Brian didn't bite on Elias's nonsense about staying at the hotel for business.
The detective once known as the Hound was currently displaying a neurotic level of focus.
He directly ignored the heavy suitcase in Elias's hand.
Instead, he spun around, brushed past Elias, and slammed the door shut.
He immediately fumbled with the lock, clicking it shut with an air of secrecy.
Only then did he turn around and speak in a matter of fact tone:
“I will have to trouble you to act as my assistant today.”
He patted the dust covered hem of his trench coat.
“You and Arthur are brothers, after all.”
“?”
Elias stood where he was, his facial muscles twitching uncontrollably.
Seriously, man?
What kind of hellish logic was that?
Was there any actual correlation between those two things?!
What, were detective positions at Old Palace Yard hereditary now?
Did they come with guaranteed family placements?
Elias truly couldn't wrap his head around Brian's train of thought.
He just wanted to put down the heavy leather suitcase.
He lifted his right foot, just about to take a step into the shadows deep within the room.
“Don't come in!”
Brian suddenly shrieked at the top of his lungs.
This sudden yell gave Elias a start.
His footsteps faltered, and his hand instinctively darted toward the small of his back, nearly drawing his gun.
“You nearly scared me to death!”
“What are you screaming for?!”
Brian didn't think he had done anything wrong at all.
“Do not disturb my crime scene!”
He lowered his voice, his tone laced with a paranoid fervor.
“?”
Elias's brow furrowed into a massive knot, looking at Brian as if he were a complete idiot.
“Is there even a crime scene left?!”
Elias launched into full roasting mode without mercy.
“Arthur told me that on the day of the crime, the police searched everything down to the mouse holes.”
“What little physical evidence there was is long gone.”
“And now you're here to investigate?”
“Investigate what?”
“The air quality?!”
He grumbled irritably.
Elias reached out to find the knob for the gas lamp on the wall.
As the dim gas light flickered to life, he finally saw the state of the room.
The sight left him utterly speechless.
The only word to describe what he saw was “desolate.”
Every piece of vintage furniture, large and small, was covered in a thick layer of old dust.
The dust was so thick it looked like a grey white blanket draped over everything.
He looked higher.
Large patches of grey white cobwebs had even grown in the corners of the walls.
The air was thick with the smell of moldy wood.
“What is going on?”
Elias fanned the air in front of his nose in disgust.
“Don't the hotel staff ever clean this place?”
He suddenly remembered that this room was the reason the owner downstairs complained about losing money every day.
No kidding!
It would be a miracle if anyone actually stayed here!
Opening the door felt like stepping into an ancient tomb that had been abandoned for half a century!
What was the difference between paying to sleep here and sleeping in a morgue?
“The waiter downstairs didn't tell you?”
Hearing Elias's complaint, Brian actually looked a bit puzzled.
Then, he began to explain in a matter of fact tone.
“They did take the body away after the incident.”
“And they cleaned the blood off the floor.”
Brian paused.
“But a great detective always notices the details those idiots miss!”
He lowered his voice intentionally, his tone brimming with excitement.
“We are in luck!”
Brian suddenly held up a finger and wagged it in front of Elias.
“Even though my mental state hasn't been great this past month, I still really wanted to solve this case!”
“So, I spread the news that there was a murder at the Golden Rose.”
“Specifically so that no one would disturb the scene!”
“Looking at it now, that decision was very effective!”
“?”
Elias froze in the doorway, his mouth hanging open for a long time.
If I had come a day later, wouldn't I have been the one to disturb the scene?
But that wasn't the point.
Hotel owner! The culprit is right here!
Seriously, you had enough mental energy while being a mess to worry about this case?
Elias was thoroughly impressed—in a bad way.
He didn't even dare to take a step forward.
He was afraid his boots would ruin the expensive dust this great detective had worked so hard to “protect” for a month.
He just stood there, lugging the heavy suitcase, waiting for the self absorbed Brian to finish being full of himself.
“So...?”
“Is he an idiot?”
Deep in his mind, Old Ed asked gloomily.
The old man's tone was filled with disbelief and deep disdain.
Elias didn't answer him; he could only silently cover his face with his hand.
His heart was weary.
Just let the world end already.
After a while, Brian finally seemed to snap out of his self indulgence.
He turned around, saw Elias covering his face, and walked over quickly.
“Elias, you are a smart man, but you don't understand criminal investigation.”
Brian reached out and pulled Elias's hand away from his face.
“Look, they didn't replace this carpet!”
Brian pointed at the carpet on the floor, his eyes wild.
“And the windows, the door locks... there are no signs of replacement. Everything is exactly as it was on the day of the crime.”
He suddenly turned again and strode toward the wall next to the fireplace.
“And this bullet hole!”
Brian walked to the wall and pointed at a shallow pit.
“In other words, we can deduce everything except for the body and the blood!”
Brian turned his head sharply, staring at Elias with burning eyes.
“What's more...”
A confident smile curled onto his lips as if everything was within his grasp.
“I remember the autopsy report.”
Facing Brian's rapid fire emotional output, Elias felt a headache coming on.
He knew very well that Brian, an ordinary person with no spirituality, couldn't possibly find any supernatural traces in this dust filled room with just a lousy magnifying glass.
“So after saying all that, have you found anything?”
“Of course!”
Brian spun around to face the dust covered glass window and began his deduction show.
“On the day of the crime, the windows were locked tight from the inside.”
As he spoke, he walked to the fireplace and tapped the blackened hearth with his hand.
“The top layer of soot in the fireplace has already clumped.”
“No signs of climbing, no scraped off brick fragments.”
Brian turned and pointed upward.
“On the iron grate of the ventilation duct, that spider was already vacationing there a month ago.”
Finally, Brian pointed at the door lock in the distance.
“The brass springs of the lock show perfectly consistent oxidation.”
“No scratches from being picked with a wire.”
Brian paused there.
He turned to face Elias.
On that face, distorted by madness and exhaustion, a sense of near sacred certainty suddenly emerged.
“So the closing report for that day was: locked room murder, the killer infiltrated through unknown channels!”
Brian's voice grew louder, echoing through the empty room.
“But if you ask me, the killer appeared directly right here!”
The moment those words fell.
Elias's eyes widened.
At the same time.
Old Ed couldn't help but exclaim in his mind.
“Holy shit!”
“He's either crazy, or he's a genius!”
Rate on N.U.
