Chapter 66 Chapter 66

I came out of the building and saw Detective Terrance's car parked across the street where he usually parked, and there was a man in the car.I kind of wanted to ask them to give me a ride, but didn't want to embarrass him in front of his partner, so I ignored him as he sat in the car reading the Post.I took two subway trains and one bus to get there, and when I got out of the subway station, I found that Dani called my cell phone, but I didn't listen to the message. It took me a while to find the house.From Clay and I's childhood to the present, this area has been reborn more than once.It was dying and run-down, full of disrepaired apartment buildings, private homes owned by owners who were either too old or too poor to fix them up anyway, clinging to the lowest tiers of the middle class and refusing to let go, seeing this The city is on the brink of bankruptcy.Now that it's been revived, everything is so bright and clean; Clay's foster mother's house--steps crooked, foundations sunk, bushes in need of pruning, curtains drawn tight--is like a pustule, the block. Shame.I stopped and looked at the house number outside the house, and a young mother across the road stared suspiciously at me.She's putting her baby into the baby seat in the back of her Volvo, and her driveway and house are dotted with flower beds where irises are in bloom.The sidewalk on my side is cracked and overgrown with weeds, and the driveway is an old Buick dying.I smiled at her, she suddenly looked away and got into the car.I heard the electronic door lock hiss into place.Don't blame her.The place creeps me out too, and I turn to look for the reassuring figure of Agent Terrance.he is not here.

I pushed open the gate and immediately heard a furious dog barking.I waited a while to make sure the dog hadn't rushed out of the house before crossing the yard, past overgrown apple trees, bald lawn, and yet another dead sedan, this VW rotten and parked in the dirt. I opened the torn screen door and climbed onto the porch, the dog barking like crazy, the whole zip code knew I was here, but I didn't think twice and rang the doorbell anyway.No one opened the door.I knocked on the door, and the dog jumped on the door, probably trying to kill me.I heard claws scratching at the door, but nothing else.

I gave up knocking and walked around to the back of the house, and saw the precarious garage that I feared would collapse if I pushed, and the withered remains of a vegetable garden from years ago, half the fence knocked down.The branches of the two trees are joined together, and the back half of the yard is always covered with shade, and the old fallen leaves are piled up layer after layer. I looked over the fence and saw a small patch of woods and wasteland behind the residential area, with the highway passing over one side of the wasteland.On the other side there is greenery between the trees.I look at the map.It was the middle school where Clay went to school and learned to take pictures.

I edged my way through the half-fallen fence and groped my way into the woods.The tangled trees are too thick for sunlight to come in, and the vegetation on the ground is thin, but thick with rubbish - a considerable amount of paper, bottles, mattresses, tires and unidentifiable rotting or blackened of sundries.The thaw and spring rains have created patches of muddy puddles, and I have to jump all the way.At the end of the forest is a small piece of grass. Weeds are luxuriant on the slope between the forest and the campus, but the lawn within the campus boundary is very neat. This scene was vaguely unusual, and it reminded me of something. It seemed that the place I read in the book, or the school I used to go to, had been forgotten by me, and I happened to revisit the old place today.As I walked around, I heard cars on the viaduct, buzzing and rustling like insects in the trees.It suddenly occurred to me that it must be in this wilderness that the kind-hearted teacher Barnsworth found the boy Dalyan wandering around with a camera, so he encouraged him and taught him by hand.Could there be something else in his hand?Given Clay's background, it's not impossible.Every relationship in his life is based on victimization and victimization.The only difference is who is the hunter and who is the prey.I turned and went back into the woods when my phone rang and I took it out."Unknown number" is displayed on the screen.I answer the phone and the signal is poor.

"Hello?" "Harry Bloch?" "right." "It's me, Agent Bateson." "Who?" "It's me, Terrence!" "Ah, sorry, hello." It's strange that the signal can still be connected without even a bar. "Listen," he said, "I have something to tell you. We were called back to our briefing, but there is something I feel I should tell you. I saw a woman driving after you this morning." "when?" "this morning." "Dani?" I asked. "Is that Dani?" "This is Terrence," he said, and the phone disconnected.

I suddenly realized how still it was in the woods.The dog stopped barking.Only the hum of traffic from the viaduct remained.Then I heard the sound of a branch snapping—or something else—and I was stunned.The crackling thing stopped too—if there was anything at all.I took a step cautiously, and suddenly I saw something move in the corner of my eyes, like a black shadow in the woods.I'm not sure, but I don't care.I ran and stepped into the mud, which covered my ankles, and when I pulled it out, the mud sucked my shoe away. "Fuck!" I yelled, momentarily forgetting that I was supposed to dodge my pursuers.I bent over to pick up the shoe, and my other foot sank in too. "Shit." I whispered.I have to admit, at the moment I just want to cry.I picked up my shoes in the smelly ooze and jumped cautiously to the dry ground.I continued to run away, panic overwhelmed me, one shoe was wet, the other foot was only wearing a sock, and the shoe was in my arms.Every few feet I ran nervously over my shoulder.I didn't see anyone, but I thought I heard footsteps, a branch snapping, a gasp.I ran to the fence, and the dog barked suddenly. On the one hand, it scared me out of my body, and on the other hand, it gave me a boost.I strode across the yard.Now I see a little dim light in the window.

"Help!" I yelled, stumbling over, waving my shoes.I saw the dog at the window—just a scrawny little gray poodle, barking and jumping, scratching at the window sill.That bit of light was coming from the TV set facing away from me, and there was a man on the recliner on the other side of the TV-well, a figure, an old man with gray hair. "Help!" I yelled again.I knock on the glass hard.The puppy barked like he was going to lose his mind.The man didn't move.Is it dead?More likely asleep or drunk.Clay's foster mother?Her boyfriend?The gender of the figure cannot be discerned.Finally I gave up and turned and ran—by this point, actually limping away.My feet hurt and I can't breathe.On the street, I wanted to knock on my neighbor's door, but I remembered that the neighbor was out, and besides, I knew what I looked like at this moment: sweaty, crazy, covered in mud, stumbling all the way from the old neighbor's house, Also waving a shoe.I stopped and put on my shoes.I tied the laces of both shoes.That's when a small miracle happened and I saw the best thing in the world: a cab turning and approaching.

I calmly hailed the taxi, trying not to scare the driver away, and asked Clare to drive me all the way home, even though he said I didn't deserve the luxury.Night fell, but slowly because it was already spring.We drove through Flushing Meadows, and the rows of trees flashed by, turning into a blur of black and green in the twilight.My shadow on the car window fluttered and flowed among the trees, like a double-exposure photo.I remember taking pictures like this with a plastic camera my mother gave me during my summer art classes as a child—free public classes sponsored by the city to take young people off the streets.At this moment, I was sitting in a taxi, and suddenly, I got it, I solved the case.

You should have noticed by now that in the day-to-day routine of my life, as Claire said, I was actually quite dull.I was running around like a chicken without a head, as if I was lost in the forest with an outdated map that I didn't know how to stack.Every tree looked the same, animals were making scary noises in the bushes, and the sandwich in the bag wasn't my taste.Of course, I'm not alone in living this way.This is because life loves to play tricks on us with riddles, games and mysteries.Reading Agatha Christie on the couch, posting the Times Tuesday crossword puzzle on the fridge so Claire can't see it (and the weirdest fun of all: solving puzzles I set up in my own book, as if my side Brains finally embracing the other side, long-lost twins finally reunited), I see through the uncanny surface of reality and glimpse how the inner gears turn.I imagined a world I could understand, and for a brief moment, I knew what it was like to be a genius.

It's a pity that we only have one world, this dark and bizarre world, if you look too carefully, the truth you find is often not so beautiful.Reality is different from fiction. In the book, we are all fearless seekers. In reality, most people would rather not see so clearly.So the truth tasted bitter, even though suddenly I had solved it: I knew the murderer's name.I see. I pull out my phone.Signal again, but so what?I don't know Terrence's and Townes' numbers.Townes' business card seemed to be somewhere in the house.Where's Claire's lawyer?Or call the operator and ask him to go to the Bureau?The taxi drove downstairs to my house.It was dark, a clear and bright night.I paid and got off in a hurry.No one is following.I take the elevator upstairs.I opened the door and walked through the dark hall to the office.Halfway through I remembered that Townes' card would still be in my bathrobe pocket if I hadn't thrown it away.So I went into the bedroom and turned on the light.

Claire lay naked on my bed.Thin arms and legs were pulled to snapping angles and tied to the bed frame by my tie.Her mouth was taped shut, and a stream of blood dripped from the cut across her throat.She stared at me in horror, like a small animal caught in a trap.Her eyes roll upward. "Claire." I walked up to her, and she shook her head vigorously, making a soft clucking sound I knew was a muffled scream, and her eyeballs rolled to my left.I turned around sharply, just as I saw a big knife cutting towards me.I saw the woman's red-nailed fingers gripping the handle of the knife, and then saw that the face opposite belonged to Karol Wroski. I met her eyes, and the blade sliced ​​through my left arm.The severe pain irritated my nerves and lit me up like lightning. I saw a huge piece of meat open and blood gushing out.I let out a scream, so high-pitched and crazy that it didn't sound like it came from my throat, it didn't sound like a human, but more like a wolf.I wanted to grab my arm and shrink into a ball, but the knife stabbed me again.All I could see was the blade and the arm.I raised my left hand, grabbed the arm under the wrist holding the knife, and dragged her to the ground, with my right arm under me and her body.The blade rested above my throat, and she pressed down with all her strength, and I blocked her with my bloody left arm, struggling to free the right arm that was pressed by me.The shock started, the wound felt no pain, my hand was already numb, and I didn't know how much strength it could exert.My face was only inches from hers.She stares into my eyes.All I saw was her focus on killing me, only her willpower to kill me.Her lips were slightly curled up, her expression was almost a smile, and now I saw the resemblance.Didn't notice it before, but how obvious it is now.They are alike. I snorted and pushed up with all my strength, trying to find a point of leverage and pull out my right arm.She pressed her whole body on me, the whole world on me.My eyes and hers both moved to the blade, the point fell to my skin, and finally we met.Suddenly there was a gunshot, which made me lose my hearing for a while. Vroski's eyes widened and his body twitched. "Be careful, Harry," I heard Dani say.I feel the warm blood flowing from her to me between Froski and my legs.She grimaced in pain and looked away from me for a split second, and I jumped at the chance.Instead of pushing her away, I forced my numb left arm to move an inch or so, then relaxed completely.The blade grazed my left ear and plunged into the carpet, and Vroski's face hit mine, and I pulled myself up hard, my head hurting.I roll over to the right and lift off Floski.Another shot was fired, and this time Wroski called out.I looked up and saw her on the ground, crawling towards the corner of the house on hands and feet, bleeding from her legs and arms.Dani holds the gun in her right hand and grabs her right wrist with her left.She took aim at Vlosky and walked slowly over, keeping her eyes on the target for a moment. "Who is she?" Dani yelled at me as if I were a block away. "Lawyer. She killed the three girls. She is Darien Clay's mother." I clutched the wound tightly, feeling the pain, and my arm was dyed red.Claire whimpered in bed. "Shall I kill her?" Dani asked.Wroski writhed and looked at me imploringly. "Yes," I yelled, "kill her. Shoot." Dani straddled me and aimed at Vroski's head.She looked at Wroski and asked: "Where is my sister's head?" Just then, Agent Terrance burst into the room.