Ding-dong-dong, the bells pulled by the ropes kept swinging, and the sound spread throughout the spacious but relatively empty living room.
Klein, who was sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper and studying investment opportunities, stood up. He was wearing a white shirt and a black vest without a bow tie, looking quite casual and homely.
The first commission in my detective career? However, I can't always wait at home for the commission to come to me. Well... I have to hang a message book on the door with an absorbent pen, so that customers can write down the time of their next visit and let me prepare in advance... But for a new detective who has just entered the industry and has no reputation, it basically means there will be no next time... Well, I can only be a little troublesome for the time being. I will use divination every morning to see if there will be a commission that day and what time period it will be, and make arrangements accordingly... Of course, this may cause me to miss the mission of a powerful Beyonder. Well, if I miss it, it will be a good thing...
Klein walked to the door while thinking. Without having to look through the peephole, the image of the visitor outside naturally emerged in his mind:
One was an old lady wearing a black plush hat. She had a slightly hunched back, deep wrinkles on her face, and dry and yellow skin, but her dark dress was formal and decent, and she looked very neat.
Her temples were completely white, but her blue eyes were quite bright. She was looking at the young man next to her, signaling him to ring the doorbell again.
The young man was in his 20s, with a pair of eyes similar to the old lady's. In the increasingly cold weather, he wore a black double-breasted long frock coat popular among the gentlemen of Backlund, a half-high silk hat, and a bow tie like he was attending a banquet. It seemed that he would never relax his requirements for himself at any time or in any situation.
With the help of the Joker's premonition ability, before the bell rang again, Klein turned the handle, opened the door, and greeted with a smile:
"Good morning, ma'am and sir. It's a fine day today. I've seen the sun for five minutes so far."
He talked about the weather in a slightly exaggerated way, which has been a popular topic of greeting in Backlund for hundreds of years.
"Yes, it always hides shyly behind the fog and clouds and never comes out." The old lady nodded in agreement.
The young man then asked:
"Are you Detective Sherlock Moriarty?"
"Yes, do you have anything you need help with? Sorry, please come in, we'll talk on the sofa." Klein turned sideways, cleared the passage, and pointed to the reception area.
"No, that's not necessary." The old lady said in a slightly sharp voice, "I don't want to waste any time. My poor Brody is still waiting for me to rescue him!"
"It?" Klein noticed the most important pronoun and suddenly had a bad feeling.
The young man, dressed very formally, nodded affirmatively:
"Brody is a cat raised by my grandmother, Ms. Doris. It got lost last night. I hope you can help us find it. We live at the end of this street. I am willing to pay you 5 soli for it. Of course, if you can prove that the time and energy you spent exceeded this amount, I will compensate you additionally."
Looking for a cat? The reason why I was commissioned was because it was on the same street, which was very convenient... Klein felt that this was not the detective career he had imagined.
This makes me look like a clown... Well, the first business order cannot be turned down. This is the view of the fortune teller... He hesitated for a few seconds and said:
"Can you describe it in detail?"
Before the young man could speak, the old lady Doris said:
"Brody is a lovely, lively black cat. He is very healthy and has beautiful green eyes. He loves to eat cooked chicken breast. Goddess, he ran away like that last night. No, he must have lost his way. I put a lot of chicken breast in his bowl, but he didn't even want to come back to take a look."
…Klein raised the corner of his mouth and said:
"I am very pleased with your description, Mrs. Doris."
"I accept the commission. Okay, I'll go to your house now. I need to look for clues and traces. You should know that the core of reasoning lies in details."
Mrs. Doris nodded without asking her grandson's opinion:
"You're the most action-oriented detective I've ever met. Deal!"
Crane put on his coat and hat, picked up his cane, and followed Ms. Doris and her grandson into the street.
Unlike Tingen, the roads in many areas of Backlund have been rebuilt with cement or asphalt, so even when it rains, they won't be that muddy.
Taking advantage of the old lady's quick pace leading the way, his grandson came up to Klein and said in a low voice:
"I want you to do your best to find Brody."
“It’s been one of the mainstays of my grandma’s life since my grandpa and parents passed away.”
"After Brody went missing, my grandmother had mental problems and even started to hallucinate. She always told me that she heard poor Brody screaming."
Klein nodded solemnly and said:
"I'll try my best. By the way, I don't know what to call you yet?"
"Jurgen, Jurgen Cooper, a senior solicitor." The young man replied.
Soon, they arrived at No. 58 Minsk Street and entered a house with dark gray tones.
"This is Brody's bowl. This is his favorite box. He always sleeps in it." Doris' wrinkled face was filled with worry and expectation.
Klein squatted down and found several strands of black cat hair from the box.
He straightened up and grasped the silver-studded cane in the hand that was pinching the cat's fur.
Klein's eyes darkened as he pretended to look around while silently reciting the divination phrase.
His hand quietly left the top of the staff but did not completely detach, so that neither Jurgen nor Doris noticed that the staff was standing on its own.
Then, the black silver-inlaid cane tilted to the side and front, falling very slowly and with a small amplitude.
Klein held the staff again and looked in that direction, observing carefully for more than ten seconds.
Then he took a step forward and walked over to an old cupboard.
"Have you found any signs of Brody running away?" Jurgen asked with concern, and old lady Doris was also waiting for the answer.
Klein didn't answer. He half-knelt down and opened the door at the bottom of the cupboard.
Oooooh!
A black cat jumped out and ran towards its bowl with its tail raised high.
"Brody...when did you get into the cupboard? How did you get locked in the cupboard?" Mrs. Doris shouted in surprise and confusion.
Jurgen turned his head in astonishment and glanced at Klein:
"How did you know it was in the cupboard?"
Klein smiled and replied in a low voice:
“That’s the reasoning.”
…………
Having earned the friendship of Mrs. Doris and Attorney Jurgen and received a reward of 5 soli, Klein returned to his rental apartment at No. 15 Minsk Street in the gloomy sky.
Before he got close, he saw a figure lingering at his door.
New business? Klein looked over and saw that the visitor was a boy of fifteen or sixteen, wearing an old overcoat that didn't suit his age and a round-top hat.
Him? Klein immediately recognized him as the big boy who was being chased on the steam subway when he first arrived in Backlund.
The maturity and calmness he displayed at the time left a deep impression on Klein.
What kind of commission would it be... Klein muttered, walked over, and said with a smile:
"Excuse me, are you here to see me?"
The older boy was startled and turned around hurriedly, with undisguised fear in his bright red eyes.
He calmed himself down and said hesitantly:
"Are you Detective Sherlock Moriarty?"
"Yes." Klein looked around and said, "If there is anything, let's go inside and talk."
"Okay." The older boy didn't refuse.
After entering the house, Klein did not take off his coat, but only took off his hat and put away his cane.
He led the older boy to the reception area and pointed at the long sofa.
"Please take a seat. What should I call you? What do you want to entrust?"
"You can call me Ian." The older boy looked around and was silent for several seconds before saying, "I was previously employed by another detective, Mr. Zreal Victor Lee, to help him collect some information and intelligence."
Klein sat down and clasped his hands together.
"Your commission is related to your former employer?"
"Yeah." Ian nodded solemnly. "A few days ago, I suddenly found myself being followed by someone with bad intentions, so I thought of a way to get rid of them. Uh... I think you should have witnessed this scene, Mr. Moriarty. As soon as I saw you, I recognized you as the man who looked at me several times on the subway that day."
...This observation ability is not much worse than that of the "audience"... Is he born with a special type? Or is he a Beyonder? Klein activated his spiritual vision and looked at Ian for a few times, but didn't find anything strange.
He nodded and answered frankly:
“I am impressed by your response.”
Ian didn't dwell on this matter and continued:
"I suspected that what happened to me was related to Mr. Zreal, so I went to visit him at his residence. I found that the place seemed normal, but many hidden little mechanisms that indicated someone had infiltrated had been triggered."
"Since that day, I have never seen Mr. Zreal again. I suspect something happened to him."
"I tried to call the police, but he hadn't been missing for the required number of days. I tried to ask other detectives I knew for help, but they all turned me down, saying they had just seen Mr. Zrel at a party with his colleagues."
"This was very surprising to me because I contacted Mr. Zreal in the agreed way and received no response."
"I still stick to my judgment and plan to ask for help from a detective that Mr. Zrel doesn't know. Well, in this case, I don't know who to ask, so I can only find out through the newspaper. Then I found you, Mr. Sherlock Moriarty."