Chapter 168: The Last Piece (4)

“That stalker bastard needs to die. No, dying isn’t enough. That son of a bitch…”

Anton kept his head lowered and muttered curses about the malicious stalker at a rapid pace.

“Ugh, that’s really creative. I’ve never heard language like that before.”

“Don’t listen too closely, Lure.”

I covered Lure’s ears and thought.

‘A malicious stalker… That’s quite an interesting story.’

‘Above all, there was an important part in the malicious stalker’s misdeeds that Anton listed.’

‘If all that is true, then the malicious stalker has to be an insider, doesn’t it?’

If he could pass through the heavily secured gate and commit all sorts of atrocities inside, then the culprit had to be someone close by.

Indeed, Charlie, who was an outsider, got caught within just a few days of starting his stalking.

‘But…’

“Then, is there evidence that the malicious stalker went in and out of Sir Albrecht’s private studio?”

“There is… He was fiddling with a statue in Master’s studio and was caught by Mustafa…”

“That’s a different person. What about traces left by the malicious stalker you mentioned in the private studio?”

Anton shook his head.

‘The opponent is a quite bold stalker.’

He left gifts in front of the private studio door, looked inside the bedroom, and tore up a disciple’s painting, didn’t he?

He likes to leave his traces blatantly.

If such a malicious person went in and out of Sir Albrecht’s private studio, would he really have cleaned up the crime scene neatly?

‘I’d think he would have messed up the place to show off.’

Of course, if removing the ‘Last Piece’ was the malicious stalker’s way of leaving a trace, then there’s nothing to say…

‘But there’s no guarantee that the stalker is the sculpture destroyer.’

Thanks to that, the case got complicated.

Just as I was organizing my thoughts like that,

“Anton! Anton!!!”

A loud shout came from across the street.

It was an elderly woman’s voice.

“M-Mrs. Swain…!”

Anton answered helplessly like a goat.

“Anton! Did you eat the lemon pie I left on the table?”

“Oh, no. I hate sweets…”

Anton raised both hands and shook his head.

Even I could see that Anton couldn’t be the culprit because the culprit’s form didn’t appear from him.

“Well, a timid kid like you wouldn’t sneakily eat a pie. Then who did it?”

The woman called out angrily from across the street.

“Whoever it is, I won’t let them off when they’re caught! That was the lemon pie for my farewell party!”

Leaving only those words, the voice faded away.

I could see the figure of the woman entering the mansion in the distance.

She wasn’t a black figure, so she wasn’t the culprit, but how should I put it, she was like a storm.

“Who was that?”

“Oh, that’s Mrs. Swain… Master’s aunt. A woman akin to his mother…”

“But didn’t she mention a farewell party?” Lure suddenly asked. “You’re parting with someone like a mother?”

“Well… Because of the stalker…” Anton hesitated. “In case she might get hurt… We decided to stay apart for a while…”

“I see.”

“The other servants have also been on vacation for a month…”

That was quite an extreme measure, so the stalker must have caused a lot of trouble.

“Then, in this huge mansion, are Sir Albrecht and his assistants the only people?”

“Yes, well…” Answering shyly, Anton shuffled his feet.

He had been so busy cursing the stalker earlier, but after meeting Mrs. Swain, he seemed to have come to his senses a bit.

*

‘Hey.’

“I’ll guide you the rest of the way…”

“Thank you.”

While following Anton, I suddenly thought.

‘Then, the culprit who ate the lemon pie is also limited, isn’t it?’

Didn’t they say all the servants were on vacation?

Then the one who ate the lemon pie would be either Sir Albrecht or one of his three assistants.

‘No, excluding Anton here, there are three suspects: Albrecht, Mustafa, and Sophie.’

The pie thief was one of these three.

‘It’s not just the pie.’

The sculpture destroyer and the stalker were also highly likely to be one of these three.

‘Wait. That means…’

A sudden ominous feeling struck me, and it hit the mark exactly.

“You’re here, Anton.”

“Detective. Have you found the whereabouts of the sculpture?”

“Anton! Master said I can be here! That means I’m not wrong, right?”

A total of three black shadows were waiting for me.

‘Ah, damn it.’

I couldn’t help but curse internally.

‘Which one of them did what?’

Three charges and three criminals—the numbers matched, but that didn’t mean one charge necessarily corresponded to one person.

‘Two could have eaten the pie, and one of them could have stolen the sculpture, for example.’

There was only one way to find out: to peel off the charges one by one.

‘Let’s catch the pie thief first.’

If a person’s form doesn’t reveal the culprit even after catching the pie thief, then that person is either the sculpture destroyer or the stalker.

‘I’ll have to interrogate… but they’re all black shadows, so I can’t tell who is who.’

It’s driving me crazy because the charges are tangled.

To take a break from the sight filled with black shadows, I looked around as a sort of escape.

“Where is this?”

The building I arrived at following Anton’s guide wasn’t Sir Albrecht’s mansion.

Like the previous workshop, it was a separate annex, but much larger.

The interior was similar but wider, and there was also a small room that looked like a storage.

‘The window facing north is the same.’

But unlike the previous workshop, this one had an open view outside, so it felt brighter.

Perhaps because the window was the type that opens, the air didn’t seem bad either.

It looked much better than the workshop I saw earlier.

“This is the common studio… Originally, Master also used this place… But now, only Mustafa and I…”

“No. I, Sophie, am also a member of this workshop.”

One of the black shadows stepped forward and said in a particularly feminine voice.

“Sophie…”

“What? Am I not Master’s disciple anymore? Are you going to say I’m not part of this workshop either?”

“That’s not it…”

“Then it’s fine. I’m also a member of this workshop.”

I cleared my throat to draw the attention of the two bickering people.

“Did I hear Miss Sophie? Is that correct?”

“Oh, yes. I’m Sophia Claudel, one of Sir Albrecht’s disciples. Feel free to call me Sophia.”

“Alright, Miss Sophia. I assume you’ve already heard who I am.”

“Of course. You’re the detective in charge of the sculpture theft case. Nice to meet you. Please, I beg you, retrieve Master’s sculpture.”

“I might need your cooperation. May I ask you a few questions?”

“Ask anything.”

There were quite a lot of things I wanted to ask, because this woman named Sophia had been drawing my attention all along.

“First, could you tell me why you cause conflicts with the other assistants?”

“Ah… I guess you saw everything.” The black shadow let out an awkward laugh, though all I could see was black.

“I don’t know much. I only vaguely heard that Miss Sophia was kicked out of the workshop against her will.”

“That really wasn’t my fault.” Sophia answered as if she had been waiting. “It’s all because of that stalker!”

“A stalker?”

“Yes. I think he’s probably an ardent fan of Master. He keeps harming the people around Master, and I’m the one who suffered the most damage among them.”

I remembered hearing about it earlier—did she say her pet dog died at the hands of the stalker?

“I understand why Master doesn’t want me in the workshop. He must be afraid I’ll get hurt if I keep hanging around the studio. Master is a kind person. But I don’t want to give up my dream for such a ridiculous reason! Even if it costs me my life, I want to die as an artist!”

It was an extreme statement, but I understood her resolve.

‘She seems quite serious about art.’

Well, everyone gathered here would be the same—all people who stake their lives on art.

“Miss Sophia must resent Sir Albrecht. After all, he kicked you out against your will.”

“Resentment… It’s not that. I know that Master, Anton, and Mustafa were all just worried about me. It’s just frustrating and regrettable.”

She didn’t seem to be lying, which meant I didn’t feel any grudge that would make her sneak into Master’s studio at night and break sculptures.

‘Even thinking of her as the stalker seems unlikely.’

Let’s say it was somehow possible for her to stalk even harming herself, but what would she gain from that?

Sophie was kicked out of the workshop because of the stalker—clearly something she didn’t want.

“Just to confirm, you didn’t know the password to Sir Albrecht’s private studio, right?”

“As the stalker’s harassment got worse, Master kicked me out of this studio and started preparing a private studio. So, yes. I don’t know the password to Master’s studio, and I’ve never even seen it.”

I nodded.

“Then… my last question.”

“Yes! Ask anything.”

“By any chance, do you like lemon pie?”

“…Huh?!”

A brief silence. Then, in a reluctant voice, Sophia answered, “Well, I love it. Especially Mrs. Swain’s lemon pie is heavenly.”

I nodded, suspecting she might be the one who swiped Mrs. Swain’s lemon pie.

‘But…’

I had seen Sophia arguing at the front gate earlier. If she had entered following me, she physically wouldn’t have had time to steal the pie. If she is the one who ate it, that means she sneaked into the mansion earlier without anyone knowing.

‘Then her alibi disappears.’

Sophie had been sneaking in and out of the mansion. Wouldn’t that make her testimony about not knowing the password to Sir Albrecht’s private studio and never having seen it untrustworthy?

Three criminals. Three crimes.

How exactly are these threads intertwined?