The end of the exams has slowed down the pace of my busy life, but the next 15 practical credits and the Holy Prayer Festival have almost filled up my schedule for next week.
Xia De didn't have time to give himself more opportunities to relax.
On Sunday morning, after breakfast, Chateau left the house. After a week's delay, the acceptance of Mrs. Lemaire's inheritance could finally be carried out.
This middle-aged woman, who was not very courageous, believed the horrifying rumors told by her neighbors and took her children to live temporarily in the countryside after the city-wide curfew ended last Friday.
Seeing that nothing else happened in the city of Tobesk, Mrs. Lemaire finally returned to the city and, as originally planned, accepted the inheritance of the deceased crew member at her home on Sunday morning.
Mrs. Lemaire had an unhappy marriage. Her husband left her early years and she raised her two children alone. The family of three lived in a cramped rental apartment in the north of the city. After Shad jumped off the rental carriage and found Silver Gray Lane according to the house number, he was also shocked by the dirty and poor living environment here.
This is a standard slum, a living scene for the lowest class of citizens in this era. For outsiders from other places, the impression of slums in backward times comes only from their own imagination. When they passed by the area before, they only took a glance or two. Now that they have truly walked into this place, they realize that everything is worse than they thought.
Even though it hadn't rained recently, the ground was still muddy. Taking a deep breath, the mud was covered with a strange-smelling liquid, which mixed with the smell of the narrow and rugged alley itself, making people nauseous. The damp, dark, and even somewhat strange alleys were different from the streets in the city. Even the police officers patrolling the Redwich Field would not easily walk into them.
Compared with this prosperous and crazy era, the Tobysk slum seemed to be a time anomaly zone that lagged behind the times by three hundred years. Last night at the Queen Maria Opera House, Shade had seen the best side of this era, and now he also saw the worst side of this era.
"Maybe this place is not the worst, I just can't see those places far away from the city... What is the soft thing I stepped on just now..."
He was glad he had chosen to wear boots today.
Mrs. Lemaire lived in the attic of No. 6 Silver Gray Lane, sharing the kitchen and bathroom with the people in the same building. After knocking on the greasy door downstairs, a fat woman with a wig opened the door.
Only after explaining his purpose was he allowed to enter. Xia De stepped onto the narrow stairs. At the corner of the stairs, he had to wait sideways in order to avoid a young man in patched clothes holding a pile of books.
The first floor is where the landlord's family lives, while the dark and damp second and third floors are divided into more than ten areas rented out to different poor families. A huge gas meter hangs at the dim staircase, and rusty gas pipes as thick as wrists climb along the moldy walls to every household on the floor.
Every time this old-fashioned gas meter ticks, it makes an unusually clear clicking sound. Although he knows that this old-fashioned gas meter that should have been eliminated long ago is still in use, most likely because the landlord has no money to replace it with a new one, Shade still believes that the clicking sound of the old-fashioned gas meter is also a warning to the poor people living here that every time they use gas, it means pennies slipping from their hands.
The air was filled with a mixture of moldy and strange smells, and the stairs under my feet creaked every time I stepped on them.
Even though it was Shade's first time here, he was very sure that this kind of place must be a place with a high incidence of diseases and parasites. Not to mention humans, even animals that are used to living in the wild would find it difficult to survive for too long in a similar environment.
The simple staircase at the end of the corridor on the third floor leads to the attic. After Xia De knocked on the door, the middle-aged woman who had not been seen for more than a week opened the door. Seeing that the detective had arrived at the agreed time, she smiled and let Xia De in.
Xia De had clearly arrived ten minutes earlier, but he didn't expect that lawyer Locke Laurel had arrived even earlier than him.
"It's you!"
The lawyer stood up and wanted to say hello, then he immediately recognized the young man who had played Rhodes with him. He was surprised and immediately thought of his abnormal behavior that day:
"Wait, when you approached me that day, were you here to investigate me?"
"I have the right to maintain confidentiality for my client."
Xia De said with a smile, then walked up and shook hands with the lawyer:
"But this time, I'm really here to help Mrs. Lemaire accept the inheritance."
"I know... I also know that you made more money on this trip than I did. Do detectives always make so much money?"
The two men shook their arms gently, and Lawyer Laurel did not mention the money he lost to Shade last time.
Mr. Locke Laurel was very different from the man he was in the pub that morning. At least, he did not propose to play another round with Shade after work.
The living conditions of Mrs. Lemaire's house, where her family lived in the attic, were similar to those of all the residents nearby. The attic's ceiling was so low that Shad lowered his head subconsciously when he entered the door, and then realized that he would have to be at least one millimeter taller than Mia to have his head hit by the ceiling.
The children were not at home at the moment, and Madame Lemaire entertained the detective and the lawyer with clean teacups.
Three people sat down at the dining table with old newspapers as the legs. The three chairs were of different styles, and there was reason to believe that they were all second-hand items that had been passed down for generations.
The house was very clean. Maybe the family's life was very difficult, but this middle-aged woman maintained an optimistic attitude. The sun shone in from the attic window, and the stains on the floor that had been difficult to remove for years were reasonably covered by the furniture. The attic was not divided into rooms. There was a dining table at the entrance, and then two mattresses placed directly on the ground.
The family needs money, and although this idea is a bit cruel, the crew member who died for provoking the mermaid statue died at a very timely moment.
Everything on the dining table had been taken away. Although there was still a pungent smell of sour food, it at least looked neat. The lawyer took out a brown paper document bag from his briefcase and solemnly took out the documents inside. He handed it to Mrs. Lemaire first, and then Mrs. Lemaire handed it to Shade.
She was not very literate, and the advertisement for the Hamilton Detective Agency was read to her by her neighbor.
The document was the text of the will, handwritten in blue ink and dated a year ago. I guess the sailors who often go out to sea must have thought that they would encounter an accident sooner or later.
"If there is no problem with the will, the estate will be transferred now."
Lawyer Laurel said, Shade asked him to wait a moment, then read it carefully:
"no problem."
Madame Flamel was pleased with the detective's seriousness.
"The estate is divided into three parts. The first is the cash part. Mr. Jonathan Lemaire has stored 53 pounds 4 shillings in cash with his friends. Because inheritance tax is involved in the notarization of the estate, you can get 49 pounds 16 shillings and 7 pence."
The lawyer pushed the envelope of money and the tax return to the middle-aged woman on the other side of the table. She took the envelope somewhat at a loss and counted the amount of money inside. Xia De took the tax return.
If the inheritance is only transferred privately, then of course there is no need to file a tax return, but the inheritance notarized by the city hall must be reported. It is no longer a war era, so the tax rate is not very high. The inheritance tax of about 5% is actually mainly because the property is transferred to a different place.
"no problem."
Shad whispered to his employer, who nodded nervously. The bills in front of him were already sorted and stacked according to their denominations, and it was indeed that number.
"The second part of the estate is Mr. Jonathan Lemaire's personal collection, which mainly includes souvenirs from the New World and items obtained during sea voyages. The value of these items is difficult to estimate because... most of them are worthless. So there is no tax issue involved. In addition, Mr. Lemaire did not leave a manifest to record what he had. These were all given to me directly by his friends, so I cannot guarantee that everything is here."
The lawyer said, bending down and lifting a black briefcase at his feet onto the table. After a few clicks, he opened the lid of the suitcase and pushed it to Mrs. Lemaire with great effort. There were red ink marks on the suitcase, but the items inside were placed together haphazardly, not neatly arranged:
"By the way, this box is also a relic, and I didn't provide it."
The lawyer added that it was probably thought that the box itself might be more valuable than the contents.
The crew's collection is very rich, including black minerals, fish specimens, colorful masks with strange smiles, badges of unidentifiable origin, anchor-shaped pendants, wooden toys, and so on. They all look like miscellaneous items, but if you say they are travel souvenirs, people can accept them.
Shade was originally worried that there might be something dangerous in the relics, and even worried that the mermaid statue belonging to the crew had also been sent to Tobesk. But until the box appeared in front of him, he did not feel any whispering elements.
After getting Madame Lemaire's permission, he took out the items in the box one by one and examined them. When he touched them with his hands, the voice in his head did not give any hints.
"Sure enough, it's not that easy to come across a relic."
The combination of the key words "distant relatives", "sailors who died in a shipwreck" and "inheritance" looks like the opening scene of a classic horror novel, but it seems that at least everything is normal this time, so Shad signals to the lawyer to read out the final contents of the inheritance.
"The third part of the estate is Jonathan Lemaire's personal belongings. He was out at sea for many years and left some personal belongings with his friends, mainly diaries, clothes, and some books. This part of the legacy is also not taxable, but there is no list either."
He struggled to lift the last suitcase onto the table, opened it and pushed it towards Madame Lemaire.