The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 489: A Cornered Richard

[Oh, why can't you just be a good little boy and quietly wait for my plan to be completed?]

[Look what you've done... Poor old Rodney. His sons only just left him, and now this devil has taken his life, too!]

[As a brave and just citizen of Belfast, I consider it my duty to fight evil. I've already notified the police. They'll be here soon to take you, the murderer, down to the station to answer for your crimes.]

A sudden commotion erupted on the street behind him. People, already on edge from the strange fog, scattered with panicked shouts. Lu Li tore his gaze from the letter.

The newsboy was lifted into the air by an unseen force. He screamed in terror, flailing his arms and legs as he was drawn toward the carriage.

This wasn't Richard.

“I'm an exorcist, and I need to ask you a few questions,” Lu Li said, looking at the boy suspended before him. He held up the letter. “Who gave this to you?”

His fingers were smudged with ink—the letter had been written only moments ago.

Only a few minutes had passed since Lu Li left the cemetery.

“Monster, let me go!” the boy shrieked, squeezing his eyes shut. He was too terrified to even hear Lu Li's calm voice.“Calm him down,” Lu Li instructed.

Anna was already on it. Just as she had done with the infected who were turning into Gnashers, she immobilized the boy, leaving him able to do nothing but breathe.

Consumed by fear, the boy finally opened his eyes, saw Lu Li's composed expression, and froze.

In the ensuing silence, Lu Li began, “I'm an exorcist—”

The sound of approaching footsteps cut him off. Lu Li watched as several police officers emerged from the fog, accompanied by figures in the black uniforms of the Night's Watch.

Richard had actually done it.

Lu Li glanced down at the rest of the letter.

[You had it coming!]

[Only I can save everyone, and you—you're just a pathetic clown who tried to steal the fruits of another's labor and failed. Spend the rest of your days rotting in a dark, damp cell!]

“Let him go,” Lu Li told Anna, folding the letter. He produced his investigator badge and addressed the approaching officers and Night's Watch members. “Senior Investigator Lu Li. I'm pursuing a fugitive who just framed me.”

“I know you,” one of the policemen said, looking at Lu Li in surprise. “I saw you at the port last night.”

Thanks to his colleague's testimony, Lu Li was quickly cleared of suspicion.

One of the Night's Watch members glanced around cautiously, as if sensing Anna's presence. “Just as you said. A few minutes ago, the station received a call reporting that a murderer was at the cemetery, having just taken the life of an old man. The caller said he was headed this way.”

After a brief pause, Lu Li replied, “I was the one who... neutralized him. He was contaminated by an anomaly.”

The Night's Watch members didn't doubt Lu Li's words. Exorcists never questioned each other's integrity, especially not that of a senior investigator.

Richard's scheme had failed; he hadn't managed to delay Lu Li for even a few minutes. Perhaps Richard understood this would happen, but his unstable mental state prevented him from devising a more complex plan.

Regardless, Richard was cornered.

The Night's Watch and the police returned to their station, and Lu Li followed them in his carriage.

There was something he needed to verify.

Lu Li let the boy go. He was just a newsboy. A few minutes ago, Richard had given him two shillings to deliver the letter, warning him that Lu Li was extremely dangerous and telling him to run away immediately after.

A few minutes later, Lu Li arrived at the police station and asked them to trace the phone number from the tip-off call.

The result came back quickly: the call had been made from a telephone booth in the Marseille district.

This didn't align with Lu Li's assumptions.

Next, Lu Li inquired about the results of the check on the phone found in Richard's hideout. The police connected him to the precinct handling that case. After a short wait, he had his answer.

Hearing the dial tone, Lu Li hung up the receiver and walked out of the station.

The strange fog enveloping the city was finally starting to recede. Visibility had improved to about half a block.

“Marcus is Richard,” Lu Li stated, climbing back into his carriage.

Anna's sharp, agitated intake of breath was audible beside him. “He was right next to us this whole time. He knew everything we were planning.”

“Yes.”

It all added up. Marcus had claimed he was arrested by the police, and it happened right after Lu Li had reported Richard to the investigator headquarters.

“It's a shame we figured it out so late,” Anna murmured.

Richard's phone had been left in the hideout and was now in police custody. Lu Li had no way to contact him unless Richard reached out first.

That was a distinct possibility. There was no telling what the deranged Richard might do next. After all, he was still trying to threaten Lu Li with letters, and...

“Richard is running out of money,” Lu Li said.

He had only given the newsboy two shillings—a sum barely enough to convince him to run the errand.

From what Lu Li knew of Richard, he wasn't one to be frugal unless he was on the brink of poverty.

“So, we should go back to the detective agency and wait for him to show up himself, or contact us using his Marcus persona?”

The latter seemed exactly like something Richard would do.

“Yes.”

Now, all Lu Li could do was wait. Wait for Richard to make the first move, or to contact him under an assumed name.

Approaching the detective agency, Lu Li returned the carriage. He passed by the market and bought enough food for a couple of days, spending over a hundred shillings.

Food prices had skyrocketed. The only thing the government could still control was the cost of black bread, keeping it affordable for the common people.

But if the situation continued to deteriorate, even black bread would inevitably become more expensive, transforming into a threat more terrifying than any anomaly.

And deterioration was as inevitable as the passage of time. The outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Walking through the grim streets, where not a hint of a smile could be seen on anyone's face, Lu Li returned to the detective agency with a paper bag in his arms.

Anna materialized, took the groceries, and floated into the kitchen. Soon, the sound of a fire being lit could be heard.

Lu Li stood by the window, gazing up at the gray clouds as if waiting for something.

Time passed. The sounds of boiling water and the aroma of frying meat drifted from the kitchen. Having learned from Aunt Mary how to use spices, Anna was becoming an increasingly skilled cook.

The black cat awoke, padded out of the bedroom, and hopped onto the sofa. It rubbed against Lu Li's legs as he stood before it, then leaped onto the table and began to groom its paws.

From time to time, Lu Li would step out of the longhouse, stand in the middle of the street, and look around, but after finding nothing, he would return to the agency.

Half an hour later, the meal was ready. Anna brought a steaming pot into the living room.

Lu Li sat down at the table, and Anna carefully ladled food into his wooden bowl.

Everything was just as it had been, as if nothing had changed at all.