"It's not fair! It's not fair! We didn't break the law, why should we be detained?"
As the eldest sister of all the homeless people in this neighborhood, Katie is by no means a fool. She knows very well how many evil things she has done. Once she is liquidated, she will definitely be sentenced to death.
So, Katie clamored and struggled desperately to see if she could escape by chance before the people in charge at the police station returned.
But she underestimated Scotland Yard's determination. Officer Wensley had already given instructions to fully cooperate with the special investigators in investigating the case. If anything went wrong, he would be dismissed immediately.
Therefore, two strong men, one on the left and one on the right, threw the obscene woman who was leading the trouble into the special detention room.
boom!
The loud noise of the iron door colliding with the wall was heard, and the Orioles in the other detention room all shuddered, became well-behaved, and huddled in the corner, whispering.
After being on the streets for so long, Helen prided herself on being shrewd. At this moment, she had already imagined that it was the dead Newberry who attracted the attention of the police.
The wandering warbler is at the bottom of society, and her status is only a little higher than that of the vagrants. When she walks on the road, the police in the area do not take a serious look at her. Even if she dies due to various reasons, the police will not care. Unless there is a need, they will show some enthusiasm.
So, why is this situation so special?
It is worth mentioning that Helen once had a mistress who worked as an informant for Scotland Yard for a period of time. Under the influence of the other party, she had a certain understanding of the levels of police epaulettes.
Senior Superintendent!
The chief of the Whitechapel District Police Department is barely on the same level as Wensley. The key is that the other person looks very young.
"This bitch Ai Songen actually told what happened at night..."
"No matter how many people like us die, it won't attract attention."
"What on earth is going on?"
The chatter grew louder.
At this time, the police officer standing outside in charge of custody immediately yelled. Although the superior did not explain, years of experience told him that if he did not stop it, the suspects would probably collude to confess.
As a result, two more strays were handcuffed and held in solitary confinement.
As a result, there was no more noise from the detention room. The Orioles huddled in the corner, occasionally sobbing.
Next room.
The eldest sister, Katie, regained consciousness. Besides her, there were two other people in the holding room.
One was a drunken homeless man with patches all over his coat. He was lying on the damp cement floor and snoring. The smell of low-quality alcohol was mixed with the stench.
The other is a middle-aged woman with disheveled hair, with only a few bright traces of lipstick left. She leans against the wall and smokes a cigarette, while looking at her new roommate without any concealment.
"Hello."
Katie forced out a harmless smile and instinctively felt that she should strike up a conversation.
The woman didn't know Katie's brutal record. She pouted her mouth and blew out a smoke ring, and asked in a senior tone: "What did you commit?"
"Nothing... Oh, I think I probably found a body and didn't report it to the police in time, but it's not my fault. Night is a good time to make money. If you don't go to work, you won't even get the cheapest eel soup the next day. I can’t even afford it.”
"Ha, I am also a wandering warbler."
The woman smiled softly, showing several rows of teeth covered with soot, while Katie was confused. She knew all the Orioles in this area, and even newcomers could quickly name them.
But the woman in front of me really had no impression at all.
Therefore, Katie secretly looked at each other with her peripheral vision. The clothes were old but very tacky. The satin robe had faded decorations. She wore badly worn shoes and pink silk stockings, which were soft in winter and summer. The hat... the broken makeup... the same kind... unmistakable.
In addition, there are some bruises on the face.
That stream of Orioles that they faced off with last night?
The thought flashed across her mind, and Katie backed away pretending to be intimidated, and said calmly: "Why haven't I seen you?"
"I work in another neighborhood. We may have met late tonight, but it was too dark and it was raining heavily, so I don't remember much."
As he said that, the strange wandering warbler threw away the cigarette and trampled it hard with his heel. He seemed to be venting his dissatisfaction and complained to his peers: "What the hell is going on in this world now? I just happened to pass by an alley and I was arrested... …”
"Me too, I stayed in the tavern waiting for the guests to call, but I was arrested for no reason." Katie concealed the fact that she had killed other Orioles to avoid causing trouble, and said insinuatingly: "Where is this man?"
The man on the ground has a strong build and his hands are covered with calluses. He looks like a dock porter. Of course, this type of person likes to patronize Liuying's business.
"Customer, before we could make a transaction, he was arrested by the passing police. It is said that he was involved in a serial murder case..."
The two chatted endlessly.
They were both from Tianya, and they had a tacit understanding not to talk about the bloody conflict that happened at night.
At the same time, Lu Li was sitting in the Sheriff's Office. In fact, he had arrived here a long time ago, but he had to deal with other matters and could not attend to the interrogation for the time being.
Yesterday afternoon, Scotland Yard conducted an urgent investigation to investigate the identities of the 42 previous victims.
Twenty minutes ago, first-hand information was sent over by Mr. Vincent who was sitting on Whitehall Street.
"The identities of the nine deceased have been confirmed so far, and there is no possibility of error."
"Most of the remaining ones have some clues, but it's hard to make a conclusion for the time being."
Officer Wensley held the backup file in his hand and walked slowly in the office.
Beside, Lu Li was sitting on the leather seat, looking at the pile of information in front of him and thinking deeply.
After reading them, he felt that Scotland Yard was doing a disservice by broadening the target of suspects, or in other words, destroying the connection between the victims.
"Are they all wandering warblers?" Lu Li pinched his brows.
Officer Wensley was stunned for a moment, and after thinking for a moment, he said solemnly: "That's right."
"You just came to this city, and you don't know that the moral and social atmosphere of Fog City has been corrupted to an extreme over the past few years."
After some explanations, Lu Li finally clarified a concept: the moral values of the Victorian era made it difficult to simply distinguish women by "good" and "bad."
Especially the word Liuying.
In addition to women who actively solicit customers on the street, we may also include women who have illegally cohabited with men for a long time, women who indirectly or often receive a large amount of money from their partners but have their own jobs, women who are unemployed and receive financial support from one or more men. Helping woman.
Judging from the data, only nearly twenty victims were street vagabonds, and the others were the latter. Some worked as waiters in restaurants, and some worked in factories...
The most outrageous thing is that the identities of the two victims have been confirmed. One of them is a ballet dancer, and the other is a baroness whose family is in decline.
"Sir, don't be surprised. They are not doing this for money. Most likely, they want to satisfy themselves."
"In upper class society, it is considered elegant and fashionable for ladies to have several knights as lovers in addition to their husbands."
Having said this, Officer Wensley couldn't help but shrugged, acting quite helpless.
As the spies described in the documents, they found that these two respectable victims had no fewer than twenty lovers during their lifetimes.
If we dig deeper, we can find at least hundreds of suspects.
"Well, there's an old saying in the East that everything goes to its extremes."
Lu Li closed the document and sighed.
Some women enjoy nightlife that moral guardians vehemently disapprove of, pursuing fun rather than money.
This kind of behavior, in the eyes of most people today, is no different from that of wandering warblers, and can be classified into the same category.
"Based on the available evidence, these victims are all... unclean in some sense?"
Lu Li carefully considered his words. After all, from the perspective of future generations, although this kind of thing is immoral, but because it is relatively common, he himself does not think it is too exaggerated.
"That's right."
Officer Wensley was not so polite in his words, and said bluntly: "This kind of people can be divided into two groups. One type is those who are naturally dissolute, bad-tempered, lazy, vain and greedy."
"What about the other kind?" Lu Li was curious as to what this authentic British elite had to say.
"They are relatively pitiful and deserve public sympathy and a helping hand from all gentlemen who still have a sense of morality in their hearts." Wensley learned about Ai Songen's experience from Lu Li and gave an example: "These girls are poor and lack skills. , there are no brothers to rely on, and both parents are dead.”
"As far as I know, the average age for joining this industry is sixteen. Before that, many girls stayed with boys of the same class and were abandoned after a few years and had to live on the streets."
"Why do you know so much about this business?"
Lu Li was curious, but he still added, "It has nothing to do with the case. If it's inconvenient, you don't have to answer."
It would indeed be understandable if Wensley was just a junior police officer, or a slightly higher-ranking police sergeant who had some understanding of street phenomena.
But now he is a senior superintendent. A senior superintendent under thirty years old, his status is second only to those old men at the director level, and it is almost impossible to deal with Liu Ying.
However, Lu Li guessed wrong.
Wensley frowned and thought for a moment, then explained: "Ten years ago, I graduated from school and worked as a police sergeant in the Financial City. The teacher in charge of me was Mr. Vincent..."
"Okay, that's a little off topic."
The successful police officer shook his head and said solemnly: "At that time, I met a very tasteful girl. She was dressed in exquisite and low-key clothes and ran a cafe on the west side of Waterloo Bridge."
"Are you in love?"
"Yes."
There was no warmth in Wensley's eyes. He seemed relieved and was just stating the facts, "But everything changed one afternoon. After the old man learned about the relationship, he sent someone to inquire about it out of good intentions."
Although Lu Li had already guessed the bloody answer in advance, he did not interrupt out of politeness.
"She's a wanderer."
"She started out as a maid. Because she wanted to see the world and live an independent life, she voluntarily worked as a vagabond for three years. It was completely voluntary and no one forced her... She read books, took writing classes and learned other skills. In order to make myself a good companion for gentlemen."
"She then used the income she earned from her disreputable business to invest in a café, cut ties with those men, and live a warm, practical, virtuous life."
"Mr. Lu, do you know? It can be seen from her behavior that she is really running that cafe with her heart. If not..."
Wensley was finally touched by the past, and he sighed, as if asking Lu Li if he could feel the same way.
Lu Li didn't say much about this, he just patted the police officer on the shoulder.
Sin City.
There is no need to add any modifiers in front of it, because this is the essence of the foggy city, and most people are struggling in this quagmire.
"You must be thinking, is there some misunderstanding between me and her? In fact, these testimonies came to the neighborhood where she grew up, and the neighbors all saw it, from the servants, to the wandering warbler, to the decent coffee The owner of the hotel, her clothes change and her expression changes, she is a good actress."
Wensley chattered.
"It's all over, isn't it?"
Lu Li regretted asking such a question, patted his shoulders to comfort him a few times, and then changed the subject:
"Go and interrogate those who are imprisoned. Of course, you can find a place to rest and call a few police officers to help me."
Touching the scene and feeling sad.
After recalling his sad first love experience and having to face a group of wandering warblers, Lu Li was worried that Wensley would have emotional problems.
To be honest, if you think about it from his perspective, if Lu Li encountered this kind of thing, he would definitely leave.
Not only the hurdle in his heart, even if he could get over it, well, if he couldn't get over it, at least there would be hundreds of cuckolds... Moreover, he would not be in contact with such a woman.
"It's okay, my mental capacity is not that bad." Wensley shrugged habitually and said shockingly: "In fact, after knowing everything at that time, I still wanted to be with her, forget about that past, and live somewhere else. .”
The power of love?
Lu Li paused and looked at this young and promising gentleman, waiting for the next chapter.
"Unfortunately, I can't be so selfish. This is a love that is destined not to be blessed. My parents, teachers, and friends are devout believers and will never allow me to do this."
"Yes, people can't live for themselves after all."
Love lost to reality.
"What about the girl who runs the cafe? What did you say to her in the end?"
"I did not say anything."
Wensley's eyes showed mixed emotions and he sighed: "I left a lot of money in the house where I lived with her. At that time, she wanted to open her coffee business in the Financial City, but she was very short of money and could only postpone the plan. .”
"Where are you?"
"I asked the teacher to transfer me to Berkshire. I stayed there for five years and became the director. It didn't take long before I returned to the fog."
"Choose wisely, time will dilute everything."
After speaking, Lu Li walked out of the office and quickly headed to the interrogation room.
Officer Wensley, who had finished chatting, calmed down and followed him.
"Let's interrogate the woman named Helen first. Aisongen said that she has a weak character and cannot keep secrets."
"Okay, save Katie, the criminal organizer, for last."
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