Chapter 29

Chapter 29

I couldn’t help back then, but perhaps this time, I could be of some small help.

“That’s how it is in the countryside. Things like that are interesting topics to country folk, so they keep talking about them over and over until even the lord’s daughter comes to know all the little details.”

“……I see.”

“Anyway, from the moment I saw the article about the missing children in the newspaper, I suspected it might be the kind of human trafficking crime I had often heard about. Of course, it’s just my personal opinion, and I may be meddling where I shouldn’t.”

Ash seemed to ponder something carefully before asking.

“Do this many children go missing whenever a human trafficking case occurs?”

“It was only seven because this is Herona. What do you think happens in the countryside, where there are more children and security is worse?”

Thanks to that, Gale’s ‘business’ was always thriving. That devil. If there were a God, He would never have allowed someone like that to remain alive all this time.

After listening to my explanation, Ash wrote something else in his notebook and nodded.

“I came to deliver the personal effects and ended up receiving some unexpected advice. I’m thinking of sending someone to check the case files at the local police departments today. Are there any areas you would recommend?”

“……Enserf, Schroeder, Turner. I think those three should be enough.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll be on my way.”

He really seemed intent on acting immediately, as he left his seat somewhat hurriedly.

Watching his retreating figure, I tightly gripped the handkerchief in my hand.

It was a world where things like God and justice were dead, but I still hoped that my earnest wish could somehow become a force and help that man with his investigation.

***

After returning to the police station, Ash immediately instructed Louis to go to Schroeder and Turner. Enserf would be worth checking as well, but with time pressing, he thought it would be better to at least examine the case files from the geographically closer areas first.

“Copy the case files on child kidnappings and human trafficking from those places and bring them back. I mean things like the methods, the process, the buyers, rather than trivial details. You need to be back by tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir! But how did you think to look into those places?”

“……Indeed. How did I know?”

Louis tilted his head in puzzlement, but he did not ask any further questions and immediately packed a simple bag before heading for the train station.

In the meantime, Ash met the parents of the missing children one by one.

If one of them had been the kind of person who sold their child, he would have obtained a clue to solving the case, but fortunately or unfortunately, there was no such person.

However, testimonies that strengthened the suspicion of kidnapping continued to emerge.

“I only told Teresa to buy some bread from the bakery near our house. There was absolutely no reason for her to go near that dangerous river!”

“The last thing she did was leave, saying she was going to get some more sandbags from her uncle’s house in case the water overflowed. Sob…….”

“Our Elia is afraid of water! There’s no way she would have gone near the river on a day when the water was rising, especially when she never goes there normally!”

All the children had disappeared near their homes, or more precisely, somewhere in poor neighborhoods.

There was no reason for them to go near the river for them to have been swept away by it.

However, the problem was that there were as many as three witnesses who claimed to have seen the missing children around the Timber River.

‘There’s definitely something connected to this case around the Timber River.’

By the time he had finished seven interviews and meticulously organized every detail of their contents, Louis returned with a tired look on his face.

“Inspector! You were right. Wow, there are so many cases like this in the countryside!”

He handed Ash summaries of the case files he had brought from Schroeder and Turner.

After looking through the contents, Ash was appalled.

“A human trafficking organization entered an area all at once and snatched up children wherever they could find them? In broad daylight, no less? Does that even make sense?”

“If a criminal organization sets its mind to carrying something out, the police force of a small rural town simply can’t catch them. They say the only way to prevent it is for the local residents to be careful themselves.”

“Then where did all these children disappear to?”

“In the worst cases, they’re sold as playthings to perverted nobles, while bars and labor camps are considered the better alternatives. There have even been cases where some criminals were arrested thanks to children who escaped from those places.”

His breath caught in his throat.

He felt disgusted with himself for having viewed the case so dryly.

Lives that had not even had the chance to bloom were being trampled under the greed and base desires of filthy people, and did the royal family even know about this?

“We have to find the children somehow.”

Such a sense of duty ran down Ash’s spine.

Perhaps sensing his grim determination, Louis also took off his outer coat, hung it up, and threw himself into the work.

They examined the contents of the case files and discussed how the human trafficking organization might have hidden and smuggled the children away. They continued their deductions, voicing whatever came to mind, including the criminals’ movements, means of transportation, and places where they might have confined the children.

“The common factor is that all the kidnappings took place within a short period. At most, it took them five days from entering the area to leaving it.”

“But entering and leaving Herona isn’t as easy as it is in the countryside. We’ve already distributed the children’s composite sketches at the checkpoints, but we still haven’t received any significant reports.”

“If they put their minds to it, there’s nothing they can’t do. But there’s still a high probability that they’re in Herona.”

Even as they talked, he was growing anxious. He could not stop thinking that something might be happening to the children even at that very moment.

“Honestly, I don’t even have a clue where to start. But anyway, starting around the Timber River…….”

As they were talking, Louis suddenly widened his eyes as he looked behind Ash. At the same time, a familiar voice came from behind him.

“Inspector McCallen, are you perhaps busy?”

Even though the surroundings were noisy, that voice immediately seized his attention. When he turned his head, he saw a neatly dressed woman standing there with a large paper bag in her hands.

“Miss Rosalyn……? What brings you here…….”

It was so unexpected that the words did not come out properly.

But Rosalyn calmly smiled and placed the bag, from which the fragrant smell of bread wafted, on his desk.

When he gave her a questioning look, she took the handkerchief he had lent her from inside her clothes and held it out to him.

“I came to return this. And in the Tessis household, when you return something you borrowed, you give a small gift along with it, so that’s common sense that applies in Herona as well, right?”

“That seems rather excessive for the price of borrowing nothing more than a handkerchief.”

“I’m glad you think it’s excessive. In fact, it’s only large in size; it isn’t expensive. You know my financial situation.”

The way her eyes curved into a smile was truly enigmatic.

It felt too plain to be the kind of eye-smile meant to entice a man, and yet it seemed to carry a little too much intention to be called innocent…….

But to be honest, regardless of her reason for coming, he was glad to see her. It was almost like a change of pace.

Ash dragged over a spare chair and placed it beside him.

“Please, have a seat. You’ve come all this way as my guest, so at least let me offer you a cup of coffee.”

“Ah, no! Not coffee…… I think water would be enough.”

“Good choice. The coffee here is actually rather difficult to satisfy noble ladies with.”

He even mixed in a joke for no reason and kept her there, but Rosalyn did not seem to have intended to leave right away either. The fact that she willingly chose to remain amid the commotion suggested as much.

Ash opened the bag Rosalyn had brought, took out the bread inside, and handed some around to those nearby, including Louis, before taking a large bite himself. Of course, he had offered one to Rosalyn first as well.

The three of them chewed the bread, which had been baked until its surface was crisp, and remained silent for a while.

‘By now, that woman must have read through the contents on the corkboard at least roughly.’

Ash had deliberately left her gaze, which was sweeping over the wall behind him, alone. He finished chewing the last piece of bread, swallowed it with cold coffee, and then spoke.

“What do you think?”

“Pardon? About what?”

“The places where the children disappeared and the places where they were last seen are different. I can come up with several assumptions as to why, but it’s difficult to narrow it down to one.”

Perhaps she had not expected him to ask for her opinion, because Rosalyn looked at him with slight surprise.

But soon, she looked back at the corkboard and said,

“I heard that what human traffickers consider most important is ‘speed.’ They have to strike quickly and disappear quickly so they don’t leave a trail.”

“That seems to be the case.”

“The next important thing is ‘timing.’ A situation in which they can carry out their work as quickly as possible without attracting attention.”

Ash nodded to indicate that she should continue, and Rosalyn hesitated but did not stop.

“As you probably know if you’ve look

ed at the details of the kidnapping cases in the countryside, those people especially often take advantage of bad weather. It’s easier to avoid people’s eyes then.”