Late at night.
Dean and Jonathan returned to the ICU.
"Hi, Uncle Paqui." Jonathan waved to the big man guarding the door like a door god, who gave him a warm hug and almost suffocated the boy with his chest muscles.
"How was the game? Didn't Dean bully the younger ones?"
"You're joking, he taught me a lot of useful knowledge and gave me two books," Jonathan said gratefully, and walked into the ward again and hugged the tired woman, "Aunt Lucia, I'm here to see you. Well, how is Peter?"
"Woohoo ... old." The woman covered her mouth sadly,
Paquet shook his head and turned to Dean, "What clues did you investigate?"
Dean recounted his previous actions, and then asked the woman beside the hospital bed,
"Ms. Lucia, why didn't you tell me before that Peter participated in Monica's magic show before he fell into coma."
"Monica, that prostitute who was wearing scantily attire and dancing in the tent?" Lucia suddenly stood up, a ferocious look appeared on her tired and pale face, and her eyes flashed with angry fire, "How could Peter watch such a shameless performance? ?”
"But there were several witnesses who saw him at the magic show." Dean's words were like needles, causing Lucia's face to turn blue and purple, her teeth to gnash, and the air seemed to be sparkling with sparks.
This anger was beyond Dean's understanding.
After a while, she took a deep breath to calm down her anger, sat back on the bedside, held Peter's hand tightly with both hands, put it on her chin and touched it lightly, "I'm sorry for being too excited. I really don't like Peter going to such inappropriate places." . But I was busy working the night shift during that time, so I didn’t know his movements, and I didn’t hide it from you on purpose.”
"I understand." Dean said, staring at the haggard face covered by an oxygen mask. "According to my investigation, Peter was ostracized by his classmates because of his special hobbies, and he lived a very unhappy and lonely life."
"Lonely? How could he be lonely with me by his side?" Lucia shook her head stubbornly, her red hair, which had not been washed for a while, rippling with oil.
"Then you know, he sometimes hides in the bookstore and cries alone. He even took the initiative to be a dangerous volunteer at magic shows several times. I suspect that he has the urge to commit suicide."
Lucia seemed to have been electrocuted, her face suddenly turned white, and large nasolabial folds and crow's feet appeared, showing a huge fear and pain. Then she grabbed the patient's withered hand tightly, with such force that her nails were digging in. Into the meat.
"No! Peter is a good boy. His mother's faith does not allow him to commit suicide. He will not do that."
"I take good care of him, he won't leave me alone!"
"There's no way Peter could have killed himself!"
"Take it easy, Auntie, you're almost hurting Peter." Jonathan advised from the side, and the woman hurriedly let go, then carefully held her hands again, with an extremely gentle expression, as if she was caring for fragile porcelain.
Dean frowned even more when he saw this.
The statement of the person closest to Peter was contradictory to the clues they investigated.
Paquet patted the woman's shoulder comfortingly, then looked at Dean, "You can't name a normal person committing suicide for no reason, and there are no traces of suicide on Peter's body."
"So I need more clues." Dean warned Lucia, "If you want to save Peter, please don't hide anything anymore."
"What are you hiding? I have said everything I need to say!" The woman stared at Dean nervously, "If I can save Peter, I am willing to die immediately, go to hell, and trade my life for my life!"
Difficult woman.
Dean rubbed his temples, feeling a little angry. At the same time, he couldn't help but have a bold idea. Could it be that this woman poisoned his nephew?
But he had no evidence, and the progress had not changed.
He sighed. The woman was extremely emotionally unstable now, so it was hard for her to continue questioning her.
"Then can I visit your and Peter's home?"
"Go ahead."
Lucia handed over a bunch of keys, her bloodshot eyes not leaving Peter at all.
"No. 25, Maple Street. Peter is in critical condition. I have to take care of him and can't leave. You can go alone. Please don't damage anything in the house."
"Yeah. I won't interrupt." Dean left the ward and entered the corridor, and said to Paqui, "I forgot to ask, have you visited Monica's magic show?"
The big man shook his head, stretched out his index finger and shook it, "I'll say it again, I only like women with yellow skin, and I'm not interested in white women wearing revealing clothes and heavy makeup."
"But I suspect that Monica is related to Peter's illness. I need people to go to the towns near Hawkins to find her. It's best to bring her back."
Paquin frowned and patted his chest proudly.
"Leave it to me. I'll make a few calls and a guy will be there to find someone for you right away."
…
Around twelve o'clock in the morning, Dean and Jonathan were on the road again. With him as their backbone, Jonathan insisted on saving his friends together. For this reason, he even made a special phone call home to urge his brother Will to stop playing DND and go to bed early.
While driving, Dean reviewed the clues in his mind and had a vague idea. However, the current investigation progress was too little and the clues were not enough, so it was far from certain.
"Dean, why do I feel that you are different from the detectives in the book?" Jonathan in the passenger seat interrupted his thoughts by nibbling on an energy bar to satisfy his hunger. "Without a magnifying glass, marker, gloves, or quartz watch, you The way the investigation was conducted was also a bit confusing to me.”
"It's too ordinary, right? After all, I'm still an amateur detective, and my case handling skills are seriously inadequate." Dean's cheeks puffed out like a squirrel, and he swallowed a burger in one bite. "It all depends on guessing and luck."
"Hopefully, this time, the spirits of the ancestors will be on our side."
Jonathan also closed his eyes and prayed again.
"By the way, Dean, Peter's house is No. 25 Maple Street, which is very close to Maggie's house No. 16. Should we visit Maggie first? What if she knows something?"
"A girl who was frightened by Peter's confession?"
"Yes, she is also the only girl Peter has ever liked."
"It's already midnight, is it convenient?" But it turned out that Dean's considerations were unnecessary.
When he drove past the small red-brick and green-tiled villa at No. 16 Maple Street, he glanced over and saw that there was only an ordinary-looking girl with short hair lying on the bed in the bedroom on the second floor, holding an acoustic guitar in a daze.
Parents are not at home.
Bang, bang.
The two knocked on the door.
"who?"
"It's me, Jonathan... Peter's friend." Jonathan said hesitantly. Dean on the side shook his head, wondering why this guy was so shy at all times.
The house was quiet at first, then there was a rush of footsteps approaching the door. The girl looked through the cat's eyes.
"It's too late today, Jonathan. Can we talk about anything tomorrow? Let's meet at the mall?"
"We...have something urgent..."
Dean really couldn't bear to listen and spoke loudly,
"Maggie, right? I'm a private detective hired by Peter's aunt Lucia. I'm currently responsible for investigating Peter's illness." Dean took out his detective license from his arms and photographed it on the cat's eye.
The girl was stunned for a moment, then opened her mouth to reveal her shiny braces, "Shouldn't Peter call a doctor when he's sick? Why call a detective?"
"Because he is very sick and has a special cause, it needs to be investigated."
"Peter's current condition is very bad, and an accident may happen at any time. If you have any clues about his illness, or his abnormal behavior before he became ill, please tell us."
The girl hesitated as she leaned against the wooden door.
When Dean saw this, he felt funny and glanced at Jonathan. The latter gritted his teeth and bravely said,
"Maggie, Peter will die if you delay any longer. If you are still angry that he threatened you with toys, I apologize on his behalf." Jonathan bowed very sincerely, "For the sake of my classmates. , do me a favor.”
"No need to apologize, it's over." Maggie said hesitantly, "But is Peter really going to die?"
"The doctors say he doesn't have much time left."
At this time, Dean observed from God's perspective that the girl inside the door showed a worried expression, with a hint of regret in her eyes. He quickly said something nonsense,
"Maggie, do you know? Before Peter fell into coma, he always said that you were the most beautiful and kind-hearted girl in school. He would never forget you."
Finally, Maggie covered her chest, closed her eyes tightly, and spoke tremblingly,
"What do you want to know?"
Dean couldn't help but curl his lips, "Anything related to Peter... don't miss a word."
"Then you have to keep it a secret for me, swear!"
"I guarantee my reputation as a private detective, and I am just an out-of-towner visiting Hawkins. I don't know your classmates, teachers, or parents. I am not a threat to you." Dean pointed at the peephole and raised his head sternly. Hand, "You don't even have to open the door, just say it through the door."
"I swear to God..." Jonathan swallowed and promised loudly, "We will never leak tonight's conversation to anyone else, otherwise... otherwise I will never be able to have a girlfriend in my life!"
"Okay, I believe you..." Maggie took a deep breath, and her ant-like voice sounded amidst the chirping of cicadas on the tree, "I, I dated Peter some time before he fell into coma."
"What?" Jonathan was so shocked that he almost jumped up on the spot, "Why did Peter never mention it to me!"
"I asked him to keep it a secret."
Dean on the side couldn't complain. There were so many secrets between these adolescent boys and girls, and they were kept secret at every turn.
"But don't you hate Peter? He used a blood-stained wolf fang necklace to confess his love to scare you." Jonathan still didn't believe it.
"I was quite angry at first, but after my anger subsided, I suddenly felt that those monster remarks in his mouth sounded scary, but it was refreshing and cool to listen to them more often. I started to pay attention to him secretly, and then I found that in addition to his weird hobbies , apart from being lonely, he is actually a very gentle person who likes to think about others." There was a glimmer in Maggie's eyes,
"And you know, we have never dated anyone at our age, and we are still virgins. We will be laughed at mercilessly by our friends, so I approached him and asked him to date. Every night, my parents and his aunt went out to work, and we Dating."
"He kept his promise and never disclosed the matter to the outside world, so even you, your best friend, didn't know about it."
"A month ago, on my birthday, I brought it up that I wanted to experience it with him for the first time, at my house."
Jonathan opened his mouth in surprise and envy. Why couldn't he encounter such a good thing?
And Dean felt very strange - the news he heard from others was completely different from the truth he investigated personally.
"We were ready for everything, the atmosphere was perfect, everything went smoothly. He was very patient and gentle, which made me feel that choosing him was the wisest decision in my life. We got into the zone and we started to enjoy it, but when When I was sitting on it, he suddenly..." Maggie paused and wrinkled her nose, "he suddenly shouted 'Lucia', pushed me away in fear, got dressed in a hurry and ran out of the house. .”
There is so much information packed into this short sentence.
Jonathan was stunned on the spot, and Dean was also stunned for a moment.
The investigation progress jumped from 25% to 30%.
"I don't know what it is, but no woman can bear to hear him call another woman's name when she is intimate with her boyfriend. This woman has a very special identity."
"I was as sick as if I had eaten a fly. I even had a psychological shadow. I had nightmares for several days. Peter ruined my first time. He insulted me!" Maggie rested her forehead on the door panel and lowered her complex face. , "Since then I have treated him as nothing but air and have never spoken to him again."
"I barely spoke to him again until his accident."
"Do you still hate him now?" Jonathan asked a little confused,
"Whether I hate it or not, the relationship between me and him is completely over."
"You just mentioned almost, does that mean there have been exchanges?" Dean caught a key word.
"Well, after that disgusting thing happened, the day before he fell into coma, he came to my house again, apologized sincerely, and gave me a gift, a guitar..." Maggie muttered, "I just followed He mentioned that he was saving money to buy a guitar, but I didn’t expect that he would always remember it.”
"I gave you the guitar, and what did you say after that?" Dean asked,
"There is only one word of 'goodbye'..." Maggie raised her face, her eyes full of confusion and melancholy. "His expression at that time was very strange, full of reluctance and relief. It gave me the feeling that he was about to leave Hawking. Si and never came back, and the next day he had an accident."
"I still can't get over that hurdle in my heart. I dare not go to the hospital to face Peter."
The investigation progress jumped to thirty-five percent.
"But I hope you can save Peter. He is a good man and should not suffer this kind of fate." Maggie begged with her face pressed against the wooden door, "Bring me a greeting and keep it a secret for me. Don't tell what happened tonight." go out."
…
At three o'clock in the morning, even the moon hid behind the clouds, and the sky was pitch black.
There was a biting chill in the fresh air.
Dean and Jonathan said goodbye to Maggie and drove to 25 Maple Street.
Bronco moved through the night.
Dean stared directly at the dark night outside the car window, all the clues he had found today flashing through his mind.
There are only a few things that can cause progress changes——
Peter is a lonely, weirdo with unique hobbies
Monica's magic show
Peter is suicidal
When Peter was intimate with his girlfriend, he was so scared that he called out his aunt Lucia's name.
Before Peter fell into a coma, he said goodbye to his best friend and ex-girlfriend.
Dean felt almost straightened out.
"Man, Peter also said goodbye to Maggie, does that mean he really wants to commit suicide?" Jonathan asked coyly, keenly not going to Tilucia.
"The probability is getting higher and higher. I hope important evidence can be found in their home."
(End of chapter)
