Part 2 The Faceless Man Chapter 12 Unobtrusive Guidance
Without touching Zerrill’s body, Klein just exited that fork in the road.
Dang! Dang! Knock!
There was a sudden sound in the distance, echoing in the empty, cold sewers.
Klein listened sideways for a few seconds, and decisively withdrew towards the exit along the dirty concrete path on both sides of the sewage river.
For him, there was absolutely no need to risk anything that didn’t involve himself.
After climbing away from the sewer, Klein reclosed the iron lid and treated the neighborhood a little before returning to the one-bedroom apartment he had rented on the East Side, changing his clothes and removing his disguise.
Then he put on his gold-rimmed glasses and went on foot to a different street, took a hired carriage, and returned to the Chorwood district in the quiet and cold of three o’clock in the morning, but not to Minsk Street.
Afterward Klein made a wide circle to make sure no one was following him before entering his own home, where he slept until dawn, when the doorbell jingled and jangled.
He rolled over and sat up with a jerk, put on his shirt, buttoned up his vest, and walked quickly down to the first floor, pulling open the door of his room.
Before he did so, the premonitions of the “Joker” sequence had enabled him to form a natural mental picture of his visitor:
The old coat that did not fit well, the brown hat with the dome, the tattered satchel, the bright red eyes, the clean face, the quiet air, it was Ian, the big boy who had come yesterday to commission the mission.
”Good morning, Detective Moriarty.” Ian greeted, glanced around and said, “Any luck? Well …… I was just passing by to ask in passing.”
Klein said with a solemn nod:
”There is.”
”……” Ian seemed so startled that he couldn’t speak for a long time.
After a while, he mumbled his lips and asked in dismay:
”You confirmed Mr. Zerrill’s condition?”
”Yes.” Klein paused and said with a straight face, “I found Zerrill’s body.”
”The body ……,” Ian repeated in a low voice as his pupils constricted.
He wasn’t too visibly surprised, as if he’d expected this worst possible outcome.
Klein watched quietly, without interjecting.
”Phew ……” Ian exhaled and looked around warily, “Your efficiency is amazing, would you mind showing me Mr. Zerrill’s body?”
”No problem, in fact I was planning on doing just that.” Klein thought for a moment, “I’d prefer that when you call the police you don’t mention me, just say you found it yourself, I think you know how to weave a reason.”
Ian was not surprised by this, he knew very well that not every detective liked dealing with the police, in fact, except for the great detectives who were very famous and provided advice and corresponding help to the police department from time to time, everyone else was discriminated against by the police, ostracized by them, and even blackmailed.
This was the current situation in the Kingdom of Rune.
”Okay.” Ian agreed with alacrity.
Considering that he had to enter the sewers, Klein changed into a set of ordinary working class clothes, put on a deerstalker hat, and fetched a horse lamp.
The two arrived at the East End in a public carriage and walked for half an hour to the remote sewer entrance, watched by eyes either numb or malicious.
”How did you find it?” Ian asked, half-surprised and half-curious, as he watched Klein move the cover and climb down.
Klein gazed down and casually replied:
”Skillful training, which includes many techniques of deduction, investigation, tracking and cross-examination.”
Ian followed into the sewers, nodding in disappearing disgust:
”…… You seem to have received very specialized training.”
Without answering positively, Klein, carrying a long-lighted horse lamp, led Ian to turn into the fork in the road to that eerie corner.
Just as he approached, his eyes narrowed slightly as Zerrill’s body was much more mutilated than last night, missing an arm and half of his ribs.
This is not something a rat can do …… Klein muttered darkly, not reminding Ian.
With the light of the horse lamp, Ian got a good look at the body.
He squatted down and vomited, gradually vomiting yellow-green bile, Klein took out the prepared “oil of Krak”, unscrewed the cork, bent down and put the port in front of Ian’s nose.
Ian winced and slowed down.
After ten seconds or so, he whispered somewhat weakly:
”Thanks ……”
He stood up slowly and scrutinized the mutilated body a few more times:
”I can confirm that he is Detective Zerrill.”
”I’m sorry to hear that.” Klein responded politely, “I suggest you call the police.”
”Uh-huh.” Ian nodded slightly imperceptibly and followed the other man back to the surface.
At that point, Klein clapped his hands together:
”This is the end of my mission, what you do after this is up to you.”
Ian was silent for a few seconds and said:
”I still owe you three things, you can tell me now.”
”As a matter of fact, I only have one thing in mind for now.” Klein replied matter-of-factly, “I want to know where I can get a gun and bullets without needing a full class weapons license.”
Ian said with little thought:
”Birkeland Bridge area, Iron Gate Street, ‘The Brave Man’s Bar’, ask for Kaspars Canlinen, and say the ‘old man’ referred you.”
”Okay, the rest of the two things will wait until later, I have a feeling we’ll meet again.” Klein nodded in mock relief.
Ian glanced at him and remained silent, saying nothing.
With that, the two parted ways, traveling toward different streets in the East End, where silence once again returned to that isolated area.
After walking for a while, Klein turned abruptly and returned the way he had come, then ducked around a hidden corner and peered at the entrance to that sewer.
After waiting two or three minutes, he saw Ian return silently, looking around warily.
Crane withdrew his eyes just in time and, with his back against the wall, listened for movement.
He heard the scrape of an iron cover being removed, and heard someone climbing down.
Cautiously poking his head out, Klein realized that Ian had re-entered the sewer.
Was there a clue, or an object of some kind, hidden in Zeruel’s body? The water in this matter is really deep ah …… He nodded thoughtfully.
Satisfied with his curiosity, Klein stopped and left for real, intending to go back to Kaspars Canlinen in a couple days.
……
It was tea time at Viscount Graylingt’s home in Queensbury.
The door to the study was closed tightly, completely separating the four men inside from the outside guests participating in the salon.
”Hugh, Forsyth, this is the payment you deserve.” Audrey, dressed in a long pale yellow dress with many lace embellishments, pushed a bulging envelope across the desk to the two ladies.
Hugh wanted to be polite, but her hand had grabbed the envelope a step faster and felt the weight of the money.
She had to be sincere:
”Ms. Audrey, thank you for your generosity, your honesty makes you even more beautiful.”
As she spoke, she had untied the thin thread wrapped around the envelope and saw the bills inside.
They were neatly-colored, black-grained bills on a gray background, thick, and smelling of a peculiarly delightful scent of ink.
”Ten pounds ……” Hugh drew one out, confirming the denomination, and beside him Forsyth, who seemed languidly unconcerned about money, came up at some time.
This, at least …… Hugh observed the thickness and speculated on how many sheets there were in all.
She couldn t help but look at each other and Folth, seeing the surprise in each other s eyes:
This is obviously quite a bit more pay than they had imagined!
Audrey smiled lightly:
”It’s a total of eight hundred pounds, and it’s up to you to decide how to divide it up.”
”That incident put you all in danger, and for that I apologize.”
800 pounds …… No, no need to apologize …… Once again, even if I knew the possible consequences, I would still accept that commission …… Even if it’s just an equal share, together with my savings, it’s still enough to Even if it’s just an even split, with my savings, it’s enough to buy the recipe for the Sheriff’s Potion. …… Hugh, who was about five-feet tall, stared blankly at the bills in the envelope, wanting to pull them out and count them over and over again.
She was sure that the generous, generous and beautiful Ms. Audrey would not be short of payment, but what if the other party counted wrong?
Everyone makes mistakes sometimes! Hugh raised his right hand, paused for a few seconds, and then silently lowered it again.
Forsyth couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from rising with emotion:
”That’s more than the total paycheck I’ve gotten so far for my book Stormy Mountain ……”
Should I praise Ms. Audrey, or laugh at myself for being a poor writer? She added wordlessly.
Viscount Graylingt, who was sitting on the sofa, was also a little envious, but not of Hugh and Fowles; as a Viscount whose finances were still in good shape, 800 pounds was not a large sum.
What he was envious of was Audrey’s generous outlay, no burden at all.
”Ahem ……” Viscount Grelint cleared his throat, “If you can get the formula for ‘The Apothecary’, I’ll pay you a decent amount as well. ”
”We’ll do our best!” Hugh replied without hesitation, then she looked at Audrey, “We have recently come into contact with the suspected Psycho-Alchemy Society, and the ‘Audience’ magic potion you want will soon have a clue.”
Hugh, I’m already Sequence 8, better than you …… Audrey laughed haughtily:
”I’m looking forward to it.”
After talking about business, the four of them gossiped about the various rumors of the extraordinary circle, while each of them searched for the books they wanted to read under Audrey’s demonstration.
Suddenly, Hugh’s eyes lit up and saw two hard cover books:
The History of the Nobility of the Kingdom of Lune and Heraldry.
At the same time, Voorhees also found books he was interested in:
A Geographical Journal of the Characters of the Forsak Empire and Traveling Around the Northern Continent.
”Honorable Viscount Grelint, may I borrow these two books? I will return them soon.” Hugh looked at the master of the study pleadingly.
Grelint nodded his head without much concern:
”No problem.”
Hearing his answer, Voorhees hurriedly made a request as well, which was likewise granted.
Audrey, who witnessed all of this, had the corners of her mouth slightly hooked and haughtily looked to the side, pretending to look for a book.
As a qualified and promoted “audience”, after many contacts, she has accurately grasped Hugh and Forsyth in some aspects of the preferences, so that in advance to carry out the arrangement, unnoticed arrangement.
The ability to make the person being guided feel that it is his or her own will is a demonstration of the audience’s ability.
……
In the early evening, Hugh nestled on the sofa, toward the fireplace, by the gaslight, and pored over the History of the Nobility of the Kingdom of Ruin, while Forsyth went off to a meeting of the Writers’ Circle.
After reading for some time, Hugh suddenly felt something strange about the stiff paper wrappers, so he carefully examined them, found the interleaves, and retrieved an ancient piece of paper.
The front of the paper was covered with those special symbols created by Rossel the Great, and on the back was written a passage in ancient Hermetic script.
”Viscount Grelint’s ancestor deciphered some of Rossel the Great’s special symbols?” Hugh was violently excited.
She recognized the passage of ancient Hermetic script with difficulty and murmured silently:
”Fools not of this age;”
”The mysterious lord above the gray mist;”
”The yellow and black king who reigns over good fortune.”