MFM | Chapter 2.6

“This is absurd. Someone must be conspiring. My husband and I lived righteously. We never even thought of killing anyone.”

“But if not you and your husband, who else could have done it? Surely you won’t say it was the servants. You dismissed all the servants after your son’s death, didn’t you?”

“Oh, William!”

Mrs. Krem took a deep breath. She clutched the locket necklace with one hand and covered her eyes with the other. She looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment. Her slender, narrow shoulders trembled.

“I can’t listen to this anymore. Please leave.”

“…”

“Please. I’ll cooperate next time, but please leave for now.”

Gabriel tried to look at Klaus. But before he could turn his head, he felt a tug at the end of his glove. The meaning was clear.

‘Continue.’

Gabriel gritted his teeth and looked at Mrs. Krem.

“I’m afraid I can’t accommodate that. I’ll be frank. Both the police and we suspect you.”

“…What?”

Mrs. Krem lifted her tear-streaked face. Her expression was dazed, as if doubting what she had heard. Gabriel clenched the hand not held by Klaus into a fist.

“Both young William and Mr. Krem had heart conditions and died of sudden heart attacks. Mr. Krem, in particular, had heart medication he took regularly. The ingredients included digitalis. In excessive doses, it causes vomiting, delirium, seizures, and most importantly, fatal changes in heart rhythm leading to death.”

“Are you suggesting…”

Mrs. Krem’s voice trembled. Gabriel didn’t stop.

“You have experience working as a nurse. You personally cared for your son and husband. Handling food or administering injections wouldn’t have been difficult. No one would suspect the sudden death of patients with long-term illnesses.”

“No!”

She screamed. Thick tears streamed down her cheeks without pause.

“How could I kill my beloved son, my husband?”

“It’s not uncommon. Didn’t you enjoy a substantial inheritance alone as a result?”

“Do I seem like someone who would commit such a heinous act for money? How could I…”

At that moment, Klaus scratched Gabriel’s palm. He stood up and moved to sit next to Mrs. Krem.

“Madam, I understand how you feel. If you committed murder for money, there’d be no reason for you to leave the luxurious house on Arve Street and live here. Nor would you stop social activities while continuing charitable work.”

Klaus comforted Mrs. Krem in a gentle voice. With his smooth face and kind tone, he seemed quite the gentleman. He genuinely appeared to empathize with Mrs. Krem.

“You must have suffered greatly. I understand completely. Enduring the pain of loss and the truth is a torment.”

“I know nothing. I…”

“I know you’re not responsible. You were just trying to protect your late husband’s honor. How much did he dedicate himself to society? How painful would it be if his end became a mockery?”

Mrs. Krem’s eyes wavered. Klaus continued to soothe her.

“Your husband didn’t commit murder. Right? No one was murdered in this case. There were just parents who loved their son too much.”

“…”

“The body found in the basement belonged to a Beta boy, around nine or ten years old. We couldn’t determine more about his identity. Madam, I know it’s a painful question, but I must ask. How old was William when he passed? What was his trait?”

“He was nine years old. He was a Beta.”

She pressed her palm against her chest, clutching the locket on her necklace. Klaus spoke with sympathy.

“I know how heartbreaking a child’s death is. Before joining this company, I was in the military and had to deliver the news of subordinates’ deaths to their families many times. I heard the sounds they made as they cried, saw the expressions they wore as they cursed the goddess and the world.”

“…”

“If you could bring back a dead child, you’d do anything. No matter how foolish the world might think it is. Your husband wasn’t insane. It was a natural reaction.”

Madam Krem buried her face in her palms. Gabriel thought she might refuse to talk again. But unexpectedly, she opened her mouth and began to speak.

“After William died, Albert started to change. He used to be so gentle, but he became less talkative and his actions grew rough. He would go out late at night and return at dawn with bloodshot eyes.

When I asked where he’d been, he’d get angry. Frightened employees began to leave the house one by one. Still, I believed he could come back to his senses. Until then.”

Madam Krem’s rounded back trembled slightly. Naturally, her voice quivered too, but she didn’t stop her testimony.

“It was about a month after all the employees left. It was a rainy night, and I woke up to a clattering sound outside. I was scared, so I went to Albert’s bedroom, but he wasn’t there. I went downstairs after finding a gun in the study. And then…”

Madam Krem’s hands lowered a bit, revealing her frightened eyes.

“And then, there was Albert, wearing a cloak. He was dragging a cart covered with thick cloth. Both he and the cart were covered in mud. I asked, ‘Albert, what’s going on? What is that?'”

She swallowed dryly.

“When I asked, he smiled. It was the first smile I’d seen since our child died. I still remember clearly what he said.

‘Don’t be afraid, Arlene. It’s our child. He’ll come back to life soon.’

I really thought my husband had gone mad. So I asked, trembling, ‘What do you mean? William is resting in the cemetery.’ Then my husband showed me what was under the cloth. Oh, inside there was…”

Madam Krem clutched her necklace and closed her eyes tightly.

“My son, my son’s corpse, decaying right there…”

Klaus waited for her to continue instead of interrupting. With trembling hands, Madam Krem covered her mouth.

“I don’t know what happened in the basement. But naturally, the child didn’t come back to life, and my husband fell ill and passed away not long after.”

“Thank you for revisiting such painful memories.”

Klaus said in a low voice. He handed Madam Krem a handkerchief and returned to sit next to Gabriel. His face was dark, as if he shared in her deep sorrow.

‘Is this how it ends?’

Gabriel looked back and forth between him and Madam Krem. Klaus seemed to have fully accepted Madam Krem’s testimony. Otherwise, how could a man who had been so lighthearted the whole time suddenly wear such a solemn expression?

Gabriel couldn’t find any logical flaws in Madam Krem’s words either. He hadn’t expected Klaus’s interrogation strategy to be this effective. Even though it took a bit of a detour, hadn’t she ended up crying and confessing her past?

Gabriel glanced at the file resting on the sofa. It had been a long time since he stopped thinking while performing autopsies. He just mechanically cut and collected his pay.

So it was right to conclude this matter according to his superior’s judgment. What did it matter if the subject was a child who was teething? It was even said to be a natural death, so there was no need for him to concern himself further.

Yet, there was one thing that bothered him.

‘…Should I ask about the scales on the thigh now?’

Gabriel hesitated for a moment. It was something he hadn’t mentioned to Klaus. As he pondered, lowering his gaze, Klaus let out a deep sigh. Leaning toward Madam Krem, he spoke as if to console her.

“When we first saw William’s body, the police and all of us were devastated. Anyone would feel that way, thinking such a young boy had been murdered.”

Klaus’s brow furrowed as if in distress. He stroked his chin and added in a regretful tone.

“He was just a really young child, barely starting to lose his upper front teeth.”

Gabriel almost turned to look at Klaus. He managed not to because Klaus scratched his palm. Gabriel quickly swallowed the words that almost escaped his mouth.

‘That body, it wasn’t the upper teeth…’

His heartbeat began to quicken. His mouth went dry, and his fingertips tingled. Gabriel stared blankly at Madam Krem. She dabbed her tears with a handkerchief and replied with a pained expression.

“Yes, he was such a young child.”

It was a lie filled with false affirmation.

His wrist was tightly clenched. But even without this clear sensation, Gabriel couldn’t help but glare at Madam Krem.

“How shameless you are.”

Gabriel picked up the file and opened it. As the gruesome photos were revealed, Madam Krem gasped. Gabriel didn’t care.

“Do you see here, the marks where the lower teeth are missing?”

Madam Krem’s lips trembled, tightly shut. Watching her bloodless, pale lips, Gabriel pushed the photo closer.

“Where did the lies start? From the basement? Or was it from saying that only William’s body was under the cloth? Or…”

“Madam, please be honest now.”

Klaus said calmly.

“I believe in your good intentions. I don’t think you planned and executed such a heinous crime from the beginning.”

“No, I can’t believe it.”

Gabriel pointed to the child’s face in the photo with his finger. Something hot surged inside him, making his heart throb.

“Was the child already dead? Or was he alive?”

“…”

“Didn’t he struggle? Didn’t he beg for his life, even though he did nothing wrong? Not knowing why this was happening to him. Or was he gagged, unable to say anything? But didn’t he look at you desperately? Believing you would pity him, save his life…”

“Stop!”

Madam Krem covered her ears with both hands and closed her eyes tightly. Eventually, her arms went limp and fell.

“Stop talking. Yes, I shamelessly lied.”

She opened the locket hanging from her neck. Inside was a photo of a child smiling brightly. The neatly arranged front teeth showed no signs of being missing. Madam Krem caressed the photo with trembling hands.

“Isn’t he so lovely? This is the last photo taken before William died. But I couldn’t bring myself to look at it often. Every time I met his eyes, it felt like he was blaming me.”

She closed the locket with her eyes downcast.

“The night my husband brought the cart, he only uncovered half of the cloth. Something was tied up and struggling violently inside. When I, frightened, asked what it was, he said it was a piglet. I… I really believed him.”

Madam Krem wrapped one hand around her neck, as if she wanted to strangle her past self.