It takes time to talk to strangers and look for clues, so Shad spent two hours in the afternoon visiting and questioning different people in the Noshan Opera Company.
Similar to what the bearded landlord said, people here also said that Mr. Bundy was very happy for a few days after his eyes were cured three months ago, but then his mood became gloomy, and he gradually became afraid of the dark and being alone.
He became completely nervous and even made some mistakes during the opera troupe's performance.
The people in the opera troupe did not notice the illegal drugs mentioned by the bearded landlord. In their impression, Frank Bundy was a friendly and extremely self-disciplined person. Mr. Bundy did not even smoke, but after his eyes recovered, he tried to touch Rhodes.
As for the suicide note, the musician spent a lot of space writing about his life and lamenting his life. The subsequent distribution of the inheritance was consistent with the bearded landlord's statement. At the end, the musician mentioned the location of the cemetery he chose for himself and thanked his neighbors, landlord and friends of the Noshan Opera Company for their care over the years.
The date of the suicide note was the day Mr. Bundy committed suicide. The text was clear and the arrangement of the property cemetery was very orderly. However, the writing style was very crazy. The letters were like the terrible language written by a crazy madman in a crazy state after seeing the unknown existence.
Because Mr. Bundy was blind before, Shade also asked the director of the troupe whether he could write normally before, and learned that the musician could write and his handwriting was not bad.
"Well, things are getting more and more wrong."
So Shade asked for the music manuscript that Mr. Bundy wrote after his eyes were healed. After comparing it with the suicide note, the detective believed that the suicide note was indeed written by Frank Bundy himself. But the clear writing ideas and crazy writing style made him very concerned.
The musician did not mention the reason why he became insane in his suicide note, nor did he write down the reason for his suicide. He simply wrote at the end:
I was once trapped in darkness but never lamented my fate, but now why do you want me to see the light
I'm so tired.
The penultimate sentence was basically the same as what the bearded landlord said, which made Xia De more and more suspicious that the musician's suicide was caused by eye problems.
Frank Bundy also left a lot of relics in the orchestra. The band leader asked someone to open the door of the storage room for Shad and let him search through the shelves himself.
So Xia De checked the musician's notebooks, personal clothes, water cups, unused tea bags, pencil sharpeners and other items one by one, but after looking through them one by one, he did not see the diary in the carton.
In just three months, he has not yet developed the good habit of writing a diary.
In the end, only two items caught Shad's attention. One was a notebook with music scores composed by Mr. Bondi himself, and the other was a small flat, curved bottle with a small amount of bright yellow liquid like oil at the bottom of the bottle.
The notebook was bought by Mr. Bundy after his eye disease was cured. Every page had a date. After regaining his sight, the musician created music at the rate of one piece per week. However, the later the date, the thinner, sharper and more frantic the musical notes written in black ink became. By the last page, the handwriting was almost exactly the same as that on the suicide note.
As for the liquid in the bottle, only a layer of liquid remained at the bottom of the bottle. After Xia De carefully poured it onto his fingers, a voice in his ear actually indicated that there was a very small amount of traces of spirit in the liquid.
It is not the four elements, but pure spirit, because the traces of mysticism are too weak.
"The content is so weak. Has it been diluted, or is it just occasionally stained with traces of spirit? Can this be considered a magic potion?"
To be on the safe side, Xia De informed the director of the opera troupe and took away the notebook with the music score and the empty bottle.
Before leaving, Shade also learned the purpose of the liquid. Many people in the orchestra had seen the musician Mr. Bondi drip the liquid into his eyes and claimed that it was a medicine prescribed by an ophthalmologist.
“Things are getting more and more complicated.”
Because he had spent the entire afternoon investigating and questioning at the Noshan Opera Company, it was almost evening when Shad left the orchestra with the two clues.
Seeing that it was getting late, Xia De had no plans to visit the ophthalmologist and client Mr. Mandis involved in the commission under the cover of night, nor did he plan to continue his investigation at the Three Cats Inn in Anthem Square.
It just so happened that the Noshan Opera Troupe’s residence was not far from Miss Carina’s estate outside the city. After thinking about it, Shad decided to pay a visit.
He didn't want to go for dinner, but wanted to find Miss Carina and ask her to arrange for musicians to play the last few tunes in the music sheet that Shade got. Shade wanted to use this to judge the specific mental state of the other person during the last period of his life.
The reason why professional musicians in the opera troupe were not allowed to perform was because Xia De was worried that problems would affect ordinary people. It is better to be cautious about such matters.
Although Miss Carina's estate was outside the city, the coachmen in the city were also willing to go there because there were aristocratic estates, forest farms and high-end horse farms nearby. In the carriage, Xia De was still thinking that it would be inappropriate to visit empty-handed, but it seemed even more inappropriate to get off the carriage and pick a bunch of wild flowers.
So in the end he had to get off the car empty-handed in front of the manor gate. After paying the fare, the manor housekeeper who knew Xia De had already ordered people to open the manor gate to welcome Xia De.
"Is Miss Carina here? I don't have an appointment for this visit. If she is in town, can you find a carriage to take me into town?"
This will save you the cost of returning home.
"The young lady is at the manor, but she is meeting with an important guest."
The middle-aged housekeeper said carefully, and arranged for Xia De to wait in the lounge. Xia De also had time to look more carefully at the notebook with the music score, but for him, a foreigner who knew nothing about the music of this world, this music score was more obscure than ancient documents.
Because at least he could understand ancient documents.
Shad didn't have to wait long in the reception room on the second floor of the manor before the maids brought him tea and snacks, and even asked Shad if he wanted to have dinner at the manor.
But Shad still wanted to go home and have dinner with Mia, so he shook his head and refused.
When he finally finished looking through the music score again, Miss Carina's personal maid, Miss Tifa Servet, pushed the door open and walked in. She seemed to always wear this set of maid's clothes. Since Shade met this lady, he had never seen her wear other clothes.
"Mr. Hamilton, the lady has to have dinner with important guests today, so she won't have time to meet you tonight. She asked me to ask you if you have anything important to do. If it's not urgent, I'll take care of it for you."
Miss Carina is the powerful duchess of the Kingdom of Delarion, so she certainly doesn't have as much free time as Shade does. Therefore, Shade didn't expect her to put aside important things to meet him.
He stood up from the sofa:
"It's nothing important. I got a piece of music that might be a little weird, and I want someone to help me play it."
After briefly describing the ophthalmologist's commission, Shad handed the notebook to Miss Tifa Servet.
She flipped through the pages from front to back, and when she saw the last page, she frowned. She was a sixth-ring sorcerer, and she was likely to be able to read the sheet music, so she could see bigger problems:
"You were right not to ask the ordinary people from the North Hill Opera Company to play. Mr. Hamilton, please follow me and I will play for you."
As he spoke, he invited Shad to the soundproof music room on the second floor of the manor house, where Miss Carina practiced the violin.
"Miss Servet, what instrument are you proficient in?"
Shade asked curiously, following her out the door.
"I know a little about piano and violin."
She said it very subtly.
In order to prevent the music scores left by the blind musician before his death from affecting ordinary people, after arriving at the music room, the maid asked other servants in the manor to wait in the music room, leaving only her and Shad in the room.
This was the first time that Xia De came to this room. Compared with the so-called professional music rooms he had seen in his hometown, the decoration style here was more... ...expensive. The floor was covered with red carpet, the uneven sound-absorbing walls were light yellow, and most of the musical instruments that could be seen were golden. The oil paintings on the walls were probably antiques, and each of the musical instruments in the white wooden cabinets and glass showcases should be more valuable than Mia.
But at least the piano was black. After opening the lid, the black and white keys reflected the light of the gas lamp in the room. The neat and cold appearance made Xia De like it very much.
Although the world is different, the types of musical instruments are very similar. But to a foreigner, there is actually no difference, because he knows nothing about the musical instruments no matter which world they are from.
To prepare Shade mentally, the black-haired girl carefully held the fabric of her long skirt behind her body and sat in front of the piano. She turned the notebook to the last sheet of music and stood it upright. The hands that Shade used to pour tea almost every time he appeared shook flexibly a few times, and ten slender white fingers moved up and down, and then fell on the keys.
Sitting on a high cushioned stool nearby, Shad was still guessing at the possible price of the instrument when the first musical note abruptly sounded, and once again tried to measure it in "Mia".
When the musical notes came into his ears in a string, he felt that it was nothing at first, but then he became more and more annoyed and couldn't help but frowning.
Miss Tifa Servert's piano skills are quite good. Her fingers dance on the keys. The manic music makes Shad feel more and more uncomfortable. Although he doesn't understand music, he agrees with the excellent music score and performer, who can express his feelings through the melody. (To be continued)