White Church Under Red Fog

Chapter 9

Besides, not every British person loves sweets to the point of being intolerant. There are a few who cannot tolerate sweets. What if one of the two police officers is such a person?

Silently cutting another piece of cake with cream and canned pineapple for Perry, Mia cut the remaining half of the cake into two halves, put one half in the cabinet, and took the other half to Anne.

"I'm sorry..." Anne, who had lost weight and looked much more haggard in a short time, said to her daughter with a guilty look when she saw Mia coming in.

She didn't want to be so decadent, but some things were not something she could control just by thinking about it. The endless nightmares at night and the poor physical condition tortured this poor woman. In addition to a little Arthur who needed to be taken care of, Anne was exhausted and could no longer bear more burdens.

"Don't talk about this, Perry will help, you have a good rest." Mia put the cake on the small cabinet beside the bed, picked up the kettle and poured some water into the cup and said.

When she woke up at night after hearing the screams, she could still see Anne's frightened eyes, not to mention the cold sweat on her forehead. The mental shock extended to her body, which was already weak due to the miscarriage. The effect was not as simple as one plus one equals two. If this continued, Mia felt that it would not be long before Anne would collapse directly - the end of such nightmares and sleeplessness every day was mental weakness, and then there would be a vicious cycle, endlessly until a person's spirit was completely destroyed.

If it weren't for little Arthur next to her, Mia really wanted to mix some sleeping pills into Anne's food, but now there was a child next to her who didn't know if he would eat Anne's food, so she could only use some herbs in the herbal medicine store to solve this problem instead of doing anything directly to Anne.

After all, Anne herself was a person who was proficient in the use of herbs, and it was easy to tell what effect the herbs had on her body and what effect these herbs could not do. Although the progress of using the herbs in the store was a little slower, at least there would be no additional problems, which could reduce a lot of trouble.

"I made some sleeping potions according to the steps in the herbal book. You can use some after eating the cake. Maybe it will have some effect." Mia pointed to the cup on the tray and said.

Europeans cursed the witches and wanted to burn them to death, while using the witches' iconic herbs. This contradictory mentality makes people wonder what to say.

Fortunately, burning witches is no longer popular in this era, and herbal medicine has developed into a discipline, which is much better than hundreds of years ago.

According to the method in Anne's ancestral herbal book, the method of making sleeping potions is to soak rose petals in clean water for three days, then add some rose petals every day, and add peach leaves and verbena to the water at sunrise on the third day. Continue soaking for another day to complete. When using it, put your forehead in the potion and soak it, and you will not be troubled by nightmares when sleeping.

To be honest, the sales volume of this stuff in the herbal medicine store is quite good. Many people are willing to spend a few pennies to buy it to give themselves some physical comfort. Anne also strictly follows the method of making it in the herbal medicine book to make the potion, without any discount.

Mia did not spend so much time making this potion. She simply used the traditional distillation method to make this potion, and added some sleep-inducing herbs to it, and it became the current finished product, a transparent liquid with no color, and it would not produce any sticky feeling when applied to the head.

Thanks to Colette's family running a herbal medicine store, all kinds of equipment that should be there and shouldn't be there, so that she can successfully make this potion, otherwise Anne would have to use a potion with a more pungent smell. After all, the taste of water boiled directly and distilled water is quite different. She can stand it, but little Arthur may not be able to stand it.

"I know." Anne leaned against the head of the bed tiredly and said weakly.

Her husband died inexplicably, and now she has become like this. She really can't muster the energy to do anything else.

"I'll go to the police station to inquire about the case in the afternoon." Mia looked at her like this and didn't say much, just explained her afternoon schedule.

Anne nodded and didn't say anything, but shed tears after her daughter left.

She noticed that Mia tied her hair up, and also clearly saw the hideous scar on her face. She felt very complicated and couldn't control her tears at all.

Until little Arthur woke up and patted her leg, "Mum?"

The little child didn't know what he had lost, but just grinned and looked at his mother crying curiously. But Anne had wiped her tears, picked up the plate with cake from the table, scooped a spoonful of cake with a small spoon and put it close to Arthur's mouth, coaxing the child to eat.

She already lost her husband, and she couldn't lose her child again. Mia worked hard to keep this shaky family from breaking up. She couldn't leave Arthur to her.

Thinking of the significance of her daughter's frank exposure of her scars, Anne's eyes began to sore again, but she finally held back her tears and smiled at Arthur, "Open your mouth~"

As long as people are alive, they must always move forward. She couldn't let the child bear everything alone.

Mia, who had to bear everything alone, had already gone to the police station in Whitechapel with a basket of cakes and cookies.

Although she had a lot of experience dealing with the police, and had contact with British police quite a lot, to be honest, compared with the police in other countries, the weirdness of British police always ranked in the top three for her, or more accurately, the first. French police and Italian police, known as the world's weird scene, ranked lower than British police in her heart-perhaps this was because she had less contact with the police in these two countries, but there was no doubt that the magical operations of British police had left her too deep an impression.

If the French and Italian police are just subjectively unwilling to work or do good things, then the British police are like them. Whether subjectively or objectively, it is not a problem of inaction, but a problem of being out of touch.

She still remembers the magical reasoning of the British police. A story that is a million miles away from the truth has become a fact and has been widely publicized. Is this possible?

Including the British intelligence organization, she really has no confidence in the country's police investigation system.

But now she just wants to see Arthur Colette's body, which shouldn't be a big problem, right?

And she is a police officer in Whitechapel after all. If she didn't have good professional ability, she would have died a long time ago. She really should have some confidence in the police gentlemen here. At least, she should have some confidence in the two policemen who sent her and Anne to the clinic for treatment.

Mia walked into the police station and looked around the dimly lit reception hall. She came to the reception desk and whispered to the bearded policeman, "Hello, I want to see Officer Bennett Derek, or Sheriff Edmund Reed."

She had already heard from her neighbors about the two people who appeared in Colette's herbal medicine store that day. The policeman who spoke to her was called Edmund Reed, a sheriff, and the policeman who took her off the herbal knife was Bennett Derek, Sheriff Reed's right-hand man.

"Derrick and Reed?" The bearded man looked at the woman in black and a veiled hat and concluded that she was in mourning. "Wait a minute."

"Charlie, go and call Derek and Reed out." The bearded man stopped a young policeman passing by and asked him to call people. He said to Mia in a gentle manner, "Ma'am, you can sit over there for a while and rest."

Although her face was covered by a heavy veil, it was still possible to see from her blurred outline that she was a beauty, not to mention that she was a beauty in mourning. Even a man like the bearded man who didn't understand romance could not help but soften his tone.

"Thank you." Mia thanked him and sat on a chair against the wall. Fortunately, she chose a black veil with a large pattern on it to adorn her hat today, so that her half-injured face would not be too obvious.

But the bearded policeman's eyesight should not be very good. He didn't even notice that she still had a terrible scar on her face. Of course, it is also possible that out of respect for a little girl who lost her loved ones, the policeman did not show an overly horrified expression to this face.

Mia's thoughts drifted endlessly, her eyes swept across the wall of the police station with wanted criminals' photos, leaving a head full of all kinds of ferocious eyes, and finally waited for Derek and Reed to arrive.

"Who are you?" Reed, who was walking in front, saw Mia sitting in the hall from a distance and was a little confused. He didn't remember when he had met such a person.

The woman in mourning clothes had a slender figure. Even if she was sitting on a chair, you could see how thin she was, especially with her upright sitting posture, she looked even thinner. Reed really couldn't find any relevant information about her in his memory.

Until he came closer and saw Mia stand up and lift the veil on her face, "Hello, Sheriff Reed, I am Marina Colette. We met before at the clinic in Kleinte. You and Detective Derek sent me and my mother there."

She nodded to Derek behind her and considerately told him her origins, not letting Reed continue to search his memory.

But there was no need for this.

Even Reed, who had seen many beauties, had to admit that the girl in front of him was the most beautiful beauty he had ever seen. Even if there was a terrible scar on her beautiful face, this face would still leave a deep impression on people - extreme beauty and extreme ugliness mixed together sometimes form a unique charm, not to mention that the other half of her face was still intact, maintaining that pure and innocent beauty.

Such a person, even if Reed becomes old one day, will still occupy a territory in his memory with the strong impact brought by the strange face.

But he didn't understand why this girl came to the police station to find him?

Do you want to know about the murderer who killed Arthur Colette?

Compared to him, Derek's attitude was much more straightforward, "Miss Colette?"

Of course he knew this girl, because he was the one who sent her to the clinic. But at that time, the poor girl was covered in blood, and it was impossible to see what her face looked like. Now that she said her name, I knew her identity.

"Nice to see you again, Officer Derek. I haven't thanked you for saving me yet." Mia smiled at Derek with her intact face and handed him the basket in her hand, "I baked some desserts for you and Sheriff Reed."

"Uh, oh, thank you." Derek was a little confused. It was the first time in his life that he received a gift from a victim. For a policeman who had only been thanked verbally at most, this kind of experience was really a bit difficult to deal with. He could only cover up his discomfort by lifting the cloth on the basket.

But he was soon attracted by the fragrance emitted after the cloth on the basket was lifted.

There weren't many things in the basket, just a few oil bags and four square boxes made of cardboard. He didn't know what was wrapped in the oil bags, but the two boxes covered with oil paper could easily be seen as cakes. Derek reached out to uncover the oil paper and found that there were cakes covered with cream and fruit underneath.

Two of them were decorated with canned pineapples, and two were covered with dried apricots. They not only smelled very appetizing, but also looked very appetizing. He really wanted to reach out and dig out a piece to taste.

Derek felt that his saliva was constantly secreted under the stimulation of this sweet taste, and his fingers were also eager to move.

But before he could really do anything with these cakes, Mia spoke again, "There is another thing. I want to take my father's body home."

Looking for some traces of the murderer on Arthur's wound is one aspect, and the other is that people are dead, not homeless, and they have to be buried. It's not a good idea to keep throwing them in the morgue.

It would be better to deal with this matter as soon as possible so that Anne can get out of this grief earlier. Otherwise, there will always be things left unfinished. The longer it is delayed, the worse the mood will be.

"Arthur Colette?" Reed's eyes moved away from the dessert in the basket. He was stunned for a moment, and then reacted, "I'm sorry, Miss Colette, I'm afraid your father's body will have to stay in the police station for a while."

Although Arthur Colette's body was transported back to the police station, the police station's forensic doctor was too old and his level was not good enough. He could not get too many clues from his body. He was considering whether to hire a doctor who claimed to have just come here from the United States as a new forensic doctor to use the other party's ability to obtain more clues to the case.

Mia: "......."

She originally thought that this matter would not have any twists and turns, but she didn't expect it to be true?

And it has been a few days, and the autopsies that should be dissected have been completed long ago? Why do we need to keep the body here?

But looking at Reed's righteous look, she couldn't say to him, "Let me do it" - how to explain that the daughter of a herbalist who is engaged in the mystery department has learned human anatomy from the science department without any guidance?

If this request is made, she will probably become the murderer behind some unsolved cases!

Closing her eyes slightly, Mia made another request, "Then let me meet him, prepare some suitable clothes and hats for him, if he must stay here, I hope he can stay decently."

Mia's voice softened, her eyes began to redden, and she looked at Reed, the sheriff who was obviously in charge, and asked with tears in her eyes.

She cursed madly in her heart. Since she came here, she always needs to pretend to be a little white flower endlessly. It's so annoying!

Reed didn't know that Mia had already cut the murderer who killed Arthur into pieces dozens of times in her heart, but she deeply felt the pain of the girl opposite.

He thought of his daughter who had been lost in the shipwreck.

Everyone said that his Matilda was dead, but Reed didn't believe it. He always thought that his baby was still alive, but he couldn't find her.

The pain that was like being stabbed in the heart by a needle appeared again when he saw the tears of the girl in front of him, making him feel as if he had returned to the scene of the disaster in a trance. There were people shouting in pain everywhere, and he himself was unable to hold his Matilda because of the collision of the ships...

"...... Reed?" Derek's call sounded in his ears, calling back Reed's reason.

"No problem, Derek will take you there. I have some things to deal with, so I won't go with you." Reed shook his head, showed an ugly smile, and turned away quickly.

"Don't worry, he sometimes suddenly remembers something about the case." Derek had to explain his boss's not very polite behavior.

"It doesn't matter. Someone like Sheriff Reed who focuses on the case is exactly what we Whitechapel residents need. With him, we can have a stable living environment." Mia blinked, letting the tears that had been released stain her eyelashes, and said to Derek with a trusting smile.

When they first met, she noticed that Sheriff Reed should have suffered some injuries - there was a high probability that it was scars on his shoulders and back. Now the sheriff behaved like this, obviously affected by some things, leaving serious psychological trauma.

But so what?

These things have nothing to do with her. Whether the sheriff has any psychological trauma or not, it has nothing to do with her, and it has nothing to do with finding the murderer who killed Arthur Colette, so of course she has no need to pursue and explore these things.

It is best to keep a sufficient distance between people. After all, most accidents happen after meddling in other people's affairs. She is so unlucky now, there is really no need to get involved in any strange cases.

The most urgent thing is Arthur's body. Maybe we can find some clues related to his death from it. How much hatred does it mean to disembowel a person?

But that person did not do more to Anne and Marina who were thrown away by him, such as disemboweling them and pulling out their internal organs like Arthur did. Obviously, these two people are important to Arthur, aren't they? If there is really resentment, why can't the other party do anything to Arthur's relatives in such a difficult situation?

Mia, following Derek, thought about the various doubts behind this matter and walked into the morgue of the police station.