Bailonz Street 13

Chapter 165. Secrets (2)

It really was a living space. Candles were placed throughout, and clothes were drying by the window. The old bed had four pillows, suggesting multiple people used it.

Liam opened a stiff, old drawer and pulled out a short dagger.

“A self-defense weapon. And emergency funds.”

Hidden deep in the drawer were several shillings and a gold coin. It was a large sum for an opium den. Someone had tried to hide it from thieves, but their efforts were useless against Liam, a master at searching.

I could finally see Liam’s grey eyes sparkling with enthusiasm after a long while. He rubbed his chin while looking around before speaking.

“Looks like children live here.”

“Children in an opium den?”

“That’s what we’re about to find out.”

Following his gaze, I turned my head. A child who had just regained consciousness was visible, backing fearfully against the wall. No wonder they were startled, with two strange adults suddenly appearing.

I showed my open palms to demonstrate I had nothing threatening. Liam, standing behind me with crossed arms, spoke.

“The brazier was burning.”

“…”

“Smoke in such an enclosed space is lethal. Did you know that?”

Perhaps sensing no hostile intent, the child carefully spoke.

“I didn’t do it.”

“Who did then?”

“Brother Hans.”

“Was he someone you knew before?”

“I met him here.”

If they met here, they couldn’t have known each other for very long.

The room’s condition was strange overall. Locked windows, locked door, and door gaps deliberately blocked from outside. Yet a brazier was burning inside. Unless someone was trying to kill the occupant….

“Do you live here?” I asked. The child looked at me for a moment before shaking their head.

“I didn’t used to live here. They moved me.”

“May I ask where you were before?”

“An orphanage. I thought I was being adopted, but the people who took me just abandoned me here.”

Is this a common occurrence?

I looked at Liam briefly. Liam Moore was deep in thought, surveying the messy room. He checked the child’s complexion before offering a wrapped candy from his pocket. The child stared at the candy with surprise.

“Let’s leave. Anywhere’s better than here, even if you have no place to go.”

The child hesitated briefly before taking the candy and following us.

As we retraced our steps out, the corridor became noisy. Liam hid the child inside his coat and pulled me close. Just as we barely concealed ourselves behind stacked boxes, people passed by us.

“How can supply be down?”

A man with a full beard growled. A young man beside him seemed to be giving some kind of report.

“That bastard’s got cold feet, says he can’t deliver anymore.”

“What’s there to be scared of when no one’s noticed?”

“That’s what I said. Should we source from somewhere else?”

The bearded man kicked a box in front of him. Our cover boxes rattled but thankfully didn’t fall.

“Cut the opium more. Stretch it out. We need to make money while the high-ups are enjoying themselves.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Throw the supplier in the Thames.”

Wow. Real gangsters. Like dialogue straight from a movie. All that “rough ’em up” talk.

After they passed, we carefully slipped out of the opium den.

Liam Moore remained lost in thought with his usual stern expression, which frightened the child. I gently stroked the child’s head to comfort them.

“It’s alright. His face is always like that.”

“Ja…mes, you should take the child back.”

You were about to say Jane, weren’t you? As I shot him a sharp look, he cleared his throat. I asked.

“And what about you?”

Liam nodded toward another opium den.

“Thought I might look around there.”

Lucky or unlucky, just as Liam was about to enter, a piercing scream rang out from the alley. We rushed toward it, but people had already gathered.

“There’s a person…!”

Damn it. Though I covered the child’s eyes, who had followed us belatedly, they had already spotted the fallen person. A thin voice called out a name.

“…Brother Hans?”

It was the person who had locked the child in the room. He had been found dead. Could this really be a coincidence?

Liam’s eyes met mine.

* * *

After getting the child to safety, we immediately raided the opium den. Though “raided” might sound suspicious—in reality, we snuck in and searched through anything that looked like important documents.

And we found something very strange there.

“This is odd.”

Liam muttered. He held a thick ledger in his hands, pointing out dense text to me with his finger.

“It seems to list both buyers’ and sellers’ names, but normally they don’t record sellers’ names. You never know what evidence such a ledger might become if discovered.”

The ledger had a very unique recording method. The left side seemed to be for buyers, the right for sellers. But what was stranger was that the sellers were listed by first names only, without surnames.

“Most people bought multiple times. Makes sense with addiction. But this…”

“Wait. I know this name.”

I pointed to one name. There was someone with the same name in the Leximion Association (my singles club). They always had a listless face, and I’d never really spoken to them as it seemed impolite to start a conversation.

“Rick Sloughton?”

“Yes. That person. I remembered because Sloughton is such a unique surname.”

“Do you know where they live?”

I shook my head. But I knew someone who could give us that information.

We pocketed the stolen ledger and circled through the corridor. A gang member who spotted us started shouting and gave chase, but Liam Moore had superior talent in chase situations.

In other words… he made that person look like a dog chasing chickens.

“Where did those bastards go!”

While the rough-looking man who’d chased us was stopping people one by one, Liam and I boarded the carriage we’d called in advance.

As soon as we got in, Liam lifted his spell. I pulled the window curtains shut. Then immediately pulled out a trunk hidden below and started changing into formal attire.

The gentlemanly Liam turned his head with slightly reddened ears.

“Where are we going?”

“The club.”

“The one you often visit?”

I nodded. Since I’d told the driver our destination when boarding, the carriage would take us there. I removed the hat I’d been wearing and tossed it in the corner as I spoke.

“Seems like he was silenced, don’t you think?”

Liam agreed.

From frequently visiting crime scenes, we’d developed insight into such cases. Why would they need to silence someone? Questions that started there slowly led to more questions. This way, various hypotheses would emerge one by one. Gather evidence for these, deduce, eliminate incorrect hypotheses, and the truth of the case would appear.

“This Hans tried to kill the child first. He staged carbon monoxide poisoning. Why would he do that? I keep thinking of those thugs we saw earlier. They said ‘throw the supplier in the Thames.’ Could that be the kind of cleanup they ordered?”

“Something that could look like an accident, something that wouldn’t draw the Yard’s attention.”

“The Yard is already on edge about opium dens. If a child dies there, they’d surely smell something. So they disguised it as an accident. Many people die from suffocation while using braziers. To avoid any connection to opium.”

In this London, children’s deaths are too frequent, so even if you tried to find the cause, you couldn’t. Especially if it looked like an accident.

Liam was deep in thought, arms resting on his knees.

“And then they disposed of Hans after he finished the job.”

“He was stabbed?”

“Very brutally.”

“It’s an example. There aren’t just customers in opium dens. They probably wanted to show what happens if you don’t handle jobs properly. That’s why they stabbed him and ran in broad daylight.”

Liam’s eyes widened. My deduction must have been rather brilliant. Just as he was about to launch into praise of me, the carriage began to slow to a stop.

A familiar building came into view. White main gates and wide windows, with people inside absorbed in their books visible through them. I took a deep breath before stepping down from the carriage and heading straight for the club’s door.