Chapter 154: Hidden Mission |
"Boss?"
Hearing Levi's question, Anthony looked completely bewildered.
"You can't frame me like this, I swear..."
"Alright, drop the act."
Levi rolled his eyes.
"I've known all along that you were here for this guy. Don't think I didn't notice. You didn't come to the Salon Car to flirt; you wanted an excuse to keep an eye on this man. His compartment is close to the Salon Car, so you would notice immediately if he made a move."
"You figured it all out, Boss?"
"Of course. I am a detective, after all."
"Then why didn't you say so earlier?"
Levi looked at Anthony as if looking at an idiot.
"If this matter hadn't dragged me into it, I still wouldn't care. Give me the honest truth so I can figure out a way to resolve this trouble."
"I swear, it really wasn't me."
Anthony knew this was no time for joking around, and his expression instantly grew serious.
"Fine. Since you've already guessed it, Boss, I won't hide it from you. My mission was indeed to monitor this guy, but I absolutely did not kill him."
"Monitoring?"
"Exactly."
Anthony nodded.
"We received an intelligence report that this man, Robert Hardment, had private contacts with foreign spies. His trip to Bisbalu this time was to use the banquet of the Steam Machinery Exposition to strike a deal with a certain organization. That is why I boarded this train. My mission was to keep a close eye on him and identify the person he is trading with... Now it is completely ruined."
As he spoke, Anthony covered his face and sighed deeply.
"If you were on a mission, wouldn't it have been more convenient to stay in the compartment next to his?"
"It is almost the end of the year, and the agency is short on funds. I am not like you, Boss, with money to spare, enjoying fine food and drinks wherever you go..."
"Alright, let us investigate the crime scene first."
With Anthony's assurance, Levi no longer hesitated. He walked back to the scene of the crime and began his investigation.
First was the identity of the deceased. Anthony had already provided detailed information. The victim was named Robert Hardment, a researcher at the Imperial Steam Industrial Technology Institute who specialized in theoretical mathematics. According to Anthony's intelligence, Hardment was the type of researcher who was honest, unremarkable, and completely ordinary.
However, he had secretly contacted foreign spies under agency surveillance more than once. At first, Anthony's agency believed the opposition intended to steal Imperial technological intelligence through Hardment, so they kept a close watch.
They did not expect Hardment to reach a deal to deliver something to Bisbalu. To catch the big fish, Anthony's agency decided to have Anthony trail Hardment to see exactly who he was trading with.
"So, this guy is actually a traitor? A traitor traveling in a first-class compartment? So high-profile?"
"Those technicians at the institute are all fools. They know absolutely nothing about scouting and counter-reconnaissance."
Anthony clearly despised them.
"This guy submitted a leave request to the institute under the pretext of visiting the exposition. I suppose he wanted to enjoy himself, which is why he chose a first-class compartment. In my view, this fellow simply did not understand the situation and was completely oblivious to his own danger. He probably received a large sum of money from that spy and wanted to live in luxury."
Anthony shook his head as he spoke. He hated dealing with such rookies the most; it gave him no sense of accomplishment.
"Come to think of it, I did see a lot of money in his Document Box."
"That was likely his payment. By the way, Boss, how did you see it? That guy held onto that box all day like it was his precious treasure. I wanted to see what was inside long ago, but he was incredibly vigilant, even taking it with him to the restroom..."
"Oh, it was not that big of a deal..."
Levi told Anthony about his collision with Olivia, leaving Anthony speechless after listening.
"Next time, I should dress up as a woman and bump into him too. What was inside the box, Boss?"
"If you ask me, I did not see anything particularly strange."
Levi thought carefully. His absolute memory was incredibly useful at times like this. He could recall the scene from his mind and examine it frame by frame.
"Clothes, toiletries, books, maps, a tea set, and a large bag of money... If you want me to name something suspicious, I cannot think of anything right now. However, right after that, he quickly stuffed everything back into the Document Box and rushed back without even a backward glance."
"That proves something very important was indeed in that box. He just disguised it. Anyone other than himself probably would not be able to tell."
"We can continue discussing that question later."
Levi waved his hand.
"First, let us examine the scene."
The scene itself was very straightforward. Mr. Hardment lay on the floor, a literal corpse. The cause of death was obvious: he had been struck on the back of the head with a heavy object.
"So the case itself is simple. Mr. Hardment had his back to the door, someone opened the door, entered the room, struck the back of his head with something, and Mr. Hardment fell to the ground dead. That is all."
Levi briefly examined the scene and quickly reached a conclusion.
"So he did not lock the door?"
"Given his careless nature, forgetting to lock the door does not seem surprising."
Levi shrugged, then stared at the messy room.
"The current question is, what is the meaning of all this?"
"Are you referring to this disheveled room?"
Anthony naturally understood Levi's point.
"Exactly. There are two explanations for this room. First, Mr. Hardment was rummaging through the room for something, and being so focused, he did not notice someone entering, and was then struck dead. Second, someone entered the room when Mr. Hardment was not paying attention, killed him, and then began turning the place upside down to find something."
"Boss, do you mean to say..."
Anthony's eyes lit up.
"The person who killed Hardment is the one who was supposed to meet him and take delivery of the item? But that does not make sense."
Thinking of this, Anthony shook his head again.
"We have not reached the station yet. Why would they be in such a hurry? Wait, of course! Because the train is delayed! The train delay made it impossible for him to reach Bisbalu on schedule, so to save time, he had to act early. That means he is no longer on the train!"
Anthony grew more excited the more he thought about it.
"We just need to check the train passengers to see who is missing, and we will know the killer!"
"Suit yourself."
Levi shrugged with an indifferent look. Anthony rushed out excitedly to find the conductor. Levi continued to examine the carriage until Anthony returned dejectedly a while later.
"Boss, everyone is accounted for. No one has vanished or gone missing."
"Oh."
"You are not disappointed at all?"
"Because that was your theory, not mine."
Levi looked at Anthony as if looking at an idiot.
"I never said the spy took the item. Think about it, is there any need? This researcher did not seem to have a high emotional intelligence. A normal spy would just knock on the door, reveal their identity, state they are here for the trade, and take the item. Why kill him and cause such an uproar? And even if he was short on time, did this researcher carry some legendary Divine Artifact that allows someone to fly directly to Bisbalu from here? Even after taking the item, wouldn't he still be trapped on the train?"
"Uh... then what do you mean, Boss?"
"I am saying that the large sum of money in his Document Box is completely gone."
Levi stared at the Document Box and narrowed his eyes. He remembered the man packing a fortune into it earlier. At the time, whether out of nervousness from seeing Olivia or for some other reason, Hardment had practically scooped up the cash in handfuls, stuffed it into the box, and fled. Now, all that money was gone.
"A large sum? How much?"
"At least a few hundred to a thousand pounds, I believe."
"Using cash instead of Punch Cards? Hmph."
Anthony sneered. As mentioned before, this world already had things similar to savings and credit cards. Unless people were incredibly bored, they would not carry hundreds or thousands of pounds on them. Wealthy individuals like Levi and Olivia usually carried a wallet with a bank Punch Card inside, along with some gold coins, shillings, and pennies for change.
They would use the card for large transactions and cash for ordinary expenses.
Except for criminals.
Through the Difference Engine, the government could investigate the time, location, and depositor of every single transaction. Therefore, criminals preferred to use cash directly instead of Punch Cards to avoid detection by the police, who could follow the clues to arrest them.
The same applied to spies, of course. By the way, a one-pound gold coin weighed about 8 grams, so a thousand pounds would be 8 kilograms... well, it was not exceptionally heavy.
"Boss, do you mean to say someone saw that this guy had so much money, grew greedy, and killed him for robbery?"
Anthony looked incredulous, but Levi nodded.
"From the current perspective, this case matches the characteristics of a typical robbery and murder."
"But... who knew he had so much money?"
"That is hard to say."
Levi shrugged.
"When he collided with Olivia, myself, Olivia, her maid, and the conductor were all present. The problem is..."
"The problem is?"
"After this guy packed his things, he rushed back to his compartment clutching the bag like that. I dread to think how many people saw him along the way."
Levi sighed helplessly. A foolish victim certainly increased a detective's workload.
"In any case, your trip just now was not in vain. At least it proves the killer is definitely on this train. Furthermore, they should be in one of the two first-class carriages."
"Eh? Why?"
"Because passengers from second and third class cannot come here. Have you forgotten how you sneaked in?"
"Uh... fair point."
"In any case..."
"In any case?"
"Let us begin the interrogations."
Levi made his decision.