Chapter 35 Search
The president's office door was locked, which was within Angel's expectations. Klein's divination also clearly pointed out that the ring was being properly kept. If the door was wide open and the ring was placed on the table for anyone to take, she would suspect that this was a trap.
She pulled out a set of simple lock-picking tools from her pocket. These were essential items for Cole Granger to use when traveling in the underground world of Tingen City, killing people and robbing goods. Because they were small and light, she always carried them with her. This was the first time she had used them.
The door locks of this era were not as complicated as those in the previous life. Angel, who inherited rich experience, used the wire in the lock-picking tool to fiddle back and forth in the keyhole, and reached the pick with his other hand into it to apply torque. Soon all the reeds were aligned, and with a slight rotation, the door lock was opened.
The president's office was twice as large as the other rooms, as could be seen from the distance between the door and the other rooms. She walked into the room, carefully closed the door, and locked it so that no one could enter the room and interrupt her search unless they had the key.
The curtains in the empty office were tightly closed, and with the door shut, only a few rays of sunlight shone into the room from around the curtains. However, her dark vision allowed her to see everything in the room, so she didn't turn on the gas lamp, as otherwise the light leaking from the crack in the door would surely arouse suspicion.
A wooden desk is placed in the center of the office, and a matching chair is inserted in the recessed position of the desk.
The edge of the desk is covered with leather and fastened with rows of decorative rivets. The small bookshelf on the desktop takes up one-third of the area, but there are only a few newspapers on it. It is obvious that the owner of the desk does not want to pretend to be a cultured person.
Behind the desk was a window with curtains drawn. Based on the office's location, the main entrance to the warehouse should be outside the window. The noise below was clearly audible across the wall. Unscrupulous swear words had replaced the original demands and dissuasions. It seemed that the previous conflict had shown a tendency to escalate further.
There was a single sofa against the wall by the window, next to a low coffee table with a small coffee pot and several upside-down cups placed irregularly. A black top hat, already covered in dust, hung on the coat rack next to the sofa.
The office was otherwise bare of furniture, not even the typical filing cabinets. Only the paintings on either wall added a touch of color. The room felt more like the guild leader's private lounge than an office, devoid of any personal belongings, not even a second chair for visitors.
Angel came to the other end of the desk and flipped through the newspapers on the bookshelf. Several newspapers stacked together were from the Tingen Daily. The top one was dated a week ago, and the front page reported that the second son of McGowan, a banker in Constant City, died in a home robbery in Tingen City.
Reaching out and sliding his fingers across the table, Angel rubbed his fingertips, which were already covered with a thin layer of dust.
It seemed that the president had been away for at least several days, and because he didn't have the key, no one else could come in to help him clean.
She moved the chair away from the table and looked under it. There were three drawers on each side of the table. She opened them one by one and checked them all, but only found half a pack of cigarettes, about 1 pound in coins and a pile of documents that meant nothing to her.
Looking around the room, there was no place to hide anything except the desk.
This was somewhat different from what Angel had expected. She had been worried that there were too many rooms and the furnishings were too complicated, making it difficult to find the ring. However, she had not expected that the overly simple rooms would be even more troublesome.
This time, she kind of missed Klein, the "diviner." If he were here, a simple divining rod and a search for an object would have solved the problem. Unfortunately, he had already turned the other person away, and now he was walking down the street somewhere unknown.
Angel even pulled out several drawers to check if there were any interlayers, but unfortunately he found nothing.
In the end, she could only turn her eyes to the painting on the wall. If there was no result, she would have to retreat today.
Both paintings are colorful oil paintings with a bold style. They do not look like they were created by famous artists. They may be cheap decorative paintings. It can be seen that the owner of the room has a contradictory mentality of not liking art but having a need for decoration.
The paintings were framed with wooden frames, and the paint on one of the paintings was even peeling.
Um, paint peeling?
Angel walked up to the painting, touched the part of the frame where the paint was missing at the bottom right, and gently pushed it to the left. As expected, the painting was pushed open along the fixing point at the upper right corner, revealing the wall behind the painting and a small gap in the wall.
Sure enough, this was a secret "small treasury". Because the owner of the room had moved the paintings away and used it for a long time, the paint on the part of the frame that was touched was wiped off.
Supporting the painting with one hand, Angel looked into the gap. The inside was divided into two layers by a partition. On the upper layer were several rings, a diamond necklace, and a stack of gold pounds, all of which were old banknotes of small denominations. On the lower layer was a leather-covered notebook.
They were all easy-to-carry items... small-denomination old banknotes were convenient to use, and jewelry could be sold or used for bribes when necessary. It seemed that this small treasury contained "escape funds" prepared by someone.
Taking the notebook first and tucking it under his arm, Angel used his free hand to grab the accessories, thought for a moment, and took out the stack of bills as well.
After putting the painting back on the wall, she sat down at her desk, spread out the ornaments on the table, and began to examine them one by one.
The ring that Mrs. Green needed was indeed among them. It was consistent with her description. The ring had a golden surface, but the hardness was obviously not pure gold. One side was made into an oval flat surface with the cursive word "Green" embossed on it, and there were some stripes and symbols around it to verify its authenticity.
The other two rings are just ordinary gold rings, but they are inlaid with gems. The market value is estimated to be around 20 pounds. The diamond necklace can probably be sold for 30 pounds. Together with this stack of old banknotes, there are more than 100 pounds of funds stored in the small vault, and there is no chain. The president is really bold.
Or maybe he just used paintings to cover the vault in order to make it easier for him to escape, so that he could take things away at any time, instead of using complicated combination locks to protect his property?
Angel put the money and property into her pocket without hesitation. As far as she knew, although the Labor Mutual Aid Association rarely killed people, it did a lot of stealing. From the fact that Mrs. Green's stolen ring appeared here, it was clear that the money and property must have come from illegal sources.
Faint shouting and cries of pain came from the window behind her. As expected, the two sides confronting each other outside started fighting. She hurriedly opened the notebook she found in the vault, ready to give it a quick check and then leave.
The corners of the leather cover are a little worn, but less than a quarter of the paper has been used. It seems that the notebook has been used for many years, but the owner only recorded some important things.
Angel flipped through the notes quickly. Most of the content was about the "gray business" of the labor mutual aid association, including the amount of protection fees paid by the industries "protected" by them in the South District adjacent to the dock area, the whereabouts of smuggled goods, etc., which were important information about the mutual aid association's gray industry.
But Angel was not very interested in this. He just came to get Mrs. Green's ring back, not to look for evidence of the gang's illegal activities.
Besides, are the Tingen City police really unaware of these gray industries? Why bother with this unnecessary effort and bring trouble upon yourself?
Turning to the last few pages of the notebook, she found some content that was different from the other records.
"That guy contacted me again. This time, he's not just offering bribes, he's also threatening me! I, Zeke, have worked my way up from the bottom. How could I be afraid of threats from these shadowy villains?"
"We reached an agreement today. The Mutual Aid Association only needs to arrange the boats and workers, and they don't have to get involved in anything else. Humph, the police can't get involved in our area anyway, so it's a waste not to make this money."
"What do you mean some people died on the way and my boatmen were used to make up for the loss? Only two-thirds of the crew returned. How am I supposed to explain this to my men? Do these guys no longer take me seriously?"
"After deducting the hush money for their families, each worker would have a surplus of 20 pounds! Anyway, the population in the docks is so mobile, who would notice a few people missing?"
"Let's go to Enmat Harbor next week. If we can manage things there, we can do some big things in Stoen City!"
Interspersed between these words were the departure and arrival times of some ships. Most of them were ships that departed from Limon City in Jianhai County, passed through Tingen City along the Tussock River, and finally arrived at Pritz Harbor.
This guy really dares to write anything?
Angel broke out in a cold sweat when he saw this. If he understood correctly, this man named Zeke should be the president of the Labor Mutual Aid Association. And considering the text content before and after, he was actually involved in the human trafficking business!
Although the slave trade has been abolished in the Northern Continent, it is said that many factories and plantations still secretly use slaves for heavy labor. Where there is a buyer, there is a seller. In the dark corners where the sun doesn't shine, this human trafficking has become even more profitable due to the legal prohibition.
Judging from the records, President Zeke was initially coerced into joining the pirate ship by threats and inducements, and he might not even be aware of the specific content of the business. However, he was soon attracted by the high profits, and spontaneously participated in and expanded the scale of the business.
This is different from the petty acts of collecting protection fees and reselling stolen goods. Angel believes that as long as this notebook is handed over to the Tingen City Police, the Labor Mutual Aid Association in the dock area will be destroyed by the police in one fell swoop.
This has to be reported...
She closed her notebook, turned around, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked downstairs. There were only a few people left at the warehouse main entrance which was once bustling with people.
Most of the workers left the scene, and the platform made of wooden boxes was overturned. Several strong men who worked part-time as bodyguards had bruised faces and swollen noses, and their clothes were in disarray. It seemed that they had suffered a great loss, but judging from the expressions of the middle-aged men they were protecting, the conflict should have ended with the workers' compromise, or at least the conflict was postponed.
It seems that I have to leave quickly. Once the "performance" below is over and the staff on the second floor return to their offices, it will be much more difficult to evacuate quietly.
After lowering the curtains, Angel looked around the room to check if she had forgotten anything. Then she scattered the newspapers on the desk on the ground, opened the drawer, and took out all the change inside, making it look like the office had been visited by a thief.
In this way, even if the guy called Zeke comes back, his first reaction will be that the thieves robbed him while he was away. At most, he will think that someone came for the notebook, but he will never think that the person came just to retrieve Mrs. Green's ring. The possibility of exposing himself or the Blackthorn Security Company is greatly reduced.
After doing all this, Angel took his notebook and quickly walked to the office door. He first held his breath and listened to the movement outside the door to confirm that there was no footsteps or breathing. Then he gently unlocked the door, turned the handle and opened the door.
At the moment the light from outside the door shone in, she felt a sense of crisis, and a sense of crisis covered her whole body like a torrent of ice water, and her steps stopped in mid-air.
A dagger flashed through the light and stabbed straight at her face.
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