Chapter 114: Interlude. The Detective Who Becomes a Robber in 7 Days (4)

I tried not to think about the photo in my pocket and looked at Posha.

First, I needed to hear the rest of her story.

“After Mr. Walter was captured, I lurked around the Grand Duke’s residence to save him. The security was ironclad. Infiltration seemed difficult. So, I waited.”

“You waited?”

“Yes. For the Grand Duke and his son to arrive in the Capital. When they enter the residence, there’s bound to be a commotion. I planned to use that opening to rescue Mr. Walter.”

I recalled the scene from earlier.

The procession led by the splendid four-horse carriage.

The Grand Duke’s troops guarded the route without a single gap, and countless crowds followed, cheering.

It was definitely a situation where a security gap at the residence was likely.

“But Mr. Hayes was much faster than me.”

Huh? Me?

“Mr. Hayes rescued my partner, didn’t you? A sinister gravekeeper roaming the park cemetery… that was a truly clever disguise.”

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t understand at all.

Park cemetery? Gravekeeper? What is all this?

“I’ve never disguised myself as a gravekeeper…”

Posha covered her mouth and laughed.

“Of course you haven’t, Mr. Hayes. You didn’t outright claim to be a gravekeeper, you just naturally induced people’s misconceptions.”

I still don’t get it…

I could tell that Posha had misunderstood something.

“The park behind the Grand Duke’s residence isn’t an ordinary park, you know. It’s a park cemetery created because they couldn’t handle the increasing number of corpses. Outwardly, it pretends to be a peaceful park, but in reality, it’s a gloomy place where countless corpses are buried without tombstones.”

‘…It was that kind of place?’

It was an unnaturally dreary park.

No wonder it felt cold, sunlight didn’t reach well, and people didn’t come and go much.

Yet, it was strangely spacious for just a park.

Even so, a park cemetery?

I never even imagined such a concept.

‘Tree burials are a concept that exists even in modern times, but still…’

A park where corpses are buried without tombstones? Were the deceased buried under the ground I walked on without a care?

‘Why is there such a gloomy facility behind the Grand Duke’s residence?’

Doesn’t this neighborhood have any NIMBY phenomenon? Did the Grand Duke not say a single word about not wanting it in his backyard?

“A laborer in the park cemetery, wearing a hat pulled down low to hide his face, pushing a heavy cart. He doesn’t even say a word, just slowly wanders around the park. Anyone would think he’s a gravekeeper. The Herbert clan members didn’t even dare to speak to you. People like that tend to be deeply superstitious, you see.”

Only now did I understand why I was able to shake off pursuit for three hours.

In their eyes, I was an ominous presence.

A being that would bring bad luck just by speaking to it.

“When I saw Mr. Hayes disguised as a gravekeeper pushing a cart, I wondered if it was possible. Of course, logically, it was absurd. How could Mr. Hayes have rescued Mr. Walter from that heavily guarded Grand Duke’s residence? How did he even know Mr. Walter had been kidnapped in the first place? But Mr. Hayes was the greatest detective I knew, so I thought he might have performed a miracle beyond my common sense. And I was right! Mr. Walter was really inside your cart.”

Posha looked at me with an admiring gaze, as if I were a monster, not a person.

“It was just luck.”

I spoke as if making an excuse.

“While wandering the park, Mr. Walter appeared and collapsed in front of me. I just hid Mr. Walter in the cart and wandered around, not knowing what to do. If it weren’t for the code you sent, Posha, I might have been caught right then and there.”

“No need to be so modest, Mr. Hayes. Excessive modesty is deceit.”

“It’s not modesty—.”

“Then, what was the reason for wandering the park disguised as a laborer?”

“That was… to find a secret passage connected to the Grand Duke’s residence…”

Posha looked at me with a gaze that said she knew it.

“So you knew there was a secret passage connected to the Grand Duke’s residence in that park. That’s how you were able to rescue Mr. Walter, who escaped through the secret passage.”

…It was hard to argue. Because what Posha said wasn’t entirely wrong.

“…Yes, well. Let’s go with that.”

I had no choice but to accept Posha’s misconception.

‘By the way, the fact that Mr. Walter escaped through a secret passage…’

It confirmed my suspicion that a secret passage connected to the park existed.

In other words, it added more weight to my conviction that the Grand Duke’s son was Taylor John.

‘If the Grand Duke’s son is really Taylor John, won’t the murders stop for a while because of this?’

Because Walter’s escape is practically the same as the secret passage’s existence being discovered.

If Wilhelm, the Grand Duke’s son, is truly Taylor John and has any sense of caution, he will surely refrain from using the secret passage for murders for a while.

That would be the best outcome.

While Taylor John stops killing, we might be able to secure decisive evidence and catch him without another victim.

‘Decisive evidence…’

I could no longer ignore the weight in my pocket.

“Excuse me, may I use the restroom for a moment?”

“Oh my, I’ve been inconsiderate. Please go ahead.”

Posha kindly told me where the restroom was.

Thankfully, the restroom was clean.

Probably because the abandoned house was a front and it was actually an unlicensed hospital.

Licensed or not, hygiene is life for a hospital.

I locked the restroom door and took out the photo from my pocket.

‘This photo might be evidence against Taylor John…’

I examined the photo closely again.

It was a grainy black-and-white silver gelatin print. Because it’s a photo imprinted by fine silver particles reacting to light, its quality was clean and sharp enough to put 21st-century photos to shame.

Christine, with her short hair, smiled awkwardly, looking straight ahead, and the young, smug-looking Wilhelm, the Grand Duke’s son, watched her with a relaxed expression.

Looking closely, the breast pocket of Wilhelm’s jacket, where a handkerchief should normally be, looked a bit peculiar.

Inside wasn’t a stylishly folded handkerchief, but a stiff white piece of paper. In one corner of the paper, a golden amber head was engraved.

It was a familiar design.

‘It’s an invitation to Madame Moss’s party.’

That wasn’t so strange.

Madame Moss must have held her decadent parties for the upper class even back then, and Wilhelm, the Grand Duke’s son, would naturally have been on the invitation list.

That was the only peculiarity I found in the photo.

Neither their attire, the background, nor their expressions seemed strange at all.

It looked like an ordinary photo that a fresh-faced, newly-in-love couple would take.

‘…Did I get something wrong?’

For a moment, that thought crossed my mind.

But I soon dismissed that assumption.

The deduction that this photo held a decisive clue about Taylor John was based on my ability. At least until now, this ability to see the culprit had never been wrong.

On the other hand, the deduction that this photo looked ordinary was based on my observation skills.

‘My observation skills? Those aren’t reliable.’

Objectively understanding one’s own abilities is the shortcut to longevity.

‘There must be some secret hidden in this photo. I just haven’t found it yet.’

If we dig deeper into the case, we’ll surely get additional clues.

If all else fails, I could ask Walter to analyze it after he wakes up.

He might be angry at me for hiding the photo’s existence until now, but…

‘I saved his life. If he has a conscience, wouldn’t he let it slide?’

I organized my thoughts and put the photo away again.

This time, not in my pants pocket, but in the inner pocket of my jacket, sealing it tightly.

If possible, I’d want to even sew it shut.

That’s how important this photo was.

‘Wasn’t Walter captured and taken to the Grand Duke’s residence because of this photo’s whereabouts?’

I left the restroom and checked on Walter’s condition.

He was still breathing heavily, but didn’t seem like he was about to stop breathing.

Aside from the large wound on his abdomen, he didn’t seem to have any other major injuries.

‘If they wanted to kill him, they could have done it earlier. If they wanted to torture him, they would have started already.’

But Walter only had one wound.

To guess, it was probably an injury sustained during the escape.

The Grand Duke’s subordinates simply kept Walter quietly detained until the Grand Duke arrived.

Probably because there was something the Grand Duke or his son needed to interrogate personally.

‘Interrogation content so secretive it warrants that level of handling…’

Again, nothing came to mind other than the photo.

To speculate, perhaps they suspected Walter had hidden the photo?

As Walter himself said, this job seemed easy for him.

Just intercept a single photo a civilian woman had hidden, right?

But Walter reported the job’s failure and left the Capital.

If I were the Grand Duke, I would definitely be suspicious of Walter.

Coincidentally, Walter had previously declared he would pursue the Herbert Clan, and judging by the circumstances, the Herbert Clan was connected to the Grand Duke.

It was plausible to suspect that Walter had figured this out and stolen the photo.

The Grand Duke became desperate to find the photo.

That’s why he ordered Walter captured and imprisoned in the residence.

Right after Walter escaped, they even deployed not only Herbert Clan members but also the troops escorting the Grand Duke to search the park—a risky move that should be seen in the same context.

This photo is the Grand Duke’s sensitive spot.

It must be found, and its existence must never be exposed.

‘If that’s the case, will the Grand Duke just quietly back off now that he’s lost Walter?’

If this photo really has the value I think it does, would they just give up simply because Walter disappeared from sight?

—BANG!

Right at that moment, the door opened with a loud noise.

An old man with sparse teeth burst in, panting heavily, and shouted.

“You! Who on earth have you made an enemy of?!”

“What’s the matter?”

“The Imperial Capital police are all mobilized!”

“……!”

“They say a thief broke into the Grand Duke’s residence and stole a precious treasure. They’re searching this entire Sleeping District, and their momentum is ferocious! All the hidden merchants in the Sleeping District are packing up and fleeing for their lives!”

—Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.

The heavy sound of footsteps could be heard from far away.

It was the sound of the police moving.