At half past five in the evening of the same day, Antonio, Tully, and Magistrate Paul accompanied Mrs. Klose to the place where the kidnappers had requested, where they put the fifty copper coins demanded by the kidnappers into a bag, tied them to the pigeon's legs, and released the pigeon. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

On the roof not far away, Lilith, the little owl who was ready, saw the flying pigeon, she turned back to Rog and Catherine, who were sitting on their backs, and after getting permission, flapped her wings and flew into the sky, following the pigeon from a distance.

At this time, the city of Khan Fort is already the sunset, all kinds of homing birds and birds are hurriedly returning to the nest, the pigeon flying in front seems to be like an arrow, flying out of the city wall in one breath, the little furball follows silently, and the figure gradually blends into the diffuse night.

In the distance, Lilith saw a manor appear in the field ahead, and the pigeon flying in front of it circled over the manor and fell, and the little furball followed it to a nearby tree, and saw the pigeon burrow into the small window of the mansion's roof.

"Bad wolf, stupid pigeon got in, shall we follow up?" asked the little furball, looking back at Rogge.

"Don't worry. Rogge waved his hand to her and said to Catherine beside her, "You and Monica stay here, lurk and watch the movements, and try to stop anyone if they find him escaping, and Lilith and I will go in and have a look." ”

Catherine and Monica nodded in agreement, jumped from the little furball to the branch, she retreated to the thicker part of the branch, and made a gesture to the little furball, Lilith turned her back into the air, and then rose into the air and slipped through the small window through which the pigeon had disappeared.

The small furball that came in through the window landed steadily on the windowsill, and the two little paws stopped and looked around, the room was dark, but she and Rogge's night vision eyes still clearly saw that there were many pigeon cages inside, and there were many pigeon feathers and some bird food and droppings scattered on the ground.

"It looks like it's a pigeon loft. Rogge whispered to Lilith.

"Bad wolf, look!" said the little furball to Rog, who followed her gaze and saw five pigeons standing in different parts of the room, looking at them with curiosity.

"Little villain, do you see?" Rogge whispered to Lilith as he pointed to the five pigeons, "They all have money bags tied to their legs, and they don't seem to have been untied at all, what's the matter?"

"Could it be that the bad guy took the money and tied the bag back?" asked the little furball, tilting his little head and looking at the pigeon.

"I don't believe the kidnapper has that kind of idleness. Rog let Lilith fall to the ground, and he jumped from her and stood up straight, Lilith chanted a spell to restore him to his normal size.

Rog asked Lilith to fix a pigeon with a fixed beam, then stepped forward to grab it, and checked the money bag on its lap, there was a crisp coin crash from inside, Rogge frowned and put the pigeon in the cage and locked it up, grabbed another one and tried again, but it was the same as the previous one.

He grabbed all five pigeons, untied the money bags from their laps, counted the money, and found two hundred and fifty copper coins, which made Rogge frown.

"What the hell is this damn kidnapper playing?" he frowned and looked at the money in his hand and muttered to himself, "I extorted the ransom money but didn't take any of it, the rope was tied very tightly, and it didn't look like it was untied at all, what the hell is going on?"

"Look, bad wolf," said the little furball, standing on an open-mouthed cloth bag beside him, turning back to Rogge, "there is a lot of food here, but it's all moldy, and these stupid pigeons are still eating." ”

Rogge put the money back in the bag, turned around and grabbed a handful of grain in front of the cloth bag, smelled a distinct musty smell, he saw a lot of moldy grain scattered around the bag, and pigeon droppings were scattered on the grain, which showed that these pigeons had indeed eaten here in recent days.

He glanced in the direction of the doorway, there were no footprints on the dusty floor, he crept to the door, tried to pull the door from the inside, and found that the door was locked from the outside.

"The ground is covered with dust but no footprints, these pigeons have been eating moldy food, their money bags have not been untied, and the money in them has not been taken, which means that the kidnappers have not been here at all during the week, so why did he go to such lengths to ask for ransom with pigeons?"

Rogers let Lilith fly out of the house with her, and when they returned to Catherine's hiding place, they told her and Monica what they had found in the loft, and both girls were surprised to understand what the kidnappers were up to.

"Little villain, you go and watch the main entrance of the manor, and Catherine and Monica and I will go inside and have a look, and let us know in advance if anyone comes near. After Rog had finished instructing Lilith, he and Catherine jumped down from the tree, crept to the back door of the mansion, picked the lock and pushed it in.

The room was pitch black, and Rogge observed the situation in the room as he walked, there was a thick layer of dust falling on the floor and furniture, and it could be seen that no one had cleaned it for a long time, the room was empty and there was almost no furniture, there were no candles on the candlestick, and the coffee pot was empty.

The two of them checked every room and found that all of them were like this, including the kitchen, which did not have any food or water, and the stove was covered with dust, and it looked like it had not been used for a long time.

"It seems to have been abandoned. Rog and Catherine met in the living room of the mansion, and each said what he had checked, and Rogge had checked the stairs and corridors leading to the loft at the top of the building, and found no footprints, and the lock had been sealed for a long time, and there was no sign of it being opened.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Catherine, looking at Rogge blankly.

"Let Lilith go back and report and bring Sheriff Paul here, this manor is not far from the city, he should know who the owner of the manor is, and we must find its owner before we can know the details here. ”

Catherine turned to leave, and went outside to inform Lilith to let her go back to the city to report the news, and the little furball went for an hour, and finally brought Sheriff Paul to the manor along with Antonio, Tali, and a group of soldiers, and when they entered the living room, they found Rogge sitting on the couch with Catherine.

"Hey, you're here at last, Lord Sheriff, do you know who the owner of this manor is?, is it a gentleman named Schiller?" asked Rogge, beckoning to the sheriff.

"Yes, I know the manor," said Sheriff Paul, as he looked at the drawing-room, as he stepped forward, "his master is an old squire surnamed Schiller, who died a month ago, and his son, Mr. Schiller, intends to sell the manor in a while, and he himself has a good house in the city, and does not need to live here." ”

"It's pretty much what I guessed. Rogge handed a letter to the sheriff, and Paul took it and found it to be a letter addressed to Mr. Schiller, the paper covered with creases that could be seen to have been crumpled.

"I found it under the desk in the study, it was supposed to be a letter to little Mr. Schiller, the contents of which must have been written by his father's personal doctor, and it mentioned that the old Mr. Schiller was very seriously ill, and I think that little Mr. Schiller must have come in suddenly when he was reading the letter, and threw it in a lump and in the corner of the table. ”

Rogge stood up and said to the sheriff, "but none of this has anything to do with us, the problem now is that we have found all the pigeons, the ransom is not a penny, no one has ever entered the loft, and no one has even been to this house for nearly a week." ”

"How can this be?" Paul's eyes widened in surprise, and after a moment of hesitation, he asked with some uneasiness, "This seems too strange, extorting the ransom but not coming to take it, and all the pigeons carrying the ransom are flying into such an empty house, is it ...... There are ghosts?"

His words caused a commotion among the soldiers at the scene, and Antonio and Tali couldn't help but look around, but Rogge smiled and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't make a fuss, Your Excellency the Sheriff, I know you're talking about fun, you'd better get little Mr. Schiller first, and ask him about some things to know best." ”

Glancing at the calm expression on his face, Sergeant Paul turned back calmly and ordered a few soldiers to ride back to Khanburg and bring little Mr. Schiller here.

When little Mr. Schiller arrived, it was close to midnight, and he was a middle-aged man of medium stature, slightly chubby, with short black hair, a white face and a gentle expression, and greeted everyone in the room as soon as he entered.

Sergeant Paul summoned him to him, introduced him to Rogge and the others, and explained to him the current situation, and Mr. Schiller looked surprised when he heard that a pigeon carrying a ransom had flown into his loft.

Paul ordered the soldier to bring the five pigeons to him and show them, and Schiller examined them one by one and nodded: "Yes, these five pigeons are indeed my family, my father used to be a fond of pigeons, and the loft in the attic was specially built for this purpose, and at most he kept more than a hundred pigeons." ”

"Can you explain, then, why the pigeons were sent to the kidnapped Monsieur Klose's house, and the ransom extorted by the kidnappers was delivered here?" asked Paul, looking at Schiller with suspicion.

"You don't doubt me, do you?" Schiller looked at him in surprise, and waved his hand repeatedly: "I have nothing to do with this matter, I don't know Mr. Klose at all, and I have already sold these pigeons to others!"

"Sold to?" Rogge, who had been listening silently, suddenly asked.

"I don't know who he is," Schiller replied, looking back at Rogge, "about a week ago, when my father's funeral had just been dealt with, I was suddenly approached by a gentleman with a thick cloak and a face covered, who refused to tell me who he was, but who wanted to buy our pigeons at a high price. ”

"What kind of high price?" asked Rogge, interested.

"Two silver coins for a pigeon," Schiller shrugged his shoulders and laughed at the crowd, "It's unbelievable that he bought twenty pigeons for forty silver coins that day, and when my father bought these pigeons, one cost fifty copper coins!"

"It's a good deal to get it to your door. Rogge took a puff on his pipe and smiled at Catherine beside him.

"You're right, but I haven't seen him since he left, and I don't know why these pigeons had anything to do with the kidnapping, and I don't even know they flew back, because I haven't been here for a long time. Mr. Schiller spread his hands and said with an innocent expression.

"It seems that we have a troublesome adversary," said Rogge, putting down his pipe and looking up at Sheriff Paul, "what does a kidnapper who pays a lot of money to deliver a ransom and writes a ransom letter on expensive paper, but does not take a penny?"