The Shadow of Great Britain

42: Chapter 4 The Difference Between Humans and Monkeys 42: Chapter 4 The Difference Between Humans and Monkeys The incessant rain continued to fall outside the window, with dense droplets clinging to the transparent glass.

Through the window, one could see Arthur and Eld conversing with each other, question and answer.

Time flashed by, and before long, Arthur had filled the second page he brought today with information about “General Thief” Fred.

Name: Fred Matthews

Gender: Male

Age: 40-50 years old

Background:

1.

Speaks with a southern accent, presumably originating from a farm laborer family in Sussex County or Kent County.

2.

In his early years, he had joined the Army, gaining knowledge of firearms, ammunition, and hand-to-hand combat, though his specific regiment remains unclear.

3.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, he was demobilized, but due to the disbandment of many regiments that year, employment opportunities were scarce.

During this period, Fred was actively involved around various London docks, working as a dock laborer to make ends meet, later organizing a group of retired veterans to forcibly compete for dock transport business through violent means.

4.

Post-1820, he gradually transitioned to other industries, involving but not limited to fencing goods, theft, robbery, extortion, and other illegal actions.

5.

After facing a complaint from the Dock Commerce Association in 1825, his group was severely cracked down, with several key members sentenced to hanging.

6.

Fred and his group lay low for a while, and in 1828, opened a private detective agency named “Blackpool” at 75 Brick Lane in the eastern Whitechapel district of London, publicly offering services including thief catching, investigation, and security.

7.

However, the daily operations of the agency were usually conducted by Fred’s subordinates, and since 1825, he himself rarely appeared in public, with few knowing his true face.

As Arthur wrote this, he suddenly felt the case was becoming rather thorny.

Most of the crimes Fred committed openly were before 1825; those cases were too old, making it exceedingly difficult to gather evidence to prosecute Fred.

Now, although surveillance of Fred’s private detective agency provided a means to investigate him, based on the information obtained so far, Fred had been very low-key since resurfacing.

When dealing with gray-area businesses like fencing, he was careful in selecting his trading partners.

Sometimes he engaged in small, one-on-one transactions that were quick, of low value, and virtually untraceable, thus hard to investigate.

And for the larger transactions that were easier to trace, Fred only chose partners like Eld who had backing from the Royal Navy or other strong credentials.

In other words, the places where you could investigate him were not easy to investigate, and the places where it was easy to investigate him were not possible to investigate.

After all, Arthur couldn’t just bring handcuffs to the Navy Department to arrest someone, could he?

Facing a tangled mess of clues with no clear direction, Arthur felt uncomfortable all over.

This Fred was indeed not easy to catch.

Eld advised from the side, “Arthur, why bother with him?

He’s just a retired Army soldier, and although he’s not very capable himself, unfortunately, he’s tied up with too many people behind him.

If you really have to catch him, you can only catch the dead, never the alive.

If you were to lock him alive in Scotland Yard, I reckon many in London wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

Arthur leaned back, resting in his chair, “Does that include you?”

“Me?

Of course not.”

Eld said nonchalantly, “I have my uncle to protect me, my uncle has the Fleet Commander to protect him, the Fleet Commander has the Navy Department, and the Navy Department has Parliament.

Everyone knows there’s only crap under the toilet lid and that it stinks, but who would bother lifting that lid?

Don’t you still have to hold your nose and use the toilet?

Surely you’re not planning to blow up the cesspit, are you?

Honestly, even if you managed to pick out the dung, even if you don’t find it disgusting, what do you plan to do if you end up with an upset stomach and need to relieve yourself in the wild?”

Eld’s profanity-laden speech made Darwin, who had just picked up a piece of bread, involuntarily put it back down.

He complained, “Eld, did you really graduate from classical literature?”

Eld raised his eyebrows, “Why are you asking this as well?”

He picked up a piece of dried fish and put it in his mouth, chewing while giving advice.

“Charles, this won’t do at all!

If you ever get on a ship and it drifts for too long without supplies, you’ll have to swallow whatever rotten fruit and moldy biscuit crumbs there are,” he said.

While the three of them were chatting, the coffee shop’s door was suddenly pushed open.

The bell hanging at the door chimed, and two policemen, soaked to the bone, approached Arthur.

Eld gave them a look and after pondering for a moment, suddenly jumped up from his chair in fright.

He pointed at Arthur and cursed, “Arthur, are you really planning to get rid of me?

Afraid you couldn’t handle me alone, you even called for backup!”

Arthur didn’t know what had gotten into his friend, and he explained helplessly, “Just sit down and eat your dried fish, they are not here to catch you.”

Eld suspiciously asked, “Then what are they here for?”

Arthur glanced at the coffee shop’s clock and addressed the two officers, “Tom, Tony, you two are much too late today.”

Officer Tony said with embarrassment, “Arthur, we didn’t mean to be.

We are used to working on the front lines, and it only occurred to us midway through our patrol that you had already transferred us to work at the district station.”

Tom, red-faced, also nodded, “Arthur, maybe Tony and I should go back to the front line.

Tony used to be a cobbler, and I was a shoe cleaner; we really can’t handle paperwork.”

“Who told you I transferred you to the district station to do paperwork?” asked Arthur.

Tony and Tom were taken aback and said in unison, “Then what did you call us here for?”

Arthur said earnestly, “Patrol work can be done by anyone.

But not everyone is cut out for solving cases.

I transferred you here to train you from patrol officers into detectives.

Since I’ve decided to make detectives out of you, naturally, you’ll need to strengthen your knowledge in relevant fields.

Do you know the biggest difference between humans and monkeys?

The greatest difference between humans and monkeys is that humans continually learn and pursue more advanced techniques.

And the gentleman before me, Mr.

Charles Darwin, not only understands monkeys but also humans and even how monkeys evolved into humans.

So, for the next three months, your primary task is to learn natural history and medical knowledge from Mr.

Darwin.”

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, Tom and Tony had not yet responded when Darwin himself raised an objection.

“Arthur, though I am a Lamarckian, I do not believe there is any necessary connection between humans and monkeys.”

Arthur was unfazed by Darwin’s protestation and waved his hand, “It’s okay, you can think so later.”

Now it was Tony and Tom’s turn to be perplexed.

“Arthur, we can handle patrolling,”

“But this learning…”

Arthur of course understood the character of his two colleagues, so he said nothing and just held up three fingers to them.

Tony frowned and asked, “Arthur, what does this mean?”

Arthur calmly stated, “Both of you will receive a temporary allowance of three shillings each week, taken from my salary.

If after three months, you pass your evaluations, this allowance will permanently become part of your weekly salary.”

“Sss…”

Tony and Tom looked at each other, and without even a moment of hesitation, they simultaneously stood at attention and saluted Arthur.

“Yes, sir!”