It was just noon when the two came out of the drainage pipe, and the hot sunlight instantly dispelled the dampness, coldness and haze wrapped around them.
The two got into the car, Rust turned the steering wheel, and the F-150 slowly fell backwards.
"What next, let's go to the South District to dig up the manhole cover? I thought about it carefully just now, and what Alex said makes sense. What reason does a drug addict who can't even eat enough have to cover up Mona and get away with it? "
"But if she didn't deceive me and abscond with the money." Dean leaned back on the chair, closed his eyes and felt the bumps of the seat, his temples beating, "Where is she going?"
"You have to ask yourself. I remember you said that the day before she disappeared, on the afternoon of the 19th, I went to see a movie with you, and then——"
The car drove back onto the flat road,
"At about 6:30 in the evening, she and I separated in front of the cinema."
Dean looked at the rapidly reversing scenery outside the car window, and the scene from that day clearly appeared in front of his eyes.
After completing Investigation 1, he regained the complete memory of his predecessor.
"I originally planned to accompany her to the city center to watch the clown show on stilts, but she insisted on letting me go home."
"This is unreasonable." Lars put saliva in his mouth, rinsed it out, and spit it out the window. "At that time, the nightlife has just begun. Isn't it the best time for couples to have fun together and cultivate relationships?"
"Because the next day is my birthday..." Dean blurted out, "She wants to prepare a surprise for me."
"Understood. So can we think so," Rust's brain thought suddenly became extremely clear, "Since she is going to give her boyfriend a birthday gift the next day, then it is absolutely necessary for her to do it the night before Go to confirm, or get back your birthday gift? But she was worried that you would find out, so she had to drive you away. "
Dean turned his head and glanced at his companion in surprise. The latter proudly raised his chin and continued his analysis.
"Just follow Alex's words and believe Mona for the time being. If she didn't fly away with your money, then there is only one possibility - she encountered some accident."
Dean's shoulders trembled involuntarily, and his mood became extremely contradictory.
The predecessor, that big fool, would rather swallow the bitter pill than have another situation happen, where Mona encounters an accident.
"According to You, the accident occurred between 6:30 in the evening on the 19th and 7:00 in the morning of the 20th when the cinema opened."
"Now we have to figure out, where is she most likely to be during this period?"
"After leaving the cinema...she was shopping for birthday gifts at the store?" Dean said solemnly.
"I think the birthday cake is a nice surprise." Rust turned the steering wheel, "Let's set off immediately and go to the cake shop next to Super Lo Cinema to ask about the situation."
"You forgot, I don't like sweets very much, and Mona knows this too. The surprise can never be a cake." Dean shook his head, Rust's expression froze, and the demeanor of a detective who had everything under control suddenly left him. .
"What is the most likely gift?" Lust said with a frown on his face as he pondered.
"I go to the theater every week to watch movies that you think are very boring." Dean's eyes lit up, thinking of the movie posters that used to be all over the wall in his bedroom, "And my favorite movie is ——May the force be with you!”
"May the Force be with you!" Rust suddenly realized, "Star Wars!"
"Let's go to the movie peripheral store to look for it!"
…
After determining the direction of investigation.
The two couldn't wait to drive to one of the largest movie collection sales points near the theater and showed Mona's portrait to the clerk who was working.
"Sorry... I have no impression of this lady." The young clerk in the red T-shirt shook his head in confusion. "Hundreds of customers come to our store every day. Unless he comes often, I can't remember it."
"Can you make it easier for me to see the surveillance video? It was about April 19, half a month ago."
Dean asked, quietly taking out ten dollars.
"Sorry, the store is not a big shopping mall, and it does not install expensive and impractical electronic toys." The clerk shook his head regretfully.
Dean then realized that it was still the 1980s, and even in casinos like Las Vegas, surveillance was mainly concentrated in areas where casinos gathered.
There are no casinos on this street, and there is very little surveillance.
Next, they visited two other stores of similar size and got similar answers——
The last one.
Five miles east of Super Lo Cinema, a remote and quiet movie collection store located on the corner of the street.
Colorful decorative lights flash the Raymond House sign.
Dean and Rust entered the glass door and looked around. Compared to the first three stores they had visited, this one was much further away from the bustling city center and much smaller in scale. The overall layout was like an old-fashioned bookstore,
There are black shelves in all directions, and there are a dazzling array of movie peripherals - oil painting-like movie posters: Alien, Dawn of the Dead... small and exquisite models: wine bottles, pocket watches, earrings and other movie props.
Even the front desk where the store owner is sitting is filled with piles of video tapes that look like black eye masks.
The whole store seemed extremely full and crowded.
Dean looked to the left. In the most conspicuous place on the front desk was a life-size statue of Luke Skywalker wearing white greaves and robes and holding a lightsaber.
Dean couldn't help but walked over.
"You also like Star Wars?" The fat man sitting on the chair held his eyes on the bridge of his nose.
"Of course, no Jedi can resist the temptation of a lightsaber." Dean raised his arms from his chest and shouted, "May the Force be with you!"
"May the force be with you!"
The fat-faced shopkeeper stood up from the chair, shook his fat body, and spoke in a high-pitched voice.
Dean was stunned for a moment, why was his body automatically making this strange action as if it was out of control!
Next to him, Rust couldn't help but cover his face. Why did the good brother suddenly have a convulsion?
"Young Jedi, you are in luck. Soon, the second part of The Empire Strikes Back will be released. Let me give you some inside information in advance -" the shop owner raised his finger at him mysteriously, "This movie The movie will reveal a huge secret - the life and death of Luke Skywalker!"
hiss--
Dean very cooperatively made a "dumbfounded" + extremely expectant expression, but he promised that this was not his intention.
"Okay, young Jedi, tell me what secret mission you are here to perform this time. If you need to replenish the lightsaber, you have to wait for a week. The inventory has been sold out and it will not arrive until next week!"
"This Jedi Master," Dean suppressed the discomfort in his heart and followed the other person's words, "In order to resist the minions of the Dark Lord, I need your help. I am looking for someone. Do you have any impressions? "
For the fourth time he showed Mona's portrait.
The fat man’s small eyes behind the lenses blinked and he said without thinking,
"It's her, I remember her, a lady who loves to laugh!"
"Have you seen her? Half a month ago?"
Dean's tone was trembling, with surprise and panic in his heart, while Rust waved his fist, his face full of excitement.
"How do you know?" Fatty looked Dean up and down and said suddenly, "Could it be that you are her boyfriend."
"She mentioned me?"
The fat man nodded, pushed two chairs over from behind the desk, motioned for them to sit down, and lay down comfortably on the rocking chair that just accommodated his body.
The chair rocked and his voice drifted like smoke.
"Why didn't she come with you this time?"
"I haven't seen her in a while and I'm looking for her."
Dean sighed.
"Did you break up after a quarrel? What a pity, young Skywalker, why don't you be more understanding and considerate? If you miss her, you will miss your own Princess Leia."
The fat man did not hide the look of regret on his face.
Dean explained,
"I've asked other stores, but they didn't have any impression. After all, half a month is not a short time, but you -"
"If it had been any other guest, I might not have remembered it. But Mona was really impressive. I don't know where she found out that I had an autographed poster of Luke Skywalker, 'Mark Hamill, May the force.'" be with you'. It's the only one in all of Las Vegas."
"For about half a month, she came to the store every day and begged me to sell her the poster, saying she wanted to give it to her boyfriend as a birthday gift."
"But it was originally one of the items not for sale. I planned to leave it to my son and granddaughter as a family heirloom. It might be worth a lot of money in a few decades."
Dean listened silently, but his heart clenched quietly, and an ominous premonition arose.
Rust looked at his companion's tense face and took a deep breath.
"Seeing that I didn't agree, Mona didn't give up. She would come to the store for a while every day when she was free, but she didn't act or stalk her." The store owner changed his voice, with a hint of surprise and smile in his tone, "She She started to take the initiative to help me clean the store, put away the sundries, and entertain customers... She just acted as a completely free store clerk, and she never mentioned buying posters to me."
"I am older and sometimes like to nag. She has never been impatient. She is a perfect listener."
The shop owner sighed,
"I have never seen such a sensible and well-behaved girl in most of my life. If my son was not married, I would definitely let him pursue Mona."
Mona.
She is the kindest girl I have ever seen.
Dean paled as the words of junkie Alex began to echo in his mind.
"Did you finally sell it to her?"
"Sell it?" The shop owner shook his head as if he was offended, with a stern look on his face, "I gave it to her for free... I can't refuse such a lovable girl."
"Besides, to be honest, signed posters of movie stars are valuable to a small number of movie fans, but not worth much to most people. If it can fulfill Mona's wish, I will be happy!"
"Then she... Mona... came to your place on the 19th?"
"You don't look good."
"I'm OK."
"I remember she mentioned that her boyfriend's birthday is April 20th, so I asked her to pick it up on the night of the 19th." The shop owner suddenly shrugged lonely, "Forgive my selfishness, I hope to see Mona more. Smile. Alas, but after she took the poster away, she never came back."
After saying that, the store owner fell silent while looking at the high shelves. This conversation completely subverted Dean and Rust's original thoughts.
Dean held his breath, and the illusion he had seen in the cinema flashed in his mind——
"I have been begging for this birthday gift for a long time, and I will definitely not let you down!" Mona waved her fist and acted coquettishly.
So Mona didn't lie. She spent a lot of energy asking for help and prepared a birthday surprise for her boyfriend.
So how could she leave and hide without any reason when the gift was not given?
The store owner's statement and Dean's memory are enough to prove that Mona has never deceived or betrayed her predecessor from beginning to end.
This was completely contrary to what the theater ticket seller said and his previous subjective inference.
Huge twist.
"No wonder System Incident's description of Mona is someone who might deceive me."
"Maybe... but not."
"Dean, you have never been deceived or abandoned, and the feelings you have given have not been wasted."
Then a surge of anger ignited in his chest.
If the predecessor knew this fact and was 100% desperate to find Mona, how could he commit suicide? !
He died so unjustly!
…
Buzz——
The system suddenly shook.
Dean suddenly discovered that the progress of "Find Mona" jumped by 20% to 30%.
This conversation directly changed the direction of Dean's planned investigation. Why go to Los Angeles?
Mona must still be in Las Vegas somewhere.
"What time did she leave the store?" Dean asked, with irrepressible impulse in his tone.
"Don't worry, I have to tell you something. After she got the poster, she finally confided in me and told me her future plans. I can also see that this little girl is a bit precocious and has low self-esteem. She likes to please you. Boy friend."
The shopkeeper held his chin and spoke softly, his voice full of warmth.
"She plans to move there with you when you go to college... When you go to college, she will work near the university to support your life. When you find a job after graduating from college, if you still like her and are willing, she will To you—"
The shopkeeper paused and looked at Dean with naked jealousy in his eyes.
"Proposal."
ha?
Dean suddenly twisted his cheeks and laughed a few times, but he couldn't help but shed tears as he smiled.
She, a girl, proposed to me, a useless, cowardly, unpopular Asian man.
He wiped the tears from his eyes and finally understood why his predecessor was so obsessed with Mona and was still unwilling to call the police.
Mona deserves it all.
"We chatted for a long time...it was almost closing time at 10 o'clock, and she left."
The shopkeeper sighed,
"After that time, she never came back. I thought she had lived happily with you, but unexpectedly they separated. Boy, Mona is a shining girl, how could you lose her? Woolen cloth?"
"Go and chase her back quickly."
…
