Chapter 22 Chapter Twenty Two

"I used to go through her medicine cabinet," he said, "just a reflex. You know? Usually it's just for her hay fever. But I opened this drawer last night and it looked like a pharmacy. It was full of prescriptions, " "what?" "I didn't read every label either, because I didn't want to leave fingerprints on sensitive areas. From what I could see, most of them were sedatives. Valium, Librium, Elavil, and There are sleeping pills like Seconal. Plus two bottles of stimulants called Ritalin. But most of them are sedatives.” He shook his head. Know."

"You didn't know she took medicine before?" "Never thought of that. Here, look at this." He opened a dresser drawer carefully to avoid fingerprints. "Look," he said, pointing.On one side of the drawer, next to a stack of folded sweaters, stood two dozen or so medicine jars. "Only the ones who are heavily addicted," he said. "The ones who are too scared to go out. But I was kept in the dark. It's more annoying than me, Matthew. Did you read the note?" The note was on the dresser, under a bottle of cologne.I gently pushed the bottle open with the back of my hand and walked to the window with the note.She is written in brown ink on gray paper.I want to read it in the right light.

It says: Kim, you are in luck.You get someone to do it for you, and I have to do it myself. If I dared I would jump out of the window.I can change my mind half way down and laugh the other way.But I'm not brave enough and the razor blade doesn't work. Hopefully I've served enough this time. All in vain, the good times have run out.Chance, sorry.You showed me good times, but that's all in the past.By the eighth inning of baseball, the crowd had cleared, and all the cheers had vanished.Who cares what the score is? There is no escape from the crazy world.She clung to the brass ring so tightly that her fingers turned green.

No one wants to spend a lot of money for me.Nobody wants to marry me.Nobody wants to save my life. I'm tired of smiling.I'm worn out; the good times are past. I stood by the window looking out across the border at Jersey City across the Hudson River.Sunny lived and died on the thirty-second floor of a high-rise apartment building called Lincoln View Park.Although I couldn't see any sign of the park except for the palm bonsai in the lobby. "Lincoln Center is down there," Chance said. I nod. "Mary Lou should live here. She likes concerts, she can walk there. Problem is, she used to live on the West End, so I want to move her to the East End. That's what I do, you I know. You can reverse their lifestyle and see immediate results."

I'm not much interested in the philosophy of pimping.I said, "Has she ever done that before?" "Suicide?" — Stick School · E Book Group — "Trying to commit suicide. She wrote: 'Hope I take enough this time.' Is there one time she took enough?" "I haven't seen her since I met her. It's been a few years." "What did she mean when she said the razor didn't work?" "have no idea." I went over and examined the arm that lay across her head, and sure enough there was a distinct scar on the wrist.Do the same with the other wrist.I stood up and read the note again.

"What's next, man?" I pull out my notepad.Copy what she wrote verbatim and wipe off my fingerprints on the note with a Kleenex, put it back in place, and cover it with cologne. I said, "Tell me again what you did last night." "That's what I already told you. I called her, and it felt a little weird. I don't know why, and then she came." "What time is it?" "After two o'clock. I didn't notice how many minutes it was." "Are you going directly upstairs?" "right." "Did the porter see you?"

"We sort of nodded. He knew me and thought I lived here." "Will he remember you?" "Dude, I don't know what he'll remember and what he'll forget." "Is he only here on weekends, or is he also on Friday?" "I don't know. Is it necessary to find out?" "If he comes every night, he may remember seeing you, but not the time. If he's only on Saturday—" "I understand." In the kitchenette, a bottle of Georges vodka stood on the sink, an inch deep.Next to it is a quart box of orange juice, empty.The glass in the sink contained what appeared to be a mixture of the two liquids, but there wasn't much left, and her vomit smelled just a little bit of orange.It doesn't take much detective brains to piece together the clues.Drink the pills with a powerful screwdriver cocktail, and the potency will indeed be greatly enhanced by the alcohol.

Hopefully I've served enough this time. I had to fight back the urge to pour out the rest of the vodka. "How long have you been here, Chance?" "I don't know. Didn't pay attention to the time." "Did you speak to the porter on your way out?" He shook his head: "I'll go to the basement and go out from the garage." "So he shouldn't have seen you." "No one saw me." "Then while you're here—" "I said so. I checked drawers and cabinets. I didn't touch much and nothing moved." "Did you read the note?"

"Yeah. But it's just a casual look." "Have you made any phone calls?" "Call my service office and call you too. But you're not here." Yes, I'm not here.I was busy breaking a boy's leg in an alleyway north of the building. I said, "Didn't you make a long-distance call?" "Just two calls, man. That's not really 'long distance.' You can throw a rock into your hotel from here." I couldn't find her on the phone last night. I could have come right after the meeting, when she might still have breath.I pictured her lying in bed, waiting for the pills and vodka to take effect, while the phone kept ringing.Would she ignore the doorbell as well?

Maybe.Or she may have been unknown at the time.But how did I not expect that something went wrong?I really should have the courage to break in, maybe I can save my life in time... Yes, for sure.If I hadn't been born too late, maybe I could have saved Cleopatra's life from the damn snake. I said, "Do you have the key to this place?" "I have keys to each of them." "So you can come and go as you please." He shook his head: "She was chained inside, so I knew something was wrong. I opened the lock, and the door was pushed open two or three inches and the chain got stuck. I knew something was wrong immediately. I broke the chain and broke in. , I understand that the situation is serious."

"You could just walk away. Hang up and go home." "I've thought about it." He looked at me, his expression was not as cold as before, "You know? Seeing the chain being locked, my first thought was: she committed suicide. That was my intuitive reaction. Breaking the chain is Because it occurred to me that there might be time to save her. But it was too late." I go to the door and check the chain.The chain itself was not broken, only the clasp had been torn off in its entirety.When I entered the door just now, I didn't pay attention at all. "Is this what you knocked open when you came in?" "Just like I said." "The chain probably wasn't hanging when you came in. You probably tightened it after you came in and then broke it." "Why am I doing this?" "It makes it look like the door was locked before you came in." "The door is locked. I don't have to play tricks like that. I don't know where you're coming from. Man." "I just want to make sure that she is indeed locked inside when you arrive." "Didn't I tell you?" "Have you checked the apartment? Is there no one else here?" "Unless someone's hiding in a toaster." Clearly a suicide.The only problem is that he didn't report it.He knew she was dead, but waited twelve hours before revealing it to anyone. I thought about it for a moment. We were on the north end of Sixtieth Street, in the 20th Division, out of Durkin's sphere of influence.The police would close the case with suicide unless the results of the drug test overturned that conclusion, in which case it would be clear that Chance had been here earlier. I said, "There are several ways of handling this. Let's just say you haven't found her all night and you're worried. You found me this afternoon and we're coming here together. You have a key. Open the door. We found she." "Okay." - Stick School · E Book Group - "But we have to solve the chain problem. If you haven't been here, how did it break? If someone else did it. Who is it, and what are you doing here?" "Or maybe we broke it together when we came here." I shook my head: "It won't work. If they have convincing evidence and say that you came last night, then I will be found out to have lied. At most, I can only keep it secret for you. Can't be caught twisting the truth. No, I'll have to say the chain was broken when we got here." "Let's just say it's been broken for weeks." "But the breakage is fresh, and it's obvious where the screw pulled out of the wood. You don't want to be caught for a lie like this. It contradicts your statement with the facts. Let me tell you what to do. " "For example?" "Honestly, you've been here, knocked the door open. She's dead, you walk away. You drive around, don't know what to do. You try to reach me before you take any action, but you can't find it. Me. In the end you finally contacted me, we came over together, and then reported the crime." "Is this the best way?" "I think so." "It's all because of the chain?" "That's the most glaring loophole. But even without that, in the end it's best to tell the truth. Look, Chance, you didn't kill her. She killed herself." "and then?" "If you didn't kill her, the best thing to do is tell the truth. If you're guilty, the best thing to do is say nothing, not a word. Call a lawyer and keep quiet. As long as you're innocent, Just tell the truth. It's the easiest, the cleanest, and you don't have to think about what you said before. Because I have to tell you one thing: the house of villains lies all the time, and the police know it all and don't. Hate it though. So whenever they catch a lie, they'll chase it until they find the loophole. You lie to save trouble, and it might work. This case is clearly a suicide. You might end up fine. But if If your lies are exposed, you will probably save ten times more trouble than you did, " He thought for a moment, then sighed. "They would ask me why I didn't report it immediately." "why?" "Because I don't know what to do, boy. I don't know whether to go mad or hang myself." "That's all." "OK." "After you left, why did you go?" "Last night? Like you said. I drove around a bit. Around the park a couple of times, over the George Washington Fire Bridge, and onto Palesad Drive. Just like everyone else's Sunday drive, It's just a little early." He shook his head while asking, "After we drove back, we went to Mary Lou's apartment. I unlocked it and went in without breaking any chains. She was sleeping, and I woke her up when I went to bed. Lie down with her for a while, and then head home." "Go back to your house?" "Go back to my house. I'm not going to tell them about my house." "Necessary. You slept at Mary Lou's," "With people around. I never sleep. Can't. But don't tell them that." "Ok." "What did you do in your house?" "Sleep for a while, two or three hours. I don't need a lot of sleep, just a little." "Oh." "You know, I just came from there." He went to the wall and took down an open-eye mask hanging from a nail.He began to explain to me the tribe that made it, the geographical location there, and the purpose of the mask.I didn't pay much attention. "Now it's got my fingerprints on it," he said, "but it doesn't matter. You can tell them that while they're waiting, I'll take the mask off the wall and tell you about its history. Tell the truth Okay. I don't want to be arrested for telling a little lie." He smiled and said, "Can you call me?"