The moist mist in the early morning rose around the Nihlet Manor, and there was a faint leaden gray and cold blue everywhere.
Standing in front of the bedroom window, Batman saw Schiller in the garden. He remembered a conversation between the two after he went to Schiller's bedroom before going to bed last night.
It was late at night, and when Batman, who was still cold from his body, came to the door of Schiller's bedroom, he found that Schiller had already changed into pajamas when he opened the door, which meant that he had not gone out just now.
Batman took off his coat and followed Schiller into the bedroom and to the sofa area. Schiller brought a cup of coffee that was heated by the fireplace. Batman asked: "Did you know I was coming?"
"Of course, and you're not the only one coming. Do you want to talk about the killer?"
"Mr. Nehret is to blame." Batman's tone was as low as ever, and he was by no means aimless. He took a sip of coffee and then explained: "There are too many suspicious things about him."
"First of all, as the owner of an aristocratic manor, even if he and his wife have conflicts, they must maintain their due dignity on the surface. Husband and wife are one, at least among the aristocracy. No matter how big the conflicts are in private, they will not appear in public.
We must still treat each other with respect and respect each other.”
"But Mr. Nihlet seems to prefer staying with his cousin Hancock than Mrs. Nihlet. It would be fine to say that the two have a good relationship in private, but in front of so many people, Nihlet
It is obviously quite disrespectful for the husband to abandon his wife and become inseparable from his brother."
Batman gently put a hand on the armrest of the sofa and said: "They are obviously the kind of family that takes rules very seriously. They have received the most rigid aristocratic education since childhood, and their family reputation must be considered in every word and deed.
Such disrespectful behavior is contradictory to their family tradition."
"And the most important point." Batman frowned slightly and said, "The reason he left the manor to live outside was that he was busy with business, but I had a few chats with him in the banquet hall before and found that he was not proficient in business.
.”
"This is not the Victorian era anymore. What real businessman doesn't know about stocks and investments? But every time I bring up the latest stock market conditions and industry information, he always talks about it, or simply changes the topic. This is very embarrassing.
suspicious."
"So what did you do?"
"The best way to investigate a manor owner is to investigate his butler." Batman rested his elbow on the armrest, gently stroking his chin and said, "In this kind of aristocratic manor, no one knows more than the butler.
So many secrets.”
"After the dinner, I chatted with the old butler for a few words. From his mouth, I learned that the relationship between Mr. Nehlet and Mrs. Nehlet was originally quite good. Although it was still an arranged marriage by the family, there was nothing wrong with them.
What a huge contradiction."
"But since Mr. Nihlet's cousin Hancock came to join them, the relationship between the two has experienced many crises. Originally, Mrs. Nihlet was a woman with a very strong personality. She had made many troubles, but in recent years
She became quiet."
"The most suspicious thing is that Mrs. Nehret's mother's family, the Plohi family, was originally very famous, but one night, they collectively set fire to themselves. Even the Plohi family's manor was burned to the ground.
From then on, Mrs. Nehret no longer had anyone to rely on, and only Mr. Prosh, who was out sketching, survived, and he also relied on others at this time."
Schiller sat opposite Batman, listening to him quietly. When he turned his head, he saw that the branches of the dead trees in the garden were like blazing flames.
"Mrs. Nehret told me about this." The person opposite Schiller has turned into a babe. There is also a cup of hot coffee in front of him, but there is still one last cup left in front of the fireplace.
"When she mentioned the fire, her expression was not sad, only deep fear. But when I asked about the details, she kept silent. I don't think she was too sad and didn't want to mention it, but the occasion was just wrong."
"So I went to see her alone after the dinner. She was shocked and panicked when she saw me. But when I told her that I had avoided anyone, she seemed to suddenly see some hope.
Similar."
"What did she tell you?" Schiller asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Some secret past events. She said that the fire was not set by members of the Pulosi family, nor did they want to commit mass suicide. However, after the police investigated and did not find the murderer, the matter was dropped."
"Mr. Prosh, who lives in the manor, suspected that someone from the Nehlet family might have done it, so he stayed here. He wanted to catch the murderer with his own hands and avenge his relatives."
Beiba turned away his eyes and sighed softly and said: "Mrs. Nihilet is controlled by something. She is deeply afraid of something that does not exist in the scene where we are talking. It is like holding her thread."
.”
"But what we have to consider is who is the real murderer. I think Mrs. Nehlet's suspicion is not small. Even if she is manipulated to kill, as the mistress of the manor, what she can do is
There are a lot of them, so the threat is huge."
"Do you think she's innocent?"
Bei Bat shook his head and said: "I don't think she is the kind of person who can stick to her own bottom line, so she can never be completely innocent."
"What makes this game more difficult than we thought is that there may be only one real murderer, but he has many accomplices, or the murderer is just the one who really does it, and there are manipulators behind him. If we make a wrong judgment,
, you are very likely to fall into a trap.”
Beiba paused for a moment, and then said: "There is another important clue. Mrs. Nihlet said that she found a mysterious five-pointed star pattern at the scene where the Prosh family was murdered, but she could not be sure about it.
Is it a coincidence of the scorch marks, or maybe she saw it wrong."
"Cult?"
"Maybe so."
As the night progressed, the wind became even colder, and there were a few solitary graves dotting the empty land. The crosses looked like ghostly shadows under the moonlight.
A slightly stooped figure waved the hoe high, and the sand was constantly being lifted up. Sweat dripped on the soil, and soon disappeared among the gaps in the sand and stones.
Opposite him, two half-year-old children were holding a quilt roll together. There was a dark mass hanging at the end of the quilt roll. If you looked closely, you saw that it turned out to be human hair.
"Come on, children, throw it in." The figure who was digging the hole turned around, and finally revealed his face under the moonlight. It was the old priest who had appeared at Nihlet Manor before.
The two children threw the cotton roll containing the body into the hole dug by the old priest with some difficulty, but there was no trace of fear on the faces of the children who were doing such a horrible thing as dumping the body.
The older boy looked at the old priest and asked worriedly: "Are you okay? What on earth did you see in the Nehlet family?"
The old priest threw down his hoe, raised his head under the moonlight, and closed his eyes in pain. His mind was filled with Schiller's cold eyes when he said those words to him, but what he saw was not Schiller's hatred, but Schiller's hatred.
himself.
"Devil, boy, I see the devil in me."
The younger child tilted his head, as if he didn't understand what the priest was saying. The priest lowered his head again, made the sign of the cross, touched his head and said, "Remember, there will eventually be someone in this world who is yours."
Mirror, when you see yourself in his eyes, you will know that you have seen the devil, but it is not him, it is you."
He bent down again, picked up the hoe and began to fill the sand back into the pit. He murmured quietly to himself: "Don't be afraid, children, don't be afraid anymore, your dean is already lying with you.
He will never have the chance to hurt you again."
The two children ran back and forth to help the priest fill the grave together. The priest threw the hoe aside, sighed softly and said: "I may have to leave for a while. You should take care of the other children. If the police
When you come here, you just say you don’t know anything.”
"Where are you going?" The two children immediately gathered around worriedly and said, "We won't say anything. We will sleep well in the attic tonight and have never seen anyone."
"You are very smart." The priest knelt down and took the two of them into his arms, touched their heads and said, "But you are still young. When you grow up, you will understand that there are still demons like your dean.
Lots of them, I have to deal with one of them now."
After saying that, he stood up, turned around and looked at the bell tower of the church in the distance, and walked away from the cemetery without hesitation.
When Natasha knocked on Schiller's door, Schiller had just made three cups of coffee and placed them near the fireplace to keep warm. He opened the door and welcomed Natasha in, who was also wearing pajamas.
"It seems you have made great progress." Schiller said with a smile.
"What surprises me is that you didn't do anything." Natasha swung her arms and walked to the side of the single sofa to sit down. She took the coffee brought by Schiller and looked at the table beside the fireplace.
After two cups, he smiled and said, "Don't get me wrong, I'm just kidding. Even a three-year-old kid won't believe that you didn't do anything."
"Who do you think is the murderer? Madam."
"Hancock is the most suspicious." Natasha bit her nails gently and said thoughtfully: "I had a chat with him after the dinner. You know, he is a very typical hypocrite."
"You think he looks like an old-fashioned Taoist gentleman, right? He also deliberately grooms himself in this direction, but I dare say that he is definitely an expert in love. And how do you say that term? Psychopath?"
Natasha put two fingers on her cheek and said: "I am an agent and a killer myself, so of course I have no position to call others evil, but from a woman's point of view, this Hancock is the worst."
Plant a man."
Natasha recalled it briefly and then rolled her eyes and said, "Obviously he coveted my beauty more than anyone else, but he acted indifferently. But his purpose was not to resist temptation, but to hope."
I can take the initiative to find him."
"It is not difficult to see that he has met many weak women." Natasha sneered and said, "I thought he was a good man worthy of being entrusted to me for life, so I took the initiative to stick to him. But as everyone knows, all of this is because of some
The result of manipulation and suggestion.”
Natasha glanced at Schiller and said: "But what I said is the most unsightly thing about him is that he doesn't do it for any truly meaningful goal. He plays with other people's feelings just to satisfy his physical desires and his spiritual needs."
Perverted sadistic instincts.”
"You only saw so many things after just a few words of conversation?"
Natasha sighed and said: "I have met many such people before, and the reason why I am still fooled by you is because the biggest difference between you and them is that I can't see any desire in you.
.”
"You aroused my curiosity and attempted to manipulate me, neither for physical desires nor to satisfy spiritual needs."
"All your emotions are very natural, not disguised for a certain purpose. If it were just human skin you painted, it would be a natural work of art."
"To put it simply, whether you talk to me about art or tell me your story, the purpose is really just that on the surface, and most of the men I have met are not."
"When they are greedy for the beauty of a woman, every move, word and deed they do is to attract the attention of the opposite sex. This can be said to be the natural instinct of males. When they do not cover up or behave very clumsily, they have a sense of
Childishly cute.”
"But Hancock..." Natasha showed a stern smile and said: "He used his clever cover-up to make them fascinated by him, but there was no art under that human skin, only dirty desires.
