The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 105: A Peculiarity

"Hmph!" Marcus grumbled, his voice shifting. "Did you kill my client along with the ghost?!"

"And what's wrong with that?" Lu Li asked calmly, seeing nothing objectionable about it. "And how did you know it was me?"

"Uh... I just know! Don’t ask any more questions, because I haven’t come up with an excuse yet!" Marcus's voice grew louder until it was practically a roar.

"Alright, so is there a problem or not?"

"Uh... no problem. You killed him, so you killed him. Good for you," the sound of Marcus scratching his head came through the line. "It doesn't matter if the client is alive or dead. We already got the down payment, so we're not at a huge loss."

"Anything else?"

"Uh... no. Although... wait, I almost forgot what I wanted to say."

"And what's that?"

"Too many dead clients... While it doesn't bother me much, it could affect the reputation of Prosperity, and clients will be afraid to come to us. Exorcising ghosts is normal, but exorcising the client along with them isn't so great. And most importantly, we only get the down payment... uh... I wanted to ask you to be a little more restrained."

"I will," Lu Li replied curtly.Marcus let out a sigh of relief, and his voice brightened. "Thanks a million! If you hadn't agreed, I would have had to raise your percentage to get you to... oops, I think I said something I shouldn't have, heh heh heh... Anyway, that's all. I'll send your fee by mail. Talk to you later!"

The line went dead with a distinct click.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain, in the Sentry Post.

A telephone conversation was also taking place in the deputy sheriff's office.

"The missing woman's name is Shelly. He left Shelly's house not long before. Yes, sir, I provided the information. Alright, I will continue to monitor the situation. If anything else happens, I'll contact him immediately... What? There's a new case already? But how is that possible? We didn't even..." Valentine's voice trailed off. A smile was fixed on his face as he listened in silence, as if the person on the other end of the line could see his fawning expression.

"I understand. I'll contact him right away... he's probably already back in Belfast. How do you think we should notify him?"

"Alright... I'll do that. I will treat him as one of you. By the way, I heard in the Rom Quarter... my apologies, I shouldn't have asked."

Click.

The receiver settled back into its cradle. Valentine leaned back in his wooden chair with a sigh of relief and muttered, "It seems this exorcist has caught the eye of those people..."

Valentine didn't know whether to be envious or glad. Getting involved with them rarely ended well. Most went insane, and those who died did so under mysterious circumstances.

"Phew..." he exhaled, composing himself, and picked up the phone again.

...

"It's lively today, isn't it?" Anna remarked, sitting at the table by the window with her chin propped in her hands, nodding her head in time with her words.

Lu Li picked up the receiver. It was Valentine's voice.

"Mr. Lu Li, we have some new leads."

Lu Li thought he was referring to O'Connor's fourth victim, but as Valentine explained, he realized the timing didn't match.

The new victim was named Claire, a woman who lived in Belfast. Two weeks ago, she had briefly gone missing near the Sentry Post psychiatric hospital, only to suddenly reappear.

After her return, she acted like a madwoman for a long time, spouting nonsense, grabbing her neighbors and shouting things like, "There are voices in my head!" or "They want to take my place!" and other incoherent phrases. Since Claire lived alone and had no family, no one paid much attention to the unfortunate, deranged woman. No one even knew she had disappeared until she let it slip during one of her fits.

At least, that's what Valentine said.

Claire remained in this state for several days before she was found dead in her home. The doctors determined she had died of dehydration and severe exhaustion—she hadn't eaten a thing since her return.

Deputy Sheriff Valentine said he had noticed the peculiarities in Claire's behavior while reviewing materials on the Sixth Psychiatric Hospital. As soon as he realized this information might be connected to Richard, he decided to report it to Lu Li immediately, and told him where Claire was now.

In the morgue at the Belfast cemetery. She hadn't been buried yet.

After hanging up, Lu Li tapped his knuckles thoughtfully on the table, his eyes lowered. Anna blinked, not wanting to interrupt his thoughts.

Lu Li's contemplation didn't last long. He looked up and said, "There's something wrong with the source of this information."

"Wrong?" Anna, who had been floating above her chair, straightened up slightly.

"Don't you think there are too many details?" Lu Li calmly laid out his doubts. "The Sentry Post police have no reason to do all this for me, a simple exorcist, especially with such precision, down to the complete picture of what happened."

Having spent some time with Lu Li and experienced a few setbacks, Anna had finally gotten a little smarter and was learning to look at the root of things. "You think it's a trap? Is it Richard?!"

Though the leap in logic was vast.

"I don't know, but probably not. If Richard could influence the police, he wouldn't stop at this," Lu Li said, not believing the information came from Richard.

If Richard were behind Valentine, he could have used far more effective methods to frame Lu Li, rather than taking the bullets out of a flintlock pistol and throwing them at him until he was beaten to death.

Although, that kind of behavior did seem more in line with Richard's mental state.

Judging by the strangeness of Claire's behavior, she really could be connected to Richard's plans in some way. First, she had disappeared before the other victims, and second, her words after her return were unsettling.

"A failed experiment..." Lu Li murmured thoughtfully.

In any case, a trip to the cemetery would clear things up.

But there was good news: at least this time, Lu Li wouldn't have to spend nearly two hours and 12 shillings to travel to the Sentry Post in such dreadful weather.

When Lu Li looked at Anna, she flinched.

"The cemetery... c-can I not go?" Anna's voice was faint and pleading. Her teeth chattered from the cold.

Some things don't change, even when you become a ghost. Like the fear of cemeteries.

"It's not about being scared... I can't not go because I'm scared... I just want to go back into the painting and rest!"

"Fine, I'll go alone," Lu Li said in an even tone.

Anna suddenly felt an inexplicable wave of guilt and secretly clenched her fists under her sleeves. "When you get back... don't forget another recipe book."

Under Lu Li's questioning gaze, Anna met his eyes with determination.

"I want to become more useful!"

Lu Li looked at her in silence for a moment and then nodded.

"Alright."