"Still no clue about Anna?"
"Sorry, boss, we only found this item... on the roadside of the Fifth Avenue." He took out a broken brooch.
In the building, Efim was glaring at his followers--- He was magnificent in appearance, especially when dining with those politicians, he controlled his demeanor all the way to a textbook extent. However, he didn"t think he had to continue maintaining this att.i.tude at all in his own place.
So he snorted, poured the remaining wine to his followers face, "Humph! Tras.h.!.+"
The follower wiped his face, dared not to speak until watching Efim"s anger fade away, "Boss, the guy last night said he"s Urey of Typica"s Family. Many guests heard that. Should we contact that family first and asked what happened?"
Efim continued to snort, "Contact them? The auction is held in the name of F & C. If we contact them, that means we tell them that we stole the painting."
"Boss, I mean, we can contact the Typica Family in the name of "Freedom and Clown". "
"Idiot! By what reason do you think they"ll pay attention to a thief?" Efim walked back and forth near the sofa angrily.
All of a sudden, the lift behind him had been opened, a man came in. "Boss, there"s a letter for you without addressor."
"Who sent it?" Efim frowned.
"It"s just a kid that should know nothing." The man said quickly, "But he also said that you may need the item inside... We have checked it, there are no hazardous objects in the parcel."
Efim squinted his eyes. He didn"t take over the envelope, but say indifferently, "Open it and see what"s inside."
The man had to open the envelope sealed with wax.
"It"s… an invitation letter." He gave a start, raising his head and looking at Efim, saying slowly, "It"s an invitation for you to go for the auction."
Efim was shocked; he directly s.n.a.t.c.hed the invitation letter from his henchman"s hand, reading the contents quickly, before his eyebrows knitted in a frown.
He couldn"t help calling up each scene he had viewed through the camera lens hiding in Anna"s brooch last night--- it was too vague for him to see clearly, but he could hear every sentence that Urey spoke out.
He"d auction the true "The Nameless Maiden".
Efim didn"t have time to consider why the other party had got this painting--- what he thought of was that this guy had announced the auction in front of all the guests, so it was not necessary to send the invitation letter one more time.
Let alone sending the invitation letter here!
"You guys go out first." Efim ordered stonily.
Until both of his henchmen left, he hurriedly stepped up the winding stair, coming to a room upstairs. He pressed a b.u.t.ton, then the door of one of the bookcases was automatically opened--- it turned out there was another door hidden inside.
Efim opened it by typing the pa.s.sword---Here was his collection room.
When he saw the real "The Nameless Maiden" had been placed there safely, he felt faintly relieved. But as to the invitation letter in his hand...
It led him to think to the worst situation: Did someone in the Typica"s Family realize something?
"Urey... Urey?" Efim muttered to himself.
He couldn"t connect a down-and-out tramp and the inheritor of the crazy family as the same person. They fact that they had the same name might be due to a coincidence.
Anna said she found that the evidence Urey got was just a lie for swindling him when she killed him at the platform…
"Did Anna lie to me? Urey hasn"t died yet?"
Efim frowned.
Suddenly he picked up the phone and dialed one of the numbers with a smile, "Hey, old friend, how are you doing recently?"
"Oh, are you Efim? I"m not that good, I feel bored recently. You know, because of that scandal posted that politicians collude with sinister gangs last week, my boss bombarded me almost every day! And some famous painting was stolen recently..."
The voice from the other side was even lighter, "Our president said that... Man, if you cannot find the prisoners of these two cases, I may be made a scapegoat of the case, and get an early retirement!"
Efim sighed, "Yeah, the scandal and the painting along with the subway station murder, I feel very sorry for you."
"Wait, dude, what did you say? What subway station murder? Why didn"t I hear of this accident? When and where did it happen?"
Efim gave a start.
But he soon laughed and said he said something wrong.
"Urey didn"t die... Anna lied to me!"
But he also squinted his eyes, calculating something secretly.
…
…
The day of the second auction.
It was not an formal auction--- especially in this private place.
It could even be said in other person"s territory.
There wasn"t a single safeguard at all holding the auction in this kind of place... it was not too much to claim that the host---the successor of Typica"s Family had no sincerity.
But when a big boss brought some people over here just for an attempt, he unexpectedly found that a lot of people had arrived already.
It was still the recipe of the masquerade ball from that night... but the taste was totally different.
It seemed that most of the guests didn"t bring their female companions; rather, they brought more guards this time and almost all were ones that emitted a killing aura.
Although it was secretive, but people that familiar with each other would probably guess who the other party was.
Collectors stood outside the manor one by one--- Soon, the iron gate of the manor was opened, and the steward walked out gracefully.
He glanced at his watch pocket, smiling faintly, "It"s not the time yet, but I"m happy that everyone is punctual... Even though it"s less that that night… everybody please follow me, Mr. Urey has been long since waiting for you inside."
"Wait! I want to go with my people." A thin man said in a sullen voice at this time.
Edgar smiled slightly, "Of course, Mr. Urey is very democratic and won"t let any of you feel awkward. They are allowed to go in, but I hope you can restrain your men well. If any accident happens because of them wandering around inside, we won"t be responsible for the compensation."
Edgar looked as one by one, the big bosses drove into the manor with their henchmen, as if statues.
He was still waiting although the last car entered the manor--- because it was not the time to start. The rule of being punctual was one of what this old man had been abiding by.
The last ten minutes.
An exquisite carriage was slowly pulled through the entrance of the manor.
Yes, it was carriage.
The man wearing a clown mask got off the car first, and then reached out to the female in the carriage and led her off, before coming to Edgar slowly.
"Am I late? Sorry, I intended to rent a car, but I saw this attractive carriage and could not hold back my desire to rent it."