Early the next morning, everyone in the annex gathered for dinner in the lobby.
Listening to the constant sound of knives and forks clashing with plates, Bai Heqing quietly picked up the chopsticks, focusing only on the dishes in front of him.
Last night, Kurahashi Motoaki's sudden appearance made him suspicious. For the sake of his own safety these days, he would only eat meals cooked by Mary before leaving the island.
As for Mary's initiative to help in the kitchen, the old housekeeper Kurahashi Motoaki and the housekeeper Ouri Sumiko had no objections.
After all, among the people in this annex, in addition to Westerners like Clyde, there are also Easterners like Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Kitakami Kazuhiko.
A rare talent like Mary who has mastered the cooking skills of both ends of the earth is exactly what the annex kitchen urgently needs at this moment.
"Ha~"
In the originally quiet hall, Mei Ling, a woman in purple cheongsam sitting diagonally across from Bai Heqing, suddenly yawned.
"Lack of sleep is a taboo for beauty." Kevin, who was sitting opposite her, looked up and said with a smile while fiddling with the knife and fork in his hand.
"There is no way..." Mei Ling put her chin in her hand and said in a lazy tone: "Didn't it rain heavily at dawn today? I couldn't fall asleep after being woken up..."
"I really didn't realize that you are such a weak person?" Kevin sneered when he heard this and said, "As for me, you can sleep until dawn!"
"Are you just being slow?" After mocking him, Mei Ling suddenly turned her gaze to Bai Heqing, who was eating quietly, and asked with a smile: "What about you? Detective brother?"
Bai Heqing didn't answer her immediately. It wasn't until he chewed and swallowed all the food in his mouth that he said, "Same, I woke up when it just started raining."
As a high-profile rising star in Japan's police force, his overtime life, which often reverses day and night, has indeed had some impact on his sleeping status, and he is easily awakened by outside movements.
"Hmph, did you hear that, it's not me who's abnormal?"
After hearing Bai Heqing's answer, Mei Ling turned to look at Kevin again, with provocation in her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm being targeted..." Shaking his head and smiling bitterly, Kevin suddenly changed the topic, "But then again, that old gentleman is the one who got up the latest, right?"
The old gentleman he was referring to was Clyde, the former British Navy lieutenant colonel.
At this time, everyone in the hall had arrived, only Clyde's seat was still empty.
"Maybe you haven't woken up yet?" The second young master Tone Kosuke on the side also spoke up and said with a smile: "After all, what happened yesterday, everyone should have slept relatively late at night. If the old gentleman wants to sleep, Just let him sleep a little longer..."
"But, our current situation is still very dangerous, right?"
At this time, Kitakami Kazuhiko, who had been silent, couldn't help but speak, and said worriedly: "After all, the murderer of Mr. Yang has not been found yet. Compared with leaving Mr. Clyde alone in the room, how can we all be together?" Would it be better?"
"I think this might be more dangerous." Kevin put down his knife and fork and said suddenly.
"Why do you say that?" Mei Ling held her chin up and looked at him curiously.
"Does this need to be said? The murderer must be among us, and we don't know how many people he wants to kill. Perhaps the murderer trapped us on this island just to kill us all one by one, and finally kill us on his own. Maybe one person can monopolize the inheritance...
At this time, wouldn't it be safer to find a reliable place to hide yourself? "
"We must not let this happen!" Kitakami Kazuhiko clenched his fists and shouted loudly: "With Detective Shirakawa and Detective Mary here, we will definitely be able to catch this murderer quickly!"
Not knowing why the topic suddenly turned to him again, Bai Heqing was stunned for a moment, and then smiled at everyone.
"We will try our best."
[To be honest, I now feel that you two are more likely to be the murderers than others...]
"You are so calm, little detective." Mei Ling looked at him and said with a smile: "You are so reliable that you don't even look like a detective..."
I don’t know whether her words were intentional or unintentional.
"Thank you." Bai Heqing glanced at her, his expression as usual.
Seeing his appearance, the smile on Mei Ling's face became even bigger, "If you have time, you can come to my room and I can use the I Ching to help you divine? I guarantee that you will gain something... Of course, yes It’s free.”
Huang Meiling, it is said, came to this island with Yang Douxin as his special fortune teller.
【Um? ! 】
When Mary, who was silent at the side, suddenly turned her head and stared at her with wide eyes.
"Yeah, I'll consider it." Bai He counted his head.
"that……"
At this moment, Kurahashi Motoaki hurriedly walked into the hall, interrupting the communication between everyone.
"Everyone, I went to Mr. Clyde's room just now. He didn't seem to be in the room..."
"Mr. Clyde is missing? What's going on?" The eldest young master, Takahiro Tone, asked quickly after hearing this.
"This...I'm not sure, because I kept knocking on the door but there was no response, so I opened the door and took a look, only to find that there was no one in the room at all..."
"Did he go to other places in the museum?" Kevin asked.
"No, I just searched everywhere in the museum, but I couldn't find it..."
"Could it be that Mr. Clyde has already?!" Kitakami Kazuhiko's expression suddenly changed.
"Is there anything strange in the room?" Bai Heqing asked.
"No, not really. Mr. Clyde seemed to have gone out by himself..." Kurahashi Motoaki replied.
"It is also possible that he has been killed by the murderer." Kevin interjected.
"Everyone!" Second Young Master Tone Kosuke stood up immediately and said to everyone: "It's not the time to make a judgment now! Mr. Clyde may just want to go out to the island by himself... In short! Let's go outside the annex first. Let’s search and find Mr. Clyde together!”
"But it would be dangerous if we split up now, right?" Mei Ling said.
"Just work in groups, two or three, so as to ensure everyone's safety as much as possible... I'll go to the back mountain to investigate first, Mary."
After Bai Heqing finished speaking, he put down his chopsticks, stood up from his seat, turned and left the hall.
Something had most likely happened to Clyde, Bai Heqing's intuition told him so.
If Clyde's body can be found as soon as possible, it may also help him identify the murderer as soon as possible.
"good."
Behind him, Mary immediately stood up and followed.
"..."
With Clyde's disappearance, everyone in the hall divided into several groups and quickly began searching around the annex.
Among them, Bai Heqing and Mary went to the back hill to the north of the annex.
Of course, traveling with them was the fortune teller.
()
(End of chapter)
