The detective is dead, I did it.

Chapter 39 Locking Down the Entire Venue

"The Viscount has been murdered; the entire area is now sealed off!"

Charlotte, who was the first to react, immediately gave the order without any politeness, as if she were the owner of the mansion.

Although the old butler turned deathly pale due to the sudden death of his employer, he was quick to react.

Clearly aware of the gravity of the situation, he immediately carried out Charlotte's orders.

He turned around and instructed several reliable servants to lock all the gates of the mansion to prevent the murderer from escaping in the chaos.

Charlotte turned around, her gaze falling on Leon. "Which direction did that witch run off from?"

Li Ang pointed to the end of the corridor, "That way. It leads out the side door and towards the back door of the mansion."

Charlotte followed his finger and pondered to herself.

That direction was completely opposite to the Viscount's bedroom.

Given her physical abilities, after fighting Li Ang for so long, it's simply impossible for her to make a long detour to kill the Viscount. It doesn't make sense either, given the time and stamina required. Unless she could fly.

But that's obviously impossible; given the opponent's strength, they can't possibly fly using an object.

Therefore, someone else was the one who took action.

She looked away, without voicing her suspicions.

"Let's go to the Viscount's room."

The Viscount's bedroom was at the very end of the corridor. Two pale-faced male servants were already standing in front of a heavy, carved wooden door. When they saw Charlotte approaching, they stepped aside as if they had seen a savior.

The door was ajar, and a dim, yellow light shone from inside.

Charlotte was the first to push open the door and go inside.

The bedroom was large, with a big bed against the wall. The bed canopy was made of deep red velvet and was half-drawn, revealing the bloated body on the bed.

There was an unpleasant smell in the room, which made Li Ang instinctively cover his nose.

"What's this smell?"

"When a person is dying, their sphincter muscles lose control, resulting in an inability to control urination and defecation," Charlotte explained from the side.

As she spoke, Li Ang noticed that she had put on a mask on her face at some point.

Her white hair was tied neatly at the back of her head, completely covering half of her face, leaving only her blue eyes and smooth forehead exposed.

Seeing that the other person had put on a mask at some point, Li Ang was a little dumbfounded. "Why did you prepare a mask?"

"This is essential for a detective," Charlotte said, her voice muffled behind her mask, sounding particularly cold.

"Is there anything else?"

"there is none left."

It is possible, actually.

Li Ang's gaze involuntarily shifted downwards, landing on Charlotte.

He knew that the other person was actually wearing another kind of "mask," but this mask was not the same as the other kind. Asking about it would be somewhat vulgar, and there was a risk of being shot in the head by the detective.

So he wisely refrained from asking and instead chose to bury his nose in his sleeve.

The curtains were drawn tightly shut, with only a bedside lamp on, casting a dim, yellowish light on the corpse on the bed.

The viscount lay on his back, completely naked, his eyes wide open as if about to pop out of their sockets, his pupils dilated, his mouth slightly open, and his lips purple.

There was a deep purple ligature mark on his neck, next to which were some red scratches, which stood out against the surrounding white skin.

Charlotte approached the bedside, looked at the Viscount's corpse, and frowned.

It wasn't because the other person's death was too gruesome—after all, she had seen corpses a hundred times more horribly mutilated—but because the other person was completely naked, with only a pair of pajama pants kicked up to the waist barely covering the vital parts, so as not to be too disgusting.

Even so, the body, all fat and flabby, lay open under the light without any concealment, like a flattened lump of dough.

She frowned slightly, resisting the urge to look away.

A detective's duty is not to refrain from examining a corpse simply because it is grotesque.

"Assistant, what do you think?" she asked without turning her head.

Li Ang stood by the bed, his hands in his pockets, scrutinizing the viscount's purplish-red face with a serious expression.

"My lord, I suspect there's something fishy about this."

Charlotte turned her head and glared at him. "Say something useful."

Li Ang maintained his expression, suppressing his smile.

He was actually lying.

He found the viscount's death not at all suspicious.

From the moment Helena mentioned in the garden that limestone was buried under that piece of land, he vaguely guessed that there was a deeper secret hidden in this mansion.

Especially when he saw the maid named Lily being hit with her plate and not daring to utter a sound, and the look of fear on her face when she heard that she was to be taken to the Viscount's room, he vaguely guessed the truth.

He just didn't expect these people to act so quickly.

[Fifteen minutes ago, Viscount Cavendish was strangled to death by his maids while he was asleep. Four maids were involved in the incident.]

The clue also included the name of the maid who committed the act, essentially revealing the killer's name directly.

This is the information Li Ang saw by observing the viscount's corpse using his ability. Perhaps because he had already guessed the truth of the matter in advance, the information given by the clues was also very complete.

Helena's "criminal declaration" was not prepared for herself.

Stealing gems, digging tunnels, and leaving postcards are all pretexts.

First, she used the theft of the jewels to get the Viscount to send all the guards to prison. Then, she used the second crime announcement to draw everyone's attention to the collection room, while she herself personally stalled him and Charlotte, creating an opportunity for the four women.

It's a perfectly executed crime process, giving the reader a strong sense of déjà vu.

This viscount experienced the same treatment as that Taoist emperor, but unfortunately, he wasn't as lucky.

Since no one informed on him and the rope wasn't tied securely, he was strangled to death on the bed.

If the Viscount hadn't hired Charlotte, the plan would have been perfect; the maids would simply go their separate ways after tonight, and Helena would disappear into the crowd.

At that point, the case will become a cold case, and the police will investigate for a few months, find a scapegoat, and close the case directly.

Besides, it was just a viscount who died; there was no need to go to such lengths for him.

Unfortunately, they encountered Charlotte Holmes.

Li Ang withdrew his gaze. His current situation was somewhat delicate.

He could use his abilities to tell Charlotte the truth directly. There were four maids involved, with Helena being the bait. Their tool was a rope.

But he couldn't explain how he knew.

Moreover, he didn't know where the four maids were now. If they had already escaped the mansion, then it was all over. If they hadn't escaped...

They were just unlucky.