359
Friday afternoon, outside a luxurious room filled with all manner of antiques in Red Rose Manor.
Klein stood at the door, questioning the sixth maid he had encountered that day.
The young maid wore a black-and-white servant's dress characteristic of the era. She was pretty and in the bloom of youth, her naturally curly brown hair lending her a slightly impish air.
After talking for a while, Klein smiled. "You seem to know more than the servants before you. You even know to call me Detective Moriarty."
The maid glanced to either side, then spoke with a smile. "That's because I take turns attending to that young lady. She's always wanted to meet you, Detective Moriarty. After all, she was good friends with Mr. Talim and cares a great deal about his death."
"Unfortunately, she keeps missing you."
"Keeps?" Klein was extremely sensitive to words such as "keeps," "coincidentally," and "miss."
The maid nodded earnestly.
"The first time His Highness invited you here, she deliberately lost her temper, hoping to take the opportunity to meet you while going downstairs for a walk. Who knew you would leave in such a hurry?"
"After that, she volunteered to lay flowers at Mr. Talim's grave on His Highness's behalf, but she couldn't find you because she didn't know what you looked like."
"And today, she happens to have gone riding at the golf course out back to clear her head. Otherwise, even if the butler forbade it, she would find a way to meet you."
What a coincidence... Just as that thought occurred to Klein, he suddenly grasped a crucial point:
On the day of Talim's funeral, the person who had laid flowers on the prince's behalf was the commoner woman he loved!
And the person who had drawn Klein's attention most