reduced, so if people need to travel between the two countries this year, they try to do it as much as possible in autumn."
The Sergeant said. They opened the foreign merchant's room, and Xia De again pretended to inspect it. He easily found a blood-stained dagger and two handguns of different models under a loose floorboard beneath the bed.
"Someone actually carried two handguns? I see. The receiver doesn't carry weapons to avoid exposure, and others who arrived half a year in advance protect him with guns, so the killer is also... But why the shooting? An internal conflict?"
Sparrow Detective knew half a year in advance that there was an important mission in the harvest month, indicating that the Principality of Set and Gray Gloves had prior communication, so Gray Gloves might have known the pickup location was in Middelburg in advance. But the specific location was only passed on by Gray Headed Eagle in the harvest month, after the goods were acquired by the Principality of Set. Therefore, it wasn't a loophole that Gray Gloves' people could settle down locally half a year in advance.
"What exactly is the cargo being delivered after such elaborate preparations?"
Although this was a question, it had nothing to do with Xia De. Xia De did not delve into it; he couldn't get involved with spies anymore.
So he didn't appear again. Instead, the Sergeant announced to everyone that the killer had been found. Mr. Bain Bennett, who still wanted to argue, dejectedly admitted that he was indeed the one who did it after seeing the evidence:
"I was playing rhode cards with him, and this guy owed me 3 pounds for a week. He said he would pay today, but when I went to find him, he denied it again, and in a fit of rage..."
For Xia De, who had almost touched the truth, this was certainly a lie, but he didn't expose it.
Mr. Bennett was then taken away by the police. The parts of his and the deceased's luggage that could serve as evidence were also taken by the police. Since he and the deceased had no acquaintances locally, the remaining luggage was temporarily entrusted to Professor Higgins, the Carson Rick professor living across the hall, until the police found a contact person to retrieve it.
The deceased, the killer, and Professor Higgins were all Carson Rick people, and the three had a good relationship. Xia De understood that there were many stories involved, but he still chose not to interfere.
No matter what the goods to be picked up were, and no matter whether others knew the information inside the fountain pen or could receive the goods after the death of the deceased who possessed the fountain pen, it had nothing to do with Xia De. His main professions were already numerous enough: Detective, Ring術士, rhode cards Player. He couldn't add identities like double agent to make himself even busier.
"You thought the same way before passing that intelligence."
"She" whispered softly, her voice very pleasant.
"This time it's definitely true."
"Is that so?"
Then there was only that string of laughter.
