Chapter 13 Saturday night, May 14

The visit to Susan Paxton's body was chosen at half-past nine last night.Payne chose this time to go to the funeral home because most people left after the funeral, and the family members were too tired to go to the coffin to guard it.The children gathered to play on one side, while the adults sat on the other side and chatted quietly. Susan Paxton had many regular customers when she worked at the Carmela clothing store, but the family did not know them, so a well-dressed and attractive blind woman would not be too conspicuous at the coffin .Xueli made special preparations and rushed here just to stay with the dead in the coffin for a while.

In order to ensure that Xueli can contact the deceased smoothly, Payne must find a way to divert the attention of the family members.He didn't want Xueli to be disturbed and obstructed at work. "Inspector Payne." Mr. Paxton was surprised by Payne's arrival. "Mr. Paxton, hello," Penn returned. "I didn't expect you..." Payne nodded, took his hand, put his arms around his shoulders, and said, "You are busy with funeral affairs now, and I shouldn't bother you. But can we go up and have a look at Mrs. Paxton?" ?” "Sure, sure, please," said Paxton, leading Detective Payne to his wife's coffin. "They've handled it well."

Payne's eye fell to the bullet wound on her temple, and Paxton was right, they did repair the body well. "I'm sorry we kept the body sealed for so long." "Never mind," said Mr. Paxton. "It will also take some time to gather relatives together." They stood in front of the mourning hall for a moment looking at the portrait of the dead man, then Payne turned and led Paxton to the back of the house.He looked down at Paxton's shoes, hesitant to speak. "Any new discoveries, Inspector? Do you have anything to tell me?" Payne shook his head and said, "It's not really a new discovery." He walked towards the back corner of the room while talking, "But if it's convenient for you now, I would like to have a brief chat with you."

"Of course," Paxton replied. There was a little commotion at the door, a beautiful woman wearing sunglasses and holding a white cane walked into the mourning hall, everyone turned their heads to look at her.The funeral master led her towards the coffin, and seeing William Paxton standing in the back room of the chapel, led her towards Paxton first. "This is Mr. Paxton, Susan's husband." The master of ceremonies introduced, "Are you Miss Moore?" When the master of ceremonies spoke, he clapped Xueli's hand skillfully. "Yes," said Shirley, smiling. "I am sorry for Susan's death, Mr. Paxton. I was her customer and her friend."

The master of ceremonies looked at Payne suspiciously. "John Payne," he said, taking her hand. "Nice to meet you, Miss Moore." Paxton has been around a thousand times this week with a smiley face, "Thank you so much for coming. We can't believe that Susan has so many friends." "She's a holy person," Shirley said. "I shouldn't have interrupted. May I come up and stay with Susan for a while?" Payne stepped aside as Shirley spoke. "Of course, of course, I will go with you." "Oh, no, no, I'd like to be alone with her if it's appropriate. You two go on with your work."

"Of course no problem, thank you again for coming." Paxton and Payne watched the master of ceremonies lead Shirley away. "In fact, it's the matter of Susan's father that has been bothering me." Payne continued the topic just now. "I told you Susan had nothing to do with him. Really, Inspector, not at all." Payne said, walking over to the two armchairs, "Yeah, I know, but the thugs probably don't care that much." Paxton also walked up to the armchair and asked in surprise, "Thugs?" Xueli asked the master of ceremonies to take her to the center of the coffin, and assured him that she could walk down by herself later.She also whispered to him that she still had to take some time to build up her courage, "I'm not ready yet, I have to get used to it."

"Yes, yes, I can understand, Miss Moore." He patted her hand. "It doesn't matter how long it takes. If you need me to come, just raise a finger. I'm right behind the mourning hall .” Xueli waited for him to walk away before touching the edge of the coffin. Her fingers followed some smooth objects to Susan's arm, and then touched her exposed hand.It was warm in the mourning hall, but this hand was cold and dry. Someone sneezes behind her.She could hear murmurs in the crowd, at first individual whispers, then many talking together, like the hiss of a distant waterfall.She took Susan's hand, and the hallucination began.

... A pair of small white leather shoes, small toes dangling back and forth in front of a mound of dirt, round legs kicking outwards, tulle dresses fluttering in the wind, slowly crawling into the sun, intoxicated by the yellow of lilies. At the dining-room table sat a woman, weeping bitterly; A man wearing a bonnet and a raincoat with several scars on his neck was looking at clothes in the clothing store where Susan worked... She stretched out her arms, slipped a black-haired child into a fat red fishing shirt, and pushed her up the steps toward a snow-covered statue of an angel. She saw an old bus with a metal placard that said Flatbush Avenue.

Xueli sniffed vigorously, as if smelling something. It was a sweet smell, like... strawberries; a policeman was smiling at her...a man in jeans gave her a rose, and a priest laughed loudly. Neurotic Sue, the letters were sprayed on the wood with white paint.A boy with long hair and dark eyes came towards her.She saw a gun, and then the muzzle flashed... She was again in a car that stinks of gasoline and dirty laundry.She was looking out the car window when suddenly a woman's face hit the windshield in front of her, her lips were split, crimson blood dripped from the corner of her scratched mouth, and the area around her pale cheeks was stained blood red.A frightened green eye stared at her, pleading.Suddenly the woman rolled away and the face disappeared.

Xueli felt a hand on her shoulder, and the crowd was still whispering, and she was lifted from the floor by the man and sat in a chair.Someone was clamoring to pour water loudly.After a while, a paper cup was delivered to her mouth, and several hands supported her shoulders. "Hi, hi, Miss Moore, are you feeling better?" She smelled the familiar fruity perfume on Penn's body that his wife had given him for Christmas two years ago. "Yes, it's much better." She raised a finger to everyone, signaling to give her a little breathing time.She wanted to go back to the coffin and touch Susan's hand again. She wanted to know how Susan's nightmare ended.Because, this is also the nightmare she has had countless times!

"Bring some more water." Payne commanded, and a faint sound of footsteps hurriedly left the mourning hall. She shook her head, feeling that she was almost overwhelmed by the strawberry smell she had just hallucinated, "I'll be fine as long as I breathe some fresh air." That feeling just now is really strange, what does it mean?How did Susan know what was going on in her dream?Is it possible for two people to have the same dream?Perhaps, as she had long suspected, it wasn't actually a nightmare, but a real memory. "Do you need an ambulance?" "No," although the corners of her mouth were still trembling, she said firmly, "No, I'm fine." She was trembling all over.She seemed to feel that the woman's hand was still in hers, and she could still see the woman's face and her painful eyes on the windshield. "It's just the flu," Xueli squeezed out the words, suppressing the discomfort. "It's been a while." She wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, and continued, "My driver is outside. Please take I'll help you to the door, get some fresh air, and I'll be fine." Payne gently helped her to stand up, "Here, Miss Moore. Hold my arm, and I will lead you there. Stand still here, and I will help you hold the cane." "What the hell happened at the funeral home?" Payne thought Shirley's situation looked worse than it had been at the funeral home.He went into the kitchen, filled a jug with water, and put it on the stove.A few minutes later, he handed the brewed hot tea to Xueli.She took the teacup and held it tightly in her hands.A shawl was wrapped around her shoulders, and she just sat there quietly, holding a teacup in her hand, not taking a sip. There was a knock on the door. "It's Brigham," said Shirley softly.Her old neighbor came over to read her email, "Please tell him I'm not feeling well. I'll call him tomorrow." This encounter with Susan Paxton showed that her nightmares did not happen by chance.She had never seen so clearly the woman's face on the windshield.How was she supposed to explain to others the images that came into her mind? Payne and Brigham chatted outside the door for a few minutes.Shirley was sipping tea when he came in again.Her amber shades lay on the table, her face pale.She was obviously frightened, he thought.Was it frightened by the murderer, or something else? "Did you see someone, Shirley?" She shrugged, then nodded, "I saw several." "Did you see her murderer?" She shrugged again, and said, "I don't know, John. I think I saw it. Just a guess. I'm not sure." "Is there anyone who stands out in particular?" She nodded, "There was a man, very young, I think, who was at the scene before the murder." "Can you describe his characteristics?" She nodded and began to describe, "Long black hair, with a beard, looks like a decadent youth..." "Can you describe it to the portrait guy, I mean, to the police sketcher?" She nodded again. "Are you afraid of something, Shirley?" She hesitated.She didn't want to draw any conclusions yet.She didn't even know where that nightmare of hers started.She said, "John, I'm not sure he's the killer either. What I see doesn't always make sense." "What else did you see, Shirley, tell me. Any detail may be an important clue." She shook her head. "I don't know. I saw a woman with her face pressed against the windshield of a car." "Is it Susan?" "No, not Susan. I don't know who she is either." "Okay, so can you be sure where it happened?" "No!" she yelled, "Susan saw it from the car." Shirley looked tired and angry, "She, Susan, saw from the car, the woman's head was pushed Got to the other side of the windshield and slid down. That's all I saw, that's all I saw, John." "Okay, okay, let's go back to that guy, that young man, was he the last guy you saw before you saw the gun?" "I remember that part," she said tremblingly, "I saw his face first, and then I saw the muzzle flash. John, I feel better now. Maybe I did have the flu. But I swear I It will be all right soon." "May I get you some more tea?" She shook her head, "John, go home and be with your wife. She's probably going crazy right now." He looked up at her, she had never spoken to him in that tone before.Of course, she was right.He has a wife and a home of his own.He must go back to his own home. "Then let's talk tomorrow, shall we?" She didn't speak, just nodded and turned her face away. "sleep tight." "Well, I'll sleep well, John." She didn't get up to go to the storage room until she heard his car start.She rummaged through the storage boxes until she finally found the box with sunscreen and lip balm.She opened the lipsticks one by one and smelled them one by one, but none of them smelled like the one she was looking for, so she put them aside and tried again.Finally, she found the one she wanted, the strawberry scented lipstick.Then she went back to the recliner and sat down, took the lipstick and wiped it on her lips, tears welling up in her eyes.Then she applied lipstick to her chin and cheeks.