Part 2 The Faceless Man Chapter 207 – The Demon Family
West End, Edward Street, number 6.
Iconcer Bernard clicked his black bowler hat and pointed to the door of the house behind the fountain pool, addressing Klein, Eisinger, and Caslana:
”We’ve reverse-checked the various sources of news and information leaks, and with the combination of the depicted profile of the side face, as well as, and with the additional help of the Magic Mirror, we have a preliminary lock on a suspect.”
Speaking of the magic mirror, you obviously paused for a moment, and did not know at what cost the desired answer …… Klein sensed the problem with Ikonser’s tone, and inexplicably sympathized a little with the other party.
”The owner of this very house?” Caslana asked back almost as surely as she could.
For his part, Eisinger Stanton looked around the room as if in thought:
”You chose to inform us directly to come here because you found additional corroborating evidence?”
”Yes, a portrait of the owner of this house would prove something, heh, he never took pictures.” Ikonser replied matter-of-factly, “Also, the surrounding residents have seen a large black dog in the neighborhood, many times.”
”This basically proves that the target is the ‘Apostle of Desire’.” Speaking of this, Eichenger suddenly lost his smile, “Sorry, we were too hasty, so you didn’t even get a chance to introduce the suspect.”
Ikonser spoke rather quickly as he walked around the fountain pool and towards the front door of the house:
”The owner of the house is Patrick Jason, the principal stockholder in a small bank, and described by his neighbors as a cheerful, enthusiastic, optimistic middle-aged man, who never married, but is supposed to have had mistresses, several of them.
”In his class he employed a grossly insufficient number of servants, and every time he held a dinner party or a ball it was necessary to call in an extra batch of temporary attendants from the ‘Metropolitan Society for the Assistance of Domestic Servants,’ to which he explained that he had trouble sleeping, and that too many servants would spoil the quiet he needed. ”
”It’s obvious that he has many secrets to hide, so he doesn’t dare to hire too many servants.” Eisinger said half-jokingly.
Klein, who hadn’t hired a single servant, said with a slight sense of trepidation:
”Maybe it’s just because his finances aren’t as good as everyone thinks.”
”Yes, that’s a factor that can’t be ruled out.” Eichengor stepped up the steps to the front door.
For his part, Iconser glanced at Krynn, as if in a daze:
”You don’t hire servants and only have your landlord’s maid do ad hoc cleaning twice a week to hide the secret of being an Extraordinary One yourself?”
Of all my secrets, this is the smallest one …… Klein deliberately laughed bitterly:
”Yes.”
As he spoke, Iconser reached out and pushed open the front door, and an indescribably foul odor wafted out from within.
”The smell of decay ……,” Eichener instantly made a judgment.
Ikonser called out to a member of the Mechanical Heart team:
”Carlson, what have you found?”
The extraordinary called Carlson wore a pair of glasses with thick lenses and said with a complex expression on his face:
”We found a lot of bodies here.
”Hidden in the concrete of the basement, in the thick walls, in the overgrown areas of the gardens, were body after body, the earliest of which may date back more than a decade, the latest being those of the servants who were still alive a few days ago.
”Some of them are nothing but white bones, some of them are only a little decomposed, Deacon, it’s like a human slaughterhouse here!”
As he spoke, behind him, members of the “Mechanical Heart” and carefully selected police officers carried out one corpse after another.
Some of those corpses were completely dismembered, with tongues, fingers, stomach pouches, and eyes laid out in a messy manner, while others were just piles of white bones.
”It looks like a lot of disappearances in Berkland will be solved as a result.” Eisinger pinched his nose and sighed.
Klein spat at the sight of a gut that nearly dragged itself to the floor and turned his head to examine the various parts of the house.
”For his part, Carlson, a member of Mechanical Heart, muttered a couple more whispers:
”Jason pays his servants well and gives a lot of vacation time, and the servants of the surrounding residents are very envious …… Jason’s chef even promised his boy that he would come home once this week and take him to the circus to see a show …… ”
”That’s diabolical …… ” Kaslana moved slightly.
Looking round, Klein collected himself and asked solemnly:
”Why is the furnishings of the house so humble?
”As a banker, even if he owns a small bank, Jason should have expensive china, excellent oil paintings, extravagant wall clocks, various items made of fine silk, why can’t we see these at the scene? Well, the wood for his furniture is still very good.”
Carlson glanced at Deacon Iconser and received an assenting nod before speaking:
”It is plain to see that Jason had been planning for this retaliation for a long time, selling off valuable and less conspicuous items in the room one after another, and even agreeing to the purchase of his own property by the Bank of Bavaria.
”After killing the servant, he accelerated his cash extraction, selling things such as oil paintings, seeming to know full well that he was sure to be found and not taking any chances.”
”Before the operation, all he had left here was his house, furniture and an identity, and a large amount of cash, precious metals and jewelry that he had moved to who knows where.”
After listening to Carlson’s description, several adjectives popped up in Klein’s mind:
Calm, sane, crazy!
”A true demon.” Eisinger commented, and then reasoned in a whirlwind, “He’s very level-headed and calm in his actions, yet he has a strong tendency towards madness and adventurousness, which is in line with the characteristics shown in the previous two operations.”
”So, we have to beware of his risk-taking?” Klein keenly grasped the point in the great detective Stanton’s words.
”Yes.” Eisinger nodded gruffly.
Next, several detectives searched the house, finding a number of pieces of evidence that could prove something was wrong with Patrick Jason, and seeing the portrait that hung in the living room.
On it was a middle-aged man with high cheekbones, blue eyes with gray, ordinary features, and neatly back-combed hair with no distinguishing features.
Just then, Iconser came in and said to Klein and the others:
”We found some items in a secret room, confirming that Patrick Jason once tried to summon a more powerful demon, but for some reason it didn’t work, and those items also confirmed his identity, he is a member of the demonic family of Belial, and his real name should be Jason Belial.”
The Belial family? Klein nodded without surprise.
”In the ancient Fourth Age, the human forces that worshiped demons formed a loose alliance called the ‘Blood Worship Cult’, and this organization was deeply divided internally, with the three major demonic families of Nos, Andrade, and Belial standing on top of each other, and all of their forefathers had once received gifts from the abyss, they worship an evil god called the ‘Dark Side of the Universe’, believing that K is the lord of the abyss, the exterminator that will surely erode and corrupt the entire real world throughout the vast universe.” Eichengor introduces the Wild Extraordinaires Klein and Kaslana for a few moments.
Ikonser shook his head and added:
”The fusion and unification of a deeply divided organization is an inevitable trend if not an eventual split, and various circumstances and rumors indicate that since at least a thousand years ago, the Belial and Andrade clans have been gradually weakening, and in the last few decades, they have become vassals of the North clan, and, well, the Belial clan’s symbol is a combination of the pentagram and the goat’s horn abstract symbols. ”
No matter what, Belial is still a deep accumulation, unusually old family, no wonder Jason can cultivate an extra demon dog, hey, this is one side of the reason, the other side of the reason is that he opens a bank, even if it is not big …… In the second era, corresponding to the “dark side of the universe In the second era, the ancient god corresponding to the “dark side of the universe” is the demon king Fabuti, is there any connection between the two? Klein a sigh a curiosity.
After repeated searches, the three detectives and members of the “mechanical heart” can only confirm that Patrick Jason is the “Apostle of Desire”, but can not find the other side of the current location.
Under the guise of seeking help, Klein takes a handkerchief that Jason used in a demon summoning ritual, intending to go to the Gray Mist for divination sometime – Jason handles those things he touches so well.
It wasn’t long before Ikonser found them, with a stony expression:
”The night watchman is coming with that seal, so we’ll leave first.”
”Okay.” Eichenger and Caslana replied at the same time.
As for Klein, he had long ago raised his hands and feet in favor of it in his heart.
After exiting Jason’s villa-type house that covered a rather large area, Klein glanced back with a gradually sullen expression.
He said with slight doubt:
”I think there’s a problem that’s not right.”
”What problem?” Caslana hurriedly asked after him.
Klein said with deliberation, “Selling the bank, the industry, and many valuable items in advance shows that Jason was ready to shed his current identity and life beforehand, and if it was just purely to avenge for the demonic dog, the motivation would not be able to support such an act.”
”Maybe he has a very deep bond with that demon dog? Sherlock, probably you don’t think so, but I’ve really seen people who consider their pets as family members.” Caslana said disapprovingly.
Beside her, Ezinger said solemnly:
”No, Sherlock is right.
”Kaslana, do you know what the ancient name for the ‘demon’ pathway Sequence 8 is called?”
Kaslana gave a thoughtful expression, she seemed to have heard of it but couldn’t recall it at first.
Just then, Klein answered for her in a low voice:
”Coldblooded.”
The Cold-Blooded …… Caslana chewed on the name and instantly understood why the two great detectives, Moriarty and Stanton, had just said that.
Seeing her reaction, Klein pointed in the other direction:
”Let’s split up and start with our own channels.”
After receiving affirmative replies from Eisinger and Kaslana, he left in a hurry, but didn’t rush to the south side of the bridge to find Emlyn White.
He had to go first to the Hissack police station and retrieve the fifty pounds bail.
He had been proved to be in the clear, and testimony to that effect had been given by Eisinger Stanton and by the Official Extraordinary.