Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

Mason sat in the living room of the house at 2420 Bradmore Street. Mrs. Warren sat facing him, her eyes seemed dry. Mason said, "We don't have much time left. I want you to tell me exactly what happened. I want to know what your connection to Christ Keaton was, and what happened after you arrived at the abandoned store. things. Don’t miss a single thing, do your best.” "It would kill me," she said. "After I put it all together, I can never face Warren again." "Don't be silly," Mason said. "Warren has been very loyal to you." "After I tell the truth, he will change his attitude."

"He won't," Mason said. "Before he married you, he already knew about your past." She opened her eyes wide and said: "What does he know?" "Knowing that you were interrogated and released, and knowing that you were connected to Gidon." "Does he know everything?" "yes." "God, how did he know that?" "Judson Wanney found out about your past background after investigation. When Warren found out that he fell in love with you, he felt that you deliberately concealed some things in the past, so he wanted to find out."

"But why didn't he tell me that?" "He thinks you'll feel better about keeping things secret." "Mr. Mason, you didn't mean to make me feel better, did you just say that?" "I'm telling the truth," Mason said. "Oh, what a nice guy he is," she said, tears welling from her eyes. "Don't cry," Mason said. "You don't have time to cry, and you don't have time to feel sorry for yourself." "I don't feel sorry for myself, it's just that I think of Warren, how good he's always been to me."

"Okay," Mason said. "He's a very good man. Now tell me all the truth. It's the best thing you can do with him right now." "I've always thought I was morally responsible for Gitton's $47,000," she said. "Did you keep the money for him?" "God, I didn't." "What's going on?" "He felt that the police authorities would surprise him. At that time, 47,000 yuan was deposited in his bank account. After he took the money out, he put it in the safe and asked me to keep it. I was afraid of doing so. Do, because I knew there was a bad intention in it. But when I looked up and saw Mr. Gitton, I thought, he's such a nice, sober, quick-witted businessman, and... well, I never thought But—would be a villain. After he put the forty-seven thousand dollars in the safe, he asked me to take it out and hide it, but I didn't do so. That night, the robbers broke into the office, found the safe number, and put Forty-seven thousand yuan was taken away."

"Jogton kept the money," Mason said. "The authorities will confiscate it because the money was obtained through illegal use of the mail." "It may be difficult for the authorities to prove it, but, in any case, I did not follow the instructions given to me by Gidon because I was afraid to do so, and it ended up preventing him from keeping the forty-seven thousand dollars." "So when you learned he was getting out of prison," Mason said. "You're going to pay him the money, aren't you?" She said: "My husband is a very successful businessman. For a long time, I have saved a sum of money through securities trading, and I am waiting for the day when Chris Keaton is released from prison. I plan to go to him. And tell him: 'I disobeyed your instructions, so you lost that money, so that you can't have a fund that can be used immediately after you get out of prison. For this reason, I raised 47,000 yuan for you. With your ingenuity, you will be able to use this money to create wealth in a short period of time. At that time, you can just return the principal to me, and my husband will know nothing about it.'”

"Go on," Mason said. "What happened?" "I put the money in a trunk in my cupboard, and it was stolen. Perhaps a domestic servant did it. But I couldn't make a sound lest the scandal be brought out, which would ...Well, I know Warren can't bear to be involved in that kind of scandal, and he values ​​established social status and social life." "Okay," Mason said. "What do you do when the money in your suitcase is stolen?" "I put together as much money as I could as quickly as I could, and the total was only 5,000 yuan."

"Have you heard from Gidon?" "Yes, he called and gave me the address of the store and asked me to drive there. I told him I had some money to give him. He said the neighborhood was run down and asked me if I had a revolver. I said my husband One, he said if I had a lot of money with me, I'd better have a pistol for my own defense." "Go on," Mason said. "I drove over and found the location without any trouble. I put the gun in my purse and went into the abandoned store and saw Gidon. I was shocked by the change in him. I took off the glove on my right hand and opened the purse intending to take the money. Take it out to him, I put the money on the table, and... well, I don't know, Mr. Mason, has he changed, or have I matured? When I worked for him, he was a smart, rich An attractive, intelligent businessman. As we talked in the store, I found this man to be a brazen, tongue-in-cheek conceit. He had no sincerity and...well, was going to exploit the relationship for profit."

"What do you mean by that?" "He knew that when I worked for him, I admired him and idolized him... Well, he thought he could manipulate me, and ... Well, this is one of many evil intentions .” "How do you do it?" "Suddenly, I realized what the whole thing was really about. It was a very nasty situation. I immediately picked up my bag and left the place," she said. "And what about the gun?" "I left it on the table, and my right hand glove fell on the floor, I think. Because I couldn't find it, and to be honest, I couldn't think at all at that time, but I just acted and tried to get out of there as soon as possible. .”

"Was he still alive when you left?" "Of course, he's alive." "Do you know what time it was?" "All I know is that Gidon asked me for an appointment at 2.15, and I got there on time. We only talked for a minute or two, and very quickly it became very uncomfortable - at least from my point of view. It's hard to feel the length of time in that situation, Mr. Mason . . . They say Gidon was killed by my gun." "Obviously," Mason said. "But they haven't found evidence yet. Once they have evidence, I'm going to have a cross-examination confrontation."

"But that was the only gun there." "Suppose it was your husband who shot him," Mason said. "Then he should have been wounded by your gun, but your husband told me he didn't shoot him." "My husband wouldn't lie about something like this." "In a murder case, things don't usually play out according to the rules, which is very different from normal cases," Mason said. "When a man's life is at stake, he will do anything." Holding back tears, Mrs. Warren said: "You really think his life is in danger?" "Yes," Mason said.

"That...that was all my fault," she said. "I……" Mason said, "One thing you need to know, Mrs. Warren, is that you can't get it back—after the water has flowed downstream into the lake, you can't ever want it to go back to where it came from. Let it happen. Let it happen. Concentrate on the present and forget about the past... You didn't hand over the money to Gidon, did you?" "Not a penny." "Did you tell him that you had some money ready to give him?" "Yes, I mentioned it to him on the phone. I said it wasn't as much money as I intended to raise, but it was as much as I could raise without alarming all parties. Then, I Started telling him how sorry I was for not following his instructions to hide the money in the safe, but also pointing out how much worse it would be if the authorities found out about my safe keeping—and then , I met him, Mr. Mason, and I understood from his eyes that all he had asked me to do was to get me involved in the case, so that we could jointly win the sympathy of the jury, and then We were acquitted. It turned out that we were both charged with so different charges that a jury acquitted me and sentenced Giaton to prison. If the incidents charged were not clear-cut—I don’t know what would have happened. I suddenly lost my admiration for Gidon, he made me feel like he was an individual actor." Mason said, "Don't you know how long you talked to him?" "Just a minute or two." "Didn't he tell you what he's been doing since he got out?" "No." "Did you get the only call from Gidon?" Mason asked. "That's right, during the period between his being sentenced and his release from prison, we lost contact completely. We didn't get in touch again until he made that phone call. I have to say that he still considered my position. He didn't want to Because of the exposure of this incident, I was implicated." "Of course he didn't want it to come out," Mason said. "Because he wants to take the opportunity to blackmail your husband." "He wants... what?" "He's going to blackmail your husband," Mason said. "That was one of his intentions, he..." "Oh, he couldn't have done something like that, he couldn't have been that mean." "Stop fooling yourself," Mason said. "He came to my office and asked me to take money from your husband to support him financially in exchange for him not to expose this matter." She opened her mouth weakly and said, "Why... what is this whole thing for!" "You have no idea at all?" "No." "Okay," Mason said. "You've given your background and what happened to you when you got to the store. Now be careful not to tell anyone anything and don't comment on any issues." "But right now, everything is going to be lifted," she said. "My relationship with Gidon, and..." "No, it won't," Mason said. "Not really. I'm going to fight back hard. I'm going to get them to call a preliminary inquiry. I'm going to see how much evidence the authorities have against your husband." "I worry," she said. "Even if they knew nothing about my past, it would be a deadly case." "Authorities are not necessarily going to confront motives at the preliminary investigation court," Mason said. "Where did you get that gun of yours?" "My husband bought it." "Where did you buy it? When?" "He bought it years ago." "Bought it through a friend, or from an arms dealer?" "An arms dealer, I think. He wants a gun in the house." "Okay," Mason said. "Let's do what we can. You stand your ground, don't comment on anything, and shrug off all interviews with mentally exhausted words. Don't let any journalists in the house, and don't answer the phone yourself. If anyone gets caught for an interview, don't fall into the trap of answering anything other than 'no comment'. Whenever you speak, answer only those few words. You think you can do it Are you there?" "Yes, of course." "It's not going to be as easy as you think," Mason said. "People will try to get you hooked by throwing you a bunch of unexpected questions or making outright untrue statements. Just remember to answer all questions with 'no comment'. That way, you can help Your husband, otherwise, you might hurt him unintentionally." "I'll do my best," she said.