Chapter 35 Chapter Twelve

Rachel Holby stood transfixed. Kaiser Riestich was slumped with exhaustion on the bottom steps of the cellar stairs, but her twisted, age-spotted fingers still seemed to have the strength to lift the long-barreled pistol on her lap. "Tell you, it's his gun. Sam Holby's, your uncle's. He brought it back from the war. First World War. He kept it for himself. When he died, he gave it to the She kept it. Of course I know where it is, it's in the drawer beside the bed. But I didn't know the gun could still fire bullets, let alone that she would shoot it, but she did, and it was Just once."

"Her? Aunt Guidoline?" Kaiser Risitich looked at her, as if just now surprised to find her standing there.Then Rachel saw that sly smile creep back to her lips. "Didn't I tell you, Rachel? I said, if you open that door, you will have to bear the consequences. But, you never listened to me, not a word of it!" "Tell me what happened, Miss Kaiser Risitich," Rachel demanded aggressively. Perhaps it was the voice and the tone of Aunt Guidoline's tone of calling her servants, which had an effect on Kaiser Risteich. Suddenly, the old Kaiser Risitich returned, at least speaking. The method has become simple and concise again, without emotion.

"Yes. We just came back from Italy, er, actually we went to London first, and then back here. Maybe he followed us all the way? Yes, I'm sure it must be. The first night back, she and I both Tired, but a sound woke me up. I figured it must be the pets. The cats and dogs were a nuisance, but she insisted on letting them in and out of the house freely. Anyway, there was a feeling I had to get out of bed to see. I Walking out of the room, I saw that her door was not closed properly, and the light from the night light in the room was shining on the top of the stairs outside. I heard her talking. After walking two or three steps forward, I heard another voice. A A man's voice, saying: 'Mommy?'. I froze. Mrs. Holby said: 'Who's that standing there? Come closer! Come closer! Let me see!' Then she screamed , the pistol fired, and the man wobbled and stumbled down the stairs, staggering like my dad used to come home drunk on a Saturday night.

"I went into her room and saw her sitting on the bunk with the gun - that's the pistol - smoking in her hand. She said: 'That's a demon, a demon pretending to be my son !' Then her lips twisted and deformed suddenly, and she froze on the bed, unable to speak anymore. I didn't know what to do, so I rushed downstairs to call for help. He was still there, face Lie face down in the hallway! I almost passed out, except that he wasn't moving, and he was totally— utterly rigid. But I had to walk around him to make a phone call. I turned on the light and bent over to check Is he dead or just unconscious. That way, I recognize him. After all these years, I still recognize him!"

Rachel, terrified, looked back. "You mean, is that really him? Her son Alexander has come home?" Miss Kaiser Risitich laughed wildly. "Silly girl!" she said. "How can we be so foolish as to think you're smart? Oh, yes, the son has come home. But it's not her son, not that crazy woman's son. It's my son, Rachel, my son!" Only now did Rachel really worry about her own safety.Miss Caesar Listeritch, being so delusional, could possibly do anything. Rachel asked in a loud voice: "So, Alexander is actually your biological son? I never knew."

Miss Kaiser Ristwich looked at her in surprise. "Aren't you out of your mind? Are the Holbys all insane? It's Richard, my own son, lying there. Poor man, he's gone to the wrong room. But if he I entered my room at that time, and I don’t know what I would do now. You should know how Guidoline viewed black people, so I sent him away in the first place—this is only one of the reasons. You Didn't know people in those days. Bad enough out of wedlock and a black man! People would have thought I'd mated with a gorilla or something. At the time I thought I had no future, no money, no job. What could I do? I came back to her afterward and told her about Alexander and how wonderful that spoiled brat was and how he must still be alive somewhere. She heard that and she kept me. But my nigga kid Once the bastard is found by her, she will definitely kick me out! I went to the orphanage to see my son, and I kept saying that one day...at least I thought it would be one day...but he became very bad-tempered and arguing You have to go home with me, or you will never talk to me again... For the sake of future consideration, if you don't want to make him angry, it's best to..."

She spoke more and more incoherently, and the Yorkshire dialect and slang began to appear frequently again.Rachel thought a doorbell sounded in the distance, and she took a step forward, and Miss Kaiser Ristwich noticed it, seemed to twitch back, and swung the pistol.Maybe Kaiser Risitich didn't mean to shake the pistol, but Rachel didn't want to get to the bottom of it. "You never told your son about working here?" Rachel asked. "Of course not, I didn't dare to take such a risk. Later, I stopped visiting him in the orphanage, and the mother and son lost contact. All these years! It's all her fault! Now the son finally came back, but she shot him dead Yes, in good conscience, I can't blame her. Of course she would be horrified when a black man broke into her bedroom. She always thought that one of the purposes of black people in the world was to rape white women. Besides, he called her 'mama '! So I don't want her to end badly, I just want her to go to hell! To be honest, I don't know how I felt at the time, I was completely petrified, I just knew it was better not to be found You know, the situation is so complicated. If she is alive, if she finds Richard, she will definitely kick me out; She has been here for so many years, and she is nearly seventy years old. Anyway, she should let me live this life in peace!

"So I dragged him to the cellar, thinking that I would hide the body here for the time being, and wait until I figured out a way to talk about it. If someone finds out, I can say that he must have accidentally fallen to his death. I The body was found two days ago. "Well, she survived the stroke and started to get better. But she took it as a demonic apparition, saying that the black demon came and convinced her that Alexander was dead! I took good care of her, no one can deny that ...then I moved Richard's body back there, laid his body in order, lit a candle, and said a prayer for him. I'm not a religious person, so I don't think it's necessary to go into church and find a pastor Only then can I rest in peace. If I die, you can also put me there to accompany Richard, I don't care!"

Her tone was defiant.Thinking of the self-justifications behind this supercilious behavior over the years, Rachel wished she could sympathize with Kaiser Ristwich, but it was still too difficult.She had never liked Kaiser Risitich—now at last she was beginning to understand why. The doorbell was still ringing. "Where's the Italian, Bendrey? Has he been here, too?" she said. "Oh, yes," said Miss Caesar Ristwich.Her crazy and bright eyes suddenly revealed a bird-like vigilance. "He came and I caught him poking around. I went to get the gun and he first said he was looking for Lordnick and I said Lordnick wasn't here. He said he knew Lordnick lived here and then He started calling me Aji, and asked me if I knew who he was. I said I didn’t know, and he said he was Alexander. I smiled and said, you’re not, Alexander died long ago, you’re a fake, and I'll let other people know about it. It pissed him off. He said the first thing he'd do when he got his inheritance was kick me out of Troy. Then he came up to me and the pistol fired."

She looked at the gun in her hand, as if noticing it for the first time. "I didn't shoot on purpose. After the shot, he turned and ran. I laughed, thinking he was scared away by the gunshot. I didn't know he was actually shot. I only found out after reading the newspaper. I didn't I have a bad conscience. If he dies here, I'll drag him into the wine cellar and put him with Richard. Both sons are buried in the same place, and they can keep each other company!" "You think he might be Mrs Holby's son?" "He's always someone's son," said Kaiser Ristuich again slyly.This tone is already annoying to hear.

The doorbell stopped.Whoever rang the bell must give up and leave now.Rachel said quickly: "I think you'd better go back to bed and lie down, Miss Kaiser Risitich, your health is really not very good." "Really? Why? What's wrong with me?" She asked suspiciously. "I think you're just tired. These things must have been hard for you. Then another body appeared in a nearby open space. It must have hit you hard." Rachel pretended to be sympathetic, and then brought up Clift's tragic death in the wilderness to distract her from thinking about Bendrey and the skeleton said to be his son.But as soon as the words came out of her mouth, Rachel immediately realized that she had moved the topic in an even weirder direction.For Miss Caesar Listeritch began to shed hot tears. "The person who found the body came here and borrowed the phone from me, and then the police came. I was so worried that it was related to... the other thing. Fortunately, everyone is very polite and just wants to borrow a phone number. I call Treat them to tea and everything is fine. Then the redheaded policeman comes and I hear him talking on the phone, and he says he recognizes the dead man, the black boy he arrested the other day for shoplifting, name It was Clift Salaman. I knew it must be my grandson when I heard it. I never knew I was a grandmother until then, but the moment I knew it, I also knew... I His grandson died in the ditch, and you can see it from Troy Manor...the father died inside, and the son died outside...I know it all..." Her thin body was trembling and sobbing under the long nightgown. Rachel, who had been unable to sympathize with her, finally felt sincere pity in her heart. "Miss Caesar Listeich," she said, "I'm sorry for you." Rachel walked towards the cold-hearted old woman, wanting to hug her with her arms and soothe her heart that had been mercilessly vengeful through the years. Perhaps Miss Kaiser Ristwich misunderstood her good intentions, or perhaps she repelled the feeling of physical contact, so she jerked back to stand up, and the pistol fired at the same time. Rachel stumbled backwards and fell down with a scream. The cellar was filled with white smoke, and the sound of bullets bouncing echoed everywhere.At this moment, a voice came through the echo, calling Rachel's name.Two figures appeared at the top of the stairs, and the one walking in front was a thin and healthy young man. He jumped and ran down the stairs, and did not stop for half a second when he rushed past Kaiser Ristyche, and finally fell to his knees Beside Rachel who was lying on the ground. "Oh, Rachel," Lordnick said in a tone of desperation that went way beyond his acting skills. "Lie still, oh, Rachel, don't worry, we'll get the doctor right away." "No need to call the doctor," Rachel said, sitting up. "Let's find a cobbler. I was afraid that you would think I was short, so I specially wore these nasty high heels!" A second man came down, fat and panting, and crouching down beside Miss Kaiser Ristwich, he took the pistol from her unresisting fingers. "Are you all right, old lady?" he asked. "We'll put you back on the bed in a moment." With that he continued down, nodding to Rachel as he passed her, saying cheerfully, "Good night, dear," and walking towards the wine cellar door. "I think this is Richard Salaman." His tone was a little satisfied. "Just what I wanted, a clean ending." Dalziel turned and smiled like a good Christmas elf at the lying girl, the distraught man, and the broken old woman.