After half a minute of silence, Mr. Henry Mafar, who kept wiping his sweat, finally couldn't help but say:
"Okay, I admit it."
"Um?"
Now it was Xia De's turn to be surprised, because the murderer was not the gentleman who had just invited him to play cards.
"I admit that I went to that corridor to make an appointment with a girl. Yes, I actually have a childhood sweetheart, but my father always wants to arrange my marriage. At home, I have never actively refuted any of my father's instructions, but only this matter, only this matter..."
He seemed to be a little collapsed, covered his face and cried, then suddenly said loudly:
"Oh, I love you, Emily, yes, I love you, I'm going to say it now, I'm going to ask you to marry me tomorrow, I can't stand this hiding any longer."
"Emily" was also in that corridor at the time and was one of the people who knew about it. At this moment, the sound was heard from the small study room separated by a door. The girl with light yellow hair also ran over crying, and the two hugged each other tightly.
"Is this... a scandal?"
Xia De asked Ajelina, and Her Royal Highness thought about it:
"It certainly counts for the Mafar family. Emily Churchill is only the daughter of a baron, and this marriage will not be blessed."
Xia De nodded and stretched out a finger and shook it at the little princess. The latter naturally knew what this meant. Now there was only one person left.
"In this way, Mr. Malfar's suspicion is cleared. As long as we get his correspondence with Miss Emily Churchill, we can confirm that what he said is true. So, the two of you..."
Following Shade's words, people's eyes moved to the two remaining people on the sofa. The butler looked at Raphael Birmingham, who was wearing a black tuxedo, on the other side of the sofa in surprise. The handsome young nobleman took the lead and pointed at the butler with a surprised look on his face:
"It's really you! I knew it was impossible for the son of a duke to commit such a horrific crime!"
This clearly refers to Mr. Mafar, who has been basically cleared of suspicion, but it is actually also referring to himself.
George Wayne, the inarticulate butler, looked at the finger pointing at him in surprise, stammering to explain but not knowing how to prove himself. He looked at Shade for help, but found that Shade was also looking at him seriously:
"Mr. George Wayne, why on earth were you in that corridor at that time?"
The detective's sharp gaze made his scalp tingle, as if those eyes directly shone into his soul. The servant shrank his head:
"I, I..."
Such harsh questioning and the detective's sharp momentum directly made his mind fall into a brief confusion. At this moment, the tightly closed door was hastily opened, and Tifa, wearing a black and white maid dress, holding a orange and white cat that was peeking out, walked in.
The small cat seemed quite uneasy here, until it saw Shade, then it screamed and rushed over. It was not easy to get the cat out of the house, even if Tifa went, it would be almost impossible, so Shade asked Tifa to bring her coat, and then let Mia come to Yodel Palace.
"Look, my assistant detective is back with another assistant. Thank you for your hard work, Miss Servet."
He said to Tifa with a smile, the black-haired girl smiled and nodded, then stood behind Shade again.
Holding the cat, Shade asked the people behind him:
"Have you heard all the rumors about me?"
Senior Superintendent Johnson suddenly realized:
"The cat that's better than a police dog? I mentioned it in Hamilton Stories... I mean, my daughter mentioned it when she was reading Hamilton Stories."
Dorothy's detective stories are the most popular and popular popular novels. Even the sales of Steambird Daily have tripled and expanded to more distribution areas. People know that the stories in detective novels are fictional, but most people think that the real elements account for the majority.
Therefore, the cats in the stories, which often play a huge role, are the patches that Dorothy uses to fill in the ring wizard's abilities that cannot be written. In the eyes of readers, they really have extraordinary abilities.
"Okay, since George Vane, the footman, won't admit it. Come, Mia, sniff it."
Shad had the murder weapon brought to Mia and asked her to smell it. If anyone else did this, they would definitely be considered crazy, but everyone thought it was appropriate for Shad to do it, because in the stories and rumors, he relied on the cat's keen sense of smell to solve one bizarre case after another. The significance of Dorothy's story lies not only in her, but also in making Shad the most famous detective of this era, although not the best.
"Meow~"
The cat held by Shade was forced to sniff the murder weapon with disgust, and then Shade brought it closer to the two people on the sofa. The butler took a deep breath and stopped talking, while the young and handsome Mr. Raphael Birmingham, after a not-so-obvious panic, pointed at Shade and said in disbelief:
"Wait, you actually trust the judgement of a cat? No, that's not fair, I refuse to let that cat near me!"
"But the cat does solve a lot of puzzles, I saw it in the story of 'The Missing Third Coin' that Detective Hamilton solved. Oh, and I saw it when Detective Hamilton and I first met."
Princess Ajelina smiled and said that the "first meeting" referred to the time when she and her friend were at the Prophet's Association and were injured after using a tortoise shell for divination.
Her words were also echoed by others.
"Yes, I read it in the article about 'Old People Living Alone' as well."
The eunuch sent by His Majesty the King to oversee the progress of the case also said this.
The corner of Little Birmingham's mouth twitched:
"Are you crazy? It's just a detective story. How can you believe it?"
Seeing Xia De getting closer and closer, he stood up:
"Even if you bring a police dog, it will be better than this. No, I won't accept this result!"
"What result? I haven't made a judgment yet."
Shade asked sternly, and the young man subconsciously wanted to step back, but then realized that he was standing in front of the sofa.
Shade held the cat up to the butler, but the cat did not react. Then he pointed the cat at Raphael Birmingham, but the cat still did not react.
Xia De quietly poked its butt.
"Meow~"
Mia screamed immediately, turned around with her teeth bared and tried to scratch Shade.
Xia De's eyes became sharp:
"Mr. Birmingham, I didn't expect it was really you. Why did you want to murder Daniel Philip?"
Seeing this result, people looked at Mr. Raphael Birmingham with scrutiny, and the latter opened his mouth wide:
"How... is this possible?! This is crazy! I can't let a cat wrong me, no, I won't accept it!"
"You can't explain your presence in this hallway!"
"To exchange gifts!"
"You have no witnesses!"
"That's because this matter cannot be known by others!"
"Everyone else has valid reasons!"
"That manservant didn't have one!"
"You've been acting weird since just now!"
"I've always been normal!"
"I bet you'll be haunted by the ghosts of your victims!"
"You actually cursed me!"
"My cat has smelled the blood on your right hand!"
"It's obviously the left..."
He was stunned for a moment. The rapid exchange of words between the two sides made him subconsciously say something extraordinary.
"Left what?"
Shade tilted his head slightly and looked at him with his left eye wide open.
"oh?"
People also understood, and Mr. Birmingham opened his mouth even wider:
"I, you, I, you, you..."
Seeing this, Shade threw the cat to Tifa behind him, while Mr. Birmingham rushed forward with his fists raised:
"You damned bastard"
He used foul language.
"If you've read Hamilton's Detective Stories, you should at least know that I'm good at frisbee and fighting. Unfortunately, this is not something Miss Louisa made up."
Shade raised his hand to knock away his fist, then moved sideways and bumped into Birmingham, causing him to lose balance and fall backwards. Then he suddenly raised his leg and hit him in the abdomen with his knee. As the latter let out a wail from his throat, he pulled his hand and turned around to do a beautiful shoulder throw—
Peng!
Pah pah pah~
Applause broke out, and the truth of the case was revealed. Apart from the murderer wailing on the floor, only Mia was very dissatisfied. Even though she was lying in Tifa's arms, she was still very dissatisfied.
"And you, tell me the truth, what on earth were you doing in that corridor?"
Xia De did not forget to ask the butler who had been cleared of suspicion. The butler looked at Mr. Birmingham lying on the floor, hunched over and wailing, and swallowed subconsciously:
"I say! I went to spy on the guests at the party, and I heard that some very pretty ladies were also there."
Although he was cleared of suspicion, he lost his job... I hope the number of eunuch servants in the Yodel Palace will not increase by one more.
"But we still don't know what the motive was."
Ajelina watched this scene with great interest and said, Shade then pulled Mr. Birmingham up, grabbed his collar and asked:
"What is the motive?"
"You damn bastard..."
"Your Highness, he said he fell in love with Daniel Philip. But the latter did not accept this immoral relationship and rejected him tonight, which made him angry and killed someone. Let's use this as the closing statement. The key is to end this case quickly. And using this kind of gossip to attract the attention of the citizens will make no one pay attention to the place where the case happened."
"Oh, you damn devil! You are a famous detective? You can't tarnish the reputation of the Birmingham family! I killed him because he knew I had a lover outside and wanted to use this to threaten me to quit pursuing Her Highness Ajelina! I was so angry at the time. Oh, my God, what did I do?"
Birmingham, who was choking by his collar, burst into tears as he spoke.
Shade loosened his collar and let him lie on the ground and cry.
He wiped his hands with a handkerchief, turned to the little princess and said:
"Look, Your Highness, the case is closed. I think I can report this matter to His Majesty. Tomorrow's newspaper can be given a small corner to explain this case as appropriate. However, it is best not to let the public know too much about the truth."
Ajelina Cavendish looked at him with a flushed face:
"Very good, Knight, you did a great job, this was definitely the most entertaining..."
“Ahem.”
"I mean the most memorable birthday party."