Chapter 165 Harford's Investigation

Harford figures out the possibility of an intruder in the prince's office.

He immediately reported it to the prince. The prince, however, told him to not make a fuss about it and end up alerting everyone.

'Try to catch the culprit quietly' is what he was told. And so, the entire job was dumped solely onto his head.

With a green light from the prince, the butler went off to the administrative building to find any leads.

First and foremost, the time of intrusion. There's a long time span between the time he locks the office and the time he returns the next morning. He doesn't know the precise time it happens. Anybody could sneak in from the late evening until early morning the next day.

His prime suspects are obviously the guards patrolling the building. They're the closest to the building and the easiest ones to commit the crime.

To verify his assumption, he went to the only place he could get any information regarding the guards at the security centre. A place that is responsible for managing and assigning the guards to their workstations throughout the entire palace.

"Excuse me, please call the head of security for me."

"S-Sir Harford! Wait for a moment."

Shortly after, the presumably head of security came up to him in a rush. He was sweating from all the running. "Huff...Huff...What can I do for you, sir?"

"I want to see the list of guards assigned at the administrative building last week. Did you record it?"

"Yes, yes, we record everything. Please follow me." The head security wipes off the sweat on his face. He led Harford to a room, filled with books.

After a while, Harford was handed a hardcover logbook. He promptly flipped it open.

There's a detailed record of who was assigned at what location. It didn't take him too long to find the information he's been looking for.

"Twenty people." He muttered. It is kinda low considering the size of the administrative building. "Are the total guards assigned here always been twenty people?"

"Yes, Sir Harford."

"I want a copy of this list. Make it quick."

Head security has no choice but to oblige Harford's order. Despite his lofty position, it is incomparable to the butler of the palace. He quietly jotted down the names on a piece of paper despite his disgruntle.

....

The investigation went smoothly.

Within a day, he already meets every single guard and gets their statements. He found no contradictory testimonies after comparing them.

"It's not them." Harford deduced it based on the information he has.

In a nutshell, each guard moves in one continuous line, from their own point A and point B. At every point, two guards would stumble upon each other. If one of the twenty people went missing, another guard will notice it.

He thought of the possibility of two people colluding with each other but as mentioned before, it was impossible. A high-risk operation would fail if it involves a large number of people.

However, Harford is not without any new leads. He noticed that the distance from point A and point B for each guard is fairly long. It opens a gap enough for a person to slip in. But who?

Obviously, it's not the administrative workers. Their entry and exit were well-recorded. It has to be done by someone living inside the palace, who knows the palace layout and can freely move around without raising any suspicion.

The only group of people that fit the criteria is the maids. However, they're not without any limitations. A restrictive area is still a restrictive area.

Harford imagines himself being a maid, "Assuming I was a maid and planned to sneak into an administrative building, I would choose the time when no one was around. Late during the night or early in the morning. Night doesn't seem plausible since the chance my roommate would notice my absence is high..."

Each maid was assigned at least one roommate for this very purpose. The previous head maid devised this strategy to counter the spies in the palace. She created a situation where the maids would watch and compete with each other for higher positions.

"...To cover it up with an excuse of going to the toilet is illogical. My roommate would find it weird if I go for a very long time. Then, the only option left is early in the morning."

Kitchen maids and laundresses are the only two groups of maids who wake up at the earliest.

After deciding his next course of action, he readied to interrogate the laundresses first. He highly doubts that the culprit is among the kitchen maids. They're too busy with food preparation from the moment the sun rises. An absence among them may cause a longer time to prepare food, subsequently, delay in cooking and serving. With their lives at the stake, every kitchen staff would do their best to avoid this scenario.

As for laundresses, there are a lot of them but it's not impossible to narrow them down.

He went to the head maid's office.

Harford as much as possible does not want to deal with her. Both of them have never gotten along since their teenage years. She irritated him with her haughty and spiteful behaviour. Nevertheless, his investigation can't make progress without her help.

"Hey, you're not dead yet?" Harford greeted the old woman of the same age as his in the most polite way.

"That's not a polite way to greet someone, you country bumpkin. What are you here for?" The head maid knew that Harford would not visit her except for important business.

"Great! It is a good thing that you know me well. I want a list of laundresses working last week."

"So, it's true that you're investigating something." She mumbles.

Harford caught her words with his sharp ears. He asked in a surprised tone, "Wait!! How do you know?"

"The rumours already spread among the servants. You underestimate yourself, Harford. Do you think no one would notice if the butler of the palace makes a move? Everyone is tense right now despite not knowing what you're investigating."

"Tsk, those guards and their big mouths..."

"Here, the list you wanted."

Harford looks at the long list, "Do the laundresses change every day?"

The head maid shook her head, "No. They're one of the lowest in the maid hierarchy. Mostly composed of newly hired maids or the one who fell out of my favour."

"How cruel." The butler expresses his superficial concern before moving to the next question, "Whose the most performed among them?"

"Hm...Salene, Vikki and...Dorothy."

"Can I see their profile?"

"Sigh...Let me find it first." The head maid looks through the pile of paper in the cabinet. It took a while to find them since such information is rarely sought after. "Here, go ahead."

Harford scanned the basic information about them, just in case.

"Last week, which one of them finished their work earlier than anybody else?"

"Ask Matilda. She handled the maid in my stead last week."