Chapter 356 A extends his olive branch again

Saturday, April 9.

"Breaking News! There is an unexpected development in the assassination of Duke Negan! The Viscount chose to commit suicide to prove his innocence, and the new Viscount is so young!"

"Extra Edition!..." The newsboys continued to run around on the street. Most of the men and women on the street were quite interested in the topic of the upper class and took out coins to buy newspapers.

Leonard and Peiman were no exception. They each took a newspaper, read it quickly, and looked at each other. They saw shock on each other's faces. Peiman lowered her voice and said:
"What's going on? Was the Viscount's death also caused by the 'audience' that your good 'friend' mentioned? Is it so rampant? Or was he pushed out as a scapegoat?"

"Well... 'friends', right?" Leonard corrected, and then analyzed:
"The newspaper said that the old viscount was depressed because of the suspicion and interrogation. He lost his temper last night and committed suicide in his bedroom...

"Although I don't deny that there are such people in this world, that's too radical... According to previous newspaper reports, it's not just his family that is under suspicion! It's normal for the nobles who participated in that ball to be interrogated. Maybe the Goddess Church will enter my dreams at night for a second round of screening.

"It is indeed a bit abnormal. Perhaps the 'audience' is really guiding us secretly... For what? To destroy the 'evidence'? Did the old viscount really participate in the assassination?"

Peiman nodded in agreement, and walked with Leonard to the place agreed upon with the client of the "Aurora Society". They came to Queens by carriage early in the morning in order to quickly deliver the investigation results and distance themselves from this group of lunatics.

It was a plain-looking house in Queens. From the outside, it was so ordinary that no one would have thought that it was the headquarters of the Aurora Society in Backlund. There were altars, crosses, murals, etc. in the basement.

The two were soon led by the waiter to see Mr. A, who seemed to be in a daze sitting on the sofa. This "divine messenger" was not wearing a black robe with a hood, revealing his feminine face. Mr. A came to his senses and asked in surprise:

"What's going on? Any progress in the investigation?"

"Yes! We have made some progress in our investigation!" Peiman took Leonard to sit on the sofa opposite Mr. A, and asked her assistant "Sherlock" to take out a thick stack of information and put it on the table. Then she deliberately showed the dark circles under her makeup and said in a hoarse voice:

“This commission is one of the most difficult in our career, and I believe we will never encounter another one that is more difficult than this.

"Duke Negan's status is too high, and the people who participated in the ball are difficult for us two ordinary detectives to contact... Therefore, it is extremely difficult for us to start the investigation!

"Fortunately, while we were squatting in the Duke's mansion, we accidentally came into contact with the servants in charge of the banquet... Surprisingly, they were not blamed by the authorities... and were even able to enter and leave the mansion freely.

"But these people were all very panicked, afraid that they would be executed the next moment. Compared with keeping the secret, they were more inclined to take the money and run away or give it to their families... So we seized this opportunity and spent several hundred pounds to question seven or eight male and female servants. In the end, we pieced together the assassination case with these scattered eyewitness testimonies!"

Mr. A nodded and said:
"That's a good idea." "Hehe, as long as the results satisfy me, you don't have to worry about all the expenses during the process."

Peiman felt relieved. She nodded to Leonard and continued:
"That night, Duke Negan held a grand ball, but the purpose of the ball... was to bring his mistress home in a legitimate way. According to a maid, the mistress went to the third floor first, and soon Duke Negan also went up to the third floor. This is one of the reasons.

"Secondly, Duke Negan's wife... knew about this. According to a male servant, this was not the first time the Duke had met with his mistress. The Duchess had made a scene once, but... it was soon dropped. The Duke continued to do as he pleased, and the Duchess never smiled again.

"Third, the Duchess joined a 'psychology seminar' some time ago. A personal maid testified that she had followed the Duchess to the interest seminar, but she was just waiting outside. After the Duchess developed a hobby in psychology...she began to smile again, and even smiled naturally when facing the Duke.

"We suspect someone gave her psychological guidance...

"Fourthly, the Duke's old butler and the blonde secretary...are a little weird. Well, this is the common feeling of many maids and servants, because in their opinion, the arrangements made by these two people that night...are not the same as usual, especially on the third floor...When the Duke has an affair, he will not hide it from others...He will even deliberately arrange servants and bodyguards at the door...

"The most important point is that these two people said they were going to deal with the matter, but they have not been seen until now...

"Fifth, after killing the Duke, the 'murderer' did not flee, but disguised himself as the Duke, came to the dance floor and danced with the Duchess... After the dance, the 'murderer' bit off a piece of flesh from the Duchess's face...

"In summary, we can be sure that the Duchess seemed to have received counseling or some kind of promise from the 'psychological seminar'... The murderer might have been hired by her to kill her cheating husband, but she didn't know when the murderer would strike, and she even mistakenly believed that the murderer was the Duke.

"Besides that, the murderer's failure to flee could be explained by the fact that he was a madman. However, we are more inclined to believe that someone skilled in hypnosis at the Psychological Seminar hypnotized the murderer, making it impossible for him to flee. The only outcome was that he would be killed on the spot. This way, they could avoid paying any reward and still keep the secret!
"Finally, please read this morning's newspaper. A viscount who participated in the ball committed suicide... According to our reasoning, this viscount should have participated in the Duke's assassination. Perhaps he was an insider... He provided convenience for the murderer to sneak into the ball. When the situation was about to be exposed, the viscount chose to commit suicide to avoid implicating his family...

"But there is another possibility. This is another incident done by the organization behind the scenes to erase all clues!"

Mr. A gritted his teeth and said:
"'Psychological seminar'? It can't be wrong, I think I understand..." Then, he looked at the two detectives again. The man looked quite handsome, but his face was a little long. The woman was pretty with delicate features, but the dark circles under their eyes affected their looks a little... But it was harmless. Mr. A smiled and said:

“Very good, you two are fine.

“I am very pleased with your findings and I am very pleased with both of you.

"The 'Secret Prayer' I mentioned last time... do you have any ideas?"

(End of this chapter)