Chapter 165: The Last Piece (1)

Charlie had been arrested.

Now I had no idea what was going on.

‘First… I need to tell the others about this.’

I steeled my flustered heart and headed for the restaurant.

Should I call it fortunate?

I didn’t need to explain the situation in detail—a situation I myself couldn’t fully understand.

That was because the police who had come to arrest Charlie had already torn through the restaurant once.

‘What a mood killer.’

The atmosphere was gloomy, chairs knocked over here and there.

“Marie and Grand Duke Kalan slipped out the back as soon as the police stormed in. Sister Posha went with them, and Mr. Walter followed to draw their attention.”

Lure told me.

“It’s a relief that everyone who’d be in trouble if they ran into the police got out, but…”

I looked around and asked, “Does anyone know what’s going on?”

“Well… I’m not sure…”

“It’s all my fault.”

It was Detective Beron.

He roughly wiped his flushed, drunken face and muttered in a tone full of self-loathing.

“Because I made that bastard Charlie do something unnecessary…”

“You ordered Charlie to steal, Detective?”

“It’s my fault…”

Detective Beron just kept repeating that.

‘Hmph…’

My fault for asking a drunkard.

As I looked around for someone more suitable,

“I hear a theft report was filed.”

An unexpected person spoke up.

Arthur Sterling.

“One hour and thirty minutes ago, Sir Albrecht’s sculpture, displayed in his studio, was reportedly stolen.”

“…! A stolen sculpture?”

“Yes. And the first discoverer of the incident, Sir Albrecht’s disciple, immediately pointed to Mr. Charlie as the culprit.”

Only then did I start to understand the situation.

The wandering artist, Albrecht.

He was a great painter and sculptor.

An artist who had earned the title ‘Sir’ purely through skill and was treated no less than a high noble.

And a sculpture by such a figure had been stolen.

‘Charlie got caught up in this probably because of the tailing.’

Charlie, Detective Beron, and I had been investigating the Taylor John Case together.

A few weeks ago, we succeeded in narrowing down the suspects for Taylor John to three people, and we each decided to tail one suspect.

I tailed Grand Duke Katrin, Detective Beron tailed Arthur Sterling, and the target Charlie tailed was none other than Sir Albrecht.

From what I heard, the tailing was discovered, and he even had to go to the police station, so it wasn’t strange for him to be pointed out as the thief.

‘So that’s why Detective Beron is blaming himself like that.’

After all, it was Detective Beron who ordered the tailing.

“Because of me… It’s all because of me…”

Detective Beron muttered with a slurred voice, looking far from well.

“Could someone please take care of Detective Beron here? It seems I need to go to the police station.”

“Teacher?”

“Yeah. If the detective can’t, I’ll go and testify why Charlie was tailing Sir Albrecht.”

“Then I’ll go with you!”

I nodded and put on my hat.

Out of habit, I reached for my coat and cane, but…

“The cane you brought isn’t that one. It’s this one.”

Sterling gestured with his chin.

…My cane was lying there.

“The one you’re holding is probably Taylor John’s murder weapon.”

“…The alcohol is getting to me. I must have made a mistake.”

The two canes were similar in appearance and weight.

It was easy to mix them up.

I picked up my actual cane and thought.

As I thought, I didn’t remember leaving this one here.

‘Did Sterling move it while the atmosphere was chaotic?’

If so, he must have noticed by now.

That the two canes were very similar in weight.

“…Let’s go, Lure. We don’t have time.”

“Yes, Teacher!”

I left the place as if fleeing.

But the footsteps following me weren’t just one person’s.

“Why are you following me?”

“I’m not following you.”

Arthur Sterling said with a stoic face.

“As a detective, I simply couldn’t ignore a case that presented itself before me.”

So, in the end, he’s coming with me anyway?

‘Damn it. Do what you want.’

*

I kicked a pebble on the roadside as I walked.

It was humiliating, but accompanying Arthur Sterling was proving quite helpful.

“What brings you here…? Please, come in!”

“You want to meet the suspect who stole Sir Albrecht’s sculpture? He’s currently in a confrontation with the witness, but… of course, if Arthur wants it, it can be arranged! I’ll set it up right away!”

“As expected of the Great Detective. If you’ve come to take on this case…”

Things moved quickly.

My mouth hung open as I watched the scene, Lure’s too.

“Wow, being the Great Detective really has its perks.”

“Tell me about it. If we had come alone, it would have taken all day.”

So the police could be this cooperative.

“I hope Teacher becomes the Great Detective soon. Then I can bask in the authority of being the Great Detective’s assistant and enjoy it to the fullest, right?”

That was hard to answer.

I threw out a light joke.

“Well, becoming the Great Detective’s assistant might be faster by becoming Arthur’s assistant instead of waiting for me to become the Great Detective.”

At that moment, Arthur Sterling whipped his head around.

“The talk is over. Let’s go.”

“Ah, yes. Let’s go.”

A police officer led the way at the front.

Lure and I followed behind Sterling, when suddenly he spoke.

“Sorry, but I have no intention of hiring a new assistant.”

Had he heard me talking to Lure?

“It was just a joke.”

I had no intention of handing Lure over to anyone else either.

Especially not to someone as inscrutable as him.

“Yes. That would be for the best.”

Hmph.

A light laugh came from him.

‘…Did I mishear?’

Wasn’t he always expressionless?

I didn’t know he was capable of laughing.

“No matter how competent that young lady is, she can’t compare to my assistant.”

Arthur Sterling had an assistant?

Before I could ask, the door opened.

“Here it is.”

Charlie was inside.

Across from a thoroughly deflated Charlie sat that stocky man from earlier.

“Police or no police, isn’t it true you’ve been sneaking around after our master?!”

“That’s true, but I swear I didn’t steal anything!”

“If not you, then who would steal that huge sculpture?!”

“That’s… I don’t know either… Huh? Mr. Hayes?”

Charlie’s face lit up when he saw us enter, but the highly agitated man didn’t seem to care about the people behind him.

“Do you have any idea what that sculpture is? It’s the ‘Last Piece’! The famous ‘Last Piece’! A treasure whose value can’t even be measured, and a bastard like you dares to…”

“Mr. Mustafa.”

At the police officer’s call, the man finally turned around.

‘This is the first time I’ve seen his face properly.’

Earlier, I was too flustered to get a good look.

The man called ‘Mustafa’ had a brown face, sharp eyes, and an exotic appearance.

‘He’s not from this country, is he?’

Well, his name and manner of speech didn’t seem like someone from the Empire.

His face looked surprisingly young—probably late teens to early twenties.

“The detectives who will investigate this case have arrived.”

The officer said, pointing at Arthur and me.

‘…Me?’

I just came to give testimony!

“Oh, oh! I’ve been waiting!”

Whether I was flustered or not, Mustafa grabbed Arthur Sterling’s hand and pleaded.

“You must be capable detectives since you’ve come to solve our master’s case! Please, by any means necessary, find our master’s sculpture! I will give you whatever reward I can!”

Solving the case by any means necessary.

That was what I was best at, but…

“Before that, could you first explain the outline of the case? I’d also like to hear why you pointed out this man as the suspect.”

“Ah, of course. I’ll do that.”

Mustafa began his explanation.

The outline of the case was simple.

“A few hours ago, my master’s sculpture was stolen.”

“Do you know exactly what time it happened?”

“It’s unknown. My master was busy from morning preparing for the New Year’s Eve Celebration at the Imperial Palace. He left home early in the morning, and the disciples were each refining their works in the common studio. As the day darkened and night deepened, no one entered my master’s studio. But about an hour and thirty minutes ago, when I went into the studio…”

“The sculpture had disappeared.”

“I confirmed it was in its place this morning!”

Between this morning and late tonight.

That was a fairly wide time frame for narrowing down suspects.

“So Mr. Mustafa, you were the first to discover the theft?”

“Yes. I had something to ask my master. I had seen him return from the Imperial Palace, so I thought he would be in the studio, but it turns out my master had been sleeping in his bedroom since he returned.”

“Were there any peculiarities at the crime scene?”

“Well… nothing I could detect.”

Mustafa answered uncertainly.

‘I’ll need to check the crime scene myself.’

Anyway, that wasn’t urgent.

What I was curious about was how Charlie had been arrested.

“What was your reason for pointing out this man as the suspect?”

“Isn’t it obvious? This bastard has been prowling around our master for days, stalking him maliciously…!”

“Did you hear that from Sir Albrecht?”

“Hear what?”

Mustafa looked bewildered.

‘So he didn’t hear it.’

Charlie tailed Albrecht to investigate the Taylor John Case.

Albrecht had understood the situation after hearing it, but it seemed this young man didn’t know yet.

“I wasn’t convinced he was the culprit from the start either. I thought he might just be a crazed fan and not the real culprit, so I wanted to catch him and hear him out first. But do you know what I heard when I caught him?”

Mustafa shouted, still fuming.

“This bastard was confessing his guilt! He said it was all his fault, that he needed to beg for forgiveness!”

Good heavens.

It seemed this young man had only overheard the last part of the conversation between Charlie and me and had gravely misunderstood.

I sighed, not knowing where to start explaining.

“Well… Do you remember my face? I was the one talking with him at that time. The conversation you misunderstood was about something completely different. There was another reason Mr. Charlie was tailing Sir Albrecht.”

I fumbled to explain the outline of the case, but it didn’t seem to work at all.

Mustafa made a betrayed face.

“A detective siding with a thief? Is there no justice in this country?”

“So, he’s not a thief…”

“I don’t want to hear it!”

“Mr. Mustafa.”

At that moment, Arthur, who had been silent until now, spoke.

“Aside from the stalking charge, is there any other reason you’re certain this young man is the culprit?”

“Of course there is. I should have started with that.”

Mustafa said, crossing his arms.

“My master’s studio requires more thorough security than anywhere else. A few days ago, a very expensive security device was installed on the studio door. It cannot be opened unless you know the exact password.”

“A password…”

“Only us disciples knew the password to the studio. But this voyeuristic bastard was secretly peeping at the scene.”

“Voyeurism…”

Charlie muttered weakly.

“When I entered my master’s studio! The door wasn’t locked! But the security device, which I checked, was perfectly fine with no malfunctions!”

“So the thief must be someone who knows the studio’s password.”

And that pointed to Charlie.

Because besides Sir Albrecht and his disciples, Charlie was the only one who might know the password.

“There’s no guarantee Mr. Charlie actually knew the password.”

Lure, who had been listening, stepped in to defend Charlie.

“He may have been tailing Sir Albrecht, but there’s no guarantee he could have overheard the password…”

“There is. Absolutely. Isn’t that right, Officer?”

What? Ah, wait.

Don’t tell me…

“Constable Charlie was caught sneaking into Sir Albrecht’s studio and touching the sculpture. That very problematic sculpture that was just stolen.”

“I’m sorry about that! I’m such an ardent fan… But I really didn’t steal it!”

I closed my eyes tight.

‘Charlie, you bastard…!’

He said he was caught tailing, but actually, he got caught indulging his own selfish desire?

With this, there was no way the logic that he wasn’t a thief because he was on a mission would hold!

If there was a guy who illegally broke into my house a few days ago and fondled my gold calf, even I wouldn’t suspect someone else of stealing the gold calf.

“Mr. Hayes…”

Charlie looked at me with tearful eyes.

I let out a long sigh.

‘Ah, damn it. I only came to give testimony.’

There was no choice now.

“Mr. Mustafa. Could you guide me to the problematic studio? I’ll find the missing sculpture and also find the real culprit of this case.”

Arthur Sterling turned and raised an eyebrow at me.

“You’re serious?”

“Of course. It won’t take long anyway.”

It wasn’t a bluff.

‘He said only Sir Albrecht and his disciples could enter that studio.’

Then the culprit must be among them.

I’d know at a glance. It couldn’t take that long.

‘It’s a simple case I can finish quickly.’

I thought so.

Until then.