"Extraordinary factors exist..." Klein's eyes returned to normal as he turned his head to look at Leonard and Fry.
Leonard suddenly chuckled:
"Very professional. No wonder you're a diviner."
You seem to be hinting at something... Klein muttered to himself without making a sound.
Fry opened his suitcase, took out a silver knife and other items, and paused for a few seconds before saying:
"The corpse told me that she indeed died of a sudden heart disease... Can you divine more detailed information?"
Klein nodded seriously:
"I can try combining the 'Spiritual Communication' ritual with 'Dream Divination'. Hopefully, I can obtain something from Mrs. Lawvis's residual spirituality."
Fry remained cold and reserved, stepping back two steps and saying:
"You go first."
He glanced at Klein and suddenly said in a flat tone: "You're getting more and more used to such occasions."
I don't want to... Klein felt an urge to cry. He took out the pure water, essential oils, and herbal powders he needed one by one and quickly set up the 'Spiritual Communication' ritual.
He stood in the center of the spiritual wall and silently recited the name of the Night Goddess in Hermes language, making his request.
Soon, there was a whirlwind around him, and the light grew dimmer.
Klein, whose eyes were now completely black, seized the opportunity and repeatedly murmured the divination phrase:
"The cause of Mrs. Lawvis's death."
"The cause of Mrs. Lawvis's death." ...
He stood and entered the dream, "seeing" the transparent spirit wandering in the haze, around the corpse.
Then, he stretched out his illusory right hand and touched the remaining spirituality of Mrs. Lawes.
In an instant, there was a burst of light and shadow before his eyes, and one scene after another flashed by.
There was a thin and emaciated woman in tattered clothes busily making matchboxes;
There was her sudden pause, clutching her chest;
There was her talking to two children;
There was her body swaying slightly, gasping for breath;
There was her being suddenly tapped on the back when she went to buy black bread;
There were repeated signs of heart problems;
There was her feeling very tired, lying on the bed, and never waking up again.
Klein carefully observed every detail, trying to find traces of the supernatural.
But when it was all over, he still didn't get enough clear clues.
The blur and haziness shattered, and Klein withdrew from the dream and returned to reality.
He removed the spiritual wall and said to the waiting Fry and the watching Leonard:
"There's no direct symbol. Most of the scenes reveal that Mrs. Lawes had heart disease for a long time. Only one scene is different. Mrs. Lawes was tapped on the back. The hand was white, tender and slender, seemingly belonging to a woman."
"For such a family, they won't go to the doctor easily unless it's extremely serious. Even queuing up at a free charity medical organization is a waste of time. They can't afford to lose a day's work, or they might not have food the next day." Leonard sighed in a poetic and sentimental tone.
Fry looked at the corpse on the bed and let out a soft breath.
Before Klein could speak, Leonard quickly changed his tone as if in thought and said:
"Do you mean that the supernatural factor exists in the tap on Mrs. Lawes' back, and it originated from that lady with the slender hand?"
Klein nodded and replied:
"Yes, but this is just my interpretation. Divination is often vague."
He and Leonard didn't discuss further. They each moved to the other side of the bunk to let Fry take out the auxiliary equipment and materials from the suitcase without disturbance for a more thorough examination.
They waited for a moment. Fry put away all the things, cleaned up and covered them, then turned and said:
"The cause of death is natural heart disease. There's no doubt about it."
Hearing this conclusion, Leonard paced back and forth, even walking to the door. After a long while, he said:
"Let's stop here. We'll go to the West District Poorhouse to see if we can find other clues and see if the two deaths can be connected."
"Right, we have no choice." Klein, suppressing his doubts, agreed.
Fry picked up the suitcase and half-jogged, half-hopped through the two bunks without stepping on others' blankets.
Leonard opened the door and walked out first, saying to Lawes and the tenants:
"You can go home now."
Klein thought for a moment and added:
"Don't bury the body in a hurry. Wait for another day. Maybe there will be a thorough examination."
"Okay, okay, officer." Lawes bent slightly and answered hurriedly. Then, half numb and half dazed, he said, "Actually, I don't have the money to bury her right now. I still need to save for a few days, a few days. Fortunately, fortunately, the weather has cooled down recently."
Klein was astonished and blurted out:
"Do you plan to keep the body in the room for several days?"
Lawes forced a smile and said:
"Well, fortunately, fortunately, the weather has cooled down recently. At night, I can put the body on the table. When I eat, I'll carry her to the bed..."
He didn't finish his words when Fry suddenly interrupted:
"I left the burial fee beside your wife."
Then, without paying attention to Lawes' astonished expression and the subsequent thanks, he quickly walked towards the apartment door. Klein followed closely behind, constantly pondering a question:
If the weather remained as hot as it was in June and July, how would Laweis deal with his wife's body?
Would he choose a dark and windy night to secretly dump the body into the Tasso River or the Hoy River? Or would he just dig a hole in some random place and bury it?
Klein knew that the law stating "burials must take place in cemeteries" was established over a thousand years ago, at the end of the previous era, by the Seven Churches and the royal families of various countries to reduce and eliminate water ghosts, zombies, and vengeful spirits.
The specific implementation method was that each country provided free land, and each church was responsible for guarding or patrolling. Only a small fee was charged for cremation and burial to cover the necessary labor costs.
Even so, some of the truly poor still couldn't afford it.
After leaving No. 134 Iron Cross Street, the three Night Watchmen parted ways with Bitch Montbatten and silently turned towards the West District Poorhouse located on a nearby street.
As they approached, Klein saw a long queue stretching out, just like the situation in the Great Eating Country on Earth where people queued up for popular restaurants. People were packed tightly, shoulder to shoulder.
"There are over a hundred, no, nearly two hundred people here," he whispered in surprise, noticing that the queue was made up of people in tattered clothes with blank expressions, only occasionally glancing anxiously towards the entrance of the poorhouse.
Fray slowed his pace and said in a cold and gloomy tone, "Each poorhouse can only accept a limited number of homeless poor people each day, and they are selected based on the order of the queue. Of course, the poorhouse will make distinctions and not allow those who don't meet the criteria to enter."
"This is also due to the recent economic downturn..." Leonard sighed.
"What about those who don't get a spot?" Klein asked subconsciously.
"They can try their luck at other poorhouses. Different poorhouses open at different times, but there will always be equally long queues. Some people have been waiting since two o'clock in the afternoon," Fray paused and continued, "The rest will probably go hungry for a day, losing their ability to look for work and falling into a vicious cycle leading straight to death. Those who can't bear it will give up on being kind..."
Klein was silent for a few seconds, then exhaled and said, "Newspapers never report on these things... Mr. Fray, I rarely hear you talk so much."
"I used to be a priest at the Goddess's poorhouse," Fray remained in his cold and indifferent state.
The three well-dressed men smoothly reached the entrance of the West District Poorhouse, showed their identification to the arrogant doorman who was eyeing the queue, and were led inside.
This poorhouse was converted from an old church. The chapel was filled with mats and hammocks, and the strong smell of sweat mixed with the stench of feet filled every corner.
Inside and outside the hall, there were many homeless poor people. Some were swinging hammers to break stones, while others were picking thin cotton from old ropes. Not a single person was idle.
"To prevent the poor from relying on relief and becoming vagrants, the Poor Law of 1336 stipulates that each poor person can only stay in the poorhouse for a maximum of three months. After that, they will be kicked out. Even inside, they have to work, breaking stones or picking cotton from ropes. This is also a common task for prisoners in the prison," Fray explained to Klein and Leonard without any emotion.
Leonard opened his mouth, then finally said, whether in sarcasm or statement, "If you leave this poorhouse, you can go to another one, but it's not guaranteed that you'll be accepted... Huh, perhaps in some people's eyes, the poor are equivalent to criminals." "... "Rope flax?" Klein was silent for a while, not knowing what to ask.
"The fibers in old ropes are good materials for filling the gaps in ships," Fry stopped and found the blackened marks on the ground.
They waited for a few minutes, and the director and the priest of the poorhouse arrived, both men in their forties.
"Solus set the fire here and only burned himself?" Leonard pointed at the blackened mark on the ground.
The director of the poorhouse was a man with a broad and slightly protruding forehead. He looked in the direction indicated by Inspector Mitchell with his blue eyes and nodded affirmatively.
"Yes."
"Was there anything abnormal about Solus before this?" Klein added.
The director of the poorhouse thought for a moment and said,
"According to the person who slept next to him, Solus kept muttering things like 'The Lord has abandoned me', 'This world is too filthy and dirty', 'I have nothing left', etc., full of resentment and despair. But no one expected that he would take advantage of everyone being asleep to smash all the kerosene lamps and set the place on fire. Thank God, someone noticed and stopped his evil deed in time."
Klein and Leonard then found several poor people who had slept next to Solus last night and the guard who had stopped the tragedy, but they only got answers that were not much different from the records.
Of course, they secretly used their spiritual vision and divination to confirm whether the others were lying.
"It seems that Solus had the idea of revenge and self-destruction for a long time. It's a seemingly normal case," Leonard let the director and the priest leave and expressed his opinion first.
Klein considered and said,
"My divination also tells me that there are no supernatural factors involved in this case."
"Temporarily exclude Solus' arson case," Leonard concluded.
Just then, Fry suddenly spoke up,
"No, there might be another possibility. For example, Solus was instigated by someone else, and that person was a supernatural being but did not use supernatural means."
Klein's eyes lit up and he immediately agreed,
"Possible. For example, that instigator before!"
"The instigator" Tris!
But this can't be linked to Mrs. Lawvis' death... He frowned slightly and thought.