Part 2 the faceless man chapter 154 the threatening letter
It was early Tuesday morning, and the weather held the usual overcast chill of the season.
Klein tightened the collar of his tweed overcoat, put on his hat, and pulled open the front door.
He was on his way to the mailbox at the end of the street to deliver a letter to Detective Stuart, and the journey wasn’t really far enough to warrant being dressed up and heavy, but Klein had just enough of a cold to wrap himself up tightly just to be on the safe side.
Maybe it was because of the windy night last night, the air in Birkeland was surprisingly good, Klein subconsciously slowed down his pace, enjoying this rare morning.
As he passed by Jürgen’s house, he heard the sound of a cambered belly window creaking open, and instinctively twisted his head, looking over.
Standing at the window was Mrs. Doris, wearing a black plush fedora and a thick gray-blue scarf, looking a little worse for wear than before, and growing more stooped.
”Good morning, Detective Moriarty, thank you for taking care of Brodie all this time, it says you’re a good man, doesn’t it, Brodie?” Old Mrs. Doris bent down and picked up the black cat with the turquoise eyes.
Brodie, on all fours, struggled in her arms, and at last it jumped off and landed lightly on the window-sill.
But instead of leaving it there, it circled round and round, rubbing the side of its head against Mrs. Doris continually, not even looking at Crane.
Was this a good guy card from a cat? Klein laughed heartily to himself:
”It’s a happy thing, and what’s even happier is that you, Mrs. Doris, are finally healed and discharged from the hospital.”
After exchanging a few pleasantries, he voiced his farewells and with a smile on his face continued his walk to the end of the street.
Just a few steps later, he heard Mrs. Doris call out after him:
”When Jürgen comes back, I’ll have him give you your payment!”
…… Do I look like I’m taking this assignment for money? The smile on Klein’s face suddenly froze, and he could only half-turn his body and wave his hand, signaling that he knew.
When he was far away from Jürgen’s house, his expression gradually sank and he vaguely sighed a little.
He had just opened his psychic vision to look at the color of Mrs. Doris’s aura and found that it wasn’t doing too well, both because of the other party’s advanced age and because the cold climate and bad air of Berkland had a very bad effect on lung diseases.
Mrs. Doris should make it through this late fall plus cold winter, but the next, and the next, is hard to say …… I’m afraid I’m going to have to move south, to that part of Dixie Bay, if I’m going to survive a few more years …… Unfortunately, I don’t think Lawyer Jürgen has that in place yet …… I haven t even been to Dixie Bay yet …… Klein grunted a few words, found the mailbox, and slipped the letter in.
This would be the prelude to the show.
And he would make one more trip to the Harvest Church this evening as a detective to do the rest of the preparations.
After stopping by to pick up a Dixie pie for breakfast, Klein returned the same way, rather leisurely.
Before he even got close to the house, he saw an elegantly decorated carriage parked outside, and two ladies in ribbon-clad black hats were anxiously pulling on the doorbell, while the maids of honor and bodyguards were scattered around, as if on guard against something.
Mrs. Starling …… Lady Mary …… They have something to delegate? It looks urgent ah …… Klein took the paper bag containing Dixie pies, leaned over, and laughed:
”Ladies, this should be breakfast time.”
Turning around to see that it was Detective Sherlock Moriarty, Mrs. Mary was visibly relieved:
”Mr. Detective, you have to help me.”
There was no hint of falsehood in the other man’s anxiety, nervousness and fear in Klein’s psychic vision, so he nodded and pointed to the front door:
”Go inside.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the landlady Starling and realized that the other party’s state was very different from that of the previous two days, becoming very low and disheveled, seemingly uninterested in anything.
What had happened to this? Although the landlady likes to show off a little, but she still has a great love for life ah …… Klein took out the key and opened the door of the room.
After entering, before sitting down, Mrs. Mary couldn’t wait to say:
”Detective Moriarty, I received a threatening letter!”
A threatening letter? Klein put away the Dixie pie and crossed his arms and said:
”What was the letter about?”
Mrs. Mary glanced sideways at Mrs. Starling and, seeing that she wasn’t as positive as usual, had to weigh in on her own:
”The letter asked me to do justice to the fumes from the factory and recognize their contribution when I did the air pollution survey, or else it would put me in the same position as the doll that came with the letter ……
”That doll had its head removed and its arms and legs broken.”
Mrs. Mary’s voice trembled a little as she seemed to recall the sensation of opening the letter:
”This is the first time I’ve encountered anything like it, I didn’t know if it would come true, I didn’t know I’d have to endure this kind of thing by becoming a member of the Commission of Inquiry, I didn’t know ……”
Madam, perhaps Roselle the Great once said this, there are only two kinds of hatred between people, the most extreme, one is murdering the other’s parents, and the other is destroying someone’s ability to make money …… Klein nodded his head with a serious expression and said:
”My suggestion is to call the police.”
In his opinion, Mrs. Mary is now a member of the Kingdom’s Air Pollution Investigation Committee, her status and position has been very different from before, for the intimidation she suffered, the police department will definitely not take it lightly.
Moreover, this involved the formulation of important policies in the kingdom and was not an ordinary matter, so the police department would most likely hand the case over to the church’s Extraordinary People Organization to make sure that the case was solved as soon as possible and resolved as soon as possible.
Based on Lady Mary’s identity as a goddess follower, the night watchman was an inevitable choice.
In this way, even if Klein wanted to mix up a paycheck, he wouldn’t be involved.
”I’ve already done that, but it doesn’t give me peace of mind.” Lady Mary pursed her lips, “You know what they say? That the threatening letters were put together by cutting out newspaper words, that the dolls were the kind you could buy anywhere, that it would be hard to track down the sender anytime soon! And that they were only going to send one policeman to protect me! Goddess, is that what they do to a helpless citizen asking for help?”
Lady Mary paused and looked pleadingly at Klein:
”Detective Moriarty, I believe you can help me, not only because of your performance in that case, but also because of Mike’s approval, Alan’s praise, and Talim’s compliments. And I know that you made an outstanding contribution in that serial murder case as well. Don’t worry, I’ll pay you handsomely enough.”
Your words make me feel happy, but something doesn’t seem right ……
Unless the police department has been bribed, they should be referring the case to the night watchman, and with extraordinary means such as divination, there’s no way to circumvent detection by taking a letter cobbled together from words in a newspaper; the sender is either already caught or has a way of interfering with divination …… and the latter would lead to the night watchman’s official mass intervention ……
Either way, it’s not quite the same deal as it is now ……
Klein didn’t answer Lady Mary right away, and carefully analyzed the anomalies that the matter had shown.
The living room suddenly became unusually quiet, and the feeling of silence made Mrs. Mary and Mrs. Starling inexplicably a little uneasy.
Klein pulled out a coin at some point and let it jump and tumble between his fingers, which seemed to be a habitual action when he was concentrating on his thoughts.
Suddenly, the coin flew up and settled down again, landing in the palm of his hand, tails side up.
Crane was now astonished; he had divined whether there was any danger in the affair, and the result was that there was none.
If there is really such a threat, even if the sender hardly has any strength, it may cause some danger, and it will not be completely without …… just a simple threat? Or …… Klein suddenly thought of another possibility and smiled:
”Mrs. Mary, there is no need to be nervous, you can rest assured that you will go back, if someone approached you in the next two days to discuss putting this matter in the newspaper, so that the public will recognize the true face of those factory owners and ignite the public’s anger, then you will not have anything to do.”
The possibility that Klein had just thought of was that this incident of threatening letters was a set-up, set up by one of his own people in order to incite the public and use their anger so that the investigation of the air pollution would go smoothly, and so that the bill that would follow would be in its own favor.
And that would explain why the police department is the way it is currently reacting.
”Why does …… say that?” Lady Mary asked with a frown.
Klein responded with a smile:
”It’s my reasoning.”
”What if what you say didn’t happen in two days?” Lady Mary pressed.
Klein said sincerely:
”Then I will provide protection.”
There’s no danger anyway …… he added mentally.
After relieving away Lady Mary, he went above the gray mist to confirm and got the same result as just now.
And by this time, his Dixie Pie was cold ……
……
Mrs. Mary returned home with some apprehension and uneasiness, thinking whether she should ask Starling to come over for a few days to keep her company.
Just then, her housekeeper told her that Earl Hall’s eldest son, the Chief Secretary of the Air Pollution Investigation Committee, Mr. Hibbert Hall, was visiting.
After both parties entered the living room, before Lady Mary had a chance to speak, the handsome gentleman with the brilliant blonde hair grabbed the opportunity to say:
”Lady Mary, I heard about what happened to you, it’s a shame for Bakerland, and even the whole kingdom, and I deeply apologize and sympathize for it.
”Don’t worry, everyone on the committee will stand with you!”
”Thank you for your concern.” Lady Mary responded gratefully.
Hebert Hall weighed his words:
”Ma’am, I would like to get a reporter to cover this matter, to tell everyone what happened to you, to tell everyone about that despicable and bad behavior, so that the public can see how those who polluted the air of Birkeland are rampant! Without the slightest repentance!
”I beg you to oblige me.”
It …… was exactly as Detective Moriarty had described it …… Lady Mary was speechless for a moment.
……
After having breakfast and resting for a while, Klein, who had nothing to do, entered above the gray mist and prepared to divine the origin of the biotoxin vial.
This time, he did not have the slightest delay.