༺ Last Resort ༻
“Both of you, please, you shouldn’t fight in the hospital.”
“………”
“It’s common sense.”
Adler – cold sweat running down his forehead – intervened between Celestia Moran and Lestrade— their heads practically glued to each other as they faced off, and separated the two.
“You heard him, hot-tempered elder sister.”
“Haah…”
Of course, these girls, who would be contending for the position of London’s greatest armed combatant, wouldn’t have been swayed by Adler’s physical strength. However, surprising as it may seem, as soon as Adler stepped in between them to mitigate the situation… they drifted away from each other without him having to exert any force at all.
“Fighting is not allowed.”
“……..”
The icy stares of the two girls crossed for a brief instant.
“Inspector. Please, hold back, Inspector. I will follow you…”
As the atmosphere once again started growing tense with each passing secon, Adler hurriedly moved to walk alongside Lestrade as she demanded.
“… Dad.”
“……..!”
However, Adler froze in place once he heard Moran’s voice came from behind. It sounded eerily similar to Professor Moriarty’s voice which only made his freeze further.
“There’s somewhere you need to go first.”
However, Celestia Moran, looking up at him with pure eyes, merely extended her hand out toward her like usual.
“Dad…?”
“Inspector. I don’t know what you may be thinking but…”
Adler, now donning a grave expression as he looked at Lestrade – looking at him with an expression of utter disbelief and shock on her face – and hastily began explaining himself.
“It’s just a title. As you know, she’s a child I’m raising so…”
“Are you going to leave me again?”
“… Oh, dear…”
Moran, who had toddled over to his side, took his hand and gazed up at his eyes as she spoke those words. Looking at her eyes, Adler ultimately gave up making excuses and wore a liberated expression on his face, as though he had finally come to terms with something.
“……….”
And an awkward silence thus descended among them.
“To start, as Miss Moran has already spoken, I have a place I need to go urgently.”
“………”
“I’ll stop by there first and then accompany you. Is that okay with you, Inspector?”
Adler, heaving deep tired sighs, eventually broke the silence himself and quietly started moving forward.
“Savage elder sister.”
Moran’s voice, as petite as her stature, came from beside Lestrade as she was about to follow behind Adler.
“Be careful on your way at night, okay?”
Turning her head, Lestrade saw the visage of baring her teeth at her, her eyes brimming with murderous intent. Seeing her act this way, utterly incomparable to how she had been in front of Adler, Lestrade couldn’t help but let out a faint chuckle.
“And you know. If you try to mess with Dad, then I’ll kill you without even giving you any warning.”
“… Hmm.”
Of course, it was an act that Gia Lestrade herself would have done as well if she were to be in little Moran’s position.
“You talk so adorably, runt.”
– Adeuk…
“You’re a bit too short. Unfortunately, I wasn’t even able to hear half of what you said.”
As a result of moving ahead of the two enraged women and leaving them in each other’s direct contact, Isaac Adler was now forced to throw himself into the fray and break up the commotion once again. It had only been a few seconds but the silent hallway of the hospital had once again been on the verge of a heated commotion.
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“Is this business of yours… to meet with a patient admitted to this hospital?”
“… I have someone that I need to meet personally.”
Caught between the two unruly women, Isaac Adler moved with uneasy steps until he finally stopped in front of a hospital room. Seeing such a scene, Gia Lestrade quietly tilted her head to pose the question.
“Could you please wait outside, Inspector?”
After Adler made the request, Lestrade unexpectedly nodded her head in agreement without saying a single word.
“Thank you, Inspector.”
“What about me, Dad?”
“… You may come in with me, Miss Moran”
As Adler was about to enter the room quietly, he couldn’t help but flinch ever so slightly at Moran’s question. Soon, however, he just took her hand and stepped inside the room with the little girl.
– Creeeak…
Thankfully, they were able to enter the room without any other incident or commotion. It was good that he had separated the two violent women.
“It’s you.”
As they moved forward, a visitor sitting in a chair by the hospital bed bowed his head and spoke in a low voice.
“Mr. Nathan Garrideb. I apologize for the complications that have come up with your request.”
“………”
“I’ll have to admit, we could have never anticipated that such a dreadful event was unfolding in the mansion.”
“I have nothing to comment on that matter.”
Looking at his sister— Neria Garrideb, lying motionless in a hospital gown on the bed, Nathan Garrideb merely nodded with a pale face in response to Adler’s apology.
“And who is that child with you?”
“She is with us. You can rest assured.”
“Then, may I ask what will become of my request? If there’s a breach of contract…”
“There’s no need to worry.”
As he looked at Adler with trembling eyes and posed the question, Adler smiled back reassuringly.
“The plan will proceed without any hitches.”
“Does that mean…”
“It’s practically over already. With Dr. Frankenstein, your mother, arrested, your sister won’t be living much much longer.”
“……..”
“She will most likely die before she even gets discharged from the hospital. There’s no one left to recharge the essence of life within her, after all. This is what you call a perfect crime, isn’t it? Haha~”
Upon hearing his words, Nathan Garrideb bowed his head once more.
“So, how do you feel now?”
Quietly, Adler looked down at his client and asked in a soft tone.
“How does it feel to be free of your loathsome mother and sister?”
The client, Nathan Garrideb, flinched at the words and started to murmur in a trembling voice.
“It’s the best…”
“………”
“It’s like… finally shaking off parasites that were infesting my body all my life. It’s incredibly refreshing.”
In the eyes of the client, as he faced the results at the end of the case, there were no hints of hesitation or reluctance he once held— the feelings he had been showing when he first entered Adler’s back-alley hideout were long gone.
“I should have done this sooner. Heh. Heheh, hehehehehahaha.”
What now remained… was only a chillingly sinister air that could make one’s blood run cold in horror. A single moment’s choice had been enough for the man to be steeped in the world of endless darkness.
“You’ll make sure the cleanup is thorough, right? I want to sever ties with you now.”
“Of course. No matter how diligently the police investigate this case, they won’t find any connection to you. And… since no murder was committed, even if someone were to uncover the truth, you could avoid any form of punishment or moral condemnation.”
“Hmm…”
“Plus, even if you wished to meet us again, you’ll never be able to find us any longer. Per our agreement, you will forget my identity within just a few days.”
Garrideb nodded his head with a satisfied smile on his face as he listened to Adler’s explanation.
“Excuse me, but… what about the payment? The manor is under investigation, so I can’t offer anything right now, you see…”
“Oh, that’s not a problem…”
When the client suddenly asked with a troubled expression, Adler gently stroked Neria Garrideb’s cheek before replying to him.
“… since I’ve already received it.”
And with that… a brief silence drenched the hospital room.
“Have I really made a deal with the devil?”
“If you really want to know the details, I won’t stop you but…”
“No, that’s alright.”
Energetically, Nathan rose from his seat and exchanged a brief handshake with Adler. And in the next moment… he stepped out of the room while saying his parting words.
“Let’s never meet again.”
The door soon closed and a heavy silence began enveloping the room once more.
“Dad, I feel sorry for that child.”
“Hmm?”
“Do we, do we really need to kill her…..?”
Now left alone with Adler, Moran directed a sad gaze toward Neria Garrideb and muttered those words under her breath. However, once she realized what she had spoken, she hastily covered up her mouth in fright.
“………”
Soon, she observed Adler’s expression and murmured, her face pale as a sheet.
“I’m sorry, Dad…”
– Swoosh…
“… Eeek?”
Then, seeing Adler reach out toward her, Moran closed her eyes shut and gasped… bracing herself for the slap that she thought to be coming her way.
“…….?”
However, instead of the sharp pain she had been expecting on her cheek, a gentle warmth could be felt from her head. Feeling that warmth, she looked toward Adler with a puzzled expression as he held her arm.
“The pitiful one isn’t that child, but rather the client who has just left.”
“……..”
“He doesn’t even know that he… too is Dr. Frankenstein’s test subject. And… that he won’t be receiving the cure for his rabies anymore. The cure which was being extracted from his sister and administered to him when he was asleep.”
Gently, Adler patted little Moran’s head and whispered with a benevolent expression on his face.
“In a few months, he’ll probably regret today for the rest of his life. Of course, by then it’ll already be too late…”
“Ah…”
“Shh~”
Saying those words, Adler gently placed a finger on Moran’s lips as her eyes widened in realization. Then, he shifted his gaze and eyed Neria Garrideb, who was lying peacefully on the bed.
“Isn’t that right, Miss Garrideb?”
“………”
“… I knew from the start that you were awake.”
As all color drained from her face at those words, Adler began to whisper in her ear with a voice tinged with mirth.
“And by the way, you’re quite lucky. Thanks to you consistently consuming my flesh over the past few days, the essence of life in your body, which had practically emptied, has been fully recharged with my blood.”
“……..!”
“… Originally, I was planning to kill you where no one would know, to avoid any aftermath, you see…”
Adler then glanced at Moran, who was blinking her eyes innocently beside him, and murmured.
“But, as you can see, my daughter pities you.”
“… Uh.”
“So, disappear from London. If not, I will have no choice but to kill you.”
After delivering those words, Adler gently pinched Moran’s soft cheek and pulled something out of his pocket.
“It’s not the inheritance, but consider it a small gift.”
Adler then placed a check with an amount sufficient for a woman to live alone for decades in front of her and rose from his seat.
“From now on, Neria Garrideb is dead. Live the rest of your life with freedom.”
“…… Uuuh.”
“Goodbye.”
Unable to hold herself back any longer, Neria Garrideb silently burst into tears as Adler quietly left the hospital room with Moran.
“Ahhhhhhh…..”
Thus, the official conclusion of the Three Garridebs case later published by Watson was reached.
Of course, the records did not include information regarding the sudden decrease in organized attempts to kidnap Isaac Adler after the incident. Nor did they include the rumors of the silhouette of an unidentified girl seen at the window of the house where Adler would usually stay during stormy nights.
Those in the know, except for Isaac Adler of course, called that shadow Adler’s Sentinel.
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“… Huh.”
Isaac Adler, confronted with probabilities that could only be said to be contradictory to each other, wore a puzzled expression as he closed the door of the hospital room.
“………?”
He quietly tilted his head as he saw Gia Lestrade, covered in dust, walking towards him from the window rather than the door.
“… By any chance, did you climb the wall outside to eavesdrop on the conversation?”
“………”
“How much did you hear, Inspector?”
After posing the question with a look of anticipation on his face, Adler caught sight of Lestrade’s eyes filled with disappointment and disgust and couldn’t help but let out a bitter smirk.
“Well, I get the general picture.”
“Isaac Adler.”
“What did you expect, then? Your boyfriend is just that kind of man, Inspector.”
Watching her approach with an aura that was as frigid as the color of her hair and eyes, Adler looked on with a resigned expression on his face. Reaching him, Lestrade pulled something out of her shirt’s pocket and handed it over to him.
“What’s this?”
“… Sign it.”
“A consent form for the investigation, I presume?”
Muttering so, Adler reached into his pocket for a pen.
“Even so, you won’t be able to arrest me for this case. There are no material evidence or victims left, rig…?”
However, his words trailed off as he suddenly widened his eyes in shock and bewilderment.
“… I’ve realized that with my insignificant abilities alone, I cannot protect London from you.”
As he watched her silently, Lestrade pointed to the bottom corner of the paper she had handed to him with a calm voice.
“So, I have no choice but to bet it all on my last resort.”
As she murmured in a frigid tone, urging him to sign the papers, Adler’s thoughts came to a complete halt.
“But this is…”
“Let’s get married, Isaac Adler.”
“… What!?”
What Gia Lestrade had handed to him was not a consent form for the investigation as he had presumed… but a marriage registration form that had been already signed by her.
