shadow of britain

Chapter 483 Victor's Big Order

Today, the Breock Detective Agency is much busier than usual. This newly established detective agency often receives only a few customers a day, but today it is packed with people.

The bank manager and the goldsmith shop owner on the first floor looked angrily at the crowd that filled the corridor and the carriages that blocked the door. Their faces became gloomy. They were planning to go upstairs to have a good argument with Victor. If this situation continued, Victor's detective agency would have endless work, but their banking business and gold and silver jewelry business would definitely be affected.

The bank manager and the goldsmith squeezed out of the crowded corridor. However, just as they were about to go in and point their fingers at Victor's nose and curse him, they suddenly discovered that the guests visiting the detective agency today seemed to be of extraordinary status.

A dark black uniform with brass buttons, knee-high riding boots, a flat-top Kepi military cap with a brim, and a distinctive and eye-catching badge on the cap, plus handcuffs and a whistle on the waist.

With this attire, a true old Parisian can tell what they do at a glance.

These guys are not easy to mess with!

As expected, before the bank manager and Jin Jiang could speak, the police chief guarding the door glared at them fiercely: "What are you doing? You are in such a hurry to rush in, are you a royalist? Why don't you come with us to the police station to have a talk?"

The bank manager and the goldsmith were so frightened that they broke out in a sweat. They took off their hats and said with a smile, "It turns out that this is a public case. We thought that some villains had come to cause trouble and surrounded Mr. Victor's office, so we planned to come up to help."

"Get out of here if you have nothing to do! We haven't slept well for days in order to catch the assassin. If you stay here any longer, I will take you two back to report!"

Upon hearing this, the bank manager and the goldsmith fled the scene as if they had been pardoned.

The police chief glanced at the direction they left, lit up his cigarette, took a puff, and ordered his men, "Send two people to follow them. Although such cowards would not dare to mix with the royalists, we should be prepared for the worst. If they are indeed here to gather intelligence for the royalists, we will be derelict in our duty."

"Understood, boss."

After receiving the order, the young policeman hurriedly exchanged coats with his plainclothes companion and went downstairs in small steps.

When the police chief saw the young policeman walking away, he winked at the old man leaning against the wall.

Seeing this, the old policeman let out a rather unsatisfied sigh: "Are you still worried about this guy? Do you think he might be an undercover agent?"

"Who can tell the truth about this?" The police chief muttered, "We have been investigating for several days, but in fact, all we have arrested are a bunch of insignificant guys. The real assassin is still at large. If the royalists don't have an insider, I don't believe anything they say."

"Okay." The old policeman rubbed his face and said, "I pray to God that this guy is really a spy of the royalists. If we can't find any clues in this case, our Greater Paris Police Department will probably be turned upside down by Chief Risoke."

"Rudy, stop talking nonsense. Do you think I'm having an easy time these days? It's me, not you, who has to face the pressure from Director Risoke. Go now!"

The old policeman named Rudy was scolded by his boss. He could only curl his lips slightly and then walked downstairs without saying anything.

As soon as Rudy reached the first floor, he saw an English gentleman with a cane standing outside the door, looking at the armed carriage of the Greater Paris Police.

Arthur saw his uniform and couldn't help but laugh and said, "There's a big difference between the police uniforms in Paris and London."

The depressed Rudy casually responded, "It's not just the uniforms that are different. I heard from colleagues who have been to London that the most common task performed by London police is not to catch thieves or subdue robbers, but to give people directions. Their work is much easier than ours."

Arthur smiled and asked, "Excuse me, do you know how to get to Breoak Detective Agency?"

Rudy snorted when he heard that, and he turned and walked away: "Paris police don't provide directions. Sir, if you want to go somewhere, I suggest you ask in London before coming to Paris."

Arthur looked at Rudy who was walking away, shrugged and said, "Now I finally understand why the Paris police have such a bad reputation."

Arthur went upstairs, but was stopped by a policeman at the stairs before he entered the house.

Before he could explain why he was there, the other party ordered him to leave.

"Sir, please go back. The firm doesn't have time to receive other clients today."

Arthur took off his hat and said, "I think you may have misunderstood. I'm not a customer. I'm here to work."

"Oh?"

The policeman glanced at Arthur's attire and said, "You are wearing something so conspicuous and walk like a peacock with its tail spread out. Yet you tell me that you are not a butt seller but a detective? Ha! Although Victor has been away from the security department for almost a year, I didn't expect that his recruitment criteria are still as humorous as ever."

Arthur was not annoyed when he heard this, but just smiled and replied: "Mr. Policeman, it seems that you are not observing carefully. The guys who really make a living by selling their butts usually dress very decently. If they are seen through at a glance, the only thing waiting for them is the guillotine."

The policeman sneered: "Really? It seems that you know them well. What clothes do they usually wear when you visit them?"

"They're not wearing anything special." Arthur raised an eyebrow. "They usually wear something similar to what you're wearing."

The policeman was stunned at first, then he grabbed Arthur by the collar, pointed at his nose and cursed: "Boy, do you think that no one can control you if you follow Victor? I tell you, let alone now, even if Victor is still in the security department, his subordinates would not dare to talk to me like this!"

Arthur curled his lips helplessly and shook his head slightly, saying, "Sir, you'd better take back your expression now. When you talk like this, it always reminds me of my old boss."

"Your old boss?"

"Yes, I haven't seen him for a few years. Although I don't know exactly where he went, I guess he is probably sinking at the bottom of the Thames now."

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, the policeman felt a sharp pain in his stomach.

Immediately afterwards, the world spun around and he flew backwards, slamming into the door of the office.

Arthur put his hat back on and smoothed his wrinkled collar. "You look about the same age as Willocks. Don't tell me you fought in the Battle of Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington and Napoleon were both great men of their time, but their subordinates were truly talented."

The commotion outside the office soon attracted attention. The door of the office was pushed open, and the face of Henri Rissocquet, Chief of Paris Police, appeared behind the door.

He glanced at his men who were lying on the ground, holding their stomachs and not saying a word, and asked with a dark face and frowned, "What are you doing?"

Victor followed him out. He glanced at his old enemy lying on the ground, and then at Arthur who was fixing his clothes at the stairs. The detective immediately understood what had just happened. He smiled and said, "It seems that Colebour had just exchanged some fighting skills between British and French policemen with Arthur, but he didn't get any advantage."

Risoke understood the hidden meaning of Vidocq's words. He glanced at his disappointing subordinates, took off his hat and said hello to Arthur: "Sir, if you have time, you can come to Jerusalem and tell us about the police fighting techniques in London. I heard from Vidocq before that you are a master of Fiore style swordsmanship and have defeated Mr. Bertrand?"

Arthur said modestly, "It was just luck. Mr. Bertrand valued our friendship so much that he couldn't bear to kill me. But if you don't mind, I would like to visit the office environment of the Greater Paris Police Headquarters."

"Then we've settled."

Risoke said goodbye, "Goodbye, Sir."

Arthur stood by the door and watched Risoke and his group go away. When he could no longer see their shadows, he turned his head and asked, "Mr. Risoke has entrusted the royalist case to you? If he had known this, why would he force you to retire?"

Victor leaned against the door frame with his arms folded: "This is a different time. Come in and talk."

At this time, there were not only the two young girls in charge of receiving customers sitting in the office, but Dumas and Heine were also here for some reason.

"What are you two doing here?"

Dumas was describing his new work to Heine in vivid detail, his eyes sparkling with excitement, and the cigar in his hand was flying up and down with his gestures. Arthur was afraid that the falling ash would burn a big hole in Victor's newly bought Turkish carpet.

Dumas saw Arthur and said excitedly: "Why am I here? Arthur, do you know? I am conceiving a new script about assassins and secret organizations. I came here to find ideas."

"Assassins and secret societies?"

Arthur sat on the sofa and poured a cup of coffee. "The story of the Assassins and the Templars fighting for the Golden Apple? Starting from Florence, then to France, then to Britain and America? Come on, don't you French guys have any new ideas? I'm tired of it."

"Golden Apple? The Knights Templar? From Florence to France?"

Dumas waved his hand and said, "Arthur, you have a great imagination. But that's not what I want to write about. I want to write a story that extends from the Great Revolution to the present day. It involves the Republicans, the Royalists, and the Bonapartists."

"That's great." Arthur crossed his legs and leaned back on the sofa. "You chose to write this kind of thing when Louis Philippe was assassinated. I think your play will probably not be able to be shown."

"Not most of the time, but one hundred percent."

Heine, who was writing something in a notebook, said without looking up: "Hugo's new play was rejected just because it was suspected of involving Louis Philippe. Alexander has no chance of passing the censorship. If he insists on performing on stage, it can only be in London. Paris is absolutely impossible."

Arthur stared at Heine's quill as it was writing. "So what are you writing about? Are you planning to follow in Alexander's footsteps and stop being a poet and become a playwright?"

"That's not true."

Heine put the quill back into his pocket. "Alexander just told me about Liszt's behavior when he attended the dinner at the Kedossai Residence that night. I'll write it down first, and then I'll process it in depth and write another special topic on Liszt in the Constitutional Newspaper."

"Do you really have to make things difficult for him?"

"It's not that I'm against him, it's that he's against me."

Heine emphasized: "Arthur, don't forget that the scoundrel has not shown any intention of paying me back until now."

"Ok."

Arthur also knew that it would be fruitless to argue with the great poet. If he pissed him off, he might write a long article about Arthur in a couple of days.

However, Heine's existence fully illustrates one thing - talented people can make a living in any era.

Even though poetry is no longer popular after hundreds of years, Heine can still make waves in the entertainment news section just by relying on his ability to process negative information.

Victor took out a plate of snacks from the cupboard and placed it on the coffee table. "Let's not talk about the new play and Liszt for now. Risoke came to see me just now because of the assassination. The assassin we caught that day, although the Greater Paris Police Department publicized that he was the murderer behind the scenes, they found out after investigating for the past two days that he was just an ordinary street thug, not a royalist at all.

Although we cannot rule out the possibility that he was paid to do something for the royalists, we can now confirm that he only had a single line of contact with the royalists at most, and he did not know who planned the murder. Risoke investigated for several days without any clues, and the Minister of Police was furious about this. He could not stand the pressure, so he found me. "

Arthur held up his coffee cup and asked, "So you're planning to make peace with him and take this order?"

Victor shook his head and said, "Brother, you don't understand. Paris is different from London. In London, you may be able to live your life behind closed doors if you offend Scotland Yard, but if you offend the Greater Paris Police in Paris, you can't expect to live in peace. Especially since I'm a detective, if they didn't make concessions for me, many of the methods I use can be considered criminal acts. Risoke needs me for help, so I have to help him solve it."

Arthur did not respond immediately but paused for a moment.

He understood what Vidocq meant.

Normally, Victor would not tell anyone about this kind of work, but since he did, he must want to get Arthur to join him.

On the one hand, it was because of Arthur's record at Scotland Yard.

On the other hand, it was because Arthur was the last guy to pick up the Royalist assassin that night.

If Victor is unable to conduct a large-scale investigation, then he can only start with Arthur. It can even be said that the accuracy of the information provided by Arthur will largely determine whether the case can be solved.

But the problem was that Arthur didn't really want to give up the royalist assassins. He had a good impression of the peasants from Little Britain, at least, better than the Parisian police who called him a "sell-ass".

But Arthur did not reject Victor immediately, because he had no obvious reason to reject Victor.

Even if he refused now, the Paris police would definitely summon him for questioning later. So, instead of making an extra trip, it would be better to give Vidocq some performance.

(End of this chapter)