The place Detective Berren led me to was a cluttered office. There were several desks inside, most of them buried under a layer of dust.
If every desk looked like that, I would have assumed the office hadn’t been used in years. Peculiarly, however, one single desk was perfectly organized and spotless.
Detective Berren sat down at that clean desk, rummaged through a drawer, and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, I’m all out of tea. Would you like a cup of coffee instead, if you don’t mind the quality?”
“No, I’m fine. But…”
Was this really Detective Berren’s spot? He worked here? Alone in an empty office?
‘Workplace bullying…?’
For a moment, a scene from the evening news flashed through my mind.
[Controversy is rising as a public corporation is accused of pressuring an employee to resign by moving their desk into a warehouse after they refused a voluntary retirement package.]
Was that kind of absurdity happening inside this police station too?
‘Thinking about the average personality of the police I’ve seen so far, it wouldn’t be that strange.’
Detective Berren didn’t exactly have the image of someone popular, nor did he seem particularly elite, and he was on the older side…
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but could you get that unpleasant look out of your eyes?”
“Ah, my apologies.”
I hurried to change the subject to avoid showing any more pity.
“Anyway, that was impressive earlier. You solved the case in an instant. How on earth did you know the dog had swallowed the ring?”
The detective glanced at me as if I were a true eccentric.
“Weren’t you the one who said the dog was the culprit? When a theft occurs, the basic protocol is to search the prime suspect first.”
“So you really just took my word for it and shook the dog upside down? Inspector Serret suspected someone else entirely.”
If the ring hadn’t come out, wouldn’t he have been the only one in an awkward position?
“Well… if I had to choose which one of you to trust, you’re better than Serret.”
“Aha, is that so?”
At the detective’s blunt reply, the corners of my mouth couldn’t help but twitch upward.
‘So he trusted me more than his own colleague?’
Despite grumbling on the outside, he recognized my abilities on the inside, didn’t he? That’s why he took a risk based solely on my word.
Good grief, what a prickly old man.
“I told you to get that unpleasant look out of your eyes! Don’t get any useless ideas! I simply thought a detective who hasn’t taken a bribe is more trustworthy than a cop who has!”
“Excuse me? A bribe?”
I asked back, bewildered.
“You didn’t notice? Even though the shawl of the woman holding the dog kept slipping down?”
‘A shawl? Was there such a thing?’
I hadn’t seen it. It was because most of the woman’s upper body had been obscured by a black shadow.
‘Objects covered in black shadows tend to look much larger than they actually are.’
Of course, even if I had seen the shawl in this case, I doubt it would have changed anything.
‘Whether the shawl slipped or not, it’s just fashion. What does that have to do with a bribe?’
I couldn’t fathom it. Detecting my frustrated gaze, the detective gave me a hint.
“She was a woman dressed very elegantly. Does it make sense for a lady who didn’t miss a single detail—from her lace gloves to her hat—to just let her shawl slip? She surely had it secured with a brooch until the moment she arrived at this station.”
Come to think of it, I don’t recall seeing any women walking the streets with their shawls slipping off. They all secured them in the center with a round, shiny brooch…
‘Aha.’
I understood what Detective Berren was pointing out.
“You mean she must have handed over the jewel brooch from her shawl to Inspector Serret as a bribe.”
A small, expensive piece of jewelry.
It would have been the perfect bribe.
‘Ah, so was the reason Inspector Serret was so angry with me also because of the bribe?’
Thinking back to a moment ago, when I intervened in the case, Inspector Serret was excessively angry. He claimed I was wasting time when they were backlogged with cases.
And that was despite my claim being that this wasn’t a theft and that they should go home and look further rather than trying to settle it at the station.
Now I saw it; that was exactly the problem.
‘If it turned out not to be a crime, he might have had to return the bribe he just received.’
He yelled at me not to solicit business in a police station, but in reality, the one running a business in the station was the Inspector himself.
Detective Berren spoke as if lamenting.
“I planned to apologize to you today for the police’s negligence, but thanks to that moron, I have even more to apologize for.”
“Was there something you needed to apologize to me for?”
“Yes. Regarding the Dying Message case. There was manipulation by the police in that case.”
“What? Manipulation?”
I couldn’t hide my confusion at this new information.
“The victim was poisoned, but the forensics department didn’t pass that information on to you.”
“I certainly heard the cause of death was just respiratory failure of unknown origin, but wasn’t that because the forensics department failed to notice the poisoning?”
The inflammatory reaction that should have occurred on the victim’s hand didn’t happen because of the calluses, and the paralysis of the respiratory system had also faded by the time of discovery.
Wasn’t that why it was hard to suspect poisoning? That was what I believed.
“Hmph! As if!”
Detective Berren snorted.
“The poison used this time was something I’ve encountered for the first time, but poisons that cause respiratory paralysis aren’t that rare. If a body is found dead from asphyxiation without an obvious cause, the correct procedure is to naturally check for poisoning first.”
That was… a fact I hadn’t known.
“You mean the police intentionally skipped the test… or concealed the results.”
‘So Chairman Peterson’s concern to be careful of the police was true.’
At the time, I had half-forgotten it because of Detective Berren’s zealous attitude toward the investigation, and later I only used it as an excuse to persuade Ruhr.
But the police really were moving to cover up the case.
“I’m sorry.”
Detective Berren bowed his head and offered a sincere apology without making a single excuse.
“This is the fault of the police, plain and simple.”
“…No. It’s not something you need to apologize for, Detective.”
Of course, my distaste for the police had hit the ceiling, and I worried that if Chairman Peterson found out, he might pick up the sword of revenge he had finally laid down…
“It’s not as if it’s your fault, Detective Berren.”
I knew that, at the very least, Detective Berren had made a sincere effort to solve the case.
“You didn’t know the coroner’s report was wrong either, did you?”
“Of course not! If I had known, I wouldn’t have fallen for the amateurish tricks of that bratty culprit! To think that coroner would pull such a stunt…!”
The detective ground his teeth in anger, but soon let out a sigh as if his strength had left him.
“I really… I truly didn’t know. I had no idea.”
The detective seemed to feel a sense of futility.
“I’ve felt for a long time that the police aren’t what they used to be, but I never imagined they had rotted to this extent.”
“……”
“They’re no longer the police I once knew…”
The detective whispered weakly, sinking into his chair. His slumped figure blended into the atmosphere of the office.
Amidst the abandoned furniture covered in thick dust, the veteran policeman of a bygone era, with gray hairs beginning to show, sat buried like a member of that fading group.
‘Detective Berren…’
Just as I was hesitating, not knowing what words of comfort to offer him.
“So, this is where the main point starts.”
Suddenly, the detective, who had been slumped like a still-life painting, straightened up and spoke.
“…? The apology wasn’t the main point?”
“What? Of course not. Why would I want to reveal the police’s shame to a detective? I only did it because it was necessary.”
My bittersweet sentiment shattered in an instant.
“This is the main point.”
The detective asked me, as if he hadn’t just looked like he was at death’s door.
“Would you be interested in taking a request from me?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s originally a police case, but it doesn’t look like anyone here has the will to solve it. It would be better to hand it over to a trustworthy private detective.”
“Are you allowed to just hand over a police case to a detective like that?”
“Of course not. I’m not, but…”
The detective said with a smile that was somewhere between a sneer and a chuckle.
“It seems the new rule of the police is that nobody follows the rules anymore. If that’s the case, I shouldn’t fall too far behind the times, should I?”
“…What is the nature of the request?”
“A search for a murderer. No, more accurately, it would be ‘murderers.'”
The detective continued.
“I want to find the true culprit behind the serial killings that have remained cold for the past five years.”
***
The name given to that serial killer was Taylor John.
This was because, in the early stages of the case, the prevailing theory was that the killer must be a tailor.
“The primary targets were upper-class women out on solo excursions, and the bodies always bore scars that looked like stab wounds from sharp scissor blades.”
Given the victims’ status, the case immediately drew public attention.
The police announced they would conduct a full-scale investigation, and a ‘Taylor John’ task force was promptly formed. Detective Berren was the leader of that team.
“I investigated the case with fervor. I desperately wanted to catch the killer.”
However, the task force failed to catch the culprit even as the number of victims rose from three to seven.
The world was in an uproar.
The competence of the police was questioned, and everyone feared Taylor John. All sorts of rumors swept the streets.
“If there’s a woman who complains that her clothes from Taylor John don’t fit, Taylor John will personally tailor her body! Just so she fits the clothes!”
“They say he rips the mouths of loud women with his scissors!”
“I heard he snips and patches human skin to make dresses.”
People feared the night. Women avoided going out, and shops closed down one after another.
The seven victims eventually became twelve.
“The next victim might be Miss Evian of the Moncton family. Taylor John only targets beautiful, high-ranking women!”
The woman singled out was terrified and fled the capital under the pretext of convalescence.
Another victim appeared. Now there were thirteen.
“Isn’t the culprit the owner of the dress shop at 39 Crossburn? He has a large build!”
“What about the Moncton family’s tailor? He’s always sharpening his scissor blades!”
The dress shop that was pointed out was burned down by terrified citizens, and the suspected tailor had to lay down his familiar scissors and find other work.
Despite this, another victim appeared.
Now, fourteen people had died.
“Taylor John is not a tailor!”
Around that time, the police made a new announcement.
“Some of the locations where the victims died were places a tailor could not enter. Furthermore, the weapon is not scissors, but a long, thin type of blade!”
But that cry was empty, for the killer still hadn’t been caught.
Fifteen, sixteen, and finally seventeen deaths occurred.
Society was in chaos, and everyone feared the name Taylor John… and then one day, Taylor John stopped killing and vanished.
“That was four years ago. Just one year after Taylor John first appeared.”
After that day, Taylor John never showed himself again.
“A variety of speculations poured out. Taylor John must be dead. No, he’s just taking a break. Actually, he was caught and sent to a mental hospital. He repented and became a new man…”
But naturally, none of them praised the role of the police. The police, who ultimately failed to catch Taylor John, were merely objects of ridicule.
“Some even poured out conspiracy theories that Taylor John’s identity was a high-ranking noble and that the police were intentionally hiding the killer’s identity.”
It was likely because of that background.
Six months after Taylor John disappeared, Detective Berren received an order from his superiors.
“It was an order to announce that the police had arrested Taylor John six months ago through a covert operation.”
The detective refused that order.