Grant's feet stopped before the steps of the house, and through the door he heard a commotion from inside the house, a long series of laughing and shouting over his ears, which sounded like a forest fire or a flood average.Just before his shambling gait continued up the steps, he thought to himself: This is a well-deserved success party. He didn't come to the party, in fact, this well-known literary party was not the place where he should appear.He has come to fetch Miss Marta Harold to dinner today.But this sounds very unusual, after all, for a police officer - even Grant, who is already an inspector, to have the honor to be with the most famous local actress - Miss Marta Harold Dinner, which is also quite eye-catching.Of course, Grant is not without self-knowledge. He is quite aware of several reasons why he can stand here today and enjoy the envious eyes of others: one is that he is Miss Harold's perfect bodyguard again.The second is that he can still afford to pay for a high-end restaurant like "La Hongte".The third is that Miss Harold's status and beauty are intimidating to men, and she can't find a more suitable person to protect her than him.So when Grant--a pure detective--appears in her life after Miss Harold's jewel theft, she finds that she cannot do without his protection.Grant, of course, was more than happy to stay by her side.For Marta, Grant is the perfect protector; and for Grant, Marta's special status also opened up an excellent "window" for him—after all, for a veteran police detective In other words, he knows that the more "windows" there are, the better the work will be.

Therefore, as a matter of course, Marta is the most rare source of "eyeliner" for him to break into the literary circle. Grant finally stepped up the stairs, opened the door to the party scene, and the ear-splitting noise rushed out.The party scene was full of people, and he stood aside, looking through the crowded crowd in front of him to the Georgian-style box room. He wondered if he should go straight inside to pick up Miss Marta. In the house, the guests who talked loudly, drank and had fun filled the house with water, making it difficult to move an inch.At this moment, a bewildered young man standing by the door caught Grant's eyes.He was holding his hat and looked like he had just entered the door.

"Is there a problem?" Grant said, glancing at the young man. "I forgot to bring my microphone." The young man answered him. His tone was slow and soft, completely unaffected by the noise around him.Such a unique tone makes his words clearly recognizable even without shouting.Grant gave him a very appreciative look.He was handsome and had very fine blond hair.Probably an Englishman, or a Norwegian. No, it should be American.Grant remembered that when he said the word "forget" just now, he had a special American accent. It was an evening in early spring, a deep blue was shining on the windows, and every house began to light up the lights.Through the smoke in the house, Grant saw Marta in the side room. She seemed to be listening very impatiently to the playwright named Tulis talking about his glorious history and those old topics. He didn't know it had been said hundreds of times.Tulis was the type to talk endlessly at every opportunity, and finally Marta's impatience was almost bringing her face down.Grant thought that if this situation continued, Marta's sunken face might never be able to hold it back.Grant decided to stay where he was until Marta saw him—they were both tall enough to see each other over the crowd.

In line with the professional habits of a police detective, he unconsciously shuttled through the crowd in front of him with searching eyes. However, it seems that there is nothing special to discover, this is just his usual habitual action.At the party, the people of Roth & Cromarty Publishers gathered around Miss Lavinia Fitch to celebrate the publication of her 21st book.Such a scene is full of famous publishing houses, sumptuous food and wine, and distinguished guests—the kind of well-known people who dress well.All thanks to Lavinia.Everyone knew, however, that they weren't really there to celebrate Lavinia's "Maurice Lover" or the publishing house.Even Marta, the most beautiful dame at the party, was only here because she was Lavinia's neighbor.Marta's sleek black-and-white looks and her displeased expression set her apart from the crowd.

The good-looking appearance of the young man beside him is quite eye-catching in this party.What kind of line did he think he was? An actor? Probably not, an actor would not let himself be isolated from the crowd like this. He recalled that just now he looked at the scene with a detached expression, and said "shouting microphone" That kind of indifference.Grant thought, maybe it's just a stock salesman who wasted his appearance? Or maybe it's just the soft lighting at the scene. Once seen in daylight, his beautiful blond hair and straight nose might not be so outstanding "Can you tell me—" the young man asked Grant, in his still flat voice, "Which one is Miss Lavinia Fitch?"

Lavinia was the little red-haired lady standing by the middle window.She was wearing a very fashionable hat, but she didn't match it in any way, so that her hat looked as if it had just fallen from upstairs and happened to fall on her head while walking down the street.Anyway, the hat stood out from her bird's-nest hair.She didn't wear makeup and was dressed as casually as usual. Grant pointed to the young man where Lavinia was. "New here?" Grant asked him kindly, borrowing a question commonly used in Western films.From his polite reference to "Miss Lavinia" he was almost sure the fellow was an American.

"I'm looking for Miss Fitch's nephew. I couldn't find him in the address book. I hope I can find him here. Maybe you'll know him. Excuse me, your surname—?" "My name is Grant!" "Mr. Grant!" "I've met him a few times, I recognize him, but he doesn't seem to be here. I think the man you're looking for is Walter Whitemore, right?" "Yes, it's Whitemore! I don't actually know him, but I'm looking for him because we have a—a mutual good friend.I think he's supposed to be here, are you sure he's not here? Maybe too many people you didn't see?"

"I'm sure because he's as tall as me, but even if he wasn't here, he probably wouldn't have gone very far. I think you'd better see Miss Fitch first, but we'll have to make up our minds to get through this wall of people first. " "Okay, I'll follow you," said the young man.When they were almost shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow, crowded in the crowd, he jokingly said to the immobile Grant, "Mr. Grant, thank you for your hard work!" Grant felt embarrassed and turned around immediately. He pushed aside the crowd in embarrassment, and continued to struggle with the crowd in the direction of Lavinia.After a lot of hardships, they finally came to Lavinia.

"Miss Fitch, there's a young man who wants to see you. He's looking for your nephew," said Grant. "Looking for Walter?" Lavinia stopped, raised her head and asked curiously. "Please allow me to introduce myself, Miss Fitch. My name is Seale, and I just came here from the United States for vacation. I came here specially to find Walter, because we are both good friends of Cooney Wiggin." "Cooney! You're Cooney's friend? Oh, that's great, Walt must be very happy! I really didn't expect to meet here today-I mean, it's incredible. Walt knows, he will Very pleased. Seale, what's your full name?"

"Leslie Seale! I haven't been able to find Walt's name in the address book here—" "Oh, Walt doesn't live here, this is just his temporary place to stay. He lives in Shaka St. Marys, like all of us.Did you know? He had a farm there and he was an announcer there.In fact, that is my farm. He manages and broadcasts for me. This afternoon is his broadcast time, which is why he can't come here today.But it doesn't matter, you can go back with us directly later and stay there for the weekend. "But Walter doesn't know--" "Do you have an appointment this weekend?"

"No, I don't have an appointment, it's just—" "That's it. Later, Walter will go home directly from the studio, you, Elizabeth and me, the three of us will take our car home together, and give Walter a surprise. Yi Elizabeth, Elizabeth, where are you, my dear? By the way, Mr. Seale, where do you live now?" "I live at Westmores." "Oh, that would be very convenient. Elizabeth! Where's Elizabeth?" "I'm here, Auntie." "Elizabeth, dear, come here, let me introduce you, this is Mr. Leslie Seale. He's just come here from America for vacation, and he's looking for Walter, they're both friends of Cooney. Isn't it Friday today and we were going back to Shaka for a nice and peaceful weekend away? Wouldn't it be great to go together later? His residence, help him pack his luggage together, and then drive him back here, I think the party is over by then, and we will drive back to Shaka Town together to give Walt a surprise." Grant noticed that the young man had a look of joy on his face when he saw Elizabeth, and he couldn't help wondering.Elizabeth had a flat, small face, and indeed, very attractive blue eyes, and she was the kind of woman a man would want to live with.Yes, she was a nice woman, but she wasn't the kind of woman a young man would notice at first glance.Perhaps Seale was so delighted to see her just because he had heard she was engaged, and he took it for granted that she was Walter's fiancée! At this point, he noticed that Marta had signaled him to leave, so Grant I don't bother to keep guessing about their chores.He had to hurry to the door and join Marta, after all, Marta was more difficult than them.So he took three steps and took two steps, but Marta still reached the door one step ahead of him. "Who is that handsome young man?" she asked Grant, turning to Grant, as she made her way to the doorstep. "He's coming to see Walter Whitemore, and he says he's a friend of Cooney Wiggin." "I told you!" said Marta sourly.It was Grant, not the young man, who she had sarcastically addressed. "Professional habits." Grant said shyly. "Okay, so who's Cooney Wiggin?" "Cooney is a well-known photographer in the United States. He was killed when he was photographing the explosion in the Balkans a year or two ago." "As expected, you know everything!" Grant almost blurted out, "You actresses are probably the only ones in the world who don't know about this." But he liked her, so he went on, "As far as I know, he's going to spend the weekend with them in Shaka." "You mean that pretty boy? Oh, I hope Lavinia knows what she's doing." "Is there any problem taking him back with you?" "I don't know, but I think they're taking their chances." "Luck?" "You think it's been hard for the family to be calm and smooth lately, isn't it? Walter has just narrowly escaped the Margaret Marian incident and is planning to marry Elizabeth and settle down. The people in their hometown were preparing to have a peaceful reunion, but at this time she somehow brought a beautiful boy home to destroy their peace." "Destruction?" Grant murmured and repeated the word, falling into his curiosity about Searle just now.There's nothing wrong with being good-looking, and a detective wouldn't judge someone wrong just because of their good looks. "I'm sure Emma will notice. I think she'll be kicking him out about Monday morning, right after breakfast. Her daughter is getting married to Walter, and she won't let that happen." Something went wrong at this time. She will definitely do everything in her power to prevent any unexpected situation from happening. said Marta. "But I don't think Elizabeth Galloby is so good-looking. Mrs. Galloby has nothing to be nervous about." "You don't understand that. The fact that the boy was the sort of handsome guy who would have caught my attention within thirty seconds from twenty yards away was something that couldn't be ignored. Besides, I never thought Elizabeth is really going to fall in love with that stupid Walter, and I think she's sympathizing with him and planning to marry him to comfort his broken heart." "Is he really badly hurt?" "Very badly, I dare say he must have been badly hurt." "Have you ever shared the stage with Margaret Marianne?" "Yes, a few times! We shared the stage in the play "A Walk in the Dark." Here comes the taxi." "Taxi! What do you think of her?" "Margaret? She's absolutely crazy." "How crazy?" "One hundred percent crazy." "which aspect? " "You mean something wrong with her? She's the kind of woman who will stop at nothing to get her way!" "That's not a lunatic, that's a potential criminal personality!" "I think you know what I'm talking about, honey. Whatever it is about her, I'm sure she's really crazy, and even Walter, I don't want him to marry her .” "Why do you dislike this supposedly sunny English boy so much?" "Honey, I hate the way he misses. It's kind of bad with the sound of bullets whizzing through his ears when he's thinking about everything on the top of the Aegean hills in Thyme. He'll always force us Listen to the bullets: I've always wondered if that was the sound of whiplash..." "Marta, you are exaggerating." "I didn't, honey, that's not an exaggeration. We both knew it! When we got hit, all he cared about was that he was safe in his 50-foot basement office. And then when the situation came again In times of extreme emergency, he'd jump out of his little safe office again, sit on top of Thyme Hill with a microphone and make his bullets with a whip." "I think I might have to bail you out one day soon." "For murder?" "No, it's malicious defamation." "Why are you on bail? I think it's a pretty good thing you'll be summoned to appear in court." There was nothing to say to Marta's ignorance, Grant thought. "But I think it might still be murder," Marta mused in her famous on-stage murmur. Spring cornfields and woodpeckers, or whatever, with a 99-year lease. He's a public threat!" "Then why are you listening to his radio?" "Well, that's a horrible attraction, you know? You think, that's the worst possible limit, it can't be any worse. So, you start looking forward to whether the next week will be even worse. It's outrageous. It's a trap, it's scary, you can't turn around. You're obsessed with anticipating the next, and the next, scarier, so when it's over, you find you're still where you are." "No way, Marta, is it just because of jealousy among colleagues?" "You mean the monster is with you?" Marta asked. "No, I mean, basically he's an actor, an actor who's completely involuntary. He's given himself an idyllic image for years and ended up with nothing. I can see why you wouldn't like it Him, what does Margaret like about him?" "I can tell you that it's his loyalty. She likes to play a game of shooting the wings of flies one by one, and Walter is willing to let her tear him apart, and then he can come back for more tearing." "But in the end he never came back." "That's right." "And do you know what was the last time they quarreled?" "I don't think there was such an argument, I think he just told her he was leaving, at least that's what he said at the inquest. By the way, did you read her obituary?" "I think I should have seen it back then, I don't particularly remember it." "If she lives another ten years, I think at least she can get a little notice worth her weight in the back page of the newspaper, proving that she is more noticed than Douce, like 'A genius falls Yes, the world's loss, ''She bloomed with the light of fallen leaves and the grace of willows in the wind'. Everyone was surprised that there was no black border in the newspaper. This kind of mourning is almost national." "He must have suffered a lot from that to Elizabeth Gallopby." "Elizabeth, good Elizabeth. If Margaret Marianne was no match for Walter Whitemore, Walter Whitemore was no match for Elizabeth. Elizabeth Much better than him. I'd be glad if that pretty boy could take Elizabeth out of his sight." "But I don't think the 'beautiful boy' you mentioned would be a good husband. Walter can be a good husband instead." "Dear good man, Walter will be on the air reporting their home life, all the little things about their little ones, and the cabinets he keeps in the dining room, the shapes of crystallized frost by the nursery window, etc. .She's with that boy you named him, at least she's safe." "Searle, Leslie Seale." Unknowingly, he saw the "La Hongte" restaurant with light yellow neon lights coming in front of him, "I don't think the word 'safety' is suitable for Westerners." on you," he said reflexively. And from that moment on, Leslie Seale was out of his mind until he was ordered to search for his body in Sacca St. Marys.