Part 1. the jester chapter ninety – the “see”
Sir Devereux’s bedroom was larger than the living room and dining room in Klein’s house, and consisted of a bed, sitting area, dressing area, lavatory area, and bookshelf-desk area, with exquisite furnishings and lavish details.
But to Klein’s senses, the lighting here was gloomy and the temperature was at least half as low as outside.
At the same time, it was as if he heard one cry after another and a dying moan in his ears.
Klein was in a slight trance, only to see that everything was normal again: brilliant sunlight pierced through the window and flooded the entire bedroom; the temperature was neither too high nor too low; the police, bodyguards, and housekeeper around him were silent and didn’t speak.
This …… he looked sideways at the classical and ornate sleeping bed, and saw what seemed to be pair after pair of blurred eyes hovering in the shadows, like mothbugs unafraid of death beside a gas lamp.
After taking a few steps closer, Klein’s “psychic vision” lost the image he had just seen.
It was not a standard ghost, much less an evil spirit……. What exactly was it? Klein frowned, recalling the occult knowledge he had acquired during this period of time.
In his opinion, today’s task to the “corpse collector”, to the “gravedigger”, to the “psychic”, I’m afraid that there will not be a little difficulty, but this is obviously not his best field.
Resisting the urge to divine the direction of his investigation, Klein looked around slowly, searching for other traces to corroborate the few guesses he had in mind.
”This one, Inspector.” Sir Devereux said hesitantly, “Anything?”
”I don’t think my colleague would have waited until now if it was that easy to make a discovery.” Klein spoke condescendingly, subconsciously glancing at the Grand Philanthropist.
Just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, he suddenly realized that a pale white figure was reflected in the mirror behind Sir Devereux.
No, it was one overlapping, distorted light white figure after another!
The figure flickered away, and it was as if Crane heard another faint cry.
Hoo…… he exhaled a cloudy breath, soothing the fear that had just scared him so much that he almost drew his gun.
Raised inspiration, turned on psychic vision, sooner or later will be scared crazy …… Klein relieved his own tightness by spitting on himself, and then redirected his sight to Sir Dwyer.
This time, he saw something different.
Sir Deville, who was in this bedroom, was surrounded by light white, distorted shadows that flickered every now and then, dulling the light slightly in even that area.
And each flash was inevitably accompanied by unreal, hard-to-hear cries and moans for normal people.
Difficult for normal people to hear in their normal state? Because of the daylight? Klein nodded thoughtfully.
He had made a tentative judgment on the case:
What haunted Sir Devereux was a grievance, a spiritual residue caused by the most difficult to let go of emotions before a human’s death!
This kind of resentment and residue, if accumulated for a while, and a few times more powerful, will become a horrible murderous spirit.
But Sir De Vere is a famous philanthropist, even Benson is so critical of him, he also has great respect for him, how can there be so many “death grudges” haunting him? Discrepancies? A tactic of the unsuspecting extraordinary? Klein wondered at the possibilities.
After a moment’s thought, he looked over at Devereux and spoke:
”Honorable Sir, I have a few questions.”
”Go ahead.” De Vere sat down wearily and weakly.
Klein organized his words:
”When you left here and traveled to new places, such as the countryside, such as Berkland, did you all get at least a short period of peace for half the night, and then the condition slowly returned, getting worse and worse, until even when you slept in the daytime, you would hear moans and cries?”
Devereux’s half-squinted eyes widened for a moment, and there was more than a little glow within his azure eyes:
”Yes, you found the root of the matter?”
He then realized that due to his long insomnia and poor mental condition, he had forgotten to tell the police about such an important clue!
Seeing Klein’s question answered in the affirmative, Inspector Toller was secretly relieved to realize that the night watchman had found a clue.
And Sergeant Galt, surprised and curious, couldn’t help but scrutinize the psychologist Klein several times.
In line with the characteristics of the grievances gradually entangled, a little bit of gathering …… obtained feedback Klein basically confirmed the answer.
He now has two ways to help Sir Devereux get rid of the trouble, one is directly around the other side to set up the altar, rely on ritual magic to completely remove the “death grudge”, the second is to use other occult means to find out the source of the problem, from the root to solve the matter.
Considering the rule of “trying not to let ordinary people know the existence of extraordinary power”, Klein planned to try the second method first, and then pray to the goddess if it didn’t work.
”Sir, you are mentally ill, mentally ill.” He looked over at Devereux, babbling in a serious manner.
Sir Devereux frowned and asked rhetorically:
”You mean I’m mentally ill and need to go to an insane asylum?”
”No, it’s not that serious, in fact most people have a little bit of psychological and mental problems to a greater or lesser extent.” Klein casually soothed, “Allow me to re-introduce myself, I’m a psychologist with the Ahova County Police Department.”
”Psychologist?” Deville and his butler simultaneously looked at their acquaintance, Inspector Toller.
Toller nodded solemnly, indicating that it was indeed so.
”Okay, so what do I need to do to cooperate with the treatment? And, I don’t understand why my butler, my bodyguard, and my servants can hear the crying and moaning ……,” De Vere said with a puzzled look on his face as he gripped his cane with both hands.
Klein replied professionally:
”I’ll explain it to you afterward.”
”Please ask your butler, your servant and your bodyguard to leave, Inspector Toller, Sergeant Galt, please join me, I need a quiet environment for the initial healing.”
”Healing” with spells …… Inspector Toller silently added for him, nodding to Sir Devereux.
Devereux said in silence for a dozen seconds:
”Callum, you take them to the second floor parlor and wait.”
”Yes, Sir.” The butler, Callum, did not retort, for it was the full police officer, the trainee inspector, and the psychologist who made the request.
After seeing them leave in turn and closing the door to the room, Klein looked over at the dark blonde-haired, azure-eyed Deville and said:
”Sir, please lie down on the bed, relax and try to fall asleep.”
”…… Okay.” De Vere hung his coat and hat on the coat rack, walked slowly to the bed, and lay down on it.
Klein, on the other hand, drew the curtains all the way back, leaving the room dark.
He unhooked his pendant, made a quick and simple determination of good and bad luck with his “pendulum,” then sat down in a rocking chair not far from the end of the bed, traced the orb of light, and entered into a meditation, allowing the spiritual world to unfold before his eyes.
Immediately afterward, he leaned against the back of the chair and fell into a deep sleep, allowing his astral body to come into contact with the outside world.
He was using the technique of “dream divination”, allowing himself to “communicate” with the grievances that haunted Sir Devereux in a dream-like spiritual environment.
Only by communicating can we get answers and solve problems!
Oooh-ooh-ooh!
The illusory sobs of sadness haunted Klein’s ears, and he “saw” one light white transparent figure after another appearing around him.
The pained moans of the figures came out, and Klein, who had barely regained his ability to think, reached out his right hand and touched one of them.
Horribly, the figures turned into moths that fluttered on the fire, and one after another, they threw themselves at him.
Klein’s eyes blurred, and his head seemed to have been split in two, half of which was calmly scrutinizing, and half of which saw a “mirror”.
In the “mirror” was a strong young girl dressed as a laborer, walking through a dusty factory, her head throbbing with pain.
Her vision was blurred at times, and her body was getting thinner by the day.
It was as if she heard someone calling out to her Charlotte, saying that she was suffering from general hysteria.
Hysteria? She looked in the mirror and saw a blue line if any on her gums.
……
The “camera” pans out and Klein seems to see it again, disguised as a girl named Mary.
She, too, was walking through the lead factory, young and lively.
Suddenly, half of her cheek began to twitch continuously, followed by her arm and leg on the same side.
”You suffer from epilepsy.” She heard someone say as her whole body convulsed.
She convulsed and collapsed, becoming more and more violent, and finally lost consciousness.
……
Another girl, she moped around, wandered the streets like a fool, and even developed a speech impediment.
Her headaches were very severe, her gums had blue lines, and she had convulsions now and then.
She met a doctor who said:
”Rafferty, you are under the influence of lead.”
That doctor looked at her with pity, and watched her convulse again, several times in succession, and watched her lose all light in her eyes.
……
A picture presented itself to Klein’s mind, and he half immersed himself in it, half calmly observed it.
Suddenly, he completely understood what had happened to these girls:
They were female workers who had been exposed to lead white for a long time, exposed to dust for a long time, and they had died of lead poisoning.
Sir De Vere had a lead factory and two ceramics factories, all of which employed relatively inexpensive female laborers!
Crane “watched” all this in silence, feeling that there was only one thing left to be clarified:
The “death grudge” was so small that even if it had accumulated, it could not have had any effect on reality, on Deville.
Unless, unless there was a stronger and more obsessive grudge that turned them into a whole.
Just then, he “saw” another girl.
This girl was no more than eighteen years old and was helping to glaze the porcelain in the factory.
”Harriet, how’s your health these days, do you have any headaches? If it’s severe, remember to tell me, Sir Devereux rules that people with severe headaches can no longer be exposed to lead and must leave the factory.” An older woman asked with concern.
Harriet touched her forehead and smiled as she replied:
”A little, okay.”
”Then let me know tomorrow if it is serious.” The older female admonished.
Harriet agreed and returned home, pressing her forehead every now and then.
She saw her parents and brother return from outside and saw the sadness on their faces.
”Your father and brother lost their jobs ……” said her mother, wiping tears from her eyes.
Her father and brother in turn hung their heads and whispered:
”We’ll go to the docks and find something to do.”
”But we don’t even have money for bread the day after tomorrow …… Maybe we’ll have to move to the far end of Lower Street …… ” Harriet’s mother looked at her with red eyes. “When will you get your paycheck? It’s ten soules right?”
Again Harriet pinched her forehead:
”Well, Saturday, Saturday.”
She said nothing more, just quiet as usual, and returned to the factory the next day to tell her supervisor that her headache was better and there was no problem.
She broke into a smile and walked five kilometers to work and then five kilometers home every day, pressing and rubbing her head more and more frequently.
”Haven’t you guys found a job yet?” Harriet couldn’t help but ask her father and brother as she looked at the black bread cooking in the soup.
Her father said bitterly:
”Recently there has been a recession, many places are laying off workers, even the docks are working one day and resting the next, and you can only get 3 Soule 7 pence a week.”
Harriet sighed and said nothing more, as quiet as ever, except to quietly hide behind her back her left hand, which was suddenly twitching.
The next day she walked to work again, the sun slowly shining, and the pedestrians in the street gradually changing from few to many.
Suddenly, she convulsed, all over her body.
She collapsed on the curb, foaming at the mouth.
She looked up at the sky, her vision beginning to blur, and she saw people coming and going, she saw people leaning in, she saw a carriage passing by, she saw the white dove coat of arms of the House of Devereux with its wings spread out.
She struggled to open her mouth, but no sound came out.
So, she still said nothing, and was just as quiet as usual.
But unlike usual, she was dead.