Part 1 The Joker Chapter 174 Mrs. Sherron
”What?” Startled, the brown bear-like Toller looked at Klein and then inside the guest room and rushed in with an agility that shouldn’t have been possible in itself.
He pulled back the white cloth covering the body, scrutinized it several times, and sighed with relief:
”Better than I thought, it’s not too much of a problem.”
Maybe I should pull out my revolver and send Senator Maynard five rounds of Demon Hunter bullets to see if the problem is serious or not …… Klein ventriloquized and pointed to the door:
”Nothing for me after that, right?”
”No!” Toller shouted violently, “You wait a little longer.”
Klein asked back in disbelief:
”Why?”
Toller explained very squarely and very seriously, “We must prevent accidents, and I’ll send you back to Zoltan Street after we’ve questioned Mrs. Sherron and made a good statement.”
If Maynard, who had been dead for more than 10 hours, could come back to life, what else couldn’t happen? What will I do when you’re gone? Toller added in his mind.
”Fine.” Klein rubbed the corner of his forehead and said, “You find a quiet room for me to rest.”
He was still in an unstable state in all aspects after only one day of promotion, and he had just performed several rituals, used two charms, and suffered a considerable amount of shock, so it was necessary to meditate as soon as possible to rule out the problem.
The current Klein is extremely wary of “losing control”.
Toller pulled the white cloth back on, visibly relaxing as he said:
”No problem.”
He led Klein into the guest room near the tanning house and pointed inside:
”Inspector Moretti, you can rest assured that no one will bother you, I’ll go find Mrs. Sherron first.”
Klein nodded slightly and watched the other party leave before closing the door to the room and closing the curtains.
Inside the dim and quiet bedroom, he slowly walked over to the rocking chair and comfortably laid down, letting his body swing back and forth rhythmically.
Countless visions of orbs of light cascaded and gathered in his mind, and little by little the buzzing in Klein’s ears and the throbbing pain in his head faded away.
When his state stabilized, he opened his eyes and looked at the beds, cabinets, and other furniture outlined in the darkness, and summarized his previous attempts with a calm mind and body:
”A few of the more flamboyant jokes didn’t get ‘feedback’ for a while ……”
”Perhaps it’s because I haven’t really controlled the power of the ‘Joker’ magic potion yet, and there are still negative effects remaining …… Of course, I can’t rule out the possibility that this kind of playacting is not very useful.”
”…… Personally, I’m not too happy about playing the ‘Joker’, but since I’ve chosen this sequence pathway, I can only go down it hard …… ”
”In fact, everyone in life has more or less become a ‘clown’ at times, no need to be too exclusive …… ”
”Have to figure out what the core elements of ‘clowning’ are as soon as possible ……”
Amidst the various thoughts tumbling to the surface, Klein abruptly pulled out a brass-colored penny with a denomination of one-half.
It was customary for him to divine whether there was a transcendental element to Maynard’s death.
This may be an occupational disease …… Klein shook his head and lost his smile, his eyes turned deep, and he repeated the silent recitation:
”There is the influence of transcendental factors in the death of John Maynard.”
……
Clang!
Reclining in his rocking chair he popped the halfpenny coin and watched its brass-colored body tumble and shimmer in the dimness.
Snap! The coin landed squarely in Klein’s palm, the number one-half facing up.
”Negative …… That means there was no transcendental factor involved in John Maynard’s death …… The guy really does seem to have died suddenly from extreme pleasure… …The dead are great, so I won’t have to mock him with Chinese colloquialisms ……” Klein put away the coin and emptied his mind in the deep black swoosh of the room, nearly falling asleep.
Knock, knock, knock.
At the slow rhythmic knocking, Klein straightened his clothes, put on his fedora with the police coat of arms, left his recliner, and walked slowly to the door.
His right palm had just touched the armrest when an image suddenly appeared within his mind:
The brown bear-like Inspector Toller stood outside the door, tugging at his collar with a look of obvious annoyance and helplessness.
Twisting the handle, Klein opened the door without haste.
Inspector Toller appeared in his eyes, tugging at his collar and saying:
”I’m terribly sorry to have kept you waiting so long.”
”We’ve searched for Mrs. Sherron, taken a statement, and you may return to Zoltan Street.”
”I’m really sorry for delaying your precious time.”
Klein didn’t bother to ask the other party about the cause of his current mood, and turned to smile:
”Mrs. Sherron admitted to being with Senator Maynard last night?”
”Yes, she said that catalyzed by a large amount of alcohol, she and Councilor Maynard failed to control themselves for a moment, and after discovering the other party’s sudden death, she was so scared that she did a little processing and escaped from that room and hid back in the guest room that belongs to her, and we don’t have enough reasons to charge her with a crime for the time being, we can only let her leave, restricting a certain amount of freedom, and wait for the results of the autopsy that is more further on. ” Inspector Toller described in detail.
Klein inclined his head slightly and smiled keenly:
”Who are you explaining this to?”
Toller froze for a moment, then revealed a bitter smile, “Yes, I don’t need to explain anything to you, I was so annoyed by Mrs. Maynard that I just subconsciously said so much.”
”Senator Maynard’s wife is back?” Klein asked rhetorically in a daze.
”Yes. Unfortunately, there was an anomaly with the steam train today and it wasn’t late.” Toller replied in the affirmative in a joking manner.
Without asking any more questions, Klein checked to make sure his belongings were in order before following Inspector Toller towards the stairway and all the way back to the ground floor.
”Why don’t you guys arrest her?”
”She’s a murderer! I’m going to sue her, I’m going to sue you for malpractice!”
”I’m going to hire the best barristers to sue you!”
……
A slightly shrill voice reached Klein’s ears, and he subconsciously looked over to see a plump, fair, middle-aged woman, supported by two young men, staring angrily across the room in the living room area, reprimanding incessantly.
”The courtly long dresses …… in vogue at Birkeland this year,” was the anachronistic thought that first sprang to Klein, who would often look through the magazine, “Ladies’ Aesthetics,” and then saw a woman who was being protected by a couple of gentlemen behind her.
The lady wore a long black dress, her skin was white and radiant, her brown hair was like a waterfall, and her brown eyes were as innocent and pitiful as a deer in the woods, so that one could not help but want to pamper her.
Mrs. Sheridan …… Klein suddenly remembered the other starred in the “small dirty film”, busy raised his right hand, against the mouth, dry cough twice.
He professionally let his left teeth tapped twice, and used his “spiritual vision” to observe the people present:
Mrs. Maynard’s body has some minor problems, and the color of her aura is rather thin …… From the color of her emotions, we can intuitively feel her anger and her hatred …… This is very consistent with her outward manifestation… …
”Huh, Mrs. Sheren’s mood color is the blue that represents rational thinking and a calm state …… This is the complete opposite of her outward appearance of being flustered and nervous and churlish …… Sure enough, someone who can become a cross-dresser is definitely not some kind of white rabbit… …She’s in perfect health ……
Having finished his examination, Klein was about to withdraw his sight when he suddenly saw Mrs. Sherron quickly raise her head and glance in her own direction, then lower her head again with a timid and trembling look.
If I could not see the color of your emotions visually, I’m afraid I would have been deceived by your performance …… You should consider developing in the direction of an “actress” …… Said a few words to his stomach, Klein did not stop. He and Inspector Toller walked out of Senator Maynard’s house and took the carriage arranged by the police station back to Zoltan Street.
After replacing the captain, he continued his shift at Charnes Gate and took the opportunity to handwrite a claim for reimbursement.
After an uneventful night, Klein returned to the surface in the early morning and received from Roxanne the breakfast he had entrusted to her.
”I love this pie!” He complimented.
The cost of the breakfast he had given to the other man in advance.
”Yeah? Then I can try it tomorrow!” Roxanne responded gleefully.
…… Klein’s mouth twitched as he focused on dealing with the milk and pie.
By the time 8:25 rolled around, he yawned and forced himself to sleep as he made his way to the nearby shooting club.
He’d made an appointment to meet Dr. Duster Guderian, the asylum doctor, a few days before at this time of day.
……
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the small shooting range, Klein and Duster each took aim at the target and finished a turn of rounds.
Clinking and clanking, Duster shook and shook out the shells, scrutinizing Klein sideways with considerable interest:
”You’re more confident than before.”
Of course, I’ve been promoted to Sequence 8 and have the ability to fight in real combat …… Klein mentally mirrored his facial expressions and body movements, deliberately displaying a cocky stance:
”Because I completely mastered the power of magic potions in just over a month.”
Dusty skimmed his lips unnoticeably and said, “Although it’s something to be proud of, it’s not something that needs to be talked about often.”
Hey, as a “spectator”, you didn’t even see through my performance …… So it seems that the “Joker” is quite a restraint on the “spectator’s” ability. “ability ah …… Klein comprehended smiled, turned to ask:
”How is Hood Ogan’s recent state?”
”…… He’s really crazy.” Duster said in silence for a second, “I’ve tried him in various ways, he’s really crazy, I’m thinking of prescribing the right medicine for him to see if I can cure him.”
As a Sequence 7 “psychiatrist”, he even pretended to be a mental patient …… Even if there is a certain therapeutic behavior, it is not quite in line with the core elements of the name of the magic potion …… This is a vague and wrong use of the “playing method”, crazy is not particularly strange …… Klein thought about it and said:
”Before he went crazy, who had contact with him, did you find out?”
”Other than the doctors, patients, nurses and handymen at the asylum, no outsiders touched him.” Duster answered affirmatively.
Klein let out a “hmmm”:
”What about earlier? Did anyone ever visit him, or would he periodically leave the asylum for a period of time?”
In keeping with his original promise, Klein hadn’t specifically inquired about Hood Orgen the first few times.
Duster fell into deep thought for a long time before saying:
”Other than the members of the Psycho-Alchemy Society, only no more than five people came to visit him, and one of them came three times, by the name of Elle.”
Without waiting for Klein to follow up, he said to himself:
”But I heard Hood Orgen mention that Elle was a pseudonym.”
”His real name is Lanlus.”