Part 1 The Joker Chapter 41 Audrey and her Susie
Pouring his coffee and returning to the armory to grab the thick stack of historical information and those drafts of explanations that Old Neil had put together, Klein turned down one of the gas lamps on the wall and headed for the steps leading up to Blackthorn Security.
Da, da, da, the sound of footsteps echoed through the sealed and empty underground.
Klein finished the circling stairs, pushed open the door to the room, took a moment to recognize it, and headed straight for the second office across the hall.
After two days of familiarization, he had roughly figured out the layout of Blackthorn Security:
Just entering is a spacious reception hall with a set of sofas and tables and chairs, through the partition, is the inner area, the three rooms on the left side of the corridor from near to far are the accounting room belonging to Mrs. Oleanna, the lounge with several sofa beds similar to the sofa beds, and where the staircase leading to the ground is located.
The three rooms on the right side, from near to far, were the office of Captain Dunn Smith, the office of the clerical staff equipped with typewriters, and the recreation room for the regular members of the Night Watchman Squad.
Crane had seen Leonard Mitchell in the recreation room earlier, playing cards with two other members of the squad in what he guessed to be a game of landlord’s fight, which, of course, Russell the Great had renamed “Fighting Evil,” except that the gameplay was no different than Crane knew it to be.
Brett had the benefit of a day’s sleep after his night’s duty, Roxanne stayed at the reception desk, Cecil Francis, who was in charge of purchasing, requisitioning supplies, and moonlighting as a coachman, was out, as usual, and when Klein pushed open the door to the clerical office, all three desks in there were empty, and purely mechanical typewriters rested quietly in their place.
”Axon’s Model 1346 typewriter ……” Klein, who had seen similar items in his mentor’s office and in Welch’s home, murmured, only to realize that the vaguely intricate control system was full of mechanical beauty.
He walked over to the desk with the typewriter and sat down, brewing for a while and trying his hand at virtual typing.
At the beginning, he always instinctively processed it into pinyin, and only when he was familiar with it did he “digest” the corresponding fragments of the original owner’s memories so that he could no longer make any mistakes.
Da, da, da!
The rhythmic sound of the keyboard seemed to be a piece of hard music from metal and industry, and accompanied by this melody, Klein quickly finished the documents for the funding application.
But instead of rushing to Dunn-Smith, he gathered himself together and read carefully the historical information provided by the old Neil, both as a review and as a study.
Near noon, he moved his neck, put away the information, according to the draft of the “occult course”, back to consolidate the content of the morning.
Until this time, he took the “application”, went to the next office, knocked gently on the door.
Dunn was waiting for lunch to be delivered, and when he saw the document handed over by Klein, the corner of his mouth turned up slightly and said:
”Old Neil taught you that?”
”Uh-huh.” Kline didn’t hesitate at all to betray Old Neil.
Dunn picked up the dark red fountain pen and signed with a brush saying:
”Just in time to apply to the church and the county police department for funding for July, August and September, I’ll include this for you, and then get Mrs. Oleanna to draw on it when it’s approved, and the Spirit Pendulum will be ready for collection this afternoon.”
”Okay.” Klein replied succinctly and forcefully.
His tone and gaze were tinted with obvious joy.
Before taking his leave, he casually asked:
”Shouldn’t the funding for July, August, and September have been applied for in June?”
How could there be such a thing as applying for July funding when it was July?
Dunn was silent for a few seconds, picked up his coffee cup and took a sip, saying:
”June met three cases in a row, so busy, so busy that some things were forgotten.”
It is worthy of the captain who has a poor memory …… Klein knew that he had asked a question that should not be asked, dryly laughed twice, and hurried out the door.
With that, he began a simple but regular life, half an hour of meditation in the early morning, two hours of occult lessons in the morning, an hour and a half of mastering historical information, and after lunch, a nap in the lounge to rejuvenate.
After lunch, he took a nap in the lounge to regain his energy. Then, he collected the bullets, went to the “shooting club” to practice, finished practicing, then took a walk to the not-so-distant Welch’s residence, changed the route and walked back to the Iron Cross, which could save a public carriage fare, and, if there was still some time left, skilled in the skills of psychic vision and pendulum, and bought groceries in the meantime.
……
Inside a private chemistry lab complete with instruments and items.
Audrey, who was tall and had silky blonde hair, gazed at the cup in her hand, only to see countless bubbles rising up, making the atmosphere serene.
Eventually, the liquid in the cup settled into a viscous silver-white color.
”Haha, I really do have a talent for the occult, and it worked in one go! I was worried about failing before and had prepared a full two ingredients!” The young girl murmured to herself in delight.
She put away the various remaining materials that she had taken from the family treasury and exchanged with others, took a deep breath, and prepared to close her eyes and drink the cup of “audience” magic potion.
At this moment, outside the laboratory came the sound of “woof woof”, Audrey immediately frowned.
She placed the cup of gently sloshing silver-white liquid into a dark corner, turned her body, and walked over to the door.
”Susie, who’s here?” Audrey asked the big blonde dog sitting on the end of the door as she twisted the knob.
Susie, the big blonde dog, wagged her tail with a pleasing look on her face, while Annie, the personal maid, appeared in the nearby hallway.
Audrey stepped out of the lab, pulled the door closed with her backhand, and looked to Annie:
”Didn’t I say? Don’t disturb me while I’m doing chemistry experiments.”
Anne replied bitterly:
”But there was an invitation from the Duchess, Lady Della.”
”Duke Negan’s wife?” Audrey took a few steps forward and moved closer to Anne.
”Yes, she has the court baker, Lady Witwer, inviting Her Ladyship and you to afternoon tea.” Anne said of the invitation.
Audrey said with a slight, unnoticeable puff of her cheeks:
”Tell my mother that I am dizzy, perhaps a little dehydrated from the sun, and ask her to say sorry to Lady Della for me.”
As she spoke, she made a weak face.
”Miss, this is not just afternoon tea, it is a literary salon.” Anne added.
”But it won’t cure my dizziness, I need to rest.” Audrey firmly refused.
At the same time, she was silently chanting in her mind, If I insist, then I’ll faint to show you all, the etiquette teacher said I did this move perfectly …… I think I heard something?
”Okay.” Annie exhaled, “Do you need me to help you to your room?”
”No need, I’ll clean up the lab first.” Audrey hated to return immediately and take the magic potion.
But she held her tongue and watched Anne walk away before she turned back and walked back to the lab door.
Suddenly, she realized that Suzie, the big blonde dog that was supposed to stay outside, was gone, and the door to the lab was half-open.
”I forgot Suzie can open doors with handles …… What’s that noise? No good!” Audrey heard a crisp movement coming from inside and suddenly made a connection and stormed into the lab.
As far as she could see, there was the cup that had shattered on the floor, the last drop of the silver-white liquid that Suzie, the big blonde dog, had licked off.
Audrey was dumbfounded in the doorway, as if she were a statue.
Suzie, the big blonde dog, sat up instantly, looked up at her owner with innocent eyes, and wagged her tail.
……
In the offshore location of Puzzle Harbor, on an island that was always shrouded in storms, an ancient sailing ship was anchored in the harbor.
The man with soft yellow hair and wearing a lightning patterned robe looked across the room at Alger Wilson and said in great confusion:
”Alger, you could have returned to the kingdom and become the captain of the Substitute Punisher Squad or a decent bishop, why did you choose to go out to sea and choose to become the captain of the ‘Phantom Blue Avenger’?”
Without any additional expression on his rough and profound face, Alger replied solemnly:
”The sea belongs to the storm, it is the Lord’s kingdom, and I am willing to follow the Lord’s will and patrol this kingdom for k.”
”Alright.” The yellow-haired man clenched his fist to his chest and said, “The storm is with you.”
”The storm is with you.” Alger returned the standard salute.
He stood on the deck where there weren’t many crew members and watched his companion leave the ghost ship and walk further and further away.
”Saints, you don’t understand because you don’t know enough ……,” Alger whispered wordlessly.
Meanwhile, Audrey timidly finished her second modulation.
Looking at the silver-white magic potion that was no different from before, she was so moved that she almost shed tears.
Whew, she took a small but quick sip of the “audience” magic potion.
……
On Friday, a torrential downpour hit Tingen, pounding on all the windows.
Inside Blackthorn Security, Klein, Roxanne and Brett were sitting on a couch in the reception room, enjoying lunch on the table.
Because there was only a water-boiling stove here, there was no way to heat up the leftovers, and it was impossible for Klein to eat black bread every day, or to take a public carriage back – that would be a huge waste of money for him to consider taking a bus back after walking from Iron Cross to Welch’s residence in the afternoon, so he had to follow Roxanne and other coworkers to eat the so-called “office meals.”
— near the old Vail restaurant every day at 10:30 on time to send a waiter over to ask how many people need lunch here, to determine the number of copies, they will be delivered at 12:30 pm, with a dish similar to the lunch box containers, and at 3:00 pm to ask whether to order dinner, and recycling tableware.
The “meal” consisted of meat, vegetables, and bread, and although the portions were not large, they were barely sufficient to feed a man, and ranged from seven pence to ten pence a meal, in different grades.
Crane had the cheek to take the sevenpence one every time, and there was usually half a pound of oatmeal bread, a small piece of meat in a different way, a spoonful of thick soup with vegetables in it, and a little cream, or butter.
”I’m surprised there’s only one night watchman in …… today,” said Roxanne, spooning the gumbo into her mouth.
”I heard there was a case in the Golden Sycamore district with sectarian elements, so the police department asked two night watchmen to go over ……” Brett said as he put down his bread.
Klein dipped the remaining oatmeal bread into the last of the gravy and stuffed it into his mouth without speaking.
Inside the cuff of his left hand was vaguely entwined a silver chain with a dangling citrine.
Just then, a knock came from the half-hidden door.
”…… Please come in.” Roxanne froze for a moment, set her spoon down, quickly wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and rose.
The main door was pushed open and in came a man wearing a half-height bowler hat and a black formal dress that was drenched at the left shoulder position.
He was white at the temples, carrying a stowed umbrella in his hand, and looked at Klein and the others:
”This is the former mercenary squad?”
”You could say that.” Roxanne replied familiarly.
The tall, thin man coughed and said:
”I have a task I would like to commission.”