Chapter 29 fourth scene

Prosecutor Bruno, Inspector Sam and several police officers boarded a police car and headed straight for New York from Tinic Station. For a long time, the two of them didn't speak, each was immersed in the vortex of contemplation, and outside the car window, the dark New Jersey village scene receded at high speed. It was Bruno who broke the silence first, but couldn't hear anything at all, swallowed up by the thunderous sound of the exhaust pipes, and Sam shouted, "What did you say?" The two had to press their heads together. Bruno yelled in the inspector's ear, "Lane said he knew who killed DeWitt, what do you think?"

"Old horses go the same way, I think," Sam called back, "as much as he knows who killed Lonstra and Wood!" "What if he really knew?" "Oh, no, I'm sure he really knows, the old boy has been so confident, I can't understand him completely... I try to guess his reason, he may think, at the beginning, Lance Cui and DeWitt were the prey of the murderer's plan, both of them, and as for Wood being killed in the meantime, it was purely accidental, the murderer had to do this—to shut him up, which meant—" Bruno nodded slowly, " It means that the motive of the murder may have to be traced to the past grievances, right?"

"It does seem to be the case," Sam said, turning away and cursing the driver for not braking to slow down after a bumpy section of the road, "That's why Ryan said that there will be no more murders —Understood? Longstreet and DeWitt are both dead, and the murderer's exploits are officially over." "The poor old guy." Bruno muttered to himself.The two of them thought of DeWitt at the same time, but in the end they died inexplicably... The two sat quietly while the car roared forward. For a moment, Sam took off his hat and beat his forehead as Bruno watched him.

"What—a headache?" "I was wondering what the hell DeWitt meant by leaving that damn finger sign." "Oh." "That code, Bruno, for that code. I, Monk Zhang Er, can't touch the back of my head at all." "How do you know that was DeWitt's intentional code?" Bruno asked. "Maybe it didn't mean anything at all, it was pure accident." "It was a pure accident! You don't really think it was a pure accident, do you? If you learn from me, I will try to make my fingers like that. It will take all my strength to maintain it for thirty seconds. I bet, Absolutely absolutely impossible to accidentally cross your fingers like that because of some death spasm, Bruno. Old Schelling thinks so too, or he would never have asked me to try it... Hey, right!" Sa Mu sat up straight from the leather chair and approached the prosecutor, "Didn't you also say that it was some kind of gesture to exorcise evil spirits?"

Bruno smiled awkwardly: "Uh... the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it is, no, it's absurd talk in a hurry-God, it won't be like that." "Actually, it's hard to say." "Yeah yeah, who's to say it's not? But the hypothesis—hey, Sam, I mean, I just can't believe it..." "I understand what you mean, no problem, I understand." "Well, let's start with the idea that DeWitt's oddly crossed fingers are not a sign of exorcism, but rather an attempt to convey some kind of message so we can get a chance to think about it further. Well, DeWitt was shot in an instant Killed, as we have established, so the instruction must have been left on DeWitt's part and before he was shot."

"It's also possible the murderer did it on purpose after DeWitt died," Sam disagreed, "as I said." "No, that's impossible," Bruno cried. "The murderer didn't do that when he killed the first two—why did he do it to DeWitt?" "Okay—let's go your way," Sam said aloud. "I'm just talking about it—to list all the possibilities, and all the ones that don't seem likely." Bruno ignored Sam's ridicule: "If DeWitt left a message on purpose - doesn't it mean that he knows who is going to kill him, of course, that means he wants to leave clues about who the murderer is, doesn't it? "

"Sounds good enough to stop there," growled Sam. "That's the ABC of basic reasoning, my dear Bruno." "Damn you for interrupting. Besides, on the other hand," Bruno went on, "DeWitt is not a superstitious man about this demonic spell, and he's telling you he doesn't believe in these ghosts, Which means... Hey, Sam!" "I see, I see," cried the inspector in a flash of inspiration, and he sat up straight, "You mean, DeWitt told us that the murderer was a superstitious man with this strange ghost gesture! Wow—things are starting to look real! This DeWitt really has two brushes, his brain is so fast, and he still has this kind of reaction the moment the murderer pulls the trigger, he really deserves to be a shrewd businessman..."

"Do you think Ryan has thought about what we are thinking now?" Bruno asked after thinking about it. "Ren?" The excitement of the inspector's shouting was suddenly soaked in water, and his thick fingers stroked his big chin, "Well, now that I calm down and think about it, what I just said doesn't seem to be so serious. It's so exciting, it's so damn powerful..." Bruno let out a long sigh. Five minutes later, Sam suddenly asked nonchalantly, "Hey, do you know what the hell there is a Vegetatori?" "The demon-possessed man—a Neapolitan legend, I suppose."

The two fell into the gloomy silence again, and the car continued to drive straight forward without stopping.