Including the Ministry of Justice personnel themselves, not a single one had thought of it.

Robert Lincoln did not stop there. She leapt up, grabbed the eaves, and in a flash climbed onto the roof, her movements as agile as a swimming dragon. She crouched low to examine carefully, and sure enough, there were two faint footprints on the dark blue roof tiles.

“There are footprints here too!” she called out again.

Below, Henry Howard looked at George Lambert with shining eyes. “You kid, you’re really something! No wonder you’re my student!”

……

A moment later, everyone gathered again in the study. At this point, George Lambert was beaming with pride, his status having shifted from the prime suspect to the hero who cracked the crime scene’s method.

When Robert Lincoln landed, there was a hint of admiration in her gaze toward him, though she still said, “Until the real culprit is found, your suspicion cannot be completely cleared. For now, I won’t detain you two at the Ministry, but both of you brothers are not allowed to leave Longyuan City and must report to the Ministry regularly.”

“Rest assured, Captain Ling. Not only will I not leave, I’ll do my utmost to help the Ministry solve the case,” said George Lambert.

He was speaking from the heart.

Because as long as the real murderer wasn’t caught, the suspicion on the two brothers couldn’t be fully cleared. In such a serious case where a court official was killed, if His Majesty became enraged and put pressure on the Ministry to solve the case within a deadline, they might, under heavy pressure, turn their attention back to the brothers.

Once inside the Ministry’s prison, who knows, they might be forced to confess overnight and become the so-called real culprit of the case.

Such things had happened before.

So, for safety’s sake, it was best to solve the case as soon as possible.

“Good.” Robert Lincoln’s expression had softened considerably. “If you have any new ideas, you can come to the Ministry to find me at any time.”

“No problem.” John Brooks jumped out from the side, grinning obsequiously. “I’ll accompany him to visit Captain Ling often.”

“Get lost.” She was still cold to John Brooks.

“Hey.”

The two exchanged a crisp, straightforward dialogue.

“There are indeed a few suspicious points in this case…” George Lambert ignored them and spoke directly. “First, the letter Lord Zhen was reading—I suspect it’s closely related to the murderer, but it still hasn’t been found at the scene. Second, since the murderer was capable of setting all this up, why use such a crude method to kill? If he really wanted to make it look like Lord Zhen committed suicide, it shouldn’t have been difficult…”

The murderer’s martial skills were not low. If he truly wanted to make Charles Jennings look like a suicide, there were definitely better ways. Not just killing him with a single finger and then hanging him.

Such a disguise was like trying to fool a child. Who would hang themselves and end up with such a wound? Any coroner would spot the problem with a simple examination; it was not convincing at all.

If the murderer had killed in a fit of passion and hastily staged the scene, that would make sense. But judging by his calm and composed methods, he was definitely a seasoned and cunning individual.

So this behavior was rather strange.

It was almost as if…

He was deliberately luring you to investigate.

Why would the murderer do this? Perhaps figuring out this question would lead to the real culprit.

“Seal up all the items here, and search this room thoroughly again tomorrow. Also, assign more people to investigate Charles Jennings’s usual contacts and see who he was secretly in touch with,” Robert Lincoln ordered her subordinates one by one.

Although this Captain Ling could be a bit naive at times, her approach to solving cases was clear and methodical. George Lambert saw nothing wrong with it.

It was already impossible to identify the murderer from the scene. There were countless martial artists in the capital, and it was impossible to check them all one by one. The only way was to start with Charles Jennings’s usual network of contacts.

“Wait.” He suddenly remembered something and stopped the constable who was about to seal the books and documents on the desk.

“When Captain Ling’s scabbard knocked against the desk just now, I felt the sound was a bit off.” He walked over and ran his palm over the wide desk.

This time, Robert Lincoln did not stop him from touching things, but quietly watched from the side.

Not just her—the entire Ministry staff tolerated George Lambert’s actions. Although they usually hated the rough and clueless Imperial Guards for ruining crime scenes, this little guard had sharp eyes and a keen mind.

He had already earned the Ministry’s recognition with his earlier performance.

George Lambert bent his finger and knocked twice with his knuckle.

Dong, dong.

Now everyone noticed something was off.

This desk seemed to be hollow?

George Lambert looked around, reached underneath, and sure enough, found a narrow hole. He inserted his middle and ring fingers, probing around, and soon felt a bump. He pressed hard.

Pop.

A drawer popped out from the middle of the desk!

There really was a mechanism!

Inside the box was only a single dark bronze key, glinting faintly in the dim light.

Chapter 11: The Wall

“A key?”

Seeing this suddenly revealed brass key, everyone present immediately realized that since Charles Jennings had hidden it so well, it must be guarding a big secret—perhaps it was the key to uncovering the conspiracy between Charles Jennings and the murderer.