Wednesday morning, Qiaowude District, across from Kaoyimu Company.
Klein sat on a wooden bench outside Jiadele Department Store, holding a paper bag in one hand containing the most famous Xinji Disi Pie in the vicinity, and a cup of sweet iced tea in the other.
Beside him, a tramp was curled up sleeping on the other end of the bench, but after a dozen minutes he was awakened and chased away by mall security.
Klein wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses with no prescription, a half-top silk top hat, and looked no different from most gentlemen passing by.
He looked leisurely across the street at the Kaoyimu Company, raised his right hand, and took a big bite of the Xinji Disi Pie. He found it full of meaty flavor and rich juice, leaving a lasting aftertaste.
This pie from Dixi Bay stood out among many southern pies because it was unsparing with oil and fatty meat, but the meat was minced very fine, mixing fat and lean so it wouldn't become greasy.
The juice with strong meaty flavor soaked into the outer crust, offsetting dryness, making up for shortcomings, and presenting a layered wheat fragrance. The small bits of apple mixed in, with their slightly sour and sweet taste, stimulated appetite and resolved the oiliness.
It's passable... Although
His gaze never left the entrance of Kaoyimu Company. For the 10-pound fee, he had been sitting here since eight, buying breakfast on the way.
Of course, for most private detectives, being able to earn 10 pounds from a single commission was an enviable deal, equivalent to about three weeks' salary for a typical middle-class person.
According to information provided by Mary Gael, her husband currently served as the First Manager of Kaoyimu Company and was Luke Sumer's superior, but their shares in Kaoyimu Company came from Mary's father and were inherited by her.
One of the direct reasons she suspected her husband of having a mistress was that a staff member in the company had told her that Doragu Gael would leave alone every Wednesday and Friday morning and not return until afternoon. Additionally, he would leave work early two days a week, and Mary had never seen her husband step through the door before seven.
After breakfast, Klein waited for another hour and finally saw the target come out of Kaoyimu Company.
He wore a black top hat, a wool double-breasted coat, a standard bow tie, was slightly plump, with yellowish sideburns, light brown eyes, and a somewhat long face.
Doragu Gael... Klein silently repeated the target's name, stood up abruptly, picked up his cane and the heavy portable camera, and walked across the street.
Doragu did not have his coachman pick him up but stood by the roadside, looking around for a rental carriage.
Taking the opportunity, Klein crossed the road, came up to him, and feigned carelessness by bumping into him.
"Sorry, I'm trying to find my way," Klein lowered his head and apologized.
Doragu frowned immediately but remained silent, waving his hand to indicate it was nothing.
Klein quickly bent over, bowed, and then walked toward the street corner.
The collision with Doragu was not meant to steal something from him to use the "divining rod method" for easy tracking, as that would be too easily discovered.
At the moment of collision, Klein did only one thing: he used the agility of a "Clown" to quietly slip a spare button of his double-breasted frock coat into one of the target's decorative pockets.
After turning down the street, he stopped and looked back, just in time to see Doragu board a rental carriage.
Klein did not rush to follow. He waited patiently for several minutes before slowly boarding another carriage and said to the driver: "Follow my directions, first go to the end of this street."
"Okay," the driver didn't ask why.
Inside the carriage, Klein, leaning on his cane, began to divine.
But his divination statement did not point to Doragu Gael; instead, it became "the whereabouts of the spare button of this coat"!
The original and most practical use of the "divining rod method" was to find objects. Only a "Fortune Teller" could use it to find people. This time, Klein restored it to its original form.
And the most convenient and easiest item to find was one belonging to oneself!
He went along, constantly adjusting the driver's direction, and finally arrived at a house facing the street in the Hillsdon District. When he came around just now, he noticed that this house had a garden and lawn in the back, different from ordinary residences.
His "divining rod method" told him that Doragu Gael was inside this house.
After paying a 2-sule fare, Klein walked toward the door with a marble statue. He saw two men standing there in black-and-white checkered uniforms, seemingly imitating police.
"I don't know you. Do you have your membership card?" One of them, a dark-skinned man with South Continent ancestry, reached out to stop Klein.
"Membership card?" Klein hid the heavy camera behind him, frowned, and asked in return.
The dark-skinned man immediately hardened his expression: "This is the Klag Club. Only our members and guests brought by members can enter, and limited to one."
Klein hummed in acknowledgment: "So how do I join your club?"