novelraw Chapter 92 : Clues in the Details
Chapter 92 : Clues in the Details
Chapter 92: Clues in the Details
The atmosphere of the tomb chamber was heavy and solemn.
Aurelia stood there, her delicate face like ice, the pressure so suffocating it felt as though it could crush someone to death.
The few servants responsible for helping did not even dare to breathe loudly, only whispering as they worked.
Levi, however, was utterly unconcerned, merely wearing gloves and quietly playing a game of fitting bones together at the side.
Only when the last piece of bone was placed did Levi glance at the pit before him and nod.
“Mm, that’s all.”
“You all may leave first.”
Upon hearing Levi’s words, Aurelia also spoke up and issued the order. At her command, the two servants and the old tomb keeper immediately seized upon this chance like a pardon from death, eager to leave. Yet at that very moment, Aurelia’s voice rang out once more.
“Remember, if this matter gets out, you know what the consequences will be.”
“Y-Yes, yes…”
Aurelia’s fierce reputation was widely known. None of the three dared utter another word, hastily turning to leave and shutting the tomb chamber doors again.
“Mr. Levi, please give me an explanation.”
Aurelia fixed her gaze on Levi once more, her expression stern. It was no wonder she was so curt. After her father’s disappearance, the police had been swarming around the manor yet found nothing. But Levi had been here less than a single day… and already unearthed this.
“Just some deductions, guesses. I haven’t yet drawn sufficient conclusions.”
Levi looked at the two skeletal remains on the ground as he spoke.
“Guesses are fine. Tell me.”
“Mm… very well.”
Levi thought for a moment. He felt there was nothing much to hide. In detective novels, sleuths often discovered something and stubbornly refused to reveal it until the final unveiling of the truth. Levi, however, had no intention of pursuing such dramatics. Aurelia was, after all, the current family head; perhaps she might provide a clue of her own.
So Levi voiced his speculations to Aurelia. After hearing him out, Aurelia furrowed her brows even tighter.
“So you came here specifically to find these remains?”
“A complete accident.”
Levi shrugged.
“I merely wished to see if I could find the reason why the Baskerville ancestor chose women as family heads. I hadn’t expected… well, thinking carefully, perhaps it isn’t so strange after all.”
“Then these two are…”
“Mm. Judging from the burial time of the bones, it supports my deduction.”
Levi gestured toward the two skeletons once more.
“If I am not mistaken, this one should be your grandfather’s sister, and the one beside her, your father’s sister.”
In this era, there was no such thing as DNA testing. Levi could only rely on conjecture. But with the burial time, gender, and age all fitting, he dared make the bold guess. After all, guessing wrong wasn’t a crime.
“………………”
Staring at the two small skeletons, Aurelia’s expression grew complicated. Though she was not versed in anatomy, even she could tell these did not seem like ordinary children’s bones.
After a long while, she let out a deep sigh.
“So, all that has befallen the Baskerville family stems only from Great-Grandfather’s… retribution?”
“Who knows? I am merely speculating. I lack sufficient evidence to prove it. So many years have already passed—even if we wanted to investigate, there’s nowhere to begin. But to say there’s no connection at all… I don’t believe that either.”
Aurelia did not know, but Levi did—he knew about the werewolf matter. Considering this family had buried corpses beneath a wolf statue… perhaps this was the very cause of their transformation?
After all, myths and legends often had such tales.
You see, even burials had to be done properly. If they had been buried beneath statues of a leopard or an eagle, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out so grim.
“I will see to their burial, so the deceased may rest in peace.”
After a pause, Aurelia spoke.
“Will that end everything?”
“I don’t know.”
Levi shook his head once more. In Ring, it had been said that bringing Sadako’s corpse to a temple for veneration would resolve everything—yet she still climbed out of televisions without delay. Such “burying the remains to solve it all” notions in horror stories were about as fatal a FLAG as “after this battle I’ll go home and marry.” Raise it, and if it didn’t mean certain death, it meant great misfortune.
“Do you need any further assistance?”
By now, Aurelia was treating Levi with utmost respect. After all, he had been at her home barely half a day, yet unearthed secrets she herself had never even considered in eighteen years. She too wished to know what the true source of the Baskerville family’s plight was, and when it might finally end.
Levi glanced at the stone coffin. He rather wanted Aurelia to open it—but as a guest in another’s home, courtesy had to be observed. For now, this coffin was outside the scope of his deductions. It could be set aside.
“I would like to examine some things, including account books and such. May I?”
“No problem. I’ll take you.”
This time, Aurelia called no others to help. Levi was simply too formidable—wherever he wandered, he uncovered something. She would not make the same mistake twice. And for Aurelia, nothing was more important right now than investigating her own family’s affairs.
Had Levi not told her, Aurelia would never have known that the Baskerville family still harbored so many secrets.
“I never imagined… I had never even thought the family held such secrets.”
“Decades are not long, yet not short either.”
Levi glanced at the remains once more and sighed. From Sir Baskerville onward, it was clear the man had consciously concealed certain histories of the family. He had passed these down to his son, then grandson. By the time they reached Aurelia, the family history had already been twisted beyond recognition. If not for Levi’s careful investigation, nothing might ever have been uncovered.
Now, Levi had set his sights on Sir Baskerville himself.
Though he still did not know how it had all come to this, why it had become what it was, many cases were the same—piece by piece, clues emerged through investigation until the truth unfolded.
And Levi’s present request had been made after careful thought.
He placed himself in Sir Baskerville’s shoes. Suppose his deduction was correct—that the man had killed his sister to inherit leadership—then what would he do?
Previously, succession had always gone to women. The Baskerville family was a great clan, and when women became heads, their husbands married in.
Men, on the other hand, were usually cast loose—left to do as they pleased. This meant that numerous branch families must have existed, and among them, surely some had daughters.
By the family’s “ancestral rule” that a woman must lead, it was entirely feasible to select a head from the branches.
Thus, Sir Baskerville’s position at the time could not have been easy.
He must have done many things to secure his place.
Of course, time was cruel. After so many years, even the servants who had once attended Sir Baskerville were likely long in their graves. Seeking someone to ask was impossible. Levi did not know any necromancy—he couldn’t summon the dead from below to answer.
But that did not mean he was helpless.
Indeed, Sir Baskerville might have hidden or erased many things, but there was one thing he could not alter.
That was… the account books.
The Baskervilles ruled all of Delicat Region. Their transactions were countless. Manipulation was possible, but complete deletion was not. Anyone who kept accounts knew—even a penny out of place was as if the sky had fallen. Thousands, tens of thousands unaccounted for? That was doomsday itself.
Sir Baskerville would never have dared such blatant acts. That would have been handing ammunition to the branch families. He surely adopted measures to conceal certain expenditures. And whatever needed concealment… was precisely what was suspicious.
This, however, was manual labor.
Yes—hard labor.
The Baskervilles’ account records were kept in the archives, a place even larger than the library, almost the size of an indoor gymnasium, lined wall-to-wall with ledgers as far as the eye could see.
Fortunately, the period Levi sought was not too broad. Otherwise, he might have had to dig into the basement… Yet even so, retrieving the ledgers of that era left several servants drenched in sweat.
“In Mist City, it’s fashionable now to store records with difference engines.”
Aurelia’s expression was clearly disdainful as she eyed the dust-laden ledgers.
“Delicat should adopt difference engines too. People say they’re too costly, but in my view, the expense is necessary.”
“Indeed.”
Levi nodded. He too missed the days when data could be summoned with a keystroke. Flipping through ledgers like this was torture.
Clearly, Lady Aurelia was dissatisfied with Delicat’s backwardness. Before, she had not been head of the family, her words carried no weight. Now, as a new ruler, she was intent on burning with the fire of reform.
Levi’s accounting was not mere number-checking. Each Baskerville head had a biography—Sir Baskerville no exception. Thus Levi placed the ledgers beside the biography, cross-checking. Small expenses might be omitted, but large projects or disbursements always had to be recorded.
If Aurelia purchased a difference engine now, her biography would surely note it.
So Levi read and flipped, flipped and read, while Aurelia only sat at the side, watching him intently. She did nothing else, just waited. Normally, waiting was dull, but watching Levi’s solemn, focused face at the desk—it was anything but dull.
Levi occasionally jotted in his notebook, and Aurelia, chin in hands, simply stared at his profile, mind empty, as though gazing at the most beautiful scenery in the world, savoring it in silence…
“Mm, that will do.”
Only when Levi’s voice rang out did Aurelia awaken as though from a dream. Turning, she was startled to find it already afternoon. The dusk sunlight outside was soft and bright, and she recalled they had come here before even lunchtime.
“What did you find?”
“A few things. May I borrow your telephone?”
“Of course.”
As great nobles, the Baskervilles naturally had a telephone. Levi stepped to it, opened the directory, found the local police number, and dialed. After identifying himself, soon Director McMillan’s voice came through.
“Mr. Levi? I was just about to speak with you. I’ve located the officer who investigated young Mr. Baskerville. When would you like to meet him?”
“As soon as possible… And in fact, Director McMillan, I have another matter I’d like you to investigate.”
Levi spoke while picking up his notebook.
“It concerns Sir Baskerville. I discovered that at sixteen, he was once detained by police for involvement in a criminal case, and paid a large compensation.”
“There’s such a thing? Wait—Sir Baskerville? When he was sixteen, that was many years ago!”
“I believe the police must still have the records. I hope you can find them.”
“This… well, I’ll look, but I can’t guarantee it.”
McMillan’s reply was hesitant. Understandably—police handled countless cases; who knew if such an old record remained.
“You must find it, Director McMillan.”
At that moment, Aurelia strode over and snatched the receiver.
“This is an order!”
“The Lady Baskerville? V-Very well, I’ll begin searching immediately.”
Had it been Levi’s request, McMillan might have delayed. But Aurelia left him no such option. If displeased, she could have him removed from his post altogether. To keep his hat, he could not dare slack.
Besides, he wouldn’t search personally—wasn’t that what his many officers were for?
Levi took back the receiver, said a few more words, and hung up. Then he checked his notebook and looked up.
“What shall we do next?”
“Next… let’s take a walk outside.”
“???”
To Aurelia, Levi’s every action was baffling. Investigating her great-grandfather’s criminal record at sixteen? Now circling the house? None seemed related to their current predicament. Yet if Levi wished to circle, she would follow.
And to her, it was no chore. Walking beside Levi, seeing his upright figure, handsome face, and deep gaze—Aurelia felt her blood surge as though she might float away. Even walking felt lighter.
At that moment, Levi suddenly spoke.
“During my investigation, I discovered that after Sir Baskerville took succession, he oversaw a major renovation of this house.”
“Isn’t that normal?”
Aurelia blinked. The Baskerville manor was stone and timber. After long use, renovations were only natural.
“Renovation itself is indeed normal.”
Levi surveyed the house again, then stretched out his hand and pointed.
“What is that place?”
“Over there? Let me think… I believe it’s a warehouse, mainly for unused furniture and such.”
Aurelia studied where Levi pointed, thought a moment, and answered.
“Let’s go take a look.”
Levi spoke as he walked over.