TL Note: The chapters will be unedited from now on. But don’t worry, except for some mistakes with the Devil, there are almost no mistakes.
## Chapter 49: Locked Up
Arthur sat in his office at the precinct, the investigation report he had just received from the Duke of Sussex laid out before him.
According to the report, there were currently forty-five known missing persons.
Forty-five people, it seemed like a lot.
But when compared to the total population of St. Giles parish, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
According to the Home Office documents, St. Giles parish, the notorious slum in the heart of bustling West London, had between 5,500 and 6,000 houses. The average number of residents per house was an astonishing seven.
In the most chaotic, rat-infested areas of St. Giles, this number could even be as high as eighteen per house.
This meant that in this ancient parish, known as the haven for criminal goods and the best hiding place, at least seventy thousand London poor people were crammed together.
In any other well-governed parish, the disappearance of forty-five people would have been front-page news.
But in St. Giles, it wasn’t even a ripple. The streets were narrow and crowded, even the brightest avenues were dimmer than the alleys near Trafalgar Square.
Once you entered this parish, you would see illegal extensions on the roofs everywhere. And in the deepest parts of the streets, you never knew what awaited you. Even the bravest Scotland Yard police officers were reluctant to venture into this area at night.
In fact, when Scotland Yard was first established, they had carried out a large-scale clean-up operation in St. Giles. But the result of increased patrols was thirteen attacks on police officers in a month, one of whom nearly lost his life due to an assault by a group of thugs.
Since then, the superintendent in charge of St. Giles had ordered a relaxation of control over the area, with only two routine patrols conducted during the day, and these patrols had to be carried out by a group of three or more officers.
Arthur looked at the report in his hand and muttered to himself, “Such a big case, and it can go unnoticed. Only St. Giles can do that in West London. But this missing persons list seems a bit strange.”
“Oh! This is my favorite kind of puzzle.
Tsk, tsk, Arthur, this one isn’t easily solved. You have to consider a lot of factors.
If you get any of them wrong, even by a hair’s breadth, you’ll be miles off.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow and asked, “You’ve figured it out?”
“Of course.”
Arthur saw through the devil’s language trap in an instant. He crossed his arms behind his head, leaned back in his chair, and tapped his foot as he said, “One need? Not even a soul. Agareus, you’re asking for the moon. But it doesn’t matter what price you set, I’m not going to fulfill it anyway.”
The red devil’s left eye instantly widened like a two-meter-tall clock. His bloodshot pupils almost jumped over the desk and landed on Arthur’s nose.
“Hey! Arthur, you son of a bitch! I didn’t say I wouldn’t negotiate.”
“I’m sorry. Even doing business with a devil like you, I don’t like to do it on credit.”
Arthur held a white porcelain teacup in one hand and the documents in the other, examining them repeatedly. He finally managed to draw some conclusions.
Although the ages of the missing persons ranged from six or seven years old to forty or fifty years old, their distribution was extremely wide and completely random.
But strangely, the gender distribution of the missing persons was extremely peculiar. There were thirty-six men and only nine women.
Of the nine missing women, eight had disappeared after being released from prison.
Only one woman had actually disappeared from the streets.
As for the missing men, twenty-four had disappeared from prison and twelve from the streets, with a more even distribution overall.
Of course, these statistical regularities may not be entirely reliable.
After all, this was only the number of missing persons known to the Duke of Sussex, not necessarily all of the missing data.
However, the prison escapees should be relatively reliable. Because the information on these missing prison inmates could be cross-checked against the relevant archives of the Home Office, Scotland Yard, and the London area’s治安法庭 (legal courts) over this period.
As for the street disappearances, it was hard to say.
To get the real conclusion, you would probably need to find a few people familiar with St. Giles to do some in-depth investigation.
And the reason why he was waiting in his office today was precisely to wait for someone familiar with St. Giles.
Arthur was pondering this when he suddenly heard a fierce argument outside the door.
“Damn it! What right do you have to arrest me? I was just going to the store to buy something! I didn’t steal or rob anything, so you better let me go back!”
“You dare to argue back? You call that buying something? If you keep shouting, I’ll give you a taste of my truncheon!”
Arthur knew immediately that the person outside the door must be Tony.
As he opened the door, he saw Officer Tony raising his truncheon, ready to strike a handcuffed suspect.
Arthur quickly stopped him, “Tony, what are you doing?”
The suspect, seeing the Order of the Bath star on Arthur’s shoulder, quickly scrambled behind him and hid.
He shouted, “Officer, I want to report your subordinate for unlawful arrest of a good citizen!”
Arthur frowned and asked, “What’s going on here?”
Tony was so angry that his face was red and his neck was thick. He huffed and puffed, “Arthur, don’t listen to this dog’s bullshit. This guy is a criminal, I was nearby when the crime happened, the victim ran out for help, I responded immediately, he can’t escape.”
“What did he do?”
Tony was speechless for a moment, so angry he could barely speak, “Let him tell you himself!”
Arthur turned to the suspect and asked, “What did you do?”
The suspect looked innocent, “Officer, I was just going to the store to buy something. I wanted to buy some food for my dog, but the shopkeeper thought I was a thief or a robber because I was poorly dressed and dirty. She insisted I bring my dog over before she would sell me anything.”
“Did you bring him over?”
“Of course, I had to bring him over, even if it was to prove I could afford to have a dog! But the next day, I went to buy food for my cat, and she demanded that I bring the cat over too.”
“Did you bring him over?”
“Of course! I’m a good-natured, law-abiding citizen!”
Arthur scratched his head in confusion, “Tony, that’s all pretty normal, why did you arrest him?”
Tony’s eyes widened in anger, “It was normal the first two days, but this guy bought toilet paper today!”
“Lock him up, lock him up. Lock him up first. When Tom gets here, you two come to my office.”
“Hey hey hey! Officer, officer! I’m innocent! I’m innocent!”
Officer Tony was furious when he heard the suspect still daring to plead innocence. He went up to him and gave him a whack with his truncheon, “Be quiet! Damn it, who told you to take off your pants and shit in the store! Lock you up for three days, give you some time to cool down!”
(End of Chapter)