He Opened A Matchmaking Agency In 18Th Century London [EN]: Chapter 25

Gavin Murray

London Streets

Clatter. Clatter.

Having concluded the consultation without any particular success, Tae-oh headed to the London streets in a carriage with Gavin Murray.

Today was the day of the Intelligence Club meeting, and since Tae-oh’s carriage was still under repair, they decided to borrow Baron Murray’s carriage.

However, the carriage, which had been running smoothly, came to a halt as it entered the center of London and could not move forward.

Tae-oh asked the coachman what was happening.

“It seems there has been a major accident ahead.”

Peering out the window, Tae-oh saw a large crowd gathered on the street.

“Looks like there was a carriage accident?”

Tae-oh spoke to Gavin Murray, but he merely nodded with a listless expression.

‘He’s a really strange person.’

After a while, the coachman, tired of waiting, got off the carriage and spoke with someone passing by, then returned to his seat and explained the situation.

“It seems a man tried to cross the road recklessly and was hit by a carriage traveling at high speed, suffering a severe head injury. People say he’s dead.”

After a long time, the congestion on the road gradually cleared, and the carriage began to move slowly.

Clatter. Clatter.

Soon, the traces of the gruesome accident scene slowly became visible through the window.

“Oh, my! Tsk, tsk.”

As the coachman clicked his tongue, a person lying face down on the ground came into view. A dark red cloth covered the head area.

The man who had the accident had his skull completely shattered, and blood pooled around the cloth like a river.

Passersby quickly turned their heads or closed their eyes at the horrific sight of the accident.

“Oh, my God…”

Tae-oh instinctively turned his head away from the gruesome scene.

But then.

A strange scene caught Tae-oh’s eye.

‘···!’

Gavin Murray was craning his neck, looking out the window, and grinning.

‘?’

His gaze was fixed on the bloody accident scene.

However, far from frowning, the corners of his mouth were raised, as were the orbicularis oculi muscles [muscles around the eyes], and his cheeks were puffed up.

‘A look of joy···?’

It was the first time Tae-oh had seen a proper emotional expression on his face, which had been unreadable throughout the consultation.

‘Ah···.’

The moment Tae-oh saw Gavin Murray smiling at the sight of red blood, a memory from 17 years ago flashed through his mind.

It was a memory of a bizarre man he had met during a psychotherapy practicum [supervised practical application of previously studied theory].

A man who had baffled Tae-oh because nothing could be read when trying to read his emotions.

A person who had cognitive empathy, the ability to recognize and understand emotions, but completely lacked emotional empathy, the ability to laugh and grieve with others’ feelings.

A person who was fixated on one-dimensional stimuli due to extreme egocentric thinking and felt visual ecstasy at everything bleeding and dying.

He was a psychopath.

*

Whoa- Whoa-

As Tae-oh got out of the carriage in front of the club, Gavin Murray, who had followed him out to greet him, hesitated and opened his mouth.

“Excuse me… Mr. Sanderson?”

“?”

“Do you know why I laughed earlier?”

He, who had hardly answered during the consultation, suddenly began to ramble on about things he hadn’t even been asked.

“I didn’t laugh at the person who had an accident on the street.”

“…Yes?”

There was no sign of lying on his face as he spoke seriously.

“The truth is, I had been watching an old man wearing a wig walking down the street even before we arrived at the accident site. But because of the strong wind, the old man’s wig kept lifting up… Heh heh, heh heh heh.”

“……”

Gavin was struggling to hold back his laughter, bending over.

Tae-oh carefully observed his strange words and actions.

‘There was no old man wearing a wig at the scene. There was no strong wind either. This guy is making up ridiculous lies without hesitation, even though he was with me. But… the micro-expressions, pupils, and gestures strongly signal that he’s telling the truth.’

He was making up a story, but he fabricated it as if it were a real event.

However, there was no guilt about his lies in his emotions.

If someone who wasn’t at the scene heard Gavin Murray’s story, they would believe he was telling the truth, such was the brazenness of his lies.

‘He definitely seems to have psychopathic tendencies?’

Psychopaths are not easily distinguished from normal people in appearance.

However, because they are extremely selfish and have no empathy, they are frighteningly cold and readily spew out absurd lies.

Spending a few hours with Gavin Murray, Tae-oh felt that his condition was unusual.

‘Gavin Murray definitely has strong psychopathic tendencies. That’s why he looked more psychologically normal and stable in the horrific scene with blood from a major accident than when he was talking comfortably at home.’

Studies on the heart rate of psychopaths reveal very unique differences compared to ordinary people.

Typically, unlike ordinary people, their heart rate tends to decrease when they are about to commit violence rather than when they are sitting comfortably in an armchair.

This is because psychopaths who commit crimes do not feel anger or other emotions when they assault and murder people. They accept assault or murder as a very natural emotion, like an everyday occurrence, and therefore feel psychological stability in such situations.

Tae-oh did not directly measure Gavin’s heart rate, but he could sufficiently infer this from the comfortable emotions revealed on his face and body.

Of course, not everyone with psychopathic tendencies becomes a heinous criminal who commits murder or assault.

There are many socially ‘successful psychopaths,’ and only a small percentage of psychopaths develop into criminal psychopaths.

Successful psychopaths have ‘self-control,’ so they do not engage in impulsive crimes. Rather, they channel that energy into success in society through their unique concentration.

In modern society, if someone is diagnosed with ‘antisocial personality disorder,’ also known as psychopathy, they may need to undergo drug treatment depending on the severity.

But this is the 18th century. Drug treatment is not yet possible.

Moreover, there is still no effective psychotherapy for psychopaths even in modern times, and psychopaths who receive psychotherapy tend to abuse it to commit more vicious and intelligent crimes, so caution is advised.

In short, there is currently no treatment for Gavin Murray.

“Mr. Sanderson, I’ll be going then.”

“Yes. Thank you for the ride.”

Tae-oh’s mind was complicated as he watched Gavin get back into the carriage.

It seemed he should stop looking for a marriage partner for Gavin Murray for now.

No matter how mild his personality disorder might be, he could not introduce someone of that level of psychopathy to anyone.

**

Intelligence Club.

Upon entering the club, Tae-oh saw Benedict Rodney, the magistrate, deep in thought.

“Lord Rodney.”

As Tae-oh approached and greeted him, Lord Rodney looked up and showed courtesy.

As they talked about various things, Tae-oh brought up the subject of Antony Burns, and Lord Rodney’s face immediately hardened.

His slightly drooping eyelids seemed to be lowered not because of fatigue but because of sadness, and Tae-oh could read that anger was being suppressed in his tense expression.

Lord Rodney had been close friends with Antony Burns, as well as Earl Burns, for a long time.

They had been like family, visiting each other for family events for over a decade, and thanks to Earl Burns’ consideration, he was able to become a local magistrate after retiring from being a barrister [lawyer in the UK].

However, their good relationship completely broke down with the death of Earl Burns, who had been the focal point.

He had initially disbelieved the allegations that Antony Burns had murdered the Earl, but the testimonies of witnesses and the Earl’s past behavior supported the allegations, leading him to believe them.

“You said footprints were found in the reinvestigation?”

“Yes. The footprints were consistently present. It appears the perpetrator slit the Earl’s throat with a knife and watched the blood gush out as if watching an opera, then slowly walked to the opposite side.”

The area where the Earl fell was an inner path not frequented by people, so the perpetrator’s footprints remained as fairly clear evidence.

The footprints in the direction the perpetrator was believed to have fled after killing the Earl showed a peaceful gait, neither hurrying nor running, judging by the stride.

The size and sole pattern of the footprints were almost identical to those of Burns’ shoes.

Tae-oh frowned.

“Then isn’t that even stranger? According to Burns’ words and the witnesses, he carried the stabbed Earl on his back and ran madly, didn’t he? But the footprints were peaceful?”

“There was a ball in full swing at Burns’ house that day. Moreover, the Earl had invited nearby residents to be treated to food separately. Because of that, the neighborhood was quieter than usual.

It seems that Burns, knowing this, killed the Earl and calmly left, but upon seeing residents coming towards the promenade, he turned back and carried him, as testified by the residents. Several footprints of him hurriedly turning back were also confirmed. In short, it is presumed that he disguised the situation. A truly detestable act.”

Based on the testimonies of the villagers and various circumstances, Lord Rodney seemed to be solidifying his conviction that Antony Burns was the perpetrator.

If Tae-oh had not been able to read Burns’ psychology and unconsciously emerging body signals, he might have suspected Burns as the culprit as well.

However, Tae-oh had a natural talent for distinguishing lies. Burns, whom he had visited in prison, was not lying.

‘The perpetrator, startled by the villagers walking towards him from afar, hurriedly turned back, and the villagers mistook him for Burns in the darkened promenade.

The perpetrator hid in the nearby bushes, and the villagers believed that Burns, who happened to appear, was the perpetrator.

By the way, according to the investigations so far, there was no one who would have had a grudge against the Earl. There were no stolen valuables, so it couldn’t have been a random robbery-murder.’

The only thing missing was one of the second buttons on Earl Burns’ jacket, but even that was a button carved from wood, not an expensive material.

‘···A missing button.’

The magistrate seemed to dismiss this button as insignificant, presuming that it had fallen off during the crime.

However, Tae-oh’s thoughts were different.

If the carotid artery had been severed suddenly from behind, there would not have been a major struggle, and therefore, the possibility of the firmly fixed second button falling off was very low.

‘No matter how I look at it, I have to assume that the murderer deliberately took it. But why take the button of all things?’

The traces of waiting in a deserted place taking advantage of the ball, the method of using a knife in one go, the act of taking the button without aiming for valuables, and the calm footprints were all unusual and too skillful.

‘It’s not a personal grudge, and it’s not for valuables. If we interpret this the other way around, it could mean that the perpetrator who killed the Earl committed the murder for no particular reason…’

A planned murder for which no particular reason can be found, and the process is frighteningly calm. It’s definitely not the work of someone who has done it once or twice.’

Tae-oh, who had been deep in thought, suddenly raised his head.

‘Wait! Could it be… a serial killer who enjoys killing?’

It felt like the stuffy head was suddenly clearing up.

Tae-oh hurriedly asked Lord Rodney.

“Have there been any other similar murder cases recently in the Kent family area?”

Lord Rodney immediately shook his head.

“No, there haven’t been. There haven’t been any murder cases like the Earl’s since I took office in Maidstone, Ashford, Tonbridge, etc.”

Because of the professional skill, Lord Rodney seemed to have already suspected and investigated.

‘Hmm… no. Something’s strange. If I find a similar case, I might see a clue to the solution. I need to look at a wider range than the area where the incident occurred.’

Modern serial killers often use vehicles to commit crimes over a fairly wide area, making it difficult to pinpoint the area.

However, in 18th-century England, automobiles had not yet appeared, and at best, horses or carriages were the only means of transportation.

As such, the range of movement was bound to be narrow.

Tae-oh felt that if he looked at recent murder cases in the entire area near London, in addition to the Kent family area, he might find a surprisingly good clue.

“Lord Rodney?”

“Yes?”

“I think I’ll have to visit Lord Wilson tomorrow.”

“What for?”

“I need to ask Lord Wilson about the murder cases that have occurred in London and near London in recent years.”

Rupert Wilson was currently a barrister at the London Court of King’s Bench [superior court of common law].

He was someone Tae-oh had met through his connections with club members, and he was famous for his obsessive record-keeping of cases.

“Alright, Mr. Sanderson. Then shall we go to Lord Wilson’s office together tomorrow? If we explain the situation and ask for cooperation, he will help.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

However, it was unknown how much detail he had recorded about the murder records, and to what extent.

In particular, murder cases of ordinary people, not nobles, often ended with mere formal investigations, so there was a high possibility that there would be no records at all.

‘I hope there are detailed records of the murder cases. There’s not much time left for Burns…’

Slurp-

Tae-oh anxiously gulped down the remaining wine punch in his glass at once.