Chapter 43 third chapter

Donald Hocken was getting more and more sentimental at lunch after drinking too much Chardonnay. But he doesn't care. He got up from the couch with Lily and hugged James Chilton.Chilton arrived at the holiday home in Hollister, bringing several bottles of white wine. Chilton hugged him back, only slightly uncomfortable.Lily said to her husband: "Donald." "Sorry, sorry, sorry." Hawken laughed. "But I can't help it. The nightmare is finally over. God, you have suffered a lot." "We've all suffered a lot," Chilton said. The news was full of reports about the psycho, that the masked killer wasn't a boy, but a deranged villain who wanted to kill for revenge for a post that Chilton had put on the paper a few years ago.

"Is he really going to kill you while taking pictures?" Chilton raised an eyebrow. "Jesus, my Lord," said Lily, pale--which surprised Hawken a bit, since she professed to be an agnostic.But Lily, like her husband, was a little drunk. "I'm heartbroken for that boy," Hawken said. "He was an innocent victim, probably the worst one." "You think he's still alive?" Lily asked curiously. "I suspect," said Chilton gravely, "that Shaffer will kill him. But there's no sign yet. I'm terrified of it." Hawken was glad that he had declined the request to let him go back to San Diego—the request that Inspector Dance had made almost as an order.Resolutely cannot agree.He thought back to the hard days when Sarah died, when James Chilton rushed to his side without saying a word.

This is what a friend should do. In order to break the gloom over them, Lily said: "I have an idea, let's go to a picnic tomorrow, and Patricia and I will cook." "Good idea," said Chilton, "we know there's a beautiful park nearby." But Hawken hasn't recovered from the booze.He held up a glass of wine from Sonoma-Gut Winery, "This one is for my friend." "Regard my friend." They took a sip.Lily has a pretty face and curly blond hair.She asked, "When is Patria and the kids coming?" Chilton checked his watch. "She left about 15 minutes ago. She picked up the kids from camp and came back. It won't be too long."

Hawken was delighted.Chilton lives near one of the most beautiful waterfronts in the world, but for their vacation home they chose a rustic place in the mountains, 55 minutes inland.The mountains here are dusty and gloomy at first glance.But the place is peaceful and peaceful. "Great," Hawken announced, "I can't wait." "Can't wait?" Chilton asked, a bewildered smile on his face. "Did I tell you what I brought?" "Oh, is that the painting? Really, Donald? You really don't need to do that." "It's not a question of 'need or not', but a question of what I want to do."

Hawken walked into the room.He lives there with Lily.He brought back a small canvas, an Impressionist-style painting of a blue swan on a darker blue background, bought by his late wife Sarah in San Diego or La Jolla.One day, when James Chilton was in Southern California helping him with Sarah's funeral, Hawken caught him staring at the painting with admiration. Hawken decided to give the painting to a friend at the time to thank Chilton for everything he had done for him during his difficult time. At this time, all three of them were watching the bird flying from the water in the painting.

"It's beautiful," said Chilton, propping the picture up on the mantelpiece. "Thank you." Hawken had already drank half a glass of wine, and was even more sad, and was raising his glass to prepare a toast.Just then, the kitchen door creaked. "Oh," he said, "is that Patria?" But Chilton frowned. "She can't be that fast." "But I heard something, did you hear it?" The blogger nodded, "I heard it too, there is movement." Lily looked toward the doorway and said, "There's someone there, I'm sure." She frowned. "I heard footsteps."

"Perhaps—" Chilton was about to speak. But his words were cut off by Lily's scream.Hawken turned around quickly, and the wine glass fell to the ground with a loud shattering sound. A teenage boy with askew hair and a face covered in acne stood in the doorway.He was in a trance as if he had taken drugs, blinking his eyes and looking around without focus.He has a gun in his hand.Oops, Hawken thought, they forgot to lock the back door when they came.The kid sneaked in to rob them. A gang, a gang for sure. "What do you want?" Hawken whispered. "Money? We'll give you money!"

The boy continued to squint, and his eyes fell on James Chilton. Donald Hawken gasped. "It's the boy from the blog! Travis Brigham!" Only thinner and paler than on TV.But it must be him.He is not dead.What the hell does this happen?But one thing he knew: the boy was here to kill James Chilton. Lily clutched her husband's arm tightly. "Don't! Don't hurt him, Travis," Hawken yelled, with the urge to step forward and get in front of Chilton, to protect him.He would have done it if he hadn't been caught by his wife. The boy took another step towards Chilton.He blinked, then turned his eyes away—looking at Hawken and Lily, and asked in a weak voice, "Are they the ones you asked me to kill?"

what does he mean? James Chilton whispered, "Yes, Travis, do it, do what you promised, shoot." In the sea-bright light, Travis squinted at the couple who the man who had kidnapped him half an hour earlier had said he had to kill: Donald and Lily.His captors said they would be there soon, upstairs—in the basement of the house he had been in for the past two or three days. Travis couldn't understand why his captors wanted them dead.But it doesn't matter.All he cared about was keeping his family alive. Travis, did you bring me M&Ms? He raised his gun and pointed it at them.

The couple blurted out something, but he barely caught it.He tried to steady his head~gun.It took all his strength.Being chained to his bed these days had made him weak as a bird.Even climbing the stairs became a chore.The gun wobbled. "No, please don't!" someone shouted, either the man or the woman.He did not discern.He was a little dazed and lost in the glare of the light.The lights are too harsh.Travis focuses on the couple, but he's still wondering: who are they, Donald and Lily?In the basement the guy used to say, "Just think of them as characters from the game you played. Dimension Tracker. Donald and Lily are just avatars, that's all."

But the two weeping before him were not virtual avatars.They are real people. They also looked like friends of the kidnappers—or so they thought to each other. "What happened? Please don't hurt us," Lily said. "James, please!" But this man—James—seems to be looking at Travis with those eyes, those indifferent eyes, "Go ahead, shoot!" "James, don't!" Travis steadied the gun in his hand and pointed it at Donald.He cocked the hammer. Lily screamed. There was a buzzing in Travis's head. James? blog boy. Travis blinked. "James Chilton?" Is that the blogger? "Travis," said the kidnapper forcefully, walking up behind him, pulling another gun from his back pocket, and putting it on Travis' head, "Go ahead, do as I say. I'll tell you Don't talk, don't ask questions, just shoot!" Travis asked Donald, "Is he James Chilton?" "Yes." The man whispered. What exactly is going on?Travis thought. Chilton pokes Travis' skull harder with the gun.It hurts. "Do it, do it quickly, or you will die. Your family will die too." The boy put his gun down and shook his head. "You have no friends in my house. You're lying to me. You're the only one doing this." "If you don't do it, I'll kill you all, and then I'll go to your house and kill them all. I swear I will." Hawken yelled, "James! It's . . . for God's sake, what the hell is going on?" Lily burst into tears uncontrollably. Travis Brigham gets it now.Whether he killed them or not, he had to die.His family would be fine; Chilton wasn't interested in them.But he is dead.A faint laugh escaped his throat.He felt the tears sting his eyes, already scorched by the sun. He thought of Caitlin, her beautiful eyes and smile. He thought of his mother. He thought of Sammy. And the bad things people said about him on the blog. But he did nothing wrong.He's just doing his best to finish school, play games that please him, take care of his brother, and meet a girl who doesn't care that he's a computer geek or that he has acne on his face.Travis has never hurt anyone in his life, never been disrespectful to anyone, and never posted anything bad about them. And people all over the world are attacking him. No one would care if he killed himself. Nobody cares. So Travis did the only thing he could do.He held the gun to his chin. Look at this wretch, what a failure he has had in life! ! ! Travis' finger slid to the trigger of the first gun.He starts to snap. The explosion was terribly loud.The windows were shaking, acrid smoke filled the room, and a delicate china cat rolled off the mantelpiece and fell to pieces on the hearth.