But he obviously didn't have that talent. He thought of a lot of possibilities and ended up confusing himself.
"Continue with what happened to the Baines family."
Hitzfeld turned back.
At this moment, Liszt suddenly had a feeling: this seemingly delicate girl also had such a majestic side.
“I don’t know many details about what really happened.” Old Luke swallowed.
"When I arrived, the house was already burned beyond recognition. They dug out three charred bodies inside, a man, a woman, and a child. They were just enough to fight the three of them."
"So it was arson?"
"I'm not sure... Some say it was arson, others say they were taking a nap and the brazier set the straw on fire. After all these years, there's no way to be sure."
"Did anyone say monster?"
"monster?"
"Yeah." Hitzfeld nodded his chin.
"A huge monster that spews acid and fire."
Old Luke was stunned for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "I... I have never heard of such a saying, really, I swear I am not lying - there is not even any footprint of any wild animal nearby!"
Next to him, Ethan, who was recording, frowned again.
"Last question."
Hitzfeld smiled.
"Has there ever been a conflict between the Baines family and the Gralant Manor?"
"conflict……"
"Anything you feel is wrong, possible, even if it is speculation, you can say it."
"I..." Old Luke hesitated. He kept rubbing his fingers with both hands and glancing at the window with his little eyes.
Liszt rushed to the window, opened it and looked, then turned back and said, "No one is outside."
"I...you must not spread what I said." The old man was still a little scared.
"I promise." The girl said seriously.
"Ok."
After hesitating for a while, Old Luke finally spoke.
"There was no conflict on the surface. No one saw it. They got along well with everyone."
"But secretly...I once heard people in the manor arguing with them."
"What are you arguing about?"
"It seems that the meat was not fresh? I can't remember clearly... I really can't remember clearly... It happened too long ago... I just vaguely remember that this happened, I'm not sure if I remembered it wrong..."
"so."
Hitzfeld's reaction was difficult for Lister, who had been paying attention to her.
She closed her right eye, exhaled a heavy breath from her chest, and the corners of her mouth slightly curled up for a short time.
When the right eye opened again, perhaps it was an illusion, Liszt felt it was clearer.
Clear, pure.
Even his eyebrows relaxed a little, and the sadness and annoyance that had been lingering on his brows seemed to be swept away.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
She stood up.
"If there is any progress, we will try to inform you as soon as possible."
After leaving the wooden house, the group rode back on horseback.
On the way, Liszt finally couldn't hold back and asked the question that he was most puzzled about.
"Why did you lie to them and tell them that Luke was still alive?"
He didn't figure out the other doubts, so he didn't comment.
But he thought this was too bizarre, because Luke had been missing for such a long time, and it looked like he was in grave danger no matter how you looked at it.
"Because I don't want to see another murder here in the near future."
Hitzfeld didn't want to elaborate on this issue.
"Sometimes people just rely on that little bit of hope to survive."
"Besides, we really have no evidence."
Chapter 37: Damaged Files
Liszt had a gloomy face until he accompanied them back to the shore of Tonks Lake.
"Sheriff." It was Hitzfeld who woke him up again, "I need your help with something."
"what's up?"
"It's still about the Baines family. You know... After all, it's just an old man's oral statement. It's possible that he made mistakes or missed something. What we need to do is to eliminate those uncertain and vague elements as much as possible, so I need accurate archival materials."
"You mean the archives?" Liszt immediately realized. "No problem - I'll go back and look for it tonight. I'll look for it overnight and send it to you tomorrow morning!"
"Don't be so anxious." Hitzfeld shook his head. "You can send someone to watch over the archives first to prevent any more accidents."
"What accident do you mean...?"
"Just do it."
After sending Liszt away, Ethan asked her as they went upstairs, "Did you find any clues?"
"That's right." Hitzfeld smiled at him, "And it's not something that simple, it may be a very important clue."
"But I can't see anything." Ethan touched his chin, "Except when you asked me where the Baines family was more likely to be from, I thought that they might have a special motive for coming to Green Town... But the logic here is contradictory, I don't understand it."
Pim Baines and Tina Baines were a couple of hunters. They were young and highly skilled, so they shouldn't have thought about retirement so early, but they came to Green Town to settle down and even had a child for the first time.
This was the first thing that made him feel conflicted.
Following this line of thought, if we believe that they came to Green Town with special motives and purposes, then it indirectly proves that they might have come to track down some kind of wild beast.
Perhaps they heard some vague legends in some tavern, but they decided to come here and actually settled down.
What does this mean? It should mean that they are sure that there are some special beasts nearby.
Otherwise, they would have no reason to do this, right? Hunters never stay too long in a place without prey. They do this to prove that there is prey here.
But in this way, Duke Gran's statement, which Ethan had always deeply doubted - that there were evil dragon blood species nearby, was confirmed.
This is another contradiction. If there really were evil dragon blood species nearby, and if there really were such dangerous beasts, why did the residents of the town know nothing about it for so many years?
Not only Sheriff Lister, who had only been in town a few years, said he had never seen it.
Even Old Luke, who has lived for more than half a century, has never seen such a thing.
This is not logical. Even if you have never encountered it, you should at least have found the monster's fur, footprints, or even the leftover animal carcasses.
Not even the slightest trace was found, which meant that these monsters did not exist. Ethan therefore suspected that Duke Gran was lying.
But now he wasn't sure.
There were so many contradictions in this case that he felt like he was facing a huge, tangled ball of wool and had no idea where to start.
But Hitzfeld was able to find a point of entry and find important clues.
This made Ethan sigh again.
Maybe she is really suitable for this job.
"Can you tell me about your ideas?" What followed was a strong interest aroused.
He was really curious about what Hitzfeld had discovered.
"Do you really want to know?" The girl glanced at him.
Only in such occasional moments would she reveal some of the playfulness and romance of a young girl.
Ethan nodded vigorously, and then the girl pulled him in close to whisper something, with a huge shock on his face: "This is simply... Are you sure this is the case?"
"Not sure." Hitzfeld certainly didn't dare to guarantee it, "But it looks very similar, doesn't it? All the clues are pointing in this direction. What's missing now is just the key evidence."
"Let me slow down..." Ethan rubbed his temples, slowed down his pace, and finally leaned against the wall to think.
"I really want to refute you, because your reasoning is actually... a bit barbaric, at least it is very outrageous in its early stages, and lacks a lot of evidence to support it... But it is indeed, too brilliant... I really hope it is correct..."
"Lack? I don't think so." Hitzfeld immediately refuted him, "You think so because you just happened to ignore the most important evidence - why are we given special treatment?"
"Huh!?" Ethan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly startled.
"It seems you've realized it." The girl looked at him with a smile, "You've realized it's a scam."
"But Hitzfeld, then wouldn't the body be——"
Ethan's face flushed with excitement, and he even began to gesture to her with his hands: "Then should we - oh no, we are still missing a lot of key evidence."
His experience helped him regain his composure quickly, and he began to frown again: "Yes, some judgments cannot be truly confirmed for the time being, such as Pim Baines' ability. And where is Eugenie now..."
"You should have an idea, right? Hitzfeld?" He stared at the gray-haired girl, his eyes full of excitement and anticipation. "You have a plan - right?"
"Indeed, there is." Hitzfeld smiled again, "and it has already been implemented."
"Already? Are you sure about Liszt——"
"Ah, I need a megaphone to prove that this interval is correct. After all, it feels terrible to always be led by the nose by others."
"So...you're so cunning!"
"I took it as a compliment."
"What praise, what praise?"
The two were talking happily when Darent's head suddenly popped out from the corner.
"Did you bring me anything to eat?"
"No."
Hitzfeld and Ethan shook their heads.
"How cruel," Darent said dryly.
Then he jumped from one end to the other like an actor in a play, pulled out his pocket watch and shouted into the air: "Oh my God, look at the time now! Don't you know that plants also need watering?"
"You should go work part-time in the circus, Maps."
"And you mock me—how sad!"
"Mr. Tonks is not asleep. I saw him when I just came up." Hitzfeld frowned. "He is a good cook. Why don't you ask him to make you something to eat?"
“Because I don’t have time.”
"You're not free?"
“No time.”
After a detailed explanation, they finally understood what this meant - it turned out that a large group of people including the train staff, the entire crew and the conductor, came to visit Jelly, and Tonks had used all her energy to entertain these people.
"According to Tonks, they have been coming here intermittently. But you asked him to watch them, so he only let the conductor Boris and Donmon in."
Darent said.
"Come to think of it." Ethan frowned, "It seems that Lister was in charge of the interrogation of these people."
"Yes." Darent nodded, "But I've also been keeping an eye on it - don't worry, there's no problem with the process. If you don't believe me, I have the full set of transcripts."
"You're finally of some use, Maps."
"You're so rude! I'm the one who came up with a lot of these ideas!"
"Then do me another small favor." Hitzfeld stared at him with a smile.
"What's the deal?"
"Come on the train tomorrow and help me find some things."
