CASE 1. The Bungling Detective (6)
Whooooosh—.
The wind wailed dismally, like a ghost filled with resentment.
It was a dark night. The wind in the clearing bordering the forest was exceptionally biting and fierce. It burrowed relentlessly through the gaps in clothing. It eventually reached the fragile, bare skin hidden beneath layers of wrapping, awakening a cold reality.
“I remember the words you spoke as you left our house, sir.”
After a long silence, the man in the flat cap finally spoke.
“You said that since you hadn’t caught the thief, you couldn’t accept the commission fee. But now, sir, you have caught the thief.”
As the man spoke, he slowly raised his hand and pointed at himself.
“It is me. I was the thief.”
“…….”
“The one who drained our family’s fortune wasn’t my wife, nor was it this con artist lying here. It was solely me. This foolish man named Thomas Hardy.”
The man in the flat cap continued his words as if making a confession.
“When I heard from that scammer that I was a criminal, and when I was caught for those criminal acts and forced to cooperate in what appeared to be another crime… I couldn’t bear the agony of reality. So, I turned away from it.”
From that day on, he lived submerged in a bottle.
Without being able to confide in his wife or anyone else, he spent money recklessly in a daze.
One week.
For a handyman who lived hand-to-mouth, a single week was more than enough to blow through his entire life savings.
“Though gold was piled high in the safe, not a single cent of it was truly my money.”
The man in the flat cap was simply too busy turning away from reality.
“Now that I think about it, it wasn’t the first time. I’ve always been that way.”
When he first received a vast sum of money from that scammer. He belatedly thought it was strange to receive so much. But since he didn’t want to think about troublesome things, he looked away and forgot about it as he pleased.
As a result, he gave the returning scammer leverage over him.
When his wife asked what on earth was going on. He didn’t have the courage to confess the pathetic things he had done. So he looked away and ignored his wife’s anxiety.
As a result, his anxious wife eventually resorted to theft.
When his wife stole the money. In truth, he suspected to some extent that it might be her. But he didn’t have the courage to doubt her and demand to know why she did it. If he did, he would have to face the home that was ruined because of him. So, he looked away again.
In the end, he even called a detective, publicly cornering his wife.
Turning away, turning away, and turning away again, he had finally reached this spot. Between the detective and the criminal. In the role of the criminal’s accomplice, or the criminal’s foolish victim.
“Therefore, it can only be said that the true culprit behind all of this is foolish me.”
The man self-deprecatingly chuckled.
‘…Did I push him too hard?’
The detective was slightly flustered.
To be honest, the detective thought the man had simply been unlucky enough to get caught in a bad situation. It was inevitable for a naive man who had lived in the countryside his whole life to be vulnerable to such scams.
He had intended to give a stern warning so the man wouldn’t fall for such a scam again, not to shift the entire responsibility for the crime onto the victim.
“I don’t know if this will be any consolation, but—.”
The detective cleared his throat and spoke.
“That document the criminal supposedly gave you. I noticed a peculiar smell coming from it.”
“A peculiar smell?”
“It was the smell of low-grade synthetic drugs. The same drug spread by Tom Chapman.”
That smell was the decisive clue that caught the trail of the case.
‘I could never forget that smell.’
The past where, immediately after falling into this world with nothing, he crawled into a drug den in the slums to avoid freezing to death and spent the night shivering. He couldn’t possibly forget a smell intertwined with such a terrible past.
“Both when you first became a fake accomplice and when you were forced to become a real one, you were under the influence of drugs.”
That wasn’t all.
“As expected of low-quality drugs, the side effects are severe. While using it once or twice might not leave permanent symptoms, there’s no way you wouldn’t experience aftereffects.”
The behavior of drug addicts was predictable.
They feel intense anxiety and remain restless as long as they aren’t taking the drug. They can’t think deeply and feel a strong craving for the dependent substance.
Even if he lived submerged in alcohol, could it really be said that it was entirely his responsibility?
“People believe they decide everything by their own will, but in reality, they are often no different from slaves subordinate to their hormones. So—.”
“Sir….”
The man in the flat cap looked at the detective with teary eyes and said this.
“You are more of a pessimist than I thought, aren’t you?”
“No, that’s not it!”
To the detective who shouted in frustration, the man in the flat cap laughed with a much more relaxed face.
“I know. You wanted to tell me it wasn’t entirely my fault because I was addicted to drugs, didn’t you? Thank you. As expected, you are a truly good person, sir.”
But, the man continued.
“Is there any grave in the world without an excuse? Regardless of what my circumstances were, it is certain that I was digging a grave for myself and my family. And you stopped that, detective.”
The man spoke with emphasis once more.
“Therefore, I would like to pay you the commission fee for finding the culprit.”
“If you insist….”
Only then did the detective seem to feel a bit more at ease.
‘I was planning to make sure I got paid anyway.’
“If you truly insist. A bit of the money from the gold pouch….”
“No, I can’t give you that.”
“What?”
The detective’s expression turned serious.
However, one must listen to a person until the very end.
“I was merely carrying it; it was never my money. Since it’s the criminal’s money, shouldn’t you naturally be the one to have it, sir?”
“Ah, ah. So that’s what you meant. Yes, those are very reasonable words.”
The detective quickly grabbed the money pouch.
Whether it was okay to handle criminal funds that way was something neither the detective nor the man in the flat cap knew, but what did it matter?
Only two people were awake here, and since neither of them would tell, it should be fine, right?
“I should give you the commission from what I own, but as I mentioned, I’ve squandered my entire fortune and have no other money to give. Therefore, I want to give you the most precious thing I have.”
Having finished speaking, the man in the flat cap took off his hat.
Then he handed the hat to the detective.
“I do not want to ignore the grace I’ve received like a common beast. In truth, I want to live without looking away from anything anymore. So, will you accept this hat?”
“Hmm….”
The detective looked at the man—at Thomas Hardy, who was no longer just the ‘man in the flat cap.’
His appearance without the hat seemed somewhat shabby, but he looked much more dignified than before.
“Well, a hat is a necessity for a detective, after all.”
The detective grinned as he accepted the hat.
“I’ll put it to good use.”
“It is my honor.”
Did the heavens also know that the night’s commotion had concluded? Before they knew it, dawn began to break in the distance.
“Oh, is it already this late….”
Since dawn had broken, the train would have departed from the starting station. To catch the first train, he had to leave now.
“Hmm….”
‘Is it okay to leave like this?’
The detective hesitated for a moment while looking at Hardy.
The man no longer had his prized hat, nor did he have any gold coins. Symptoms of the drug’s side effects might also remain. Was it okay to leave such a person behind?
As the detective agonized, something suddenly caught his eye in the distance.
‘Yeah, well. He’ll be fine.’
The detective smiled broadly, tipped his newly received hat, and bid farewell to Hardy.
“Well then, I must be going now.”
“I see. I should head home as well.”
Hardy briefly wondered if he should help move the criminal, but seeing the detective throw the limp body over his shoulder while deftly grabbing the lead cane, he threw away his useless worries.
“Farewell. Thank you, thank you so much!”
Hardy bowed deeply at the detective’s retreating back.
“Yes, goodbye.”
The detective left without looking back.
Thomas Hardy would be fine.
Because there was someone who would hold onto him.
-Epilogue-
“….He’s gone.”
Thomas Hardy stood blankly in the clearing, watching the detective disappear. He remained standing there for a long time afterward.
He had told the detective he should head home, but he couldn’t bring himself to move his feet.
“Now… how on earth do I explain all of this to Evelyn?”
He hadn’t gone into debt, but the fact remained that he was penniless. Furthermore, hadn’t he committed all sorts of pathetic acts after being deceived by that scammer?
He didn’t even have the nerve to explain all this disgrace and beg for forgiveness.
“Pathetic fool.”
Hardy muttered, blaming himself.
“You talked big about never turning away again, yet you’re looking for a way to run away at every opportunity.”
Let’s go home. After calming down just a bit more.
After thinking a little more about how to explain it to Evelyn. Just two more deep breaths, no, three more.
Alright, one, two—.
“Honey!”
“E-Evelyn?”
The world did not stop just because he did. Before he could go to her, Evelyn came running toward him from afar.
“How did you know to come here….”
“I heard you leaving last night. You were heading in a direction where there’s no road, and this is the only place that leads to.”
“You weren’t sleeping? No, that’s not it…. I mean, what happened was…”
“You don’t have to explain.”