Talking to strangers and looking for clues cannot be accomplished in a short time, so Shade spent two hours in the afternoon visiting and questioning different people in the North Mountain Opera Company.
Similar to what the bearded landlord said, people here also said that after Mr. Bundy's eyes were cured three months ago, he was very happy for a few days, but then his mood became gloomy and he gradually became fearful.
Darkness, fear of being alone.
He became very nervous and even made some mistakes during the opera troupe's performance.
As for the bearded landlord's mention of taking illegal drugs, the people in the opera troupe were not aware of it. Their impression of Frank Bundy was that he was a friendly and extremely self-disciplined man. Mr. Bundy didn't even smoke, but only had eyesores.
After I got better, I tried playing Rhodes.
As for the suicide note, the musician spent a lot of time writing about his life and sighing about his life. The distribution of the inheritance later was consistent with what the bearded landlord said. Finally, he mentioned the location of the cemetery that the musician chose for himself, and thanked him.
Thanks to my neighbors, landlord and friends of the North Mountain Opera Company for their care over the years.
The date of the suicide note is the day Mr. Bundy committed suicide. The description in the text is clear, and the arrangement of the property's cemetery is very well organized. It's just that the way of writing is very crazy, and those letters are like a crazed lunatic writing after witnessing an unknown existence.
Horrible language written in a state of madness.
Because Mr. Bundy was blind before, Shade specifically asked the director of the troupe whether he could write normally before, and learned that the musician could write, and his handwriting was not bad.
"Well, things are getting worse and worse."
So Shade asked for the manuscript of the music score written by Mr. Bundy after his eyes were healed. After comparing it with the suicide note, the detective believed that the suicide note was indeed written by Frank Bundy himself. But the clear writing ideas and crazy writing style
, which made him very concerned.
The musician did not mention the reason why he became crazy in his suicide note, nor did he write down the reason for his suicide. He simply wrote at the end:
[I was once trapped in darkness but never lamented my fate, but why should I see the light now?]
【I'm so tired.】
The penultimate sentence was basically consistent with what the bearded landlord said, which made Shade more and more suspicious that it was eye problems that led to the musician's suicide.
Frank Bundy also left a lot of relics in the band. The band leader asked Shade to open the door of the storage room and let him rummage through the shelves.
So Shade checked the musician's notebooks, personal clothes, water cups, unused tea bags, pencil sharpeners and other items one by one. However, after looking through them one by one, he did not see the diary in the carton.
In just three months, he still hasn't developed the good habit of writing a diary.
In the end, there were only two items that caught Shade's attention. One was a notebook with Mr. Bundy's own music score written on it, and the other was a small oblate arc-shaped bottle with a trace of bright yellow at the bottom.
A liquid like oil.
The notebook was purchased by Mr. Bundy after his eye disease was cured. Each page has a date. After the musician regained his sight, he composed almost at a rate of one song a week. However, the further the date goes back, the more those pages are written in black ink.
The written musical notes became more slender, sharp and wild, and by the last page, they were almost exactly the same as the font on the suicide note.
As for the liquid in the bottle, only a layer at the bottom of the bottle was left. After Shade carefully poured it onto his fingers, the voice in his ear actually suggested that there was an extremely small amount of traces of spirit in the liquid.
Not the four elements, but pure spirit, because the traces of occultism are really weak.
"The content is so weak. Has it been diluted, or is it just occasionally contaminated with traces of spirits? Can this be considered a magic potion?"
To be cautious, Shade informed the director of the opera troupe and took away the notebook with the music scores and the empty bottle.
Before leaving, Shade also learned the purpose of the liquid. Many people in the band had seen the musician Mr. Bundy drop the liquid into his eyes and claimed that it was prescribed for him by an ophthalmologist.
Potion.
"Things are getting more complicated."
Because he spent the entire afternoon investigating and questioning the North Mountain Opera Troupe, it was already approaching the evening by the time Shade left the orchestra with two clues.
It was late, and Shade had no intention of taking advantage of the night to visit the ophthalmologist and client Mr. Mandis involved in the commission, nor did he plan to go to the Three Cats Hotel in Anthem Square to continue the investigation.
It happened that the North Mountain Opera Troupe was not far from Miss Carina's manor outside the city. After thinking about it, Shade decided to pay a visit.
It's not that I want to have dinner, but I want to find Miss Carina and ask her to arrange musicians to play the last few tunes in the sheet music that Shade obtained. Shade wants to use this to judge the last period of the other person's life.
specific mental state.
The reason why professional musicians in the opera troupe are not allowed to perform is because Shade is worried that problems will affect ordinary people. It is better to be more cautious about this kind of thing.
Although Miss Carina's manor is outside the city, because it is surrounded by noble manors, forest farms and high-end horse farms, the coachmen in the city are also willing to go there. On the carriage, Shade thought it would be inappropriate to visit empty-handed, but next time
It seems even more inappropriate to pick a bunch of wild flowers in a car.
So in the end, I had no choice but to get off the bus in front of the manor gate empty-handed. After paying the fare, the housekeeper of the manor who knew Shade had already ordered someone to open the manor gate to welcome Shade.
"Is Miss Carina here? There is no appointment for this visit. If she comes to the city, can you find a carriage to take me into the city?"
This will save you the cost of going back.
"The lady is in the manor, but is meeting with important guests."
The middle-aged housekeeper said very carefully, and arranged for Shade to wait in the lounge. Shade also had time to look more carefully at the notebook with the music scores, but for him, a foreigner who knew nothing about music in this world,
In fact, this piece of music is even more obscure than ancient documents.
Because at least he can understand ancient documents.
Shade did not wait long in the reception room on the second floor of the manor. The maids of the manor brought him tea and snacks, and even asked Shade if he wanted to have dinner at the manor.
But Shade still wanted to go home and have dinner with Mia, so he shook his head and refused.
And when he finally finished reading the music score again, Miss Carina's personal maid, Miss Tifa Servitt, opened the door and walked in. She seemed to always wear this set of maid clothes, and Shade had always seen this lady since he knew her.
, I have never seen her wearing other clothes.
"Mr. Hamilton, Miss is going to have a dinner with important guests today, so she doesn't have time to meet with you tonight. She asked me to ask you if you have anything important. If it's not urgent, I will handle it for you."
Miss Carina was the powerful duchess of the Kingdom of Delarion, and of course she would not be as free as Shade every day. Therefore, Shade did not expect that she would leave important things behind to meet with him.
He stood up from the sofa:
"It's not an important thing. I got a piece of music that might be weird, and I want someone to help me play it."
After briefly describing the ophthalmologist's commission, Shade handed the notebook to Miss Tifa Servit.
She flipped through the pages from front to back, and she frowned when she saw the last page. She was a six-ring warlock, and she could probably understand the music score, so she could see that the problem was even bigger:
"You made the right idea not to let ordinary people from North Mountain Opera Company perform. Mr. Hamilton, please come with me and I will perform for you."
As he spoke, he invited Shade to the soundproof music room on the second floor of the manor house, where Miss Carina practiced violin.
"Miss Servit, what instrument are you proficient in?"
Shade asked curiously and walked out of the door with her.
"I know a lot about piano and violin."
She said it very implicitly.
In order to prevent the music scores left by the blind musician before his death from affecting ordinary people, after arriving at the music room, the maid asked other servants of the manor to wait in the music room, leaving only her and Shade in the room.
This was the first time for Shade to come to this room. Compared with the so-called professional music rooms he had seen in his hometown, the decoration style here was more...expensive, with red carpets on the floor and uneven sound-absorbing walls.
It is light yellow, and most of the musical instruments that can be seen are gold. The oil paintings on the walls are probably antiques. Each of the musical instruments in the white wood cabinets and glass showcases should be worth more than Little Mia.
But at least the piano was black. After lifting the cover, the black and white keys reflected the light of the gas lamp in the room. The neat and cold appearance made Shade like it very much.
Although the world is different, the types of musical instruments are very similar, but to a foreigner, there is actually no difference, because he knows nothing about the musical instruments in any world.
Let Shade be mentally prepared. The black-haired girl carefully held the fabric of the long skirt behind her body, and then sat in front of the piano. She turned the notebook to the last piece of music and stood it up.
The hand that De would use to pour tea flexibly moved a few times, and his ten slender white fingers moved up and down, and then landed on the keys.
Shade sat on the cushioned high stool nearby. When the first musical note suddenly sounded, he was still guessing the possible selling price of the instrument, and once again tried to use "Mia" as the unit of measurement.
measure.
When the musical notes burst into his ears in succession, he felt that it was nothing at first, but then he became more and more irritated and could not help but frown.
Miss Tifa Servit's piano skills are quite good, her fingers are dancing on the keys, and the manic music makes Shade feel more and more uncomfortable. Although he does not understand music, he agrees that the superb music scores and performers can pass the test.