Chapter 21 Section fifteen

In a New Hampshire village, everything foreign attracts attention: housewives peering out of windows; store clerks lolling at doorways peering out.So, within minutes of the black sedan with a New York City license plate pulling up in front of the Adams home, every resident knew. Kay Adams, in spite of her college education, had the manner of a small-country girl, and she too peered out of her bedroom window.She has been studying hard in recent years, preparing for the exam.She was just going down to lunch when she saw the car coming down the street.For some reason she wasn't surprised when the car suddenly stopped in front of her lawn.Two men got out of the car, tall and big and stocky, who looked to her like villains in movies.She concluded that the two men were sent by Michael or his family.She didn't want them both talking to her parents without being introduced.It wasn't, she thought, that she was ashamed of Michael's friends, but that her parents were stuffy New Englanders who didn't even understand how she could know such a person.

She was almost at the door when the doorbell rang."I'll open the door," she said to her mother, and she opened it, and there were two big men standing just in the doorway, and one of them put his hand in his inside front pocket, much like robbers reach for a gun.This action startled Kay, and she couldn't help but sigh softly.But what the man took out was a small wallet. He opened the wallet and showed his ID card. "I'm Detective John Phillips of the NYPD," he said. He pointed to another person. This person had a dark face, very thick and very black eyebrows.Pointing to the man, he said: "This is my colleague, Detective Siriani. Are you Miss Kay Adams?"

Kai nodded. Phillips said, "Can we go in and talk to you for a few minutes? We want to talk to you about Michael Corleone." She stood aside to let the two of them in.At this moment, her father appeared in the small wing adjoining the study. "Kay, what's going on?" he asked. It was a man with gray hair, thin body, and dignified air.He is not only the pastor of the Baptist church in this village, but also a well-known scholar in the religious circles.Kay didn't actually know her father very well, and he puzzled her, but she knew he loved her. Although the father and daughter have never been honest with each other, she still trusts him.So she said bluntly: "These are detectives from New York. They want to know about a boy I know."

Mr. Adams showed no signs of surprise. "Come into my study, then, and we'll talk," he said. Detective Phillips said politely: "Mr. Adams, we would like to speak to your daughter alone." Mr. Adams said politely: "I think it depends on Kay. My dear daughter, would you like to have a private conversation with these two gentlemen, or would you like me to be there? Or would you like your mother to be there?" ?” Kai shook his head. "I want to speak to them alone." Mr Adams said to Phillips: "You can talk in my study, will you stay till lunch?"

Both men shook their heads.Kai led them into the study. They sat awkwardly on the edge of the sofa.Kay sat in her father's large leather chair.Detective Phillips began the conversation by saying: "Miss Adams, have you seen Michael Corleone in the last three weeks? Or received a letter from him?" Such a question was enough to make her wary.Three weeks ago she had seen headlines in the papers that a police captain and a narcotics smuggler named Virgil Sollozzo had been shot in New York City.Said the murder involved the Corleone family. Kai shook his head. "No. The last time I saw him was when he was going to visit his father in the hospital. That was probably a month ago." The other detective gruffly said, "What happened to your meeting with him?" , we all know. Haven't you seen him or heard from him since?"

"Neither," Kay said. Detective Phillips said in a very polite tone: "If you do have contact with him, we would like you to let us know. We have very important matters to discuss with Michael Corleone. I must warn you: If you do have contact with him, you could be in a very dangerous situation. If you help him in any way, you are asking for trouble, very serious trouble." Kai sat upright in the chair. "Why shouldn't I help him?" she asked. "We're getting married soon. Should we help each other?" It was Detective Siriani who answered her question. "If you help him, you could be an accessory to a murder. We're looking for your boyfriend because he killed a police captain in New York and an informer that the officer was contacting. We know the shooter was Michael Corleone."

Kai laughed out loud.She smiled so naturally, and acted so disbelieving that Michael had killed someone.The two cops were also very impressed. "Michael wouldn't do such a thing," she said. "He had nothing to do with his family. I was with him at his sister's wedding, and I could see it clearly: he was treated like an outsider, almost like me. If he hides, it's because he doesn't want his name to be involved in this kind of dispute. Mike is not a robber. I know him better than you, and no one can do it better than I do. Know him. He's too aboveboard to commit such a despicable thing as murder. He's the most law-abiding man I know, and he's never lied, as far as I know."

Detective Phillips asked gently again: "How long have you known him?" "Over a year," Kay said. At the same time, she saw that both of them were smiling.She was very surprised. "I think you need to know something," said Inspector Phillips. "He went to the hospital the night after he left you. He had just come out of the hospital when he got into an argument with a police officer. He tried to strike first. The police officer, but it didn't take advantage. He actually had his gums broken and a couple of teeth knocked out, and his friends sent him back to the Corleones' house in Longstand. The next night The police captain who was beating him was shot, and at the same time Michael Corleone disappeared and disappeared. We had informants and informers. They all believed that the killer was Michael Corleone. But we couldn’t present evidence to the court. The hotel waiter was a witness at the scene. He saw Michael’s photo but said he didn’t know him, but he might know him when he saw him. And Sollozzo’s driver, he refused to speak. But if we Get Michael Corleone and we can figure out how to get him to talk, so all of us are out looking for him, the FBI is looking for him, we're all looking for him. And so far it hasn't worked out. We think , maybe you can give us some clues."

Kai said coldly, "I don't believe a single word of what you just said." She was uncomfortable because she concluded that it must be true that Mike's jaw was broken, but she didn't believe it would drive Michael to commit murder. "Would you please tell us if Michael is still in touch with you?" Phillips asked. Kai shook his head. Another detective said gruffly: "We know you've been spending the night with him. We've got hotel registers and witnesses, and your parents would be very upset if this sort of thing got in the papers. Truly noble as he is." A person who has a daughter who often spends the night with hooligans will have opinions. If you don't confess immediately, I will call your old man and tell him the situation directly."

Kay looked at him in amazement, then got up, went to the door of the study, and opened it: she saw her father standing in the doorway of the living room, smoking a cigarette.She called, "Daddy, can you come here?" He turned around, smiled slightly at her, and walked towards the study.He went straight through the door, put his arm around his daughter's waist, and said to the two detectives, "Are we done, gentlemen?" Neither of them answered.Kay said coldly to Detective Siriani, "Boss, just tell him straight up." Sirenia blushed. "Mr. Adams, what I am going to tell you is for your daughter's benefit. She is associated with a rascal who we have reason to believe is guilty of murder, murdering a police officer. I just told her , unless she cooperates with us, she's going to get into a serious case. But she doesn't seem to understand the seriousness of the whole problem. Maybe you talk, and she'll listen."

"That's quite unbelievable," said Mr. Adams politely. Siriani stuck out his chin and said, "Your daughter has been out playing with Michael Corleone for more than a year. The two of them spent the night together in a hotel registered as a married couple. The murder of a police officer. Your daughter refuses to provide us with information that can help us do our jobs. These are the facts. You can say that these facts are unbelievable, but I can show that each point holds water." "I do not doubt what you say, sir," said Mr. Adams mildly. "I find it implausible only that my daughter might be involved in a serious case. You do not imply that she is a—" Speaking of this, his face showed a scholar's skeptical look. "A 'rogue's concubine'? That, I think, is forced." Kai looked at his father in surprise.She knew that he was deliberately humorous in a scholarly manner; she was surprised that he took the state of affairs so lightly. Mr. Adams said affirmatively: "Anyway, please rest assured that if that young man shows up here, I will report it to the authorities immediately. My daughter will do the same. Now, please forgive me, our Lunch is getting cold." He escorted the two men out of the house very politely, and as soon as they were out he closed the door softly but firmly.He took Kay by the arm and led her to the kitchen at the back of the house, saying, "Honey, let's go eat, your mother is waiting for us with lunch." In the kitchen, Kai secretly cried, firstly because he was too nervous before, but now he was too relaxed, and secondly because his father showed unquestioning love for her.And her mother pretended not to notice that she was crying.Kay realized at once that she was sure her father had told her mother about the detective.She sat in her usual seat.Her mother quietly handed her this and that, and when the three of them sat down to eat, her father bowed his head and said thanks. Mrs. Adams was a short, stocky woman, always well dressed and with her hair always waved.Her mother let her go, cold and indifferent.At the moment, her mother is still the same as usual. "Kay, don't take it so seriously, I promise, it's all bullshit and nothing is wrong in the end. Anyway, your boyfriend is still a student at Dartmouth College, he can't get involved in such a nasty thing Go to the scandal." Surprised, Kay looked up at her mother. "How do you know he went to Dartmouth?" Her mother said confidently: "You young people are so mysterious. Do you think you can hide it from the old people? In fact, we know everything about him. But of course, if you don't tell me, we won't be able to say it first." "So, how on earth do you know?" Kai asked. Since her father already knew about her sleeping with Mike, she did not face him when she asked this question.Therefore, she did not see the smile on his face when he spoke.He said, "We opened your letter and read it, really." Kay was disgusted and angry.Now that she could face him, what he had done was more shameful than what she had committed, and she never believed he would do it. "Dad, you haven't, and you won't." Mr Adams smiled at her. "I have considered which is the greater crime, opening your letter privately or turning a blind eye to the possible danger to my only daughter. My choice is very simple and very moral." Mrs. Adams talked while eating the stewed chicken, and said something after each mouthful. "Anyway, my dear, you're too naive for your age, and we'll have to be careful. And you never tell anything about him." Kay took comfort in the fact that Michael had never been affectionate in his letters to Kay.She was also relieved that her father never saw some of the letters she wrote him. "I never told you about him, that's because I was afraid you might feel disgusted with his family." "We have an objection," said Mr. Adams, lightly. "I would like to ask you, by the way, whether Michael has been in touch with you?" Kai shook his head. "I don't believe he's guilty of anything." She saw her parents looking at me and I looking at you during the dinner.Then, Mr. Adams said softly, "If he disappeared without charge, there is probably something else wrong." Kay didn't understand the meaning of this sentence at first, then she stood up, left the dining table, and ran back to her bedroom. Three days later, Kay Adams got out of a cab on the Corleone's boulevard in Long Beach.She had called beforehand, so someone was waiting for her.Tom Hagen met her at the door; she was disappointed to see him.She knew he wouldn't tell her anything. In the living room, Hagen poured her a glass of wine.She saw one or two people walking up and down the room, but Sonny was nowhere to be seen.She asked Tom Hagen bluntly: "Do you know where Michael is? Do you know how I can get in touch with him?" Hagen spoke tactfully. "We know he's safe and well, but we don't know where he's gone. When he heard that the captain had been shot, he was afraid he'd be accused falsely, so he decided to go into hiding. He told me it would take months. After that, he can contact the outside world." The story Hagen had told was not only false, but had been designed to be seen to be the only thing he could tell. "Did the captain really break his jaw?" Kay asked. "I'm afraid it's true," said Tom, "but Mike isn't a vindictive man at all. I'm sure it has nothing to do with what happened afterwards." Kai opened his wallet and took out a letter. "If he gets in touch with you, will you please give him this letter?" Hagen shook his head. "If I accept the letter, if you go to court and say I accept the letter, that could be interpreted as saying I know his whereabouts. Why don't you wait? I guarantee Mike will be in touch .” After she drank the glass of wine, she stood up and was about to leave.Hagen followed her into the hall, and just as he opened the door, a woman came in from outside.The woman was short and stocky, dressed in black.Kay recognized Michael's mother and said, holding out her hand, "Hello, Mrs. Corleone!" Michael's mother looked at Kay for a moment with her small, piercing blue eyes, and a smile flashed across her wrinkled, floppy, olive face, the kind of greeting that seemed There was an odd but genuine feeling of friendliness. "Oh, it's you, Mike's little girlfriend," said Mrs. Corleone. She speaks English with a heavy Italian accent, and Kay can barely understand her. "Do you have something to eat?" "No." Kay meant that she didn't want anything to eat, but Corleone greatly misunderstood and threw a tantrum at Tom Hagen, scolded him in Italian, and finally said, "You won't even give coffee Drink, poor girl, you cheapskate." She took Kai's hand, which was warm in the old woman's hand, and led him into the kitchen. "You have some coffee and something to eat, and then I'll get someone to drive you home. I can't bear to let you take the train, a lovely girl like you." She asked Kay to sit down, and then she took off her coat and hat, hung it on a chair, and was busy in the kitchen.In seconds, bread, butter, and salami are on the table.Coffee was also warming on the stove. Kay said timidly, "I came here to find out about Mike. I never heard from him. Mr. Hagen said no one knew where he was, and said he would be back soon." Hagen took it right away and said, "Mum, there's only so much we can tell her right now." Mrs. Corleone gave him a scornful look, and he softened. "What am I going to do now that you have to order me? What should I do? My husband never gave me an order. God bless him." She made the sign of the cross. "Is old Mr. Corleone all right?" Kay asked. "All right," said Mrs. Corleone. " As she spoke, she casually tapped her head with her hand in a pistol pose.She poured the coffee and kept asking Kai for some bread and butter. After they had finished their coffee, Mrs. Corleone squeezed Kay's hand tightly in her brown hands and said calmly, "Mike won't write to you and you won't hear from him." Letter. He'll escape for two or three years, maybe a little longer, maybe a little longer. You'd better go home. Find a nice young man and marry." Kai took the letter out of his wallet with both hands. "Can you pass this on to him?" The old lady took the letter and patted Kai's cheek lightly twice. "Must, must," she said. Hagen objected; she scolded him in Italian and led Kay to the door.She kissed Kay quickly on the cheek and said, "You better forget about Mike, he's not yours anymore." There was a car with two people in front, waiting for her, and they Drive her to her hotel in New York.Along the way, they didn't say a word, and Kai didn't say a word.She tried to accustom herself to the fact that the young man she loved turned out to be a ruthless murderer.It was his mother who told her this.