Chapter 28 Case File 1: Botanical Garden Mystery (10)
The house also has a typical European style design. As soon as you enter the door, you will see a high-ceilinged hall with a large fan-shaped staircase facing it. On the second floor, there is a corridor surrounding the hall, and the other side of the corridor leads to various rooms.
There are doors leading to other places on both sides of the hall. On the left is the dining room and kitchen, and on the right is the servant's room.
"Servants live here both day and night," Pertmin explained. "We have five servants in the house. They're busy in the house during the day, but anyone who passes through the gate at night will be noticed by them."
Among the five servants, there was a butler, a cook, a maid and two servants, all of whom were of the Haff tribe.
The maid was responsible for taking care of Pertmin's daily life. The two male servants served his second uncle Whipson and Holly respectively. As for Holland, he was taken care of by Pertmin's sister Pearlamine, and no other servants were hired.
——Or rather, Peramine is the 'servant'.
Jiangyou glanced thoughtfully at Peramin, who stood beside him. This Hafu woman had similar hair and eye color to her sister, but she wasn't the breathtaking, strikingly beautiful type. Her face was chubby and round, and her almond-shaped eyes seemed a little dull, perhaps swollen from crying.
Andrei glanced at all the servants and asked, "No one left through the front door that night?"
The five of them shook their heads in unison: "No one is going out."
"Alright then." Andre clapped his hands. "Everyone, reenact your actions from noon on the day of the incident to the next morning."
His green ghostly eyes stared at his prey like a snake: "Let me start with you, Mrs. Pertmin."
Pertmin nodded and walked into the restaurant. "That day, at noon, we all had lunch in the restaurant as usual. Because it was a double moon, Holly had to go to the botanical garden to harvest nightshades, so he slept until noon before joining us."
The meal wasn't particularly pleasant. Before the meal, Holland expressed his doubts about Holly's absence. Then, upon hearing that they were going to harvest nightshades in the evening, he became very excited to participate.
"You can imagine how much damage a six-year-old child could cause to a delicate and fragile magical plant like the Nightbloom. The Nightbloom is one of our most profitable businesses, so we immediately dismissed Holland's idea. But it was obvious that the child had his own plans."
Hollichi asked, "Holand wants to come and harvest the Nightshade Flowers? How come I don't know about this?"
"The young master came to the restaurant only after that," said the butler, a brown-haired, middle-aged Harv who looked mature and steady. "Madam had already resolved the dispute before you arrived, and you were fully focused on preparing the harvest of nightshades that day, so none of us wanted to disturb you."
"Master Holland later lost his temper at the dinner table," the flaxen-haired cook added. "He claimed the soup wasn't tasty and spilled the entire bowl of mushroom soup on Miss Perlamin. God knows our mushroom soup always has the same recipe, and he said it was delicious the day before!"
Jiangyou looked at Peramine, who exuded a smell of 'disgust'. It seemed that she actually didn't like the noisy six-year-old child.
"What happened next?" Andre asked.
"Miss Perlamin had cream of mushroom soup all over her body and hair, and we had to go to the kitchen to boil water for her to take a bath."
"It took me three hours to get all the sticky cream, mushrooms, and that smell out of my hair," Perlamin sniffed. "I love that kid, but he can be really extreme sometimes."
The smell of 'disgust' became a little stronger, and Jiang You couldn't help but take two steps back.
She retreated to Jericho's side. The little follower looked up at her and asked, "What's wrong?"
"It smells a bit," Jiang You complained softly, scratching her head. "By the way, why didn't Andre go to the crime scene first? In the detective movies... ahem... detective novels I've read, they all say that the key to an investigation is always to check the scene first."
"Oh," Jericho shrugged. "That's for recent cases. This one happened several days ago, and the scene is a complete mess. There's nothing left. Besides, the young master has already seen the scene investigation sketch and preliminary investigation report drawn up by the Knights' First Team."
Jiang You squatted down with great interest: "Come, come, tell me about it?"
Jericho glanced at the crowd and saw the servants still gesturing where they were boiling water and working. He felt bored, so he pulled Jiangyou out and returned to the big horse. He took out a small calfskin folder from the side pocket next to the saddle.
"These are the young master's investigative notes. The sketches and case records inside were all copied by the young master using magic. They are all copies, so feel free to look at them."
Takumi opened the folder. The notes were written in dark green ink, gleaming like emerald green in the sunlight, reminiscent of a knight's beautiful green eyes. Andrei's handwriting was beautiful, bold yet respectable, cursive yet easily legible, and very distinctive.
Jiang You first picked out the on-site investigation sketch. The person who drew this sketch must be a professional. This painting is very realistic. From clothing to knives to hair, all the details are included, and even the length and size are directly marked in many places... This level is not inferior even now.
Just as Aunt Talia had described before, the little Haf child lay peacefully in the flower bed, with a small knife stuck in his chest, not even up to the handle... She flipped through the sketch and found a special close-up sketch of the murder weapon underneath.
It was a three-inch herbal knife, a very common one, and everyone working at the botanical garden had several. According to the notes on the sketch, the handle had been carefully cleaned, leaving no traces of fingerprints, bodily fluids, or magical fluctuations...
...The desire to identify the murderer through technical means was shattered.
“…But this world really does have a magical version of detection technology…” Jiang You sighed.
Jiangyou flipped back to the sketch. A crescent-shaped eye was painted in blood beneath Holland's hem. The choppy brushstrokes suggested the artist was unskilled... perhaps because they didn't use their hands directly in the blood. The artist likely used a sharp, thin tool—most likely a branch found everywhere in the botanical garden. The resulting uneven lines resembled the work of a kindergartener.
"...This doesn't feel like someone from 'Evil Eye Moon' leaving their signature at the crime scene. It feels more like someone accidentally killed someone and then forcibly shifted the blame..."
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