"Isn't that girl the illegitimate child of Gardner Reynolds?" Witke guessed.
"I don't see it."
"She has the eyes of a profiteer," the bald-headed Sheriff reminded, "and she's not a street child. Children of the vampire family must be rare in Blumnot, right?"
Piccolo hesitated. "People are losing their children everywhere in the city." He told them quietly. "The patrol police are really too busy to deal with that much. Maybe she was kidnapped by Andrew from elsewhere. I heard that gangsters also run the business of human trafficking. The patrol team went to Dead End Alley many times to clean it up.”
Agatha had also learned about this kind of news. It is said that gangsters will take away abandoned street children and either train them to be thieves or send them to churches to earn a thank you fee - these children will become priests or nuns in the future, and the priest will issue a few atonement notes to the "well-meaning rescuers" Coupons praise good deeds.
Could it be that Andrew took the vampire girl from the church while the Cross Knights were hunting Uriel and the others? Since he was Hobson's accomplice, he must have received information about the other party in advance. However, Hobson would certainly not have expected that I would organize a pre-operation mission to the church...
Ultimately, we have no evidence at all that Andrew Furner caused the third death. Agatha realized. She can deduce that Andrew and Gardner have irresolvable conflicts, but what kind of hatred requires killing each other's kin just as a warning? In her opinion, Gardner was more likely to do such a thing. Unfortunately, Andrew's daughters all married in San Carlos, and he had very little affection for them.
"That kid must be related to Gardner." Witke determined. "Perhaps a distant relative of his."
Piccolo nodded doubtfully. "Yes, they must have some kind of connection...enough to threaten the latter. Gardner hid to avoid the church's search." He had already learned a little inside information about the case. "But does Andrew think children can be more terrifying than church killers?"
Suddenly, the detective lady said: "I asked Andrew, he said he had no children for the first time, and then changed his story."
"You asked everyone," Wittek muttered.
"He has no sons, and treats his daughters as a burden and marries them away to the City of Fog." She pretended not to hear what her subordinate said. "It's difficult for me to comment on the mentality of this father's actions. These girls are far away, so as a mother, what would Bertha think?"
"She must be heartbroken and missed day and night."
"That's right." Agatha thought of Bertha's last words before her death, and the image of this lady gradually became clear in her eyes. "I think I understand what's going on," she said, seemingly sarcastically.
Piccolo found it incredible. "How could Andrew Furner do this?"
"If you look at his attitude towards his wife, you will find that this is actually quite normal." The bald Sheriff said.
My subordinates are all idiots. She found it difficult to banish this arrogant thought. Even that little apprentice is much stronger than these guys. Agatha remembered that they were analyzing the maintenance man's psychology on the road, and Uriel thought that he still loved Bertha. She didn't know how much subjective assumptions were involved in this judgment. But no matter what, now she had a reliable guess and was just waiting to go back to the Sheriff's Department to find out where the dead little girl came from.
Three minutes later, they returned to the Sheriff's Department. The time limit for handing over gamblers to the Church is not far off now. Agatha got out of the car first and noticed another commotion in front of the Sheriff's Department.
——To be honest, Sheriff McCann Johnny is not in shape to wear serious clothes.
He stood at the door of the police station, his belly protruding from the frame, his hat making his neck thicker and shorter, and his round face covered with beads of sweat. The two hands at his sides seemed redundant, and the legs and arms supporting his body seemed to be exactly the same length. When Sheriff Johnny bowed laboriously, the blackbird mark on his chest almost pierced his belly.
The young man said nothing, staring directly at the button that was about to burst open, as if thinking whether he should avoid it or not.
"Your Excellency Bai Zhizhi." Agatha regretted getting off the carriage. I should have pretended not to see him.
The messenger did just as she thought. He thought Agatha was air. "I'm looking for a missing girl. Strigoi, four feet tall, probably dead," he said to Johnny, sounding like he was talking about a lost house sparrow.
Be cautious. She reminded herself that she must not show timidity. I'm no longer Dean Rubin's pawn, and he has no proof.
But Bai Zhishi's gaze was so cold, as if she was looking directly at a lifeless marble statue, and there was some kind of soul-freezing chill in those deep and terrifying blue eyes. She had met the Commander of the Sky Realm more than once, and every time she saw the same eyes, the same gaze: the mystery that comes from the fire makes you tremble, feeling the meanness and the layers of ice covered in it. However, beneath this dead silence, there are flickering sparks buried deep inside. It has a certain fearless attitude, full of provocation and an aggressiveness that is not inferior to Agatha. It seems that the messenger can provoke a brutal duel to the death with just one glance - and the victory will definitely not belong to you.
Agatha had seen little emotion from the young man since he put on his cold coat. She could see through the masks of hypocrites and the words of liars, and she had seen all kinds of faces - full of passion or calm, but no one could leave her empty and clueless like him. She felt her uneasiness was justified.
"I have information about her," the detective answered before the sergeant could. "Follow me, sir."
…
Andrew Furner's house was not the coldest place in Brumnot. Uriel felt that the underground tomb at this moment was like an ice cellar.
"I ran into the backyard and tripped over the stone monument. The moon in the outer world was complete, but the stone was obscured by flowers and plants. I got up and began to feel fear. But this was not a reaction to encountering something related to death. Fear. Under the teachings of Sister Mary, I believe that I have accidentally desecrated the resting place of the saints and forefathers. This is undoubtedly a sinful act."
The young man listened quietly. What he did actually made Uriel a little grateful.
"I want to go back to the house. The adventure is over and it's best not to let anyone know I made a mistake." He felt a chill wash over his skin. "However, I turned around and saw a crouching shadow under the tree... She was wearing a robe that reached her ankles, made of pure white linen. She was shaking hands with the dead man." He tried to lighten the mood.
However, Joey was completely unable to pick up on the apprentice's humorous signals. "That's a fungus." He said clearly.
Dead Man's Finger. "I really thought you were going to say it was the undead."
"There are no mysteries in the world. That's what you said."
Could what I said be the truth? He didn't know whether to feel happy about his mentor's trust. I can't tell the difference between true and false. Why is there no Scroll of Oath in the outer world?
"She is a very courageous girl. She must be a girl, not a lady. She looks to be only thirteen or fourteen years old, short in stature and quick in movement. At that time, I still wondered why there was such an old girl in the convent—— She was startled immediately when she saw me and wanted to jump back. But due to the weight of her body, she fell into the silver lily bush." The more I describe it, the clearer the scene becomes.
"I followed the goddess's instructions and ran to help, and saw her painful expression." Uriel said, "This girl is not much older than me, but she behaves very maturely. She doesn't allow me to call someone, and she also knows how to take care of her. Myself. I can’t actually help you with anything.”
"That's true." The messenger couldn't help but say.
"...I chatted with her as part of an adventure and asked her why she was shaking hands with dead people. She concluded that I was unusual. Do you understand? I wasn't afraid of dead people at all. All my fears and assumptions were It is acquired. The things that I was most afraid of when I was a child were the evil dragon Winserspoon in the story, and the stern night watchman Father Hilde. I thought that those sleeping underground were all devout souls, and they were just different in form. Sister Mary taught me there was a difference.”
The messenger showed a subtle expression. "I think you will feel horrible when you think about it now."
"That's right." Uriel laughed at himself. "There was a time when I was afraid of anything related to mushrooms." But it was only now that I discovered that what I really needed to be afraid of was the secret the girl told me.
"She said those were mushrooms, growing on the nutrients of rotting plants. She shook hands because these mushrooms did not grow on trees, but took root on the edge of the stone monument, with her child sleeping underneath. She hoped to touch her flesh and blood again, even if it was A part of the body, a dead part.”
"I thought it was just a tragedy. Just like an accident in a hospital - there is no mystery, accidents are inevitable. I reassured her that she survived and promised to pray for her baby. I always thought I gave She comforted. Gaia, I really think so." He suspected that his voice became muffled because his only audience suddenly looked away.
The messenger stood up and walked to the unconscious Gunther. Uriel wanted to say something to stop him, but he didn't know what would happen next. The young man picked up a piece of ice and hit the unlucky button worker on the back of the head with a stick. Uriel opened his mouth in surprise.
He was about to wake up, the apprentice suddenly realized. But Joey told him to go back to sleep. An indescribable feeling of shame came over him, as if his secret had been overheard or stolen, but this might not have happened. Fortunately, Joey remained silent during the whole process. Uriel didn't know what to say for a moment.
He felt that his courage was gradually losing. However, the messenger obviously did not want anyone to disturb his narration, and such simple and clear instructions actually made him gradually feel calmer.
I was probably going crazy. Uriel took a deep breath, rubbed his eyes, and then coughed. "I asked her name and the names of her children." The path of memory accepted him again. "Both questions were not answered, and she did not pray with me."
