Chapter 5 Chapter nine

Nick stood in the kitchen, unable to breathe, words choked in his throat. Julia approached him, her blond hair unruffled and neat, her bright eyes full of life and care and concern.She stood upright, full of confidence, as if she was coming out of an impossible dream, and all his affection and affection for the woman in front of him instantly recovered. "Nick?" Without saying a word, he stretched out his hand, pulled her closer to him, and hugged her tightly, as if she would slip away from him at any time.It was as if he had a brief moment to express his love, and then she was gone forever.

"Honey, what's going on?" Julia hugged him back. He was still speechless. She was surprised to see his tears, she had only seen him cry twice in all the years they were together.Once, when he was fifteen, when he was eliminated in a national competition, and the other was three years ago, at his parents' funeral. "You really scared me." Tears of fear and compassion welled up in her eyes too.She hugged him and tried to reassure him and calm him down. "What the hell happened?" But Nick didn't know what to say.The mere fact that she was alive made him weep with joy, God had granted him this impossible wish, and he couldn't tell her what happened, no, he corrected himself, what would happen "in the future".

"I love you." He held her face in his cup. "I love you. I love you with all my heart. I'm sorry for saying those things this morning." "Just for this? Just because you don't want to go to dinner with Moles?" She was so surprised, her uncontrollable sobbing turned into a mingled laugh. "You scared the hell out of me, I thought..." She paused to catch her breath, "I thought someone died!" Nick pulled her over again, he couldn't tell her what was in his heart, he could only kiss her affectionately, as if to swallow her, and she stroked his back gently.

Unknowingly, they lay down on the ground and took off their clothes.The understanding and sadness after the quarrel and reconciliation ignited their passion.Nick loved her with all his heart, poured all his affections into her, kissed her tenderly and fiercely, and thanked her like a gift from heaven. Julia smiled and got dressed in front of Nick, who sat on the kitchen counter with his legs down, watching her every move.She lost her balance as she tried to put the black dress back on, and her foot caught the zipper, tearing a tear.She grabbed the cabinet in the middle and burst out laughing again. "I'd love to have a passionate evening in the evening."

"Sorry for tearing your dress." Nick smiled back when he saw the rip in her dress. "You can break it again if you like." Nick laughed, but the fear of losing her came back again, and the good mood quickly faded.He jumped off the countertop, reached into his pocket and took out the gold watch. "It's a nice pocket watch!" Julia said as she buttoned up her shirt, and looked surprised when she saw the pocket watch, "Did it come from your girlfriend?" "Trust me," he said when he lifted the cover of the watch and saw that it showed 6:15, "I'm already busy enough just to deal with you."

"Do you think the power will come back on tonight? I'm not complaining." Nick ignored her and hurried out of the kitchen without a word of explanation.He went to the dining room and locked and drew the curtains on the French windows leading to the back balcony, as did the living room door.He checked the windows in each room, locked them all, went into the hall, and finally made sure that even the door was locked. "What the hell are you doing?" Julia asked. Nick turned and saw her sitting on the third step of the fuchsia-carpeted stairs. "You're scaring me again."

"Just checking the windows and doors," he said, but that was clearly a lie.Having been together for most of his life, the expression on his face is more recognizable than his scribbled handwriting. "After today," Julia said, "I think we're lucky." Nick didn't know what she was talking about, but he didn't want to correct her, tell her how wrong she was. He went into the dressing room and locked the window, which had been left open for ventilation since the exhaust fan broke. "We're lucky because?" He walked back into the hall and sat down beside her.

She becomes confused. "Are you kidding me? I'm still in shock!" Nick had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "I still can't believe I'm still alive." Her tone seemed to repeat this sentence for the fifth time. Nick turned to her quickly. "what did you just say?" "I can't believe I'm still alive." Nick looked at her incredulously. "That plane crash..." Her tone seemed to be saying, isn't that obvious? "I was supposed to be on that plane." "what?" "I've been looking for you all day, I guess you were busy with work so you didn't answer the phone, didn't you see my text message?" She looked into his eyes without emotion.

"You were supposed to be on that plane that crashed?" "I thought you were so emotional because of it. If God hadn't been merciful, your wife wouldn't have escaped." "I'm sorry," Nick admits, breathing fast, "I'm confused." "What the hell happened today?" Julia put her hand on his leg as he gently rubbed it as if injured, "You're a bit weird." Nick said, "Tell me about that plane." "I was heading to Boston for an impromptu meeting and I just got the call an hour ago. Then I took the shuttle back from the airport. I can't believe you didn't read the text."

"Why didn't you get on the plane afterwards?" The phone rang suddenly, startling the two of them.The old-fashioned telephone in the kitchen is fixed to the wall, and the phone is connected to a long and coiled telephone line, which is different from the telephone in the city.So in this case, the phone line is still working. Julia picked up the phone hanging on the kitchen wall before Nick did. "Hello," she said when she answered, "Oh hi, I'm glad you called." She put her hands on the phone. "I'll be there in just two minutes." Nick nodded and went to the cloakroom to inspect the small room, but a chill came over him involuntarily.He looked up to the back stairs leading to the basement, and quickly closed and locked the door.Finally, he looked at the leather bag hanging from the hook, took it off, checked the contents, saw her wallet, mobile phone and PDA, and then looked at this almost spotless place, not even a speck of dust in the corner , quite clean.No blood, no murders, no dead bodies on the ground... nothing has happened yet.

He shook off that nightmare reality, hung up his purse, and went outside to check the garage.He reached into his pocket for the key, opened the trunk, and when the lid popped up, he looked inside, moved everything around, checked under the hockey bag, behind the first aid kit, but it wasn't here.The gun hadn't been put in yet. He grips the handle of the hood, closes the trunk, and looks at the garage he's been in an hour ago—an hour after, technically. It is not easy to keep his head clear, time is no longer a straight line for him, but a bunch of unreal fragments.Each piece is like a piece of a puzzle, and each piece requires careful attention.forward?later?Even if you go back in time, remember what happened in the future. He found it difficult to keep track of the order in which everything happened, but he struggled with his mind.If he wanted to stop Julia's killer, he couldn't let his emotions interfere with his thinking, and figured out how to put the puzzle pieces together. He had the crash in his mind.Had Julia avoided one death only to face another a few hours later?Why didn't she get on that flight?When she left for work this morning, he had no idea she was going to Boston.It's actually not that unusual, since both of them are constantly running the airport, flying from one conference to the next.Nick hates flying.One only had to look at the statistics to see that this fear was illogical, but every time he or Julia got on a plane, he couldn't help feeling uneasy. He felt that this was the most horrific way of dying.As you plummet helplessly from the sky, the desperate screams of your unfortunate passengers fill your ears, until everyone dies simultaneously on impact.In order to work, Nick has to learn to control his fears, but every time Julia flies, his fears intensify.Therefore, every time she flew on a business trip, he always worried and couldn't sleep at night, even during the day.At one point, he even begged her not to go on the plane because the weather forecast was bad and he had a bad feeling.However, she has not canceled the trip at his request so far. But what kind of good luck got her off the plane this time?She hadn't mentioned it to him beforehand, and she hadn't had a chance to explain why before boarding the plane. He took another look at Julia's car as he came out of the garage and found the key still in the starter, which always made him uneasy.It's clearly a free pass for car thieves, like an invitation that says, "Drive me away! I don't care, take me for a ride and sell to the highest bidder!" Nick wanted to run away, he wanted to take Julia as far as possible.But is doing so merely postponing an inevitable doom?Will the murderer who wants to kill her succeed sooner or later?Maybe tomorrow or Sunday the murderer will also track her down?When he can't intervene and save her, will she be killed? He took out his gold watch and checked the time: six thirty-five.The detective said she was shot before seven o'clock, and he would be brought back to the past in less than twenty-five minutes. He had to stop the killer, and stop it now.He had to know who that person was, so that he wouldn't reach out from the dark to snatch her away again. He looked back at his house, at everything they had worked so hard to build, the car, the garden, which meant nothing to him now.Nick took out his cell phone and made a call.He should have made this call long ago. "Barry Hill Police Department, this is Officer Mance," said the person who answered the phone. "Hello," Nick said, "I'm Nick Quinn." "Mr. Quinn, can I help you?" "I think someone is trying to kill my wife." "Why do you think that?" The police officer's voice was rather cold and emotionless. Nick was momentarily speechless.He had thought that it would be enough to just call the police and have them arrest the killer before he got close to Julia. "Mr. Quinn?" "We're at home now..." "Is anyone else there?" Mance interrupted. "Has someone broken in? Or is someone outside?" "Neither," Nick replied, looking around, "but I think they're coming soon." "I'm sorry, I have to ask some questions, and you know we're severely short-staffed right now because of the crash. Did anyone threaten your wife?" "No." Nick knew he couldn't say too much lest people think he was crazy. "Mr. Quinn," Mance sighed, "I don't know what to say, but everyone's at the crash site now. There's a police car out there on patrol, and the best I can do is tell them to come to you in half an hour." Go there. Right now we are in such a mess, only two cops are dealing with car accidents and various emergencies. I suggest you and your wife leave the house first and go to a place where you feel safer. You can come to our station , so you can tell us everything in detail, and maybe we can catch those guys before the unfortunate event happens." Nick pondered what the officer had said.Indeed, the police were all at the scene of the plane crash, and they had to deal with the "real" catastrophe.With the fragments of more than two hundred bodies lying around the Sullivan Field waiting to be dealt with, it seemed unlikely that they would send a police car just for a suspected paranoid man, who would have to deal with it alone. "Good idea." Nick lied. "As soon as I can get someone from the crash site, I'll send someone to your place right away. But...why don't you guys drive over here?" "Thank you, thank you very much." Nick hung up the phone. What Nick is worried about is that if the murderer refuses to give up without killing Julia, hiding in the police station can only hide for a while, but it is not the solution.Nick knew very well that if the murderer came to her later, Nick would not have the gold watch in his pocket at that time, and he would not have the good luck now. He had to catch the killer before he killed Julia.If the police can't do it, he'll do it himself. Nick walked up the drive and went back inside.He was very confident and felt that he must be able to save Julia.Because he knew they were coming, and they didn't know that Nick would be waiting there to stop them.But if you really want to save her, relying on your own strength is not enough.Although he is reluctant to accept, he needs assistance. He needs her help. He walked through the cloakroom, making sure he locked the door behind him and set the alarm.Although it is currently in a state of power outage, in order to avoid the thieves cutting off the wires, turning off the alarm system, and stealing hundreds of millions of property in the movie plot, the alarm has a twelve-hour backup battery. Julia was still on the phone when Nick walked into the kitchen. "Julia." He interrupted her quietly. She gestured a finger to stop him, and listened intently to the person on the other end of the phone, unconsciously tucking her blond hair behind her ears, and continued to listen to him. "Okay, no problem," she said into the phone, finally looking at Nick, "I'm on the phone, what's the matter?" "Hang up the phone." "What? Why? I'm only going to talk for two more minutes..." Nick snatched the phone out of her hand and hung up. "Damn it, Nick, what are you doing? You have no idea how important that call was." "Julia, look at me," he ignored her complaining, trying to get her to focus on him, "I don't have time to explain," he paused, unsure of what to say, and decided to get straight to the point Say it, "Someone is going to kill you." Julia looked at him as if she thought he was crazy, and the whole atmosphere was extremely solemn.However, seeing him so serious, her confusion suddenly turned to fear. "What do you mean by that?" "I don't know why, but they'll be here soon." He couldn't hide the horror in his tone. "Who? How do you know such a thing?" "I don't know who it is, and I can't explain why I know it. Anyway, you just trust me." Julia immediately turned and looked around, as if someone might jump at her at any moment. There was a sudden knock on the door, which startled both of them. Nick crouched behind the center divider and pulled Julia over to join him on the pine floor. "Stay here." "Is it them? Oh my god! We need to call the police." "I called. They're all at the crash site. Good luck if the police come in half an hour." "I think you're overreacting. It must be a misunderstanding," Julia said. "Why would anyone want to kill me?" "Julia," Nick said with anger in his voice, "can you listen to me just this once?" The tone of Nick's tone and the terror in his eyes convinced her that if he feared for her life, there was no doubt that something dangerous was going to happen. "Then we should get out before they trap us at home," said Julia suddenly and eagerly. "Stay here," Nick said, crawling through the divider, leaving her alone on the kitchen floor, squatting behind the divider, out of sight from the window.He took a knife from the cupboard and headed for the front door. "Whatever you're going to do, never leave the kitchen. Squat low, stay away from windows, and, also, stay out of the garage door."
Julia sat alone on the floor, with her knees bent and her legs hugged, as if that would make her feel better.Nick had never been so paranoid, and he would never jump to judgment unless there was solid evidence.This is his strength, and he rarely goes wrong.She didn't know what was going on, and her mind couldn't focus on the situation.She has never felt the mortal danger of life and death, and she believes that she will be able to calm down in the face of crisis.But at this time, the fear she had never experienced filled her body. Some unknown stranger actually wanted to kill her, and she was disappointed because she could not maintain her sanity. She felt acid in her stomach, and her mind was overwhelmed with fear.She was afraid that she would die, that she would be forced to leave Nick. She couldn't concentrate on thinking about who was going to kill her, she just returned to the most primitive emotional reaction, and the instinct of survival began to play a role.The most important thing is that she will survive, survive for Nick, and survive for their future, which is her most important commitment. She'd wanted to call Nick earlier to tell him about her near-death, she'd wanted to tell him how she'd miraculously escaped.At that time, she got off the plane just before flight 502 was about to take off. She wanted to rush home and tell him about it immediately, but a customer encountered an emergency and asked her to deal with it immediately.She called Nick countless times, but couldn't get through.After the power outage, the answering machine at home did not work, nor did the cordless phone in the office.She called his cell phone several times and left him another message, but they never got in touch.She knew that he was rushing to analyze real estate and financial information, and had to read dozens of annual reports collected during his four-day business trip in the Southwest. He hoped to finish his work today so that he could take the weekend off.He must have been pissed off about the power outage, because then he could only work with the daylight coming in from the window and use the laptop until it ran out of battery. After most of the day, she didn't get in touch with him, and she became unhappy, thinking that he deliberately ignored her and refused to answer her calls.She thought he was still upset about having dinner with Moles tonight, but now... she never told him the lies she had deliberately spun.She wanted to tell him the truth, she planned to tell him tonight when she was alone, she had delayed it for a week, and now she regretted not speaking sooner. The phone rang, and Julia looked up, knowing who it was.That person might get annoyed at the sudden disconnection, but she puts that all behind her, and those little problems are easy to fix.She let the phone keep ringing, and as she looked around, it seemed like an eternity.
Nick looked out of the study window, ignoring the ringing of the phone, which seemed louder than he remembered.A car was parked next to their driveway, and it wasn't clear from here, except that it was blue, but couldn't tell what it was.He glanced at the front door, where the man was standing, looking around casually.He looked to be in his late fifties, possibly in his early fifties.Nick had no experience dealing with criminals, and the man seemed quite honest.He has gray hair, horn-rimmed glasses, weighs about two hundred and thirty pounds, is five feet six inches tall, and looks fat.He looked relaxed with one hand in his pocket and the other hanging by his side, without a gun on his body, he looked non-threatening.But Nick knew someone was trying to kill Julia, and he wasn't willing to take the risk. Nick squatted on the ground, opened the cabinet behind the small desk, and pushed away a stack of old books to reveal his small safe.The safe, which he installed himself, is used to store Julia's jewelry, their passports and house deeds, and other important documents.He turned the lock dial, first to the right, then to the left, and finally to the right, and when he heard a click, he opened the safe.The 9mm Sig Sauer sat there for more than six months, oiled and wrapped in cheesecloth.He hated pistols, but his father had mentioned them many times to keep him safe.He's a good shot, but hasn't practiced shooting since February.He unwrapped the pistol, let it fall into his hand, then reached into the safe drawer with the other hand, picked up a clip, and stuffed it into the stock.He pulled the dial, loaded the cartridge, and walked to the door. As he stepped out of the study and into the living room, the phone stopped ringing, and the sudden silence added to the ominous atmosphere.He leaned against the wall, pistol to his chest, and stared down the corridor.But he remembered that he had completely forgotten about the siren.He was a little annoyed, how could he not have thought of this before, although the siren could not make the police come over immediately, but it would somewhat deter people who wanted to break into the house, maybe it would give him a little advantage.Nick put the safety on his pistol, slipped quietly into the hall, and with one eye peered through the small windows on either side, saw the fat man still standing outside.He reached gently for the panic button.
The alarm bell suddenly blared in Julia's ear, doubling her already rapid heartbeat.At this moment, the phone rang again, distracting the sound of the alarm.She still couldn't figure out who was going to kill her.But when her mind was no longer so flustered, she regained a little composure, and her usual logical thinking returned, and the obvious facts became clear, as if a thousand pieces of puzzles were being pieced together in her mind at the same time. She suddenly understood why some people wanted to kill her, and she knew that those people would never give up until they killed her.As time passed by, she became extremely focused, trying to figure out the identity of that person... She couldn't answer the phone because the person who called back was the same person she had talked to on the phone for five minutes earlier.The people she asked to help solve the problem were the ones who were going to kill her. Julia quickly crawled to the cloakroom and checked the lock to make sure Nick had locked the door.She reached for the purse hanging from a hook and dragged it to the floor.She reached for her mobile phone and dialed 119. "119 emergency line." It was a woman who answered the phone. "My name is Julia Quinn," she whispered. "The address is 5 Townsend Lane, Barrick Hill. Please come quickly, my husband and..." Julia's voice suddenly caught in her throat. Can't get out. Cold sweat broke out from her skin, her breathing became choppy, and intense panic swept over her. Although she was sure the door was locked, she heard a click. She watched silently as the door of the cloakroom opened.
Nick quickly opened the front door and pointed his gun outside; however, the man had already left.Nick walked to the front porch, grabbed the pistol in both hands, and quickly checked the left and right sides, only to see the fat man staggering towards the car without looking back. Nix breathed a sigh of relief, put down the pistol, and dialed back the safety catch.The phone stopped ringing again, and the siren's blare was the only sound. Yet his heart froze in his chest as he watched the man open the door and get into the car.He immediately grabbed the butt of the gun, pulled the safety catch, and rushed back to the kitchen. He realized that he had made a fatal mistake, and there was a panic in his heart.He had been fooled, someone had lured him to the front door, lured him away from Julia, and he was as stupid as he could be.This trick is very simple, but he never thought that there might be more than one villain. Nick had just seen the fat man get into the passenger seat. There are others here.
Julia looked up at the gun, and the whole world slowed down, time flowing like thick syrup.She didn't understand and never would understand why Nick knew beforehand, she regretted not listening to him, not staying in the kitchen, and now she finally knew that what he expected was about to happen. She can't point Nick in the right direction to investigate, and no one will know the truth.The murderer deliberately tripped her with the phone and kept her in one place.The man distracted her with a phone while driving to her home. Julia saw the barrel burst into flames, and puffs of smoke wafted from the barrel studded with exotic jewels.In that split second, she recognized the gun, a picture of which she had seen earlier in the day... Time seems to stand still as bullets fly from the slender barrel of a delicate Colt pistol.The bullet came through the air and ended Julia's life.
Nick rushed to the kitchen, the siren blaring loudly.When he rounded the corner, he happened to see Julia fall backwards, half of her head exploded, and blood sprayed onto the wall. Nick fought back the nausea and the urge to scream and ran over.But when she fell to the ground, he knew it was hopeless.He knew exactly what she had seen, what terror she had experienced seconds before.He knew there was nothing he could do about it, that he had already mourned her in the twisted time stream.An hour ago, he had stood and wept before her mutilated body.Experiencing this tearing pain again would only hit what little sanity he had left, making it impossible for him to identify the murderer, let alone stop this crazy act. With tears of grief already in his eyes, he jumped over her body, rushed through the half-closed door, through the garage, and out the open iron gate.He saw the murderer running quickly to the car parked at the intersection. The door next to the driver's seat had been opened, just in time for him to escape.Without thinking too much, Nick ran wildly, shooting the pistol at the man continuously.Bullets bounced off the ground and from the back of the blue car, but the man continued to run for his life, just missing him. The man was faster than Nick expected, getting into the car quickly. The tires screeched, smoked hot as they rubbed against the ground, and finally grabbed hold of the ground, bringing the car out onto the street. Nick stopped and instinctively rushed to Julia's Lexus parked in the driveway.For the first time in his life he was glad she had the car key in the starter.He quickly started the engine, sprinted out of the driveway, and gave chase. Five Townsend Lane was at the end of the lane, and Nick and Julia had chosen this house because it was quite private and secluded.It was a long way from the city center, as well as from the main road, and the nearest downtown area was more than a mile and a half away. Nick made a sharp turn, turning right onto Sunset Boulevard, and saw the blue car a quarter of a mile away.He slammed on the gas pedal, soaring to sixty miles per hour in an instant, quickly closing the distance between them.He saw the murderer try to turn left on Elizabeth Street, but the tires would not turn and screech, causing him to miss the fork and drive into the Tennesse's front yard instead, before returning to Elizabeth Street.Nick slammed on the brakes, spinning the car in circles, and finally closed the gap. After the turn, the two cars were less than an eighth of a mile apart, and he recognized the car as the Chevrolet Antelope.He stepped on the gas pedal again to catch up, and now he was only thirty yards away from his quarry; On the undulating road. Nick chased desperately.They are less than a half mile from Route 128.There were tons of vehicles on that road, it was hard to target, and there were so many exits that the man had too many chances to get away before Nick recognized who he was. Now only ten yards away, Nick saw that the other party's license plate number was Z8JP9, and immediately memorized it by heart.As the car chases the Chevrolet desperately, Nick suddenly appreciates the Lexus' powerful engine.Like most Lexus SUVs, this one has a full-throttle throttle and is more capable than average in rough terrain.This kind of car is usually used for housewives to drive to the supermarket to buy things, or take children to watch a football game.Although the performance is quite good, there are few opportunities to go to the top speed like Nick is now, and he is very likely to roll over. Finally, Nick caught up with them.The Chevrolet was only inches away, but he didn't slow down and slammed into the car at full speed, his body thrown forward from the impact.He hit the brakes a little, then the gas, and this time hit the rear fender of the Chevrolet.Nick slowed down and hit again. They were approaching a sharp curve, less than a quarter of a mile from the entrance to Route 128, and he had only one chance left. Nick turned into the alley ahead, praying to God that no one would come from the other side, or he would be killed, and Julia, lying on the cloakroom floor, would surely die. Nick accelerated through the bend, the Chevrolet alongside his car.He didn't look into the car, and didn't dare to take the risk of averting his eyes, and still focused on driving.He turned the steering wheel sharply to the right, forcing the killer's car to crash into a stone wall on the right side of the road.The driver lost control and, traveling at over sixty miles an hour, the car began to roll from side to side and the two rear tires flew out in an instant.The Chevrolet spun in place, went over the side rail, and hit a tree, driving the front end of the car into the trunk. Nick didn't think much of it, he just stomped on the gas and slammed into the back of the car so hard that his airbag inflated in front of him, pushing him back against the seat back. He immediately pushed the airbag aside, ignored the slight burning pain on his face, and quickly rolled from the car to the ground.He grabbed the pistol, pulled the safety catch, and crawled toward the Chevrolet.The Chevrolet was stuck between the trunk and the wall, gasoline was leaking all over the floor, the cooler was hissing, and steam was coming from the hood. He looked into the car, wanted to kill the driver, wanted to hold a pistol to his head, serve as judge and jury himself, execute him on the spot, and shoot all the remaining bullets into the murderer's head.But he restrained his impulse and focused on what he should do.If he wants to go back in time and stop this murderer, he has to find out who this man is. Nick moved forward slowly, quietly climbed onto the passenger seat next to the stone wall, and looked up at the deployed airbag. The fat man sitting in the passenger seat was already unconscious.Nick stood up slowly and looked at the steering wheel, only to find that the driver's seat was empty. The sound of the bullet hitting the tree trunk reached his ears, and Nick quickly turned over and rolled to the ground, barely crawling in front of the destroyed front, where the thick smoke covered his position.Bullets flew past his ears, hit stone walls, shattered tree trunks, and splinters flew toward him, trapping him.To his left is the eight foot high wall, behind him is the big tree, his only way out is to climb over the damaged roof of the car on the right, otherwise he can only go back the same way, but both roads will be in the murderer's sight scope. Nick lay flat on the ground, his body pressed against the turned dirt and lawn.He looked out from under the car, opposite the rear left wheel, and he could clearly see the man's dirty flats, with his legs in a shooting position.Without hesitation Nick aimed three shots at him, hitting the man in the calf. The gunman fell to the ground, yelling in pain.Nick jumped up and rushed at the man, ducking behind Julia's Lexus, using the car as cover. The killer shoots him indiscriminately, six times in a row, and finally Nick hears a click and he's out of bullets, and he's got him. As he walked around the car, Nick caught a glimpse of a small lockpicking gun thrown in the mud next to the driver's door, which looked like a cross-shaped stapler or toothbrush, and he understood why this man could open his cloakroom without a key door lock. Beside the pickgun lay the Colt, six rounds out and smoking.Since Nick immediately ran out after him, the killer didn't have time to put a weapon in the trunk to frame him. Seeing the exquisite weapon, Nick was furious at the thought of the man who not only killed his wife, but blamed him.But then it occurred to him that, at this very moment, the future had changed, that he would not have a gun in his trunk to make him a suspect, and soon, there would be no more murders. Nick approached the man and found him sprawled on top of the wrecked Chevrolet, his back arched and gasping for air from his severe injuries.The man's dark, blood-stained hair peeks out from under a New York Mets baseball cap, and his left arm, severed in a car accident, dangles at an eerie angle; his right hand clutches a depleted 9mm He was shot with a pistol in his left leg, bleeding profusely. Nick knelt down beside him slowly, and was about to reach out to grab his back collar when he suddenly saw a silver chain in his hand.It was the St Christopher's Medal, hanging from between his clenched fingers. Nick fought desperately not to kill the man on the spot, and he was relieved that he had finally completed the first step in saving Julia.He felt a glimmer of hope, and while it defied all logic, he knew that he might have found a way to bring Julia back from the dead. Nick turned the murderer's head, and he could finally see the true face of the man who killed his wife... But just before the other's face came into Nick's sight, just when Nick was about to recognize Julia's killer... Nick's world suddenly plunged into darkness.