The Shadow of Great Britain

607: Chapter 304 Field’s Analysis_3 607: Chapter 304 Field’s Analysis_3 The East India Company dared to wage a war in India, but to assassinate a Scotland Yard inspector, and one specially commissioned from London at that.

Truth be told, they might not have the courage to do so.

After all, their 20-year charter granted in 1813 was about to face renewal.

Parliament was just looking for an excuse to hammer them, and if they made themselves an easy target, it would be like delivering a pillow to a sleepy head.

Both the Whig Party and the Tory Party would be only too pleased.

If this was the case for the big brother East India Company, let alone the smaller fries like the Africa Company and the West India Company.

The consensus among these companies was to avoid unnecessary trouble, otherwise, Parliament could impose a management committee and a Governor to oversee them, which nobody could withstand.

Upon this thought, Arthur suddenly furrowed his brow.

The Liverpool Association, which he had originally excluded from suspicion, was now back on his list of suspects.

Assassinating him because of dissatisfaction with port quarantine was the first layer.

The East India Company assassinating the commissioner, thereby framing the Liverpool Association, was the second layer.

Or perhaps, it was the Liverpool Association that intentionally made the assassination look crude, so as to make me and London suspect them, ultimately believing that the East India Company wanted to frame the Liverpool Association, thus tripping them up during the renewal of their charter, which was the third layer.

Was this the end of it?

How many more layers were there?

Great Dumas saw Arthur’s increasingly tightened brows and couldn’t help asking, “Arthur, what are you thinking about?

Your face is as wrinkled as a thousand-layer cake.”

Upon hearing this, Arthur leaned back and let out a long sigh, “Alexander, I’m trapped.

To be honest, I now see everyone as the mastermind behind the scenes.

Tell me the truth, are these Poles your hirelings?”

“Do I need to hire someone to kill you?” Great Dumas drew his pistol and twirled it about, “If I took action, you wouldn’t make it to Liverpool.”

Heine stroked his chin with suspicion, “Come to think of it, today’s event is strange.

In our group today, there is a member of Napoleon’s family, a famous American man of letters and secretary to the Embassy, and there’s me, the great sage who cannot be accommodated by Prussia.

Why would the assassin target only you?

Could your life really be worth more than all three of ours combined?”

Louis, upon hearing this, just patted Heine’s jingling pocket, “As of now, temporarily yes.

Heinrich, you should spend that pocketful of Gold Coins before criticizing.

It’s not convincing to speak such words while holding onto money made by others.”

Arthur wasn’t bothered by their banter; the fact that they were still in the mood to argue meant that everyone’s emotional state was relatively stable.

But then again, those standing here were basically individuals with strong psychological resilience.

Great Dumas had launched a “terrorist attack” in Paris.

Louis participated in the Carbonari uprising in Italy and had narrowly escaped from the fire of the Austrian suppression forces.

Even the least among them, Heine, had a few Prussian secret police following him every time he went out for a stroll in his hometown of Dusseldorf.

With such experiences, encountering an assassination attempt apparently did not seem to be a big deal for them.

His gaze shifted and suddenly met with Chief Inspector Field who had just finished investigating the crime scene.

This capable lieutenant of the Criminal Investigation Department, who had been promoted by Arthur himself, appeared hesitant as if he had something to say.

Seeing this, Arthur asked, “Charles, have you found something?”

Field, seeing Arthur taking the initiative to ask, hesitated a moment and finally spoke, “I’m not sure if I’m correct, but…

Sir, if we look at this assassination with our experience in handling criminal cases, it doesn’t follow the logic of a normal murder case.”

Upon hearing this, Arthur hummed softly, “What’s your insight?”

Field began, “Normally, if a criminal truly intends to kill someone, they would choose the most secretive and inconspicuous method of murder.

Only those spur-of-the-moment street fights result in such shockingly passionate killings.

According to the investigative approach you taught me, a homicide generally stems from personal grudges or monetary and other interests.

Speaking of personal grudges, you and those assassins have never met before, and this wasn’t murder but assassination—a public way of killing usually used by someone in a desperate situation with no advantage, like Belinhan, the bankrupt businessman who assassinated Prime Minister Percival.

So it’s certain they were hired to assassinate, and I don’t disagree with that.

But what kind of employer would request that they carry out an assassination in broad daylight in a public setting?

And not provide any aid to their assassins, forcing them to desperately choose such a foolish mode of assassination?

Most importantly, these Poles shouted your name before acting, as if afraid others wouldn’t know they were after you.

If I put myself in the shoes of the employer who wants you dead, I would definitely ask the assassins to act preferably under the cover of darkness.

For instance, setting a fire beneath the inn at night, or planting explosives or something.

If it were more meticulously planned, I might even consider investigating which restaurants supply meals to the Golden Lion Inn and seize the opportunity to poison your meal.

With Liverpool currently in the midst of a cholera outbreak, if the assassins used poison that’s difficult to detect, everyone would think you died of cholera.

Such an assassination plot would not only be efficient and safe but also less likely to expose them.

But the current situation is the complete opposite.

This indicates that the employer behind the assassins may not care at all about taking your life.

What they wanted was for someone to come to Liverpool, fire a few shots at random, shouting ‘I’m going to kill Hastings.’ Although I can’t be sure my deductions are correct, all the information before us seems to suggest that this might indeed be what they wanted.”

Upon hearing this, Arthur’s eyes also slowly widened, and his thoughts became progressively clearer.

“This…

you’ve given me a new perspective.

This really fits the saying, the bystander sees more of the game.

If what those people wanted was this news effect, then perhaps we should wait a bit longer, they should end up coming to us themselves…”