The commotion at the front gate was quickly resolved.
“Hm? You folks are…”
Sir Albrecht, who had been opening the mansion door, spotted our party and recognized us.
“Anton, Mustafa, Sophia. That’s enough. Let’s not put on any more of a show in front of our guests.”
With his single word, all the commotion settled.
‘He’s surprisingly authoritative in front of his disciples, isn’t he?’
It wasn’t strange. Every one of his disciples looked at him with respect and admiration.
“Hello, Sir Albrecht. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
“The same to you. Are you the detective who will take my case?”
“Not only my teacher, but Sir Arthur has also shown interest in the case. He’ll likely be here soon.”
At Lure’s words, Albrecht’s expression changed.
“Arthur… Arthur Sterling? The First Great Detective is coming to find my lost statue?”
“Yes, but… is there a problem?”
“No, no. No problem at all.”
People with no problem don’t talk like that.
‘He’s not happy about Arthur Sterling.’
Is there some personal conflict?
Or… is it because of the fame of being the First Great Detective?
Does Sir Albrecht not want the criminal caught?
“At any rate, thank you for coming. I sincerely hope you catch the culprit.”
“Leave it to me.”
Setting aside my momentary suspicion, I nodded.
“First, may we examine the crime scene?”
“Of course. Anton!”
A pale-faced man came running breathlessly.
“Go and show the detective my workshop.”
A nod.
The pale man guided me and Lure. We soon arrived at the workshop in question.
It was an annex beyond the mansion, only visible deep inside Sir Albrecht’s private property.
“Indeed… it would be impossible for someone without specialized knowledge to open this door without knowing the password.”
I muttered, examining the workshop door.
“Wow, teacher, can you see things like that? I couldn’t tell at all. I hate mechanical devices.”
“Neither can I. That’s why I’m saying it.”
The heavy iron door had a thick, complex machine device covered in gears attached to it.
No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t figure out its nature. It wasn’t something a non-specialist should mess with.
‘If I had tried to break in here, the only way would have been to smash that locking device.’
But they said the door had been open.
Smoothly, with no damage to the lock.
“Let’s go in.”
The inside of the workshop was rather dark.
The only light in the workshop was sunlight coming through a large window on one wall.
“That window… faces north.”
As if aware of my gaze, Anton explained.
“It reflects light well… always needs moderate sunlight that’s neither too dark nor too bright for the marble…”
He trailed off, making it hard to understand. Anyway, it seemed he meant that a north-facing window was necessary for marble carving.
…
I swept my gaze across the walls.
Three sides of this workshop were solid walls without any gaps.
The only window was this large glass pane, but it was hardly a window.
It couldn’t perform the function of a window at all.
“It looks like it can’t be opened.”
“That’s right… it’s a single pane of glass… cough.“
Anton coughed softly.
For some reason, my own throat felt scratchy.
“Achoo!“
Lure sneezed.
“Oh, ah. I’m sorry. It’s my first time having guests, so I didn’t think…”
Anton rummaged around the workshop and pulled out thin cloth masks, handing them to me and Lure.
“Please wear these. Dust flies around in the workshop… from the marble carving fragments…”
So the air quality was bad. No wonder the view seemed oddly hazy.
“The mask is fine.”
It would be better to take a quick look and get out.
I looked around the inside of the workshop.
Contrary to my prejudice that a master’s workshop would have well-worn tools scattered everywhere, it was tidier than I expected.
“Sir Albrecht seems to have a clean personality.”
“Oh, no. It’s not that… The master only started working in this workshop less than a week ago…”
“A week? So he used a different workshop before?”
“Yes…”
Anton nodded limply.
‘Now that I think of it, he did say the security device on the door was recently installed.’
He must have installed it when moving to the new workshop.
“So that missing statue was also moved into this workshop a week ago.”
Anton nodded.
“It was very heavy… we loaded it onto a handcart and pushed it together—me, the master, and Mustafa.”
“Had to move it together?”
Now that I thought about it, yes. I didn’t know the size of the missing statue, but marble carvings aren’t light objects.
‘It wouldn’t have been easy to steal size-wise.’
In the center of the workshop, there was a pedestal that seemed to have held a marble statue.
How could the statue, which must have been there until yesterday morning, disappear in an instant?
‘This workshop is a very simple structure with no separate rooms.’
Just a square.
From the outside, it looked the same.
No complex devices on the walls, and no sign of a hidden door opening.
In this simple room, two walls were plain, one wall had an unopenable glass window, and the last wall had a door.
‘I can only think it went out through the door.’
I examined the outside of the workshop door. There were wheel marks that looked like they came from moving something heavy with a handcart, but they were very faint, so I couldn’t be sure when they were made.
‘Was the marble statue really moved outside through this door yesterday?’
It was full of doubts.
Stealing this statue and smuggling it out was very troublesome.
Above all, you’d have to crack the workshop password.
But among the workshop people, I didn’t see any shadow of a criminal.
If neither the master nor his disciples had shadows, then who was the culprit?
“Mr. Anton. Is there anyone besides Sir Albrecht or the other disciples who might know the password?”
“Yes. That stalker…”
“Other than that?”
Anton shook his head.
He seemed not to know either.
‘Not easy.’
The case wouldn’t be solved that simply.
I paused in place for a moment, thinking.
‘Maybe the statue wasn’t stolen at all?’
This idea suddenly occurred to me.
After all, among those who knew the password, no one appeared as a criminal.
Perhaps the case itself was wrong from the start.
‘Maybe it’s not a theft, but a destruction case.’
In one corner of Sir Albrecht’s workshop, broken marble fragments were piled up in a mess.
What if someone had smashed the “Last Statue” into pieces and made those fragments?
‘From the culprit’s perspective, that would be easier.’
Breaking it would be much simpler than stealing a heavy marble statue that needed at least three people to move.
If I had been wrong about the case, it wouldn’t be strange that I didn’t see the culprit’s shadow.
‘Yes. This seems closer to the truth.’
Having sorted my thoughts, I looked up.
Anton was still staring at me with his pale face.
“…Detective?”
“Mr. Anton. I think we should wrap up the scene investigation here and hear the witnesses’ testimonies.”
“Oh, yes…”
Maybe meeting the suspects in order would reveal something different.
“I’d like to speak with your assistants one by one.”
“Then… shall I start with myself?”
No, actually, I’m done with you.
‘I can’t say that.’
“Yes. Let’s hear the details as we walk.”
I said, opening the workshop door.
First, I needed to rescue my poor assistant, who had been sneezing nonstop.
“The master has three disciples total. Me, Mustafa, and… Sophie.”
Anton continued the story in bits and pieces.
It was a bit frustrating to listen to, but while walking, it was bearable.
“I’m from the outskirts. I graduated from art school. Sophie is a noble lady. Mustafa is of a different status. We come from different backgrounds and have different personalities, but we’ve gotten along well. Because we all love art and respect the master… And the master is a good person…”
Anton’s face grew darker.
“There’s no way any of us could be the culprit. There’s no way a bad person who would break the master’s statue exists. So the culprit is someone else. Another bad person… a filthy bastard.”
For a moment, I shuddered.
In Anton’s voice as he muttered “filthy bastard,” there seemed to be a hatred and malice unimaginable from his usual timid demeanor.
“It’s definitely that stalker’s doing.”
“Ah, a stalker, you say…”
“Yes. That gloomy, filthy stalker bastard. That scum…”
What did Charlie do to earn such hatred?
“I feel a nasty gaze, and when I chase after it, it’s gone. But I hear the sound of running footsteps every day.”
I see.
He must be clumsy at tailing, so he’s been grating on people’s nerves.
‘That sounds like something Charlie would do.’
“Hmm… we can’t be sure it was necessarily that person’s crime. Of course, stalking is unforgivable, but there might have been other circumstances…”
“He calls himself a fan, touching the master’s statues, leaving nasty gifts in front of the workshop…”
I quickly gave up trying to defend Charlie.
‘I’ve heard the first part, but this is the first time about the latter.’
If he did that kind of thing, he’d have no excuse even if he was caught as a stalker.
Maybe it would be better to just leave him to rot in jail?
While I was seriously pondering, Anton continued.
“He looks in on us while we’re sleeping every night, scatters marbles on the stairs, puts lubricant on the path…”
…Huh?
“He broke Mrs. Swain’s teacup, smashed Mustafa’s statue, tore Sophie’s paintings…”
That… that wasn’t Charlie. There’s no way Charlie would do that.
“Eventually, a month and a half ago, he even killed Sophie’s dog…!”
Charlie’s tailing had started less than a month ago.
What happened a month and a half ago physically couldn’t have been done by Charlie.
So…
‘There’s another stalker.’
A very malicious stalker who had been lurking around Sir Albrecht, causing harm.