"No problem," Robert said. "Do we need to conduct a search?"
"If you want to try and cop a feel from those tough women, go ahead. My advice is, shoot whoever drops their hands, then frisk them!"
Dean pushed past Robert and once again entered Mrs. Haas’s house.
Out the door—fire a shot—back inside.
It all happened too fast, less than two or three minutes in total.
This seemingly kind and gentle old lady was shakily tidying up the untouched teacups on the coffee table, apparently still not realizing what the gunfire outside was about.
"Hello, Mrs. Haas, we meet again." Dean, holding a gun still emitting the smell of gunpowder, casually walked up to the old lady as if he were brandishing a toothpick and sat down in front of her.
Mrs. Haas looked at Dean’s gun with a touch of fear, instinctively backing away, but ended up falling onto the sofa behind her. The teacup she had been holding also dropped to the ground, soaking a patch of the floor.
"Sir, did you just fire a gun?"
"Yes, Mrs. Haas. Your Mr. Arthur reeked so strongly of bone, and he even tried to shake my hand. I couldn’t help myself!"
"You killed him?" Mrs. Haas’s eyes widened, making it hard to tell whether she was shocked or pleased.
"Why would I kill him?" Dean retorted, lighting a cigarette. "An old lady like you probably can’t manage a slaughterhouse of this size all by yourself. So, spill it—who’s backing you? I’ve been needing some achievements lately!"
Before coming to Mrs. Haas’s place, Dean had only thought about handling Mrs. Haas and wrapping up Howard’s assault case, gathering enough Experience Points to level up so he could enhance his Spirit attribute. He never expected that as soon as he arrived in this area, he would smell a familiar scent.
It was the distinctive odor emitted when bones were crushed into powder and then fermented: a pungent stench with a hint of ribs... This unique fragrance was mixing with the scent of flowers, and your average person would never notice it.
At that moment, Dean was only slightly suspicious. Bone meal is an excellent fertilizer for flowers and can even be used to feed animals, so there’s a market for powdered raw materials made from animal bones. Some people with agricultural backgrounds sometimes make it themselves.
Bone meal fertilizer is typically grayish-white and insoluble in water. There are two ways to use it. One method is to mix it into the soil after fermentation. This is efficient, requires little effort, and doesn’t leave clumps of white crust on the soil surface or the odd smell that persists after bone meal has fermented. The other is to mix the bone meal with water, shaking it well, and pouring it alongside the plants. This method, although convenient, produces a strong odor from the bone meal’s fermentation. It can also damage the plants’ roots, possibly leading to their death, and leaves traces on the soil surface.
The situation at Mrs. Haas’s place was a bit strange. Dean noticed that there weren’t any grayish-white crusts on the soil surface near the plants, which meant that the bone meal was applied by mixing it into the soil after fermentation. But that persistent, strong, fermented, fetid smell, though faint and mixed with the floral fragrance, couldn’t escape his keen nose. This shouldn’t be happening.
There was too much bone meal buried underground!
So much that the plants couldn’t absorb it all, and the soil couldn’t conceal the odor!
For such a large area of flowers and greenery to have this issue... it wasn’t normal.
So when Dean said goodbye to Mrs. Haas, he deliberately asked why the plants were thriving so lushly, wondering if there was some special fertilizer. Mrs. Haas’s answer was quite amusing: she claimed she was too old, that others were responsible, and she herself didn’t know.
Impossible! Not to mention the weird smell of the bone meal before it was buried in the soil; even the movements of someone burying something around her house wouldn’t stay hidden from this old lady who had cameras installed all around her property. She was playing dumb!
At this point, Dean, with his cynical mind, already had a theory.
So he instructed Robert to keep an eye on Mrs. Haas, preparing to continue the investigation with Harry!
Then Dean met Arthur!
Arthur’s scent was familiar to him.
The man was a Sweeper!
This wasn’t familiarity of demeanor, but of smell.
Due to his profession, a Sweeper often needed to use various methods to clean up evidence and dispose of bodies, frequently coming into contact with these substances. No matter how much he washed, his body would retain the odor of those special chemicals. The longer he did the job, the more that smell would become ingrained, like a deeply set marinade, making it increasingly difficult to remove!
That was also why Dean didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger! He was certain that beneath this picturesque ’hidden paradise’ lay sins beyond common imagination...
Dean watched Mrs. Haas, whose expression—a mixture of shock and pleasure—was hard to decipher. His gaze was intense as he waited for her reaction.
He had a feeling this was a massive case. He might have just hit the jackpot, perhaps even gaining enough Experience Points to advance multiple levels!
Mrs. Haas, however, seemed slightly dazed. Several minutes later, she finally lifted her head, gracefully smoothing the disheveled hair at her forehead. "You seem very young," she said. "You’re observant, decisive in action, and you’ll undoubtedly have a great future ahead of you. So, I don’t advise you to delve too deeply here. These are treacherous waters."
"I’m a good swimmer; I’m not afraid of deep water!"
"You’re confident. But what about your family?" Mrs. Haas said with a faint smile. "Actually, I’ve grown tired of all this sin, but for the sake of Delran and Arluski, I had no choice but to continue. Let me tell you a story."