Chapter 27 Eighth scene

This afternoon, Mr. Jerry Lane was wandering about the house, smiling and gossiping with the various members of the family.Gurley had visited earlier, and Wren chatted with him for a while. Captain Trevitt spent the afternoon hanging out with Louisa Carbian and Miss Smith in the garden. Normal thing, and still half wary of each other. Remarkably, Wren never sat down once from head to room.He kept moving, vigilantly guarding, following, monitoring... At fifteen to seven in the evening he signaled secretly to his chauffeur, Dromeo.Dromeo slipped up to him, they whispered something, and then Dromeo slipped out of the house, returning five minutes later with a smile on his face.

At seven o'clock, Ryan sat in a corner of the dining room, smiling kindly.The dinner utensils on the table had been arranged properly, and the family entered the dining room one after another with the same tired and lifeless appearance. At this moment, Inspector Sam, accompanied by Prosecutor Bruno and a team of criminal police, made a surprise visit. Ren stood up to greet Sam and Bruno, and the smile on his face disappeared at the same time.At this moment, no one moved, Louisa and Miss Smith sat quietly at the side of the table, Martha Height and the two children were about to sit, when Sam came in, Barbara just walked in from the other door, Conra He was in the adjoining library, and Sam saw him goofing off in his old habit. Jill wasn't there, but Captain Trevitt and John Gurley were there, standing behind Louisa's seat.

No one spoke until Ryan said in a low voice, "Ah, Inspector." Then the astonished expressions of everyone faded away, and everyone took their positions indifferently. Sam bellowed a greeting, and with Bruno at his heels, he walked up to Rain and gave him a sullen nod.The three retreated to a corner, and no one paid any attention to them.Everyone at the table spread out their napkins, Mrs. Abko came in, and the maid Virginia staggered in with a large heavy tray... "Well?" said Sam, rather quietly. The haggard look returned to Ren's face. "That's it, Inspector."

He only replied this sentence, and the three of them were silent for a while. Then the inspector yelled: "Your man—he called me just now—told me you were giving up and quitting." Bruno asked hoarsely, "You failed?" "Yes," Ryan whispered, "I failed, and I plan to give up, gentlemen, that experiment... didn't work." Neither Sam nor Bruno spoke, just stared at him. "I can't do anything else," Ryan continued, his eyes seeming to fall somewhere behind Sam in pain, "The reason I'm notifying you is because I'm going back to Hallett Hill, and I have to wait for your men If you are stationed again, you will leave—in order to protect the Heite family..."

"Well," Sam repeated the same words harshly, "so you're beaten too." "I'm afraid so. I was still full of hope this afternoon. Now..." Ren shrugged, "I'm beginning to believe, inspector," he continued with a wry smile, "I overestimated my ability. I just got lucky with the Lonstree case." Bruno sighed, "The general situation is over, and it's useless to mourn. After all, we are not much better, so you don't have to be so sad." Sam shook his head heavily. "Bruno's right, don't take this too seriously. You should be satisfied knowing you've got company..."

He stopped abruptly and spun away like a fat overgrown cat, and Ryan stared in horror at the scene behind Sam. It happened so quickly, so they were caught off guard, and it was over before they could catch their breath. It was like lightning, and it was instantly paralyzing like a snake bite. Around the table the Hatters and their guests sat petrified.The little boy Jackie, who had been banging on the table for more bread, held up a glass of milk in front of him—there were several glasses on the table: one in front of Jackie, one in front of Billy, and one in front of Louisa. One cup—drinking more than half of it in one greedy gulp.The glass fell from his fingers, and his whole body was paralyzed for a moment, only once when there was a lump in his throat, Jackie suddenly stiffened...collapsed on the chair, and immediately fell to the floor with a thud.They recovered from their paralysis and jumped forward at once—Sam and Ren at the same time, Bruno close behind.Everyone else was stupefied, their mouths froze on their seats, their forks stopped in the space between the table and their lips, their hands reaching for the salt stood still... Mrs Hatter screamed and fell to her knees motionless next to his petite body.

"He's poisoned! He's poisoned! Oh my God...Jackie, talk—talk to Mom!" Sam rudely pushed her aside to cover the little boy's chin, he squeezed until the mouth opened, then stuck a finger into the boy's throat, a faint grunt... "Don't move, Everyone!" Sam yelled, "Call the doctor, Moxiu! He—" Halfway through the command, the little body in his arms flicked forward, and then collapsed like a pile of wet clothes. Even his stunned mother could clearly see that the little boy was dead. Upstairs in the nursery, Dr. Miriam - who had just returned from his weekend trip exactly an hour before the tragedy - paced up and down.Mrs. Hatter was sobbing hysterically, and in half-frenzy held the trembling body of her youngest son, Billy, who was crying for his brother -- clutching his mother in terror.The Heite family surrounded the bed of the small still corpse, speechless, gloomy, avoiding each other's eyes.A group of criminal policemen stood on the threshold...

Downstairs in the dining room were two men—Inspector Sam and Jerry Lane, the latter with pain in his eyes and a sickness—a sickness that even his acting skills couldn't hide. None of them spoke.Ren sat wearily at the table and fell to the ground staring. The dead boy drinks his last sip of Socrates' potion of milk; Sam paces up and down with thunderous strides , he looked angry and muttered to himself. The door opened, and Prosecutor Bruno staggered in. "A mess," he muttered, "a mess, a mess." Mu glared at Ren angrily, but Ren didn't raise his head, just sat there and flicked the tablecloth.

"We'll never forget this officer, Sam," Bruno growled. "Damn it!" growled the inspector. "What annoys me the most is that he's going to give up just now. Now, why, man, you can't give up now!" "I must," Ryan simply replied, "I must, Inspector." He got up and stood stiffly by the table, "I have no right to interfere. The death of the little boy..." He licked his dry lips, "No, I shouldn't be joining you at all, please let me go." "But Mr. Wren..." Bruno said weakly. "I can't say anything else to justify myself. I made the most terrible mess. The little boy's death was my fault. It was... my fault alone. No..."

"Well," Sam replied in a low voice, his anger subsided, "you have the right to ask to retire, Mr. Wren. If there is any blame in this matter, it will fall on me. If you want such a Walk away without explaining anything, and without pointing out what you've been looking for..." "But I told you," Wren said flatly. "I told you. I was wrong, that's all, wrong." "No," Bruno said, "you can't just walk away, Mr. Wren, there's something deeper. When you asked Sam to move his hands down to give you an unobstructed space, you At that time, I had a very clear idea in my heart..."

"That was true at the time." Bruno suddenly noticed with horror that Ren's eyes were darkened. "I thought I had a way to prevent further conspiracies, and it turns out I can't." "All this lot of juggling," growled Sam, "that you used to say so categorically that poisoning was a sham, and you didn't mean it, not much of it!" he snarled, covering his cheeks with his hands, " Tell you, this incident proves that what happened here is a wholesale massacre, and their group of people is destined to be killed..." Ren lowered his head mournfully, hesitated to speak, and then walked towards the door.He didn't even take his hat.When he reached the door, he stopped for a moment, as if hesitating whether to turn his head, and then, with his chest out, he walked out of the house.Dromeo was waiting for him by the sidewalk.In the half-darkness of night, a group of reporters rushed towards him. He shrugged them off and stepped into the car, his face buried in his hands as the car sped away.