Alberts was staring at Arthur the entire time he spoke these words.
When he saw that Arthur still had a warm smile on his face and his eyes were full of sincerity, with not a trace of annoyance or resentment, the detective was somewhat puzzled.
'Could it be that he doesn't care at all about being outdone by me?'
'Impossible!'
'Aren't we both handling a case?'
'Even if he doesn't care about the case itself, shouldn't he at least care about his own reputation?'
Alberts put himself in the other's shoes.
The thought of headlines proclaiming 'Detective' no match for 'Spirit Medium' made him restless, but what about Arthur?
Under Alberts's scrutiny, Arthur took out the cloth strip with 'save me' written on it and the unsigned letter.
"I wanted to inform you of these earlier,"
"but you left too quickly."
"I want to ask Lamit and Gilt some questions, and you're welcome to observe."
Arthur invited Alberts.
Suddenly, the detective felt a sense of shame deep down.
