Should I raise you too?

Elisa smiled and said, "Let's get going."

Chapter 43 Mother Disqualified

"Official place names are often meaningless, just boring codes, while folk names are often vivid and descriptive."

Elisa translated the words from "Simon's Diary" and said them to Mabel and Eleanor, who were covering their noses.

Mabel covered her mouth and nose with her left hand and fanned the air with her right hand, saying in a muffled voice, "Now I know why it's called Stinky Water Alley."

Eleanor nodded vigorously.

"Once your nose gets used to it, you won't feel anything," Elisa shared her experience.

After letting the thugs who were leading the way go, Elisa looked at the sun. It was almost noon. The journey had been very difficult.

Fortunately, they finally arrived at their destination.

Beside a stinking ditch stands a row of three-story brick houses; this is Lukeli Lane, and the sixth door leads to house number 6.

They knocked on the door, and soon a voice came from behind: "Who is it?"

Elisa looked at Eleanor, and Mabel looked at Simon, their eyes asking how they should respond.

Eleanor stepped forward: "Police, open the door."

The door opened a crack, and Eleanor took out the police badge and handed it over.

The door opened immediately, and a girl who looked about eight or nine years old came out of the dark room and handed the badge back to Eleanor.

She looked at the four people on the street with some trepidation.

“Take me to William’s house,” Eleanor said bluntly.

William is the name of the boy who was attacked and killed.

The girl shrank back, looking at Eleanor with fear, her face pale. She was terrified.

“William’s house, isn’t this place?” Mabel asked the girl.

The girl looked at the red hair under the brim of her hat, took a step back, and became even more frightened.

In the capital, red hair is almost exclusively monopolized by nobles.

"What's your name?" Elisa joined in, trying to get to the point with a small question—a common interrogation tactic.

The girl hugged the door frame; her red eyes were also a symbol of nobility.

For the poor, associating with the nobility is not a good thing; no nobleman will like them, and disaster is almost certain to follow.

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes.

"Oh? Why are you crying? I can play with you!"

"Don't cry!"

"Look, this is 1 shilling!"

The three ladies were in a flurry of activity, each trying their own methods to soothe the girl, but neither Mabel's playful encouragement, Eleanor's orders, nor Elisa's bribes could appease her.

Simon sighed. None of the three young ladies possessed the qualities of a mother.

Simon picked up the girl and soothed her with a magic trick.

Elisa curled her lip. It's just a trick to hide a coin!

Damn it, I've already offered 3 shillings! Is his magic trick even worth 3 shillings?!

“We are Miss Susanna’s friends,” Simon said, wiping away the girl’s tears. “We want to ask your mother some questions.”

Hearing Susanna's name, the girl finally relaxed. Her face flushed, and she gently pushed Simon's arm away, trying to get out of the boy's arms.

Simon put her down and introduced the members of the Mabel investigation team, and the girl also gave her name.

Her name is Beth, and she is William's sister.

"Mom's not home, I'll go get her." Beth hurriedly ran out of the alley.

Mabel's team waited for half an hour before two figures jogged back with Beth.

Those were William's sister Ruth and their mother Fanny.

Fanny and Ruth led a few people up the dark staircase to the second floor, opened the door to the front room, and a cramped room came into view.

A double bed took up half the space, and two straw mats were laid on the floor; this was where they slept.

Next to the straw mat was a small table with hard bread and some scraps of cloth on it, which served as both a dining table and a tailor's table.

The cramped room couldn't fit so many people, so Simon and Elisa had to stand on the stairs outside the door.

Mabel and Eleanor were shocked by the cramped space. Mabel asked, "Do you live in a place like this?"

Fanny replied, "It's already very good here. At least I don't have to sleep on the streets or be crammed together with a bunch of people."

Simon added in his mind, "Squeezing in with a group of people" refers to renting a bed. A bed usually costs 5 pence a night, while a room costs about 5 shillings a week. A room often houses a family of five or six, while a three-story hut usually has six rooms and a total of twenty or thirty people.

Elisa was shocked. There were many poor people in the archipelago, but none were this crowded. And a room cost 5 shillings! How much could these poor people earn in a week?

Inside the house, Mabel and Eleanor asked about William.

Little Beth was deemed useless and was thrown out of the room by her sister Ruth, making more room for Mabel and Eleanor.

Elisa picked her up and asked her some questions. She wasn't interested in the murder case; she asked about Beth's family.

Beth's family originally consisted of five people. Four years ago, her father was crushed to death by a machine in a factory, and a week ago, her 10-year-old brother William was killed by a criminal. Now, only her mother, Beth, and her sister Ruth remain.

Fanny, the mother, was a cleaner with no stable job. She would go wherever there was work and could earn 6 to 10 shillings a week. Her older sister, Ruth, had just become a worker at the match factory and earned 4 shillings a week.

Beth earns a few pennies by doing some handicrafts at home, which she uses to buy roasted potatoes.

At first glance, the family's income is not low. A lower-class male servant's weekly wage is only 6 shillings, which is higher than Ruth's but lower than Fanny's.

But the male servants could save all of their weekly wages, as the manor would cover their food, lodging, and daily necessities. Beth's family, on the other hand, had to pay exorbitant rent and buy their own food and supplies, leaving them with no savings.

Elisa stroked Beth's hair and quietly slipped a pound coin into her pocket.

Simon witnessed Miss Elisa's act of kindness. He wondered why Miss Elisa would give gold coins, since many merchants in the slums had less than a pound in savings and couldn't give change. Gold coins were difficult to spend and were also easy targets for thieves.

After thinking it over, Simon suddenly realized. The wise Miss Elisa had noticed that one pound was hard to spend, and Miss Elisa wanted the Beth family to learn to save in order to cope with possible unexpected events.

Elisa's expression was somewhat stiff.

I didn't consider any of that! I only gave gold coins because it's more convenient than a bunch of silver coins!

Besides, if it can't be used in the slums, why can't it be used in other areas?! Beth's family has two adults!

However, I'll accept your compliment, hehe, wise Miss Elisa, that's a really good adjective.

Elisa pinched Beth's cheek and turned to look into the room.

Mabel and Eleanor's Q&A session was coming to an end.

“…Just two days ago, that child happily told me that he had found a job and could earn money for his family, but then…” Fanny hugged her eldest daughter and sobbed softly.

Eleanor patted her chest: "Don't worry, we will definitely find the murderer!"

“We don’t care about the killer,” Ruth said, hugging her mother with a sad but calm look in her eyes. “No matter what, my brother is never coming back.”

Looking into those eyes, Eleanor opened her mouth, but was speechless.

Simon realized this was a good opportunity to improve Miss Eleanor's favorability...

“At least we can prevent other families from suffering,” Elisa decisively seized the opportunity.

Ruth was about to speak when her gaze swept over Mabel, and the red-haired lady took a banknote out of her pocket.

It was a 10-pound note that Ruth had only ever seen in discarded newspapers.

She withdrew her rebuttal, bowed slightly, and said respectfully, "You are right."

Simon remarked that money is the most persuasive word.

After saying goodbye to Beth's family, the Mabel investigation team left No. 6 Ruckley Lane. Elisa was right; they had grown accustomed to the smell of Stinking Lane.

"Where do we go next?" Elisa asked Eleanor.

Eleanor was somewhat dazed. She patted her face, took out a map, and found the crime scene.

The scene had already been cleaned up, leaving no trace. They then went to the Black Street Police Station to retrieve the case files, but to no avail.

After leaving Black Street and departing from the East End, the Mabel Investigation Team was temporarily disbanded.

Chapter 44 I must take you!

Upon returning to the manor, Elisa first fulfilled her promise by giving the male servant overtime pay and a bonus.

Simon received Miss Elisa's two gold pounds from Maria.

"Intimacy +1"

It only added 1!

The male servant's appetite is getting bigger and bigger; we need to think of a way to get our hands on his money!

Like the plantation owners in the archipelago, every time they paid their wages, they would take their farmhands to the hay market in town, where there were cheap taverns, promiscuous women, and dimly lit gambling dens.