Arriving in front of the carriage, Stein opened the door and asked.
“Are you going back to the Ministry of Justice?”
“No, I’m going to the bar the Countess Coachman was talking about.”
“I am going with you.”
The carriage stopped shortly after departure.
< Lawson Tavern>
It was a remote place with no people, so it was easy to find the tavern because there were only a few locations to halt along the road.
It is about a ten-minute walk from the bar to the entrance of the hiking trail, and from the entrance of the trail to the cabin is about 20 and 30 minutes.
It was within walking distance enough, and it seemed that the culprit could go unnoticed by anyone taking advantage of the darkness of the night.
As we entered the bar, the bar owner, who thought Stein was a young lover who doesn’t show up often in places like this, sighed and asked him.
“What can I give you? Here are some good things where you can see the in broad daylight, so just tell me.”
I held up my identity card without answering.
It was a situation that many had experienced in the Linton Empire, where female investigators were rare.
“I’m an investigator from the Kildea Police Department. I have a question for you, so answer it correctly.”
“Yes? Yes!”
I asked the bar owner, who nodded his head in surprise at the identity card.
“It was said that around 9:30 the night before, a blond man about 180 centimeters tall came here. Can you remember?”
“That’s right, the seniors from the police department have already asked. What kind of earl has come? No matter how much I thought about it, I answered no because I had never met such a precious person. When I think back on it, a strange guest came.”
“A strange guest?”
“Yes, indeed! A tall man arrived wearing a hoodie. He was obviously a blonde. Anyway, someone like that showed up. And I told him to take a seat in a corner and asked if he wanted to get a beer. He nodded, and I delivered it to him, but he didn’t even drink it and went away, leaving only the money in his seat.”
“wearing a hood?”
“Yes!”
“How long did he stay out here?”
“He wouldn’t have been there for even five minutes. Strangely, many customers ordered alcohol that day and didn’t drink, so I thought the taste of alcohol was bad.
At the bar owner’s words, I got up and walked to the corner seat where the earl was sitting, then stopped but turned around at the owner’s following words.
“Is there another customer who didn’t drink?”
“Yeah, that day, around 8 o’clock. A man wearing a hat came in, ordered a drink, sat down, and left.”
“What does that person look like? What’s his hair color?”
“I couldn’t even see his face properly because a hat covered it. I can’t remember anything but that he was also wearing a long cloak. At that time, I was so busy that why it was out of my mind. Because the hunters who went hiking came flocking. “
“How long did he stayed?”
“About thirty minutes or so?“
I meticulously wrote down the words of the bar owner in my notebook.
Someone left around an hour and a half before the count—a suspicious-looking man in a thick hat.
Did the Count decide to meet someone secretly?
So why did he come to such a remote place?
If that was the case, what would happen in the time gap of 30 minutes?
Biting the tip of the pen, pondering, I sighed and closed the notebook.
“The Police Department will call you soon. Think carefully if there is anything else you can remember.”
“Yes, investigator.”
I looked around the corner where a man in a hood, believed to be the Count, was sitting, but there was nothing particularly suspicious.
If what the bar owner said was true, the Count came here, sat down for a while, and then headed somewhere.
Was he heading to the cabin in the mountainside? Then why did you stop by here? He can go to the cabin from the beginning.
Wearing a hood on it means that the Count doesn’t want to show his face, so why bother? As I stood in front of the carriage, biting the back of the pen and walking blankly, Stein opened the carriage door again this time.
“Oh, thank you, Mr. Stein.”
“It’s my job.”
“I don’t think so. By the way, Mr. Stein. When the Earl of Dundres left the palace, was he wearing a hood?”
“Yes, he was walking out of the palace in a black robe with a hat on it. “
“Does the Count usually cover his face?”
“No. Your Majesty liked the Count’s face.”
“Then why did he wear a hood that day?”
“Well. Maybe he didn’t want to be seen with the person he was supposed to meet here?”
“Who do you think the Count must have come here to see?”
“There is no other reason for him to come to this remote place.”
I nodded at Stein’s response.
On further examination, the bar was certainly not a place for high-ranking aristocrats to take the time to stop by.
The smell of cheap alcohol vibrated from the entrance, so I seemed to understand why he didn’t drink the alcohol that was served.
If the Count didn’t come to the bar to drink, he was probably here to meet someone.
In a remote place, he was avoiding the eyes of others. Who was the person the Count trying to meet?