บท 33: Mind reader?
"You never fail to amuse me Miss Hiccups," he said, bluntly.
Evelyn stared at him, knitting her brows. Her eyes gave him a cold look, cold like ice. She was about to retort, the opening of the door caught her attention.
A man, around in his early twenties, entered the room. He looked at the two people standing in awkward silence. By the look on the woman's face, she appeared to be pissed off at something. He glanced at the man who held a grin on his face as he looked into a file.
"Good morning," he greeted them with a nervous smile.
Evelyn smiled at him politely, greeting back and thinking to brush off Elric's teasings.
"Myself Alfred Nobell," he introduced himself, looking at Evelyn as Elric appeared unconcerned.
"Evelyn Walford," she introduced herself and added, "pleasure to meet you, Mr Nobel."
"Pleasure is mine. Well, it's Nobell with double L's," he said, correcting her.
"I see,"
"What's the point of adding another L to your last name?" Elric asked, scrunching his brows.
"My mother was a fortune-teller. She said adding another L will change my fortune for the better. And see, it did change. I am in the council finally," Alfred replied.
"Yeah, if you perceive it like that. Council is the best you would have blessed with," he replied, raising his brows in amazement.
"I know right, I am fortunate."
Evelyn gave Alfred a pitiful smile since he couldn't acknowledge the sarcasm in Elric's words. She shook her head in disappointment as she turned her gaze to Elric. She wondered how she fell for an arrogant man with those magnetic brown eyes. Those two earthy-coloured eyes with their long lashes. She admonished her with a shake of her head, telling her not to think about him anymore.
Soon the door opened again and this time Mr Condrad appeared. Everyone stood attentively and greeted him.
He greeted back cheeringly, "Good morning newly enrolled councilmen," looking at Evelyn he added, "and councilwoman."
Her face lit up with joy, knowing that her presence in the room of males wasn't overlooked and that she was valued equally with them. Mr Condrad appeared to be humble and polite in her opinion. She considered herself privileged to have him as a senior. She heard him speak.
"From today onwards we will be working as a team. You all are blessed that you don't have to get training from magistrates like the previous batch.
According to the council rules, you will work on the specific case if and only if the case is handed over to the council. Well, you can still work on others but the council will not need any assistance in that.
Each case handed to you should be reported to me. And all the documents and evidence should be conserved in the council's record room, during and at the end of the case."
He looked at the attentive eyes of the young councilmen and added, "We got a new case for the council and it will be under us. The details are here in this file." He handed the file to Alfred and said, "This is your first case therefore I will check your performance and feel free to seek assistance. You may all leave for the task."
The three people marched out of the room and headed to the carriage stand of the council. After checking the file, Alfred notified the coachman of the village name where they were supposed to proceed.
Elric entered the carriage first, followed by Alfred. When Evelyn entered, she noticed that they were sitting in opposing directions. She decided to take a seat with Alfred as she wasn't interested to sit with Elric.
Soon the carriage gradually increased its speed. Pin drop silence surrounded them. Evelyn saw Elric gazing out the window, and Alfred was poring over the case file.
"What is the case about?" She inquired.
"It appears to be a murder case according to the report," Alfred informed.
"Can I have a look?" She asked politely.
"Sure, hear it is," he stretched out his hand, handing her the file.
Evelyn scrolled through the report, quickly.
"Indeed a murder," she murmured.
Alfred nodded his head.
"Do you want to check the file, Elric?" Evelyn asked him.
"I'll pass," he replied without glancing at her.
"I suggest pre-reading about the case. It might help while investigating," she reasoned. She saw him shift his gaze from the view outside the window to her.
"How will that be helpful?" He enquired.
"Well," she thought about it for a while formulating the words and continued, "the reports inform us what the situation is about. And hence we can plan accordingly."
"Like in this situation, we know it's a murder we just need to find the culprit behind it," Alfred added his points in support of her words.
Elric sighed. "How are you sure that it was a murder?" He questioned again.
"It's written here in the file," Alfred replied.
"Did you write that?" Elric asked to which he shook his head. "Were you there when the murder was taking place?" He asked again.
"Hell, no,"
"Have you seen the body?"
Alfred shook his head again and again. Evelyn stared at Elric curiously trying to contemplate what he was attempting to explain. Or his point.
"Then how can you say it was a murder?" Elric said, and before Alfred could reply he added, "Don't say again that it's written in the file. The file report is just one point of view. And whoever it is, a villager who reported or a councilman who was investigating it previously. It's their point of view.
I am not saying not to refer to the files but it's stupidity to its extreme to conclude on the basis of what it's written." He shifted his gaze outside the window again, ignoring the looks on him.
Alfred sat there dumbfounded and so did Evelyn. Her eyes gazed at Elric with mixed emotions. She appreciated his way of thinking and she was confused how he knew these things as he too was a novice like her.
She continued staring at him and a deep voice whispered in her mind, "It's rude to stare at someone Miss Hiccups."
It was Elric's voice. She quickly looked down at her feet in embarrassment. Her eyes widened astoundingly, realising it was just her imagination and Elric didn't say those words in real.
She slowly lifted her gaze only to see him smirking.
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