Professor Bell suspected that it was because of the police's secret tracking that he angered the gangster and did not go to meet him.
Arthur couldn't help but ask: "What did the police say? Are they really following me?"
Professor Bell snorted angrily, "Of course they followed, they just never admitted it."
Arthur didn't think so. He read the letter twice more and then suddenly asked Professor Bell: "Did you join any religion at that time?"
Professor Bell was stunned for a moment when he was asked. He thought for a moment, then immediately shook his head and said, "I sometimes go to church to worship on Sundays, but not much else. Why do you ask this?"
Arthur pointed to the letter, "Look, this letter is not like a blackmail letter at all. At least it is not asking for ordinary money from you. It is probably some strange items you owned at the time, or something unknown. secret."
Professor Bell shook his head blankly, "I don't have any of the things you said."
Arthur carefully observed Professor Bell's expression and could see that Professor Bell was indeed not lying.
Arthur tapped the table rhythmically with his hand, "Based on the analysis of the existing clues, there are three possible directions for the case."
Professor Bell immediately became energetic and said, "Arthur, please tell me what are the three possibilities."
"The first is your friend. He is very suspicious, because no matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like a sudden incident, but a kidnapping that has been planned for a long time."
"This is impossible!"
The first guess almost broke Professor Bell's defense.
"He has been a friend of mine for many years, and what did he want to do by kidnapping my daughter?"
The motive is the biggest suspicion in this case. If Arthur could guess it, the case would have been solved by the police long ago.
"Which hospital is your friend at?"
"He is not in the hospital. His name is Holly Holmes. He is a professor in the Department of Physics at Oxford."
Professor Bell's answer surprised Arthur. He didn't expect that he was not a medical student, and why was the surname Holmes so familiar?
He suddenly remembered that after getting married, didn't Aunt Milissa change her last name to Holmes?
Arthur rubbed his head, it couldn't be such a coincidence!
Professor Bell urged again: "What about the second possibility?"
After temporarily suspending his suspicion, Arthur continued to speculate: "The second possibility is the police. I speculate that the person who kidnapped your daughter should have a police background."
This guess was even more difficult for Bell to accept than the first one. Although he had always hated the police, he would never believe that it was the police who kidnapped his daughter.
"Do you have any evidence?"
Arthur took the note and said: "First of all, the meeting place given by the kidnapper is near Scotland Yard. If it is a real kidnapper, this makes no sense. Only the police are not afraid of this, and this letter gives people It feels like a forceful and coercive attitude, which is very similar to the style of the police. So if they are really the police, their kidnapping of your daughter is actually just a form of coercion, hoping that you can hand over what they want."
Professor Bell could no longer keep up with his thoughts, but he felt that what Arthur said seemed to make sense.
"Then why didn't they see me in the end?"
Arthur touched his chin and said thoughtfully: "One possibility is that they have already got what they want. The second possibility is that your daughter had an accident at that time and they have no leverage!"
Hearing that his daughter had had an accident, Professor Bell couldn't help but tremble, but immediately retorted: "No, Alex is not dead yet. She came back three years ago."
As he spoke, he pointed to the poppy garden outside, "Once I saw a smiling face painted on one of the poppies in the middle. That was something only Alex could do. And one day I was at school. I seem to still see her on a carriage at the door. Even though so many years have passed, I am sure that she is my Alex."
At this moment, Professor Bell was so excited that he shed tears.
Arthur was skeptical about this statement. It had been 10 years, and he didn't think Professor Bell could really identify his daughter at once.
And it doesn't make sense. Since he has left the mark of his return, why doesn't he meet his father?
"It's all my fault for those useless police officers. They didn't believe what I said. As a result, I lost all hope of finding Alex again."
No wonder he has such a big opinion against the police, but this case is indeed very strange, but it is precisely because of this that Alex has a glimmer of hope to live.
Professor Bell calmed down for a while and then asked Arthur: "You mentioned three possibilities before, so what's the last possibility?"
"The last possibility is right here, at the University of Edinburgh, with someone who knows you very well. The item the kidnapper is asking for from you should be something special, and only people who are familiar with you will know that you have it."
Professor Bell began to become confused again, "I have been in school for more than thirty years, and I don't know many people well."
But Arthur hurriedly interrupted: "It's not the one you are familiar with, but the one who is familiar with you!"
When Arthur said this, Professor Bell became even more at a loss. He was the kind of person who liked to keep his head down and do things.
"Actually, even if these three items are confirmed, the case is still not easy to detect, after all, so many years have passed. So you'd better think carefully about what special things you had or discovered in the year your daughter was lost. What secret is there? As long as we can find out this, the case will not be difficult to solve."
This time it was really difficult for Professor Bell. He felt that in his life, except for teaching and research, he had always been that kind. Although he was not unknown, his whole life was very peaceful.
He has never encountered any big ups and downs in his life.
Seeing Professor Bell holding his head in pain, Arthur hurriedly comforted him: "Don't be too impatient. It happens that next month Jabi is going to London to be ennobled. I will go with him and see if I can find out anything." What new clues."
"Arthur, thank you. My wish now is to see my daughter Alex for the last time in my lifetime."
Professor Bell is over 60 years old, and his health is deteriorating. Now seeing his daughter is his only wish.
"Can you tell me about Alex's characteristics?"
Professor Bell wiped his tears and said, "When she was abducted, she was wearing a poppy pattern pendant."
Arthur shook his head. The pendant had probably been discarded over the years.
"Anything else? It's better to have the characteristics on your body!"
Professor Bell thought for a moment, "There is a red mole on her calf."
Arthur was speechless for a while, which was as if he hadn't said anything at all.
Professor Bell also reacted, looking a little embarrassed, and thought for a while before saying: "She was scratched when she was a child, right on the shoulder."
It seemed that Professor Bell really had nothing more to say. Arthur nodded, "Don't worry! I will do my best."
