"Where is it?" Joey asked softly, looking for him in the darkness.
Out of the corner of my eye, I quickly spotted a trace in a bush.
Judging from the body shape, it should be a man with a black hat on his head. He was very tall. He looked around furtively, and then jumped into the yard.
"What are you still doing?" Norm shouted, jumping off the tree trunk first, and in a few seconds, he appeared in the bookstore owner's yard.
The person who climbed over the wall was pushed to the ground by Norm before he could make any move.
"Let me go" the man was screaming desperately.
Joey climbed down from the tree slowly. He didn't have Norm's physical fitness.
He lifted the hat on the man's head and said with a somewhat surprised expression:
"not him?"
Norm also saw the other person's appearance clearly at this time. He was not the clerk he met in the bookstore at all.
He let go of the man's hand, his face full of complaints and a hint of anger: "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
The man's face was full of suspicion, and his eyes looked back and forth between the two of them vigilantly. He also looked at the two of them with a black voice, and then he opened his mouth and said with a strange smile: "Come with us?"
He carelessly moved his hand, which had been a little painful from being pressed just now.
"I told you earlier. I understand the rules. I'll leave this house to you."
Norm looked at Joey suspiciously and said, "Does he think we are robbers?"
Joey nodded seriously: "80% yes"
"Aren't you?"
Norm had a serious face and took out a small red notebook from his arms: "I am an investigator from the Sheriff's Department, and now I suspect that you are related to a murder case."
The majestic aura of a person like Norm when he becomes official is still very intimidating.
Immediately, a 'thud' sound of falling to the ground was heard.
"Don't arrest me, police officer. I just heard someone say that this family has lived outside all year round and wanted to come and touch something. I didn't kill anyone~" As he spoke, tears and snot flowed all over the floor.
"You still dare to lie. It seems you have to go back to the prison before you can tell the truth." Norm continued to threaten.
"Don't scare him." Joey frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "It seems that we underestimated the person hiding behind."
He patted the man's shoulder and tried to comfort him.
"Where did you hear this news? Who told you that the owner of this house is not at home all year round?"
"I told you, you really won't arrest me?" the man tried carefully. He didn't dare to look at Norm and looked at Joey with pleading eyes.
Joey smiled and nodded slightly before continuing: "At two o'clock in the afternoon, I accidentally heard someone say..."
"Bus? Is it the No. 2 bus heading to the suburbs?"
"Yes, that person got off the car at the second stop. He seemed to be a nearby villager."
Joey exchanged a thoughtful look with Norm, and then said: "Is that person..." He described the physical characteristics of the clerk.
"Yes, yes, that's him, I remember it clearly."
After asking a few more simple questions, but couldn't get any useful information, Norm waved his hands with a cold face: "Go away, you are good at it, finding a job is better than doing anything else."
. . .
"We were fooled," Joey said with a wry smile.
There is only one bus to the suburbs every day, which means that the person they are looking for has been on the same bus with them from the beginning.
"How did he find us?" Norm frowned and walked back and forth irritably.
I thought it was just waiting for the rabbit, but I never thought I would be fooled.
At this time, Joey suddenly chuckled:
"Ha! It's okay, there is still a chance to make amends."
As he spoke, he observed the surrounding terrain and recalled the terrain he saw during the day.
"Since he has used such a substitute, it means that the news spread has worked."
"You mean? He will come again?"
Joey looked away, shook his head, and smiled: "He's already here."
As he spoke, he pointed to a place and turned to look at Norm: "Priest, it's up to you, is it okay?"
"Waiting" followed the direction Joey pointed and the figure sped away.
According to the analysis of the surrounding topography, that place is the best hiding place.
It was a small hill, and everything about the house could be seen.
While he and Norm were waiting for their prey to be lassoed, there was another pair of eyes staring at them from behind.
About seven or eight minutes later, Noam was holding a comatose man in his hand, who was the clerk of the bookstore.
"what happened?"
Norm coughed lightly and said: "Ahem~, it was a bit harsh, it's okay, I just fainted."
Looking at that look, I'm afraid he may have acted too harshly. Should I give you an award? Joey looked at him strangely.
"You knocked someone unconscious, how can you ask questions?"
Norm knew that things were not going well, and he looked a little embarrassed: "It's my fault, I didn't expect that he is just an ordinary person."
"Do you think extraordinary people are just cabbage?"
"How about waking him up? I've seen the methods used by the Sheriff's Department to interrogate prisoners. Get some ice water, pepper water... and pull out your nails..."
"Yeah, you're awesome, I'll give you a thumbs up." He was just passed out. You're going to kill him. Silently adding a comment in his heart.
There was a trace of suspicion on Norm's face, and he always felt that this was not a good thing to say.
"Carry it in and wait until you wake up tomorrow," Joey said.
If he wasn't afraid that what he said would be too hurtful, he would definitely point at Norm's nose and curse: "It's easy to say, I'll try to pull out your nails."
Of course, he only dared to complain in his heart. After all, the name of the disciplinary priest was genuine. He didn't even need to take action to say something ugly. He couldn't stand it if he said a word.
It's hard to catch the key person, but there can't be any more accidents. If Norm knocks his brain out and causes amnesia, who can he talk to for explanation? It's safer to let him wake up naturally without stimulating him.
There was no talking all night, neither of them slept.
Norm couldn't sleep because he had to guard people.
Joey didn't dare to sleep. Who knew if there would be an accident? He didn't want to be seen as Ruger Giles again.
The first ray of sunlight in the morning shines through the window.
"Hmm~" A cry broke the silence.
"Wake up!" Norm's eyes opened in a flash.
Joey yawned, his face showing exhaustion. It was almost dawn when he leaned on the sofa to catch up on some sleep.
He was woken up just as he fell asleep, with a look of displeasure on his face. If the conditions were not suitable, he let Norm know what woke him up.
'Papa~' Seeing Norm slapping him from left to right, Joey hurriedly said: "Don't get beaten up."
"I have the numbers"
When he said this, he could see that the cheeks of the person who had been beaten were already visibly red and swollen.
Do you know? . Joey turned around and went to the bathroom to wash his face.
A question arose in my mind: Norm seemed anxious? Is it because of Freya? Could it be that the teacher is the daughter of a big shot?
He could only attribute Norm's weirdness to this, but he couldn't think of any other reason. Will make a priest do all kinds of things that are inconsistent with his status.
Sequence 6 could be considered a character outside, let alone a remote town like Leah.
Illegitimate daughter?
lover?
elopement?
For a moment, my mind was filled with messy thoughts.
When Joey came back from the bathroom, he was already awake. The two of them stared at each other with big eyes. One had a face full of unyielding and stubbornness, and the other was breathing heavily, obviously suppressing his anger.
"Yo~ How much effort did you make? What happened?"
In my impression, Norm was quite calm, but now he looked like he was very angry.
He looked at the people with swollen cheeks on his left and right with a smile and said, "We meet again, my name is Joey Creevey."
Joey's sudden polite behavior made the other party look stunned for a moment. He glared at Norm fiercely, and then said:
"Duke Cormy"
"Duke! The name is good. Tell me, why are you here? Don't tell me, you are here to visit the boss."
Norm's cold snort interrupted at an inappropriate time:
"Don't ask, this guy has a very tough mouth. I think it's better to take him back for punishment."
"If you have the guts to kill me, frown and I'll call you daddy."
"Think I don't dare, right?"
"Come on~" Duke's hands were tied behind his back, and he stretched out his neck with a mocking look on his face, as if he was saying, "Cut here."
Joey coughed lightly and patted Norm on the shoulder: "You go out first."
He was too lazy to listen to the two arguing and pushed Norm out.
He turned around and loosened the rope around Duke with a smile.
"Aren't you afraid that I'll run away?"
The smile on Joey's face faded and he shook his head expressionlessly: "You can't"
"Ha" he rubbed the red mark made by the rope and stared at Joey with a half-smile: "Why do you think so?"
As he spoke, he walked around behind Joey and clasped his hands on his neck: "As long as I exert a little force, you won't survive."
With someone pinching his neck, Joey narrowed his eyes slightly and said unhurriedly: "This doesn't make any sense."
Duke's eyes kept scanning the room, calculating the escape route. He didn't have much time, and he had to act as soon as possible before Norm found out.
There is a flower stand outside the second floor window, so jumping off is not a big problem. A smile appeared on his lips, and he had already found a route.
He grabbed Joey's neck and slowly walked towards the window sill.
"Aren't you doing this just to attract the attention of the Holy Church? Now that we are here, are you running away? Isn't everything you have done in vain?"
Duke's steps paused, and the strength in his hands suddenly increased: "You are very smart, you can guess my purpose."
"Compared to you, it's far worse. If it weren't for my good teammates, you would have run away."
Last night, even if he guessed where Duke was hiding, by the time he chased him, he would have already run away.
Duke was very cunning. He even got a stand-in beforehand. If he hadn't miscalculated the enemy's strength, he would have actually made him run away.
Hearing this sentence, Duke's voice became a little lower: "I didn't think carefully."
"Relax, we are not enemies"
"Why should I trust you?"
"Hmph." Joey snorted coldly, broke free easily, and said coldly: "It will be easy for him or me to kill you."
In fact, these words are a bit pretentious. If there is a real fight, I guess it will be like that.
"You lured us here, didn't you just want to expose the suspected evil god?"
"I don't think you have a strong sense of justice."
Duke stared at Joey expressionlessly, showing no intention of explaining.
Joey continued:
"The time of death of the bookstore owner was about five days. Obviously, you knew it a long time ago, but you did not choose to report it to the Sheriff's Department as soon as possible. Instead, you waited for someone to check the bookstore through the album, and naturally came here to find the body."
"You have known for a long time that there is something strange about his death, and you are not an extraordinary person. You are not an extraordinary person, but you are involved in it. There is only one possibility, it is related to your family."
Joey raised his eyebrows, poured himself a glass of water, took a sip and then said:
"I think among the missing people, there is someone you care about."
Duke clapped his hands and said with a joking look on his face: "You can deduce so much from just one picture book. It would be a pity if you don't become a detective."
"Then guess, why I go through so much trouble to do this?"
"It's very simple, because you know that there is a traitor in the church, and you don't trust the church, so you can only choose to expand the impact of the matter, enough to attract the attention of the top management, bypass the deacon of the Port of Lia church, and let the people at the higher level come down to investigate."
Duke noticed that when Joey said this, his face was full of confidence, and his brown eyes seemed to be able to see through everything.
Seeing that the atmosphere was almost heightened, Joey took another dose of strong medicine.
His expression suddenly became extremely sad, and his voice became slightly lower:
"My sister disappeared. Not long ago, there was him." He gestured to the door with his eyes: "It's the same thing."
Only by being in the same situation can we resonate better.
"Why should I believe you?" The look on Duke's face was clearly shaken.
"You don't need to believe me." At this point, Joey suddenly paused, his eyes became serious, and continued: "We can cooperate and each get what we need."
"How to cooperate?"
Obviously, Duke's heart was moved. He had always been fighting alone, and he also knew that personal power was limited.
Another point is that there is still a sense of trust in Joey's words.
If it was a pagan, he would have died last night.
"Intelligence sharing, in order to show sincerity, I can provide you with a piece of information first, about the person who beat you. He is a Sequence 6, disciplinary priest."
"Ah~" Duke opened his mouth wide with a look of astonishment on his face.
"Last night, no low-sequence transcendent could have caught up with you."
"Let me tell you, I have calculated that escape route more than a dozen times. It is designed to guard against the extraordinary people of the temple, but it can still be caught. It turns out to be a priest."
He rubbed the swollen half of his face and suddenly felt that it wasn't actually that painful anymore. Being beaten by such a big shot was a blessing on his face.
"Is it your turn next?" Joey spread his hands and looked at him with burning eyes.
"Ha~" Duke sneered and glared at Joey like he was looking at an idiot.
"You think I'm an idiot, and you still want to trick me? This message of yours is of no help to me. Boy, you didn't know where you were when I was having sex for nothing."
"Uh~" Joey didn't feel embarrassed if someone exposed him. This kind of thing is about comparing who has the thicker skin.
"Let's change the information. I've seen the missing people."
