In the early morning, the warm morning light penetrates into the living room.
"Dean? You're back so soon. Have you found Carly?"
The petite girl in pajamas flew to Dean in surprise and took his hand. The three flying knives hovering behind her also excitedly plunged into the dart board on the wall of the hall.
"Not yet. I have something to do and it will take me a few days." Dean pushed the milk and bread in front of Jane, and poured the freshly fried eggs into her plate. "Are you still used to staying at Betsy's house?"
"It's almost the same as at home, training and watching cartoons, but the rice cooked by Aunt Betsy is delicious." Jane took a sip of milk, and the corners of her mouth were dyed white, "By the way, Terry and I had several mental exchanges. After that, I felt that her condition was slowly recovering, and yesterday she was able to move the little finger of her left hand."
Dean was surprised, "Congratulations, Jane. This is the bond between mother and daughter that creates miracles. If you stay with her more, she might be able to speak one day."
"Uh-huh."
"But you should also pay attention to safety and be careful of other supernatural things..." Dean gave Jane a little more science about the dangers of the convergence law...
Hearing the other person's face tense up, he nodded repeatedly.
"Ahem, little one, eat quickly. It's time to take you to Betsy's house." The Sheriff walked out of the bedroom with his hat on. His face was shiny and his eyes were bloodshot. He was obviously obsessed with Limbo. Didn't sleep well all night,
"Are you coming too?"
"We have something to do. Let's see you when we're done."
"Okay, don't keep me waiting."
…
After breakfast, Dean and Hope drove Jane away and immediately rushed to the Hawkins Police Station.
"Morning, guys." Hope greeted, walked to the corner, poured two cups of steaming coffee, and handed one cup to Dean.
"Damn it, Director, you look really bad. You didn't spend the whole day in the bar during the holiday yesterday." The black man laughed and cursed.
"What are you drinking? I've been paying attention to the new cases in the bureau. Have you found out where that bastard Reynolds lives?" Hope sipped her coffee and glanced majestically at Tom, Nick and a few other police officers.
Tom straightened his cowboy hat and stood up, saying loudly,
"I stayed up all night yesterday and visited the neighbors on Elm Street door to door. I finally found out that Reynolds rented the house at 18 Elm Street two months ago and has been living there, and there is a car parked in front of No. 18. The black old model Ford Mercury Cougar also belonged to him. But without a search warrant, we didn't have time to do anything."
Dean frowned. He had scanned all the houses on Elm Street and found nothing unusual.
"I will handle the search warrant. We have all the search equipment ready to go." Hope put down the empty coffee cup, then grabbed a brown paper bag containing a hamburger and looked at the detention room with a fierce look. "Now, I will first... Know that strong bone."
As he spoke, Hope walked into the detention room aggressively.
"Are you the Reynolds who broke into a house in Hawkins?"
"Wait, what are you going to do? Ahhh - this is a crime, I want to file a complaint against you! Uh-huh..."
Trembling questions, then screams, and inarticulate wails came from the detention room. Everyone's expressions became very exciting, and Dean even gave Director Hope a thumbs up.
Five minutes later, Reynolds, who was covered in cold sweat, lay on the floor of the detention room like a cooked prawn, breathing heavily, while Hope calmly straightened his collar and waved towards the outside of the hall, "Let's go!"
…
18 Elm Street.
Several police officers wearing white cotton gloves checked the Ford Mercury Jaguar at the door, while others put on their shoe covers and went indoors to begin a carpet-based search of the two-story building.
But when Dean scanned it, he found that the house had been emptied out long ago, and there were basically no furniture or appliances in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. There was only a simple single bed in the master bedroom, and a few old men's clothes on the floor beside the bed.
There are no basements or attics.
The whole house is similar to Qingshui House, there is really nothing to search.
As he expected, a team of police officers kept bringing back fingerprints, shoe prints and hair samples, but could not find any effective evidence such as clothing, boots, blood, etc. belonging to Catherine...
Tom crossed his arms and looked puzzled, "This is not consistent with what I investigated yesterday. The landlord disclosed the basic conditions of the house. The furniture and electrical appliances are complete, and you can basically move in with your bags."
"So where did everything go?" Hope rubbed the beard on his chin, "Did this shameless Reynolds sell the whole house in two months?"
Nick nodded, "Since Reynolds can invade Catherine's home, he can also disgustingly sell other people's property."
But Tom said, "But the landlord said that the furniture and electrical appliances are all old and cheap, and they won't fetch much. You can find out by just asking."
"When you're poor enough, you can sell anything," Hope said.
Dean glanced at the empty hall and put forward another view, "It may not have been sold. Reynolds may have expected that he would be exposed, so he moved the furniture, appliances, and even the items stolen from Catherine's house in advance. We’ve arrived at another hiding place. That’s where the really important evidence is!”
This sentence fell into place.
The system shook, and Dean discovered that the investigation progress had jumped to 15%.
So, there are other hiding places for Reynolds!
Hope shook her head, "That doesn't make sense. It makes sense for him to move important evidence related to Catherine. What's the reason for wasting time and effort on moving the landlord's cheap furniture and appliances?"
"I don't know. We won't know the answer until we find another place to live."
Three pairs of eyes turned to Tom, and Hope began to give orders,
"In addition to Elm Street, Maple Street, Banyan Street, and the town center also need to be investigated to find another residence for Reynolds as soon as possible."
This huge workload made Tom's eyes suddenly darken, but under the sharp gaze of the Sheriff, he nodded helplessly.
…
"Chief, important evidence was found in the car." A young police officer came to the door and handed Hope a driver's license.
Dean leaned over to look at it.
Ryan Reynolds
Las Vegas, Nevada XX
Male, black hair, black eyes,
He is 5 feet 7 inches (1.73 meters) tall and weighs 150 pounds. Date of birth: March 4, 1951.
The message was accompanied by two photos of young men of different sizes. They looked handsome with a bit of cynicism from a rich kid. They were completely different from Reynolds’ current diaosi temperament, but their facial features were similar to his.
…
"Ryan Reynolds." Nick was surprised, "That guy didn't lie about his name."
"My inference is correct." Dean nodded, looking at the system's progress jumping to 17% and said, "He is from Las Vegas. He met Catherine there long ago and chased her all the way. Hawkins. But I didn't realize he just turned thirty,"
Dean recalled the face in the detention room. It was weather-beaten and as old as forty years old. He didn’t know what kind of ups and downs he had experienced in the past few years. “Everyone, now we have the exact identity information of Reynolds. Call Catherine over to see how she's doing, maybe she can remember something."
Hope nodded, "Tom, go contact Catherine."
"OK"
Hope put away his driver's license, and the young police officer handed over another exquisite black silk bag that was found in the car, with its square and hard outline faintly revealed.
Hope slowly took out two thick tomes from the silk bag with gloved hands, held them firmly and allowed his companions to inspect them——
The black background and gold rim exude a strong historical atmosphere and are as exquisite as works of art.
In the center of the two book covers are gorgeous, oversized titles covered with gold foil - labium, and spiritus.
With just one glance, Dean, Tom, and Hope felt the ultimate luxury, mystery, and historical atmosphere.
Immediately, deep doubts arose in my heart. Even a blind person could see that these two books were extremely precious. Why did they appear in the Reynolds car, which was full of poverty?
Hope opened the milky white title page and frowned,
"The written text looks a bit like English letters, but it cannot be read according to English grammar..."
Dean also took a look and saw that there were dots of dark gold gilding flower branches on the edge of the title page, which was simple and elegant, and the center was filled with densely arranged black characters, none of which were segmented with punctuation marks.
He could understand most of the letters separately, but when put together they looked like a bible and he was confused.
He couldn't help but reach out and touch the cold title page, which was full of texture. He immediately felt the texture was different from ordinary leather. This translucent milky white leather paper showed a slightly translucent gradient color against the gilded flower branches and black fonts, a kind of The sense of historical sedimentation is very familiar to Dean——
He had seen it among the prizes he obtained after doing business for the Van Helsing family in Reno. It was an expensive and rare antique vellum book.
The system suddenly shook, and the investigation progress jumped to 20%!
"It seems that these two antique books are significantly related to this incident. The truth of this burglary is more complicated than I imagined."
Dean turned to his companion, "Who can understand what is written here?"
Nick touched his chin and said thoughtfully, "I studied literature class seriously when I was in school, and I still have some memory. I can basically confirm that this is classical Latin."
"You, an illiterate person who never went to college, do you know classical Latin?" Hope looked at the black man suspiciously.
"Ahem, in my youth, in order to win a beautiful woman, I worked hard on poetry, so I was able to successfully pursue my current wife." The black man said with pride, and said with deep affection, "O destiny, as changeable as the moon, waxing and waning."
"Stop! Now is not the time for poetry recitation," Dean pointed to the title on the cover, "Let's do something simple. What does this mean?"
"How would I know," the black man chuckled, "Didn't I say that this is classical Latin. It is different from the new version I learned, just like a tiger and a cat. I can only communicate with the latter."
"Is there anyone in the bureau who can read it?" Dean looked at Hope, who shook his head, "Don't expect a bunch of guys with guns to write you classical love poems. But it's not difficult to find someone in Hawkins who understands classical Latin. .”
"Where to find it?"
"Is this important?" Hope said, "How could Reynolds own two expensive antique books? This book was most likely stolen by him from elsewhere. It has nothing to do with the case of Catherine we are investigating. The priority should be put later. .”
"No, there is a major connection." Dean stared into Hope's eyes, "We must figure out the contents of these two books as soon as possible. This is my intuition."
Hope looked at his companion who was not giving in, and when he thought of the identity of the other party's superpower, he could only nod, and carefully put the two books back into the silk bag.
…
At this time, there was a crisp sound of high heels on the road in front of the door, and Catherine trotted over.
"Sorry, I just had a physical examination at the town hospital and wasted a little time."
"Ms. Catherine? You came just in time." Hope handed over the driver's license wrapped in a plastic bag. "Our search has made some progress. Take a closer look. Do you recognize this guy?"
The woman took the plastic bag in her hand and stared at the man's photo and identity information. Deep thoughts filled her slender eyebrows, but soon her brows widened and she grinned, "Ryan Reynolds! It turns out it's him. !I know this guy!”
"I knew your memory would be fine," Dean asked, "Who is he?"
Catherine said with soft eyes, "He works at a soup kitchen in Las Vegas."
Hope and Nick's expressions became subtle upon hearing this.
Dean asked, "Where is the soup kitchen?"
Catherine said, "You all should know that in Las Vegas and across the United States, there are many people at the bottom of society, poor people, or homeless people. They have little income, some even have no income, and often go hungry."
"There is such a charity kitchen in Las Vegas, which distributes free food to people who cannot afford to eat every week. When I was a reporter on a morning news station, I hosted a charity program and came into contact with charity kitchens... I was shocked by the selfless dedication of the staff there, so I went to the soup kitchen as a volunteer every month for five or six consecutive years, even before I resigned. I worked with other colleagues to contribute to the homeless, and occasionally made donations. .”
Catherine said uncertainly,
"About two years ago? I spent one day working with Ryan Reynolds, a kitchen employee with limited legs, and I remember everyone called him Ryan at the time."
After hearing this, the three police officers, Dean, Hope, and Nick, couldn't help but cast admiring glances at Catherine.
"Ma'am, your kindness puts us to shame."
"Actually, I am a little selfish," Catherine shook her head. "Charity is a high-profile cause, and it can easily attract the attention of TV stations and media. As a reporter and host, I need popularity, so I have always insisted on charity."
"It's blameless to exchange popularity with true kindness." Dean looked at Catherine's beautiful face and said seriously,
The woman pursed her lips and smiled,
"Back to the topic," Dean changed his tone, "So, this Reynolds met you when he was working at the Las Vegas Soup Kitchen, and has been obsessed with you since then. It has been two years now. I can't bear it. You couldn't help but take action?"
The progress jumped to 22 percent.
Catherine nodded and sighed, "In my impression, those colleagues, including Ryan, are all poor people at the bottom. After being rescued, they entered the charity kitchen and only received a meager subsidy to serve the poor. They They are all kind-hearted people, how could they now be like this, tracking me to Hawkins, breaking into my home, stealing my clothes and shoes, and drawing my blood?”
Nick's face turned serious, "From your description, this Reynolds shouldn't be such a perverted criminal."
Hope said, "Katherine only met him once, and it is easy to be deceived by first impressions. According to me, Reynolds is essentially a pervert. There are already many criminals in the world who pretend to be kind."
"It makes no sense to speculate like this," Dean analyzed. "To understand a person's present, you must understand his past. We should investigate Ryan Reynolds' life experience in Las Vegas."
After hearing this, Hope gave a helpless look, "Las Vegas is across state lines, and our Hawkins Police Department can't handle such a far place. And in the past, I owed the old man several dollars for helping you find someone." As a matter of personal preference, I can’t help you this time.”
"No need to trouble you," Dean thought of the police officers from Carl Group whom he hadn't seen for a long time. "I have acquaintances in the LVPD, and I'm asking them to help."
…
After several people finished their discussion, they handed the two antique books to Catherine again.
The woman was instantly attracted by this beautiful work of art, and then gave an ambiguous answer, "The Ryan Reynolds I've met is not like someone who can own such expensive antique books, but he was so depressed that he said before entering the charity kitchen. Maybe a rich man with some expensive collection."
"Let's go back to the station and try to pry open that bastard's mouth!"
Hope asked everyone who had finished searching the house to get in the car and return.
Dean summarized today's investigation. Currently, there are three points that can trigger changes in progress——
Ryan Reynolds worked with Katherine at the Las Vegas Soup Kitchen.
He has other hiding places for evidence.
Two rare antique books are related to the incident.
These three clues must continue to be pursued!
(End of chapter)
