Chapter 53: Murder in the Caravan Accompanying the Army (6)
Kil put down the clay pot, and then pulled back the algae-headed Parian who tried to move away from him.
"Now, can you speak honestly?"
The algae head nodded fiercely. The near-death experience just now really frightened him. Just the suffocating feeling of water poured on his face made this guy who didn't have much will surrender.
"So, what happened in the Burning Prairie Tavern last night?" Kil patted his mouth and signaled the other party to be honest, otherwise there would be another round of waterboarding.
"I said, I said." Parian, the algae head, said with a trembling voice: "I happened to be in that tavern last night. In the afternoon, the girls came with me and went up to the third floor to rest. I had the key there, so I locked them in the house for fear of getting together with the bartenders on the same floor."
"continue."
"When it got dark in the evening, some drinkers said that a large wave of northerners came outside the town. Sure enough, not long after, several waves of businessmen from other places came to the tavern to eat and drink. My business does not happen every day, so I was Just pay more attention to out-of-towners, because they tend to stay in pubs or nearby hotels after drinking too much."
"In the evening, several waves of out-of-town businessmen left, and soon there was only a table of people left. They drank until late, and one of them was particularly good at drinking. I knew from experience that tonight was the time, so I went up and told The girls tidied up, and then I went to sit on the stairs on the second floor, waiting for people to come up and stay."
He pursed his lips and said, "Not long after, the last wave of outsiders dispersed, leaving one who was particularly drinkable, but he didn't last long, and then he was called by the bartender to come up and have a rest. I just I took the opportunity to approach him and asked him if he wanted to serve, and the man immediately agreed.”
Keir nodded, this was in line with what he expected, and what happened next would depend on the other party's confession.
"I asked him to wait at the stairs, and immediately went to the third floor to call the girls down and let him choose. The girl chose Fanny. I winked at Fanny at that time and asked her to judge for herself the fate of this drunken fat sheep. Condition."
Keir interjected: "You can judge this for yourself. Did you instruct them to steal the businessman's money?"
Parian, the algae head, looked around and found that everyone in the entire shop hall was looking at him: "Yes, but this is only done occasionally. I don't dare to let the locals do it, and neither do the tavern owners." They will ask me to do this. In other words, wealthy businessmen from other places do not dare to cause trouble in unfamiliar places, and do not dare to speak out after suffering hidden losses. There is no problem in doing this all the time. "
Mr. Pavey was very angry: "No problem? You are embarrassing our town! Will they come here again next time? What will they say about our town when they go to other places? A place where you can have sex in bed?"
After saying that, he was furious, so he went up and slapped Shuizaotou a few more times and kicked him over.
The algae-headed Pavi didn't move, he just shrank himself up.
Keir comforted Mr. Pavey a little and asked him to sit on the leather chair to calm down: "Can anyone find something to drink? Let Mr. Pavey calm down."
One of the older girls stood up and said timidly that she was usually responsible for the food and drink in the store, so Keir waved his hand and asked a soldier to look at her and go to the kitchen to get something to drink.
"Continue." Kil gave the algae a light kick.
The other party then moved from the ground, sat down and whispered: "I briefly negotiated the price with the businessman, and then asked Fanny to help the drunk guy go to the second floor. The other party seemed to want the middle one. A big room. Well, my business is actually not that great. There was only one customer living on the second floor of the pub that night, so I sat for a while, then got up and went to the third floor to let the girls go back on their own."
"Is it safe for them to go back like this in the middle of the night?" Kil was a little confused.
Unexpectedly, his speech made the girls huddled next to him laugh.
Keir was a little confused, and the algae head grinned: "It's quite safe. Besides, whoever encounters them will end up being eaten dry."
Yes, these girls are not good-natured women. If they meet other men, they will have to rely on them. This algae head also has a few thugs under his command.
Although it is useless compared to those of them who add blood to their swords, it is still no problem to deal with a few young people in the town.
"continue."
"Yes. I let the girls go first and went down to the tavern on the first floor alone to order a glass of ale. I saw the tavern clerk going back and forth several times carrying hot water up to the second floor. I knew that the businessman wanted to take a bath. Originally I’m also worried about whether Fanny can get money while the other person is drunk, but it will be troublesome if the other person takes a shower and sweats out the hangover.”
Keir touched his chin: "It should have happened a while later?"
The algae head raised his head and glanced at Keir, a little surprised: "Yes, after I drank, I went to the resting place for the girls on the third floor to lie down. After Fanny succeeded, we went back together. As a result, not long after I lay down, Fang That girl Ni had blood on her hands and ran up holding a few pieces of businessman's clothing."
"What did she say?" Kil asked with his eyes wide open. Although the possibility of the other party continuing to lie cannot be ruled out, the other party's confession is still important information last night.
After all, there are only a few parties involved.
The algae head was hesitant: "She was frightened and was talking incoherently. I saw blood on her hands and thought she had a fight with the businessman over the theft. But Fanny said no, someone killed the businessman."
Um?
Guilm was confused, why did a new character appear again, but his brain felt like a cold ice cube had been hit, and his previous vague judgment was suddenly confirmed with what the algae head said.
A third person did appear and killed the businessman Shillong. I just don’t know if it was murder or an accident.
But he still glanced at the businessman Ou Luobi not far away. The guy looked shocked, and it wasn't like he was pretending.
"Talk about this carefully!" Kil said seriously.
Shui Zaotou also knew that the stakes were very important, so he nodded, and after thinking about it for a while, he continued: "I was a little panicked at the time. After all, my matter is actually a trivial matter, and I have never been involved in this kind of thing. I also let Fanny, tell me carefully."
"Fanny said that the businessman seemed to have come from a far away place, so he was tired from the journey, so she recommended that the businessman take a bath and take the opportunity to have a good rest. The man agreed and called the tavern waiter to bring some food to the house. The tub was filled with hot water. Fanny and the businessman had a brief make-out session on the bed."
"When the water was ready, the businessman paid for the tavern clerk, and then Fanny helped the man wash up, and put the clothes and other things on the bed outside the curtain. It was fine at first, but halfway through washing, there was a sound outside, The businessman was drunk and didn't take it seriously, but Fanny was a little scared and thought it was a big sewer rat crawling out of the corner of the house, so she woke up the sleepy businessman and quietly asked him to go out and have a look."
"Something happened."
"When I opened the curtain, I found that it was not a big grass rat, but a masked man in black looking for valuables in the businessman's clothes. Although Fanny was a little scared, she just hid behind the tub, but the businessman was. Very excited, Fanny said, the businessman scolded him, saying something like an army."
Kil snorted. Generally speaking, such words can scare away ordinary people.
"But the man in black didn't care. He still put the valuables in the businessman's clothes into the bag he was carrying. It seemed that the other party said something, but Fanny didn't hear it clearly. So the businessman rushed towards him to hit him, but the result was nothing. Not an opponent. Fanny didn't see what was going on, but in an instant the businessman fell to the floor."
"She was frightened and screamed. The man in black was also frightened. He grabbed the money bag and opened the door and ran away."
"Then what?" Kil asked hurriedly.
"Then Fanny saw that the other party had run away, so she immediately stepped forward to check on the merchant, but." After saying this, the algae head shrugged his shoulders and glanced at Kiel and the others, the meaning was self-evident.
If the person was still alive, Keir and the others would not have made this trip.
Keir slapped the algae head on his messy and slippery head: "Keep talking."
The algae-headed Parian swallowed his saliva and continued: "Fanny was also dazed at the time. She saw the merchant dead in a daze, but she still followed my instructions and gave some of the merchant's clothes that looked quite valuable. He picked her up, turned around and came to me. I was also shocked at the time, I didn't expect such a thing to happen. I was also panicked, so I pulled Fanny back."
"I had a feeling at the time that on the way back, yes, the guy who killed someone must be watching the two of us in the darkness of the street. I didn't dare to take a detour in the town, so I just grabbed Fanny's arm The two men fled back into the store."
Keir raised his chin towards the direction of the store door: "So you just closed the door and hid in the store with the others? What about that Fanny? Who among you is it?"
After speaking, Kil looked at the girls next to him.
But beyond his expectation, the girls shook their heads and whispered in unison: "Fanny asked the boss to arrange for her to go out and hide."
He turned to look at the algae-headed Parian: "Where is she? When did she leave?"
"I was asked to stay in a pasture outside the town. I had some connections there. We were all on my own and it was very safe. I left in the morning when the town gate opened. I asked the girls to all wear roughly the same clothes and went out to hang out. After a while, Fanny also secretly followed one of my men and slipped away among the crowd."
Mr. Pavey became happy at this time: "Although you are a waste, you can do this well. You have not disgraced the men of our Grass Rat Town."
Kil also didn't expect that this guy would specially arrange for Fanny to go out for refuge. Sure enough, Scar Parry said before that this guy looked like trash, but he was more reliable.
"Where is the specific place? This girl Fanny is an important witness. She must be found."
The algae head hesitated for a moment but still said: "It's the Jingshui Ranch on the edge of Jingshui Lake outside the town. I have a cooperative relationship with a ranch manager there, so I asked Fanny and one of my men to go there to take refuge. Wait. Come back some days.”
"Ah, Jingshui Ranch, I went there to play when I was a kid." Mr. Pavey said proudly: "Jingshui Lake is very beautiful. When the weather is calm, it is like a mirror that reflects the sky. There are often related churches organized there. The congregation held a ceremony. Just when it rained, the surface of Jingshui Lake would surge and its size would double. Otherwise, the town might have been built by the lake."
He looked at Keir: "If you want to go there and find that girl, I can help lead the way."
Keir smiled at the other party: "Then thank you for your kindness. This couldn't be better."
"It's nothing. It's not far away. I can come back just in time in the evening. With all the smoky things in the town, I have to rely on the beautiful scenery to cleanse my spirit."
He spoke words that others could not understand, sipped his drink, and talked about the beauty of Mirror Lake to Baron Guard Lubis, one of Kiel's group.
After that, Kilta then asked the algae head Parian where the clothes of the merchant Shillong that Fanny had brought back were.
The things were in Shui Zaotou's room on the second floor of the red house. A few pieces of slightly valuable clothing were stained with a small amount of blood, probably from Fanny's hands, and they were still spread out on Shui Zaotou's desk.
This thing was naturally confiscated, and then the algae head was naturally taken away. After all, he had violated the rules of the town and had to be thrown into prison. He would not be free until his cronies paid the fines.
The two soldiers carried the algae-headed Parian directly to the town prison, while Keir and his party came to a nearby restaurant.
It was noon. After running around for a while in the morning, the group of them needed to eat something.
-
There are many shops in the center of the town, all of which deal with foreign trade, and naturally there are many restaurants.
Unlike pubs where you can drink and sell food, these restaurants are specially operated for people who come and go to eat. This is also a store that only appears after the local economy and scale reach a certain level.
No one would open such a shop in a small place. After all, the farmers who farm the land cook and eat at home, and some nobles and their relatives also have their own dedicated chefs and basically do not go out to eat.
Restaurants are places where people who are not good at cooking and have a certain financial ability can eat.
Therefore, compared to the northwest province with a small population, Caoshu Town, which is located on a busy commercial road, has this kind of specialized dining place.
Like other local architectural styles, they are tall and spacious buildings built with mud bricks and wood. The sign at the door shows a large pot stewing various ingredients.
The lunch meal was paid for by the businessman Mr. Ouluobi. He kept thanking Kiel and the others, including Mr. Pavey who was dining with them.
Ouluobi paid special attention to Mr. Pawei, a close confidant of the local lord, and seemed to want to establish a relationship with him in addition to investigating the murder.
Kil noticed that Ouluobi had stuffed something into Mr. Pavey, and the man accepted it calmly.
The freshly baked soft wheat bread, paired with the delicious local stewed lamb, really whetted Keir's appetite.
A local edible grass seed powder is added to the bread. Not only is it not unpalatable, it actually tastes like grass. Moreover, there is actually stuffing in the middle of the bread. According to Mr. Pavey, it turns out to be pure white mushrooms unique to spring on wild pastures.
This small, round mushroom can only be discovered by pushing aside the covering of grass. Not only is it delicious, but after eating it, people will feel more energetic.
This led everyone to order a large plate of stewed broth with these mushrooms to try.
In addition, everyone had a large plate of stewed chunks of mutton in front of them. These sheep species, which only eat the freshest grass, have a unique taste that is not found elsewhere.
They must eat local grass to be fat and tender. Those sheep that were transported to other places by merchants lost the taste after they could not eat local grass.
Even the sheep that only ate local grass hay all the way were still a little behind when they arrived in other places.
They were all good eaters, and they didn’t mean to save some money for Ouluobi, so they all ate as much as they wanted. Among them, Kil ate the most, even though he didn’t eat it because of the monster meat. Being hungry but not hungry and not being able to eat have two different meanings.
Although he was not hungry, his stomach was empty after all, and it was not that he had eaten less in one meal, but that he had not eaten much in the past few days, so his stomach was very empty, so he ate the most, and he ate enough for two people. .
After eating, everyone discussed how to go out of town and bring back Fanny, who had been arranged by Algae Head to take refuge.
"I think you must have a fight."
Mr. Pavey leaned on his chair and said enthusiastically: "Because of the horse bandits, the ranch was built outside the town. It does not exist because of the mercy of the horse bandits. It is the power that can resist the attack of the horse bandits."
"Although it is close to the town, there are not many horse bandits coming to make trouble, but the ranch is not easy to talk to. Even if I go there with you, if you want to take people away, you will still have to fight with those herdsmen. It is inevitable."
Kiel looked at the baron's personal guard Lubis and said, "I don't plan to follow him later. "
"What?" Lubis looked at Kiel in confusion. Kiel was the leader of the team. Even though he was young, no one felt that Kiel was unable to take on this task. He had done a good job before, especially This is what the slippery and dishonest algae head Parian told him just now.
"It's no trouble to bring someone back from the ranch outside the town. It's not like you can't fight, right?"
Lubis chuckled: "Of course."
"Then I'll leave this matter to you. I plan to ask Paris again. I always feel that he has some concerns and hasn't explained some things. The same goes for Scar Parry, the tavern owner."
The two guards looked at each other: "Did they lie?"
"It's possible, but it's not important. What's really important is that I feel like they're hiding something that's hard to tell. A man, a man in black, ran into a hotel room to steal. How could he just after being discovered? , to kill people neatly?"
Keir stretched out both hands, and opened one hand up and down to make a gesture of taking something: "Stealing property."
The other hand was playing with the iron knife used to cut large pieces of mutton on the table, and then suddenly stabbed it with a clean and crisp movement: "Kill one person."
Then he raised his head and looked at everyone on the table: "Between the two, which one is more important? I don't think you don't understand, right?"
Everyone looked serious.
"Why did you kill? Was it because you were too frightened? Or was it instinctive? Did you not care? Or was it just this way?"
Kil stabbed a piece of mutton with a table knife and slowly put it into his mouth to chew. The delicious and salty juice left the corner of Kil's mouth and fell on the armor on his chest.