The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 268: Anna's Plan

After a short wait, Mary came down the stairs, dressed in a light gray dress.

She glanced at the flustered Anna with a hint of surprise, then turned to Lu Li. "Come on," she said, "I'll take you to Old Henry."

Just before they left, Anna turned herself invisible. Mery reached out in surprise, her hand passing through the empty space where Anna had just been standing.

"Anna, are you still there?"

"Yes," Anna's voice answered, seeming to come from the air just behind Mery.

Lu Li and Mery went to the stables to get a carriage and set off for Old Henry's house.

The man they were looking for lived on the outskirts of Khimfast, in a neighborhood mostly inhabited by common citizens—much like in Belfast, where social status rose with the altitude of one's home on the mountain.

A few minutes later, the carriage pulled up in front of a modest house.

Mery knocked. The door soon opened to reveal the worried face of a neatly dressed man.

Mery seemed to be on good terms with Old Henry. She asked him what was wrong. Henry explained that his son, Henry Jr., hadn't come home last night, and he was just about to head to the bar where the young man often trained.Mery urged Henry to calm down and then glanced inquiringly at Lu Li, silently asking if they could help Henry find his son first.

Lu Li nodded, signaling that they could all go together. With the carriage, it would be much faster.

"Thank you so much!" The older man's relief was palpable. "You must have come to see me about something. As soon as I find Henry Jr., I'm at your service." A little calmer now, the father climbed into the carriage with Mery.

Anna didn't get into the cab. Invisible to everyone else, she settled onto the driver's seat beside Lu Li as he took the reins.

Soon, the carriage halted near the entrance to a basement bar.

Old Henry jumped from the carriage and hurried down the steps to the bar's door. A few minutes later, he returned, his face etched with even greater anxiety. "They said Henry left the bar last night..."

"Perhaps he went to a friend's house? Young people..." Mery offered, trying to console him.

"No... He never stays out late."

Mery pursed her lips. "Or maybe he's found a girlfriend? Think carefully. Has he been acting unusually at all lately?"

Henry froze, as if a memory had just struck him. The anxiety on his face slowly gave way to a smile. "That little rascal..."

Mery smiled gently. "He's nineteen. It's the right age for it."

"Alright, let's not talk about him," Henry said with a wave of his hand. "Mery, what did you need me for? And with a stranger, no less."

Mery glanced at Lu Li and noticed his gaze wasn't on them, but fixed on a dark alley beside the bar. It was the kind of narrow passage found all over the city—nothing out of the ordinary.

After a brief pause, she introduced Lu Li to the old gardener. "This young man has a few questions for you about horticulture."

"You've come to the right place! You won't find a better gardener in all of Khimfast!" Henry declared, proudly thumping his chest.

Mery smiled. "Setting his boasting aside, he's mostly right. There aren't many experts in Khimfast better than Old Henry."

An ordinary gardener couldn't afford to buy his own house, after all.

"Hey! Don't sell me short like that!" Henry protested loudly.

Lu Li finally pulled his gaze away from the alley. Gathering his thoughts, he explained to Henry the need to transport Enni to Belfast.

"Belfast... I was there once, back when the sea was still blue and the sky was clear. Forgive me, an old man gets lost in his memories. Tell me more about this tree, so I can judge whether it can be moved."

Lu Li was about to explain, but Mery cut in. "It would be better if we just took the carriage to Madam Anlei's estate."

Henry mumbled thoughtfully, "There... I think I know which tree you're talking about."

They returned to the carriage. Lu Li took the reins and slowly pulled away from the basement bar, leaving the quiet, dark alley behind.

...

"I was here a year ago, but it feels like an eternity has passed," came a sigh from within the carriage as it stopped at the estate gates.

"Ever since the plants stopped growing, the city has become so ugly... I even lost my job... And that little rascal didn't want to learn gardening from me. Looks like he was right."

The three of them stepped out of the carriage. Hearing the noise at the gate, the old gatekeeper opened one of its heavy doors.

Raising their umbrellas, they approached the elm tree, Enni. Old Henry looked with surprise at the dug-up soil around its base, then lifted his gaze to the dry, five-or-six-meter-tall trunk.

"Is it still alive?"

Lu Li relayed Anna's question.

"I don't know. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. You can't tell if plants are growing or not these days," Henry said without turning, still inspecting the elm. "How do you want to move it?"

"How to move it?"

Henry turned to Lu Li. "Cut off all the non-essential branches, leave just the trunk and a few main limbs, then ship it to Belfast on a freight wagon. That would be the easiest way."

The moment he finished speaking, he felt a sudden chill.

"Are there other options?" Lu Li asked, not waiting for the invisible Anna to voice her opinion.

"We could move it to Belfast completely intact. I have connections, but it would be expensive... Although, no, we could probably negotiate a discount these days. It's not like there's much work to go around."

"When can it be done?"

"Anytime. But first, you need to decide on a place to plant it."

"Not yet." Lu Li still hadn't chosen a location for his shelter.

"Decide on the location first. A tree must be connected to the earth to live," Henry said, quoting the first half of an old proverb.

Lu Li nodded. There was no other way.

He turned his head slightly in the direction the chill had come from.

Mery, as if sensing something, said to Henry, "Come, let's leave the young people alone for a moment."

"Young people?" Henry muttered in confusion, but he followed Mery anyway. The two figures with their umbrellas walked away.

Anna's voice sounded beside Lu Li. "Do we have to wait much longer?"

"As soon as we get back, we'll go straight to the Elm Forest," Lu Li replied.

"Alright... Let's go back then."

After their brief conversation, Lu Li approached Mery and Henry. He asked Mery to place an oil lamp by the elm tree after dark, though he wasn't sure if it would help.

"I'll take care of Enni," Mery nodded.

Back at the gate, Lu Li paused before the carriage and, after a moment's thought, said to Henry, "You should go to the police. They might know something about your son."

Henry was taken aback. He wanted to ask more, but Lu Li had already climbed into the driver's seat.

Mery stood frozen, having heard Anna's quiet, parting words.

Under their two complicated gazes, the carriage disappeared into the rain.