The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 157: A Letter from Anna

Ten in the morning during the rainy season looked more like six. The sky had only just begun to shed its gloom, and a distinct chill hung in the air.

After breakfast, a languid, almost post-lunch calm settled over the detective agency. Rainy weather always seemed to encourage a certain laziness, a deep-seated urge to burrow under the covers and refuse to move.

Lu Li had eaten only half of the meat broth, leaving himself less than full. Food that wasn't particularly good always tasted better on a slightly empty stomach.

Who would have guessed that Anna would mistake the sugar—which had been sitting in the kitchen for who knew how long—for salt and add it to the broth? Especially when the new bag of sea salt was sitting in plain sight.

The incident at the laundry and the disastrous breakfast hadn't set the best tone for the day, but at least the immediate danger had receded. For the first time in a while, he could relax. Even if it was only for a little while.

The rest of the morning passed in quiet tranquility, broken only by the arrival of the paperboy with the day's edition. The hurricane remained the dominant headline. The entire Allen Peninsula, battered by the storm, was preoccupied with recovery. Cities were restoring order, nobles were surveying their lands and property, common folk were mending their broken homes, and the Council of Elders was debating what to name the hurricane.

The second lead story was the disappearance of the ship *Kodasserlsen*. What made it particularly strange was that communication with the Fallow Lands had been restored. It wasn't just the ship that had vanished—it was the entire continent.

Conspiracy theorists claimed the Fallow Lands were plotting a war. Pessimists argued the continent had been overrun by ghosts, leaving no survivors. The Hodgkin United Empire of the Lennon Archipelago, being the closest power, had already dispatched warships to follow the *Kodasserlsen*'s route. They were expected to reach the ship's last known position in two days.

Lu Li suspected that those warships likely carried members of the three major organizations.

Supernatural events were becoming more frequent, and even the most staunch materialists were being forced to reconsider their views, especially in a world where industry was still in its infancy.Despite these two major stories, the society pages still found room for Baroness Joseph. The article reported that her trial had moved to the evidence phase, and the plaintiff's submissions were not looking favorable for the baroness.

That probably explained why she hadn't bothered him for the past few days, Lu Li mused.

A knock sounded at the door.

It pulled Lu Li from his reading. He exchanged a glance with Anna, who was lying on the bed absorbed in a book, then set the newspaper aside, rose, and went to answer the door.

The postman, dressed in a dark green uniform, handed him three letters.

After closing the door, Lu Li returned to the table and slit open the envelopes. The senders were Baroness Joseph, Mrs. Slav... and Anna.

Lu Li glanced toward the bedroom, where Anna was still reading, then looked back down at the three letters on his table.

The letters from Baroness Joseph and Mrs. Slav were predictably in character. The baroness had folded several 100-shilling notes, each bearing the portrait of Macdonald II, into the shape of a heart. Mrs. Slav had penned another fervent love letter on heavily perfumed stationery.

What, he wondered, could be in the envelope from Anna? An apology for the terrible breakfast, perhaps?

He drew out the letter.

The paper was odd, clearly torn from a notebook, its edges ragged. On the back, a few lines were scrawled in a clumsy, almost childish hand.

Lu Li turned the page over and read: *Some adults were saying there's a swamp up ahead... What's a swamp?*

*April 12. I'm so sad... I don't understand what's happening. Father and Mother ran into the room, grabbed me, and we ran. They brought me to the woods, and the ground was wet. Is this a swamp? There are so many bugs. It's a good thing we found a house before it got dark. Another family of three lives there, just like us, and they have a little boy!*

The diary entries skipped a few days, and then the handwriting changed.

*April 15. Mama said this is a diary, and you can write anything you want in it. I want to eat a big...*

The familiar lines instantly transported Lu Li back to the hut deep in the swamp. The text was from little Reina's diary; even the handwriting matched. This page must have been torn from that very journal.

He silently flipped the page over and read the first line on the other side. The handwriting was elegant, the letters flowing together, yet every stroke seemed to tremble with the author's anxiety.

*Lu Li, if you're reading this, whatever you do, do not read it anywhere near "Anna"!*

Lu Li's eyes shot up from the page to the open bedroom door. Anna lay on the bed, oblivious, swinging her legs as she stared at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought.

*Run! Run somewhere no one can find you! Especially not "me"!*

*Read the rest only when you're safe. Remember, she... no, "I." "I" must not see this letter!*

*You're so clever, you've probably already guessed... Yes, it's me, Anna. I... I was left behind. In that hut in the swamp.*

*I don't know how it happened. Do you remember when you were resting during the storm? You were asleep, with your back to me. Suddenly, something rushed me. I was thrown out of my own body, and I saw my own ghost... I don't know how to describe it. It was like... I died all over again. I became a ghost of a ghost. But this time was so much more terrifying than the first, because I could see my other ghost... and it was conscious.*

*It definitely wasn't me! I saw a flash of red light in its eyes, a flicker of cruelty. It was so alien... Is it... Is it the Mother of the Swamp?!*

*I don't know what kind of creature took possession of my ghost, but it didn't touch you. When you woke up, I realized—it's trying to get close to you. It's pretending to be me!!!*

*I tried to call out to you, but you couldn't hear a thing...*

*I watched you leave with the creature that had taken my body. I watched you come back, rest for a few hours, and then leave again before nightfall.*

*You didn't notice a thing. You thought "I" was me, and you left me all alone in that hut...*

*The woman with the bird-beak mask saved me. She could see me! I asked her to send this letter for me, and I think she agreed. She's actually a good person.*

*I know how much you trust "me." I can prove I'm telling the truth. Do you remember everything we've been through? Everything you told me? The arm of the sculpture broke off when we were in the gallery. You told me the "Door" was affecting you, that you had a "bloody tentacle" in your head, and that we came to the Shadow Swamp to get rid of it. Our whole purpose was to find Richard, the patient from the psychiatric hospital, and find a way to free you from the "Door" and the "tentacle."*

*Don't come for me. By the time you read this letter, I'll probably have been sacrificed to the Mother of the Swamp. I... I don't know what else to say. I thought I would be panicked, having to die again. I thought I would be calm, since I've already died once.*

*Lu Li, I don't want to leave you...*

*I'm so lonely...*

*Please, don't look for me.*