New Gods of North America

A Detective Peter's Day Off

Hello everyone, my name is Peter, and I'm currently in a complete panic.

Don't ask me why the sheriff brought me to the crime scene; I really didn't do it.

Actually, my life has been pretty good lately, living in Georgeburg, a city that, while not huge, is quite famous even within the Windsor Kingdom.

Although some colleagues who were on long-term assignments temporarily returned due to job transfers, and my room was reassigned to the basement, forcing me to be neighbors with two eccentric and injured strangers,

I still have a chef responsible for cooking every day, security all around, and besides attending classes and undergoing assessments with my colleagues, I basically don't have to worry about life.

You ask how much my weekly salary is?

Please, with food and lodging provided and no need to rush around, others would have to pay for this kind of life.

I'm staying here voluntarily, not because I'm worried that if I run out of the yard without permission, I might become Extraordinary Material and be brought back.

Especially recently, when the bosses took most of the colleagues out on business, I don't even have to attend classes during this time, just taste the chef's new creations like sandwiches, burgers, or pizzas, and choose the one I think is the best.

The rest of the time, besides sparring with some colleagues in daily combat training, I can sunbathe in the yard all day.

It's just that some colleagues don't hold back when they start fighting, and they have quite a few tricks.

If I couldn't always stop the training in time, I guess I'd have to make the boss increase the expenditure on liniments again.

This morning, Bill Tench, the brilliant sheriff of the Georgeburg Police Department, suddenly visited the detective agency again, saying he had encountered a tricky case.

Since there are no direct leads yet, and the suspects are all merchants or tourists about to leave America and return to the Old Continent,

he had to make a special trip to seek help due to the urgency of the situation.

Actually, this sheriff is a good person, serious about his work, and quite professional in solving cases, much more responsible than the drunken sheriff in our town,

but he's still no match for my boss.

My boss is said to have been a sheriff in the West for a while, a second-generation sheriff in his family, with rich experience.

If he were to apply the cases he casually mentioned in internal classes to my hometown, I'm afraid the killers would have filled the town's cemetery long ago, and I estimate there wouldn't be many people left alive in our town now.

The killers' ideas and methods of committing crimes are endless, making me realize that I actually don't have the talent to be a bad person.

What's even more deadly is that those cases were all solved one by one. Even so many powerful killers couldn't escape punishment, which shows that the West is indeed a dangerous place. If you commit a crime, it's better to leave there as soon as possible.

This time, the deceased was a merchant from Hans, and the crime scene was a hotel that mainly provided temporary accommodation for long-distance travelers during resupply.

The murderer was very arrogant and even left a letter of unclear meaning at the scene, as well as a word written in the victim's blood—"anagram".

This word means "word puzzle". The simplest understanding is to scramble the letters in a word to derive another word that represents the answer.

According to the boss, this kind of anagram is one of the games that some murderers who try to challenge law enforcement like to play.

Solving the puzzle takes time, but the suspects are about to board the ship again and leave. Even if the Georgeburg police solve the truth afterward, the murderer may have already escaped justice.

This is probably why the murderer dares to be so blatant.

Originally, this kind of case shouldn't require me to take action, but it just so happens that there aren't many people in the small courtyard at this time.

Besides a few colleagues who were ordered to stay behind, there are only the chef who doesn't like to go out, the big boss, the beautiful illegitimate daughter of the third boss, and the "temporary housekeeper" who never appears in front of ordinary people because of a deformed and enlarged arm.

So, after hearing the details of the case, the boss's illegitimate daughter said it was interesting and wanted to go to the scene to see the capture of the murderer, and the temporary housekeeper always indulged her.

Therefore, I was inexplicably pushed out and became a detective who had to go to the scene to solve the case.

The temporary housekeeper also followed in a carriage, but hid in the carriage and didn't go upstairs. He also kindly reminded me:

"Just do as we said before, but don't think about taking the opportunity to escape or play tricks. You know the consequences."

Don't worry.

After living in the small courtyard for so long, I know who I can slip away from and who will hold me down and beat me.

The three most likely suspects have already been controlled by the police and are now concentrated in a suite in the hotel, waiting for the murderer to be arrested before they are released to board the ship.

One of the suspects is the deceased's wife, a local Georgeburg resident returning home to visit relatives, the daughter of a wealthy family. She was listed as the number one suspect because the deceased learned about her affair and wanted to change his will and property distribution.

Another suspect is a writer from Windsor. He was brought in because a waiter witnessed him paying attention to the deceased's movements and he had no alibi at the time of the crime.

The last suspect is also a merchant. According to the deceased's wife, this Frankish bastard once competed with the deceased in business. In the end, no one knows what kind of conspiracy he used to avoid being bankrupted by the deceased. It is estimated that this narrow-minded guy still harbors resentment.

To be honest, if I were to look at this case, these suspects are all suspicious. It would be safest to arrest them all.

But after listening to the case, my colleagues all determined that the same suspect was the murderer. Even the boss's beautiful illegitimate daughter, who is only a few years old, had the exact same opinion.

It all makes me seem a bit out of sync.

I actually asked the temporary Damon butler on the way, "What are your reasons for determining the murderer?"

He was too lazy to answer me, saying that I was new here and must have missed some previous lessons. It was mentioned in the case studies, and he told me to ask other colleagues later.

Therefore, after arriving at the scene, I listened to the statements of the three suspects again, and then, according to the predetermined answer given by my colleagues, I quickly raised my hand and pointed, "You are the murderer!"

Unexpectedly, the murderer quickly panicked. While quibbling, the sheriff accidentally noticed a flaw, and then he really confessed.

Afterward, Sheriff Bill praised me several times in a row, and some police officers asked me with admiration how I confirmed the murderer, which made me a little proud. So this is how law enforcement officers feel when they catch bad guys.

It has nothing to do with personal interests, but I still feel pretty good about it.

When I returned to the carriage with the boss's illegitimate daughter again, I learned the reason why my colleagues could confirm the murderer immediately from the conversation between this beautiful little girl and the temporary housekeeper:

"Wayne was right. When you encounter this kind of case where there is no need to but you just like to give puzzles, first guess that the islanders are the murderers, and you'll be almost certain. If you add the profession of 'writer' at the same time, then you have to suspect them even if there is no motive."

The temporary housekeeper first affectionately rubbed the little girl's head, and then glared at me, "What are you looking at? Hurry up and drive! We have to hurry back to the detective agency after buying the ingredients, we can't let there be too few people at home."

I am a great detective who just solved a murder case, and you talk to me like that?!

So I loudly answered him, "Aye!"

But after returning to the detective agency, I still felt a little aggrieved, so there will be no update today.

(Actually, there are a lot of things at the end of the year, so I'm using discarded drafts to make up the numbers, but I should be done after today, and tomorrow I can finally continue to make up for the KPI according to the previous plan...)