Upon returning to the camp, Sophie found Li Du in a low mood. She hugged him and asked, "What"s the matter?"
Li Du told her about Toma.s.son. "I went looking for him and wanted to say goodbye. I didn"t even get a chance to say goodbye to him."
Li Du had eaten almost all the vegetables, grain, and fruit that Toma.s.son had supplied to the camp in exchange for horses and carriages. There was more than business between the two men; there was friends.h.i.+p.
Sophie patted him on the back and whispered, "That"s all right, dear. We"ll go to Los Angeles, and you can visit his wife." Toma.s.son was no longer alive, so they would never meet again. Li Du could only go to see Toma.s.son"s wife.
Perhaps, from time to time, he would be reminded of that sunny morning when a man in a black suit and white s.h.i.+rt politely took off his hat and asked him, "Do you want to rent the vacant lot? We"ll be neighbors."
Ah Meow also felt Li Du"s depression and ran to rub his head against his s.h.i.+n. However, as Ah Meow was doing so, Ali shook its big tail and hit him. Ah Meow was upset and jumped to scratch Ali, but Ali was very clever. It jumped up onto Ah Ow"s body. Thus, Ah Meow accidentally pounced on Ah Ow and scratched her.
Ah Ow turned around and bared her teeth to scare him, but Ah Meow agilely ran away. Ah Ow could not catch up, so she took out her frustration on Crispy Noodles and kicked him. Crispy Noodles was stunned. D*mn, what the h.e.l.l is going on?
The four small kids were making chaos!
However, their energy cheered Li Du up. Otherwise, they would have been in big trouble!
Later, Li Du stopped at the supermarket to buy some meat and seafood. He made stir-fried meat including chicken and roast turkey pieces with horseradish and garlic sauce, respectively. But because of Toma.s.son, Li Du had no appet.i.te. He had a quick meal and drove Sophie home in his car. Then, he went to the pine canopy community and returned to Luo Qun"s house.
As Li Du expected, when he opened the door, he was greeted by a chaotic environment. Without anyone to clean house, Luo Qun had become lazy, and the house was in chaos. Li Du saw clothes and garbage everywhere, and repeatedly shook his head.
Fortunately, his room had been kept very neat, as Luo Qun respected Li Du and had left it alone. Li Du had to thank Luo Qun for this. He had only rented for a year, and he had not renewed his lease. Once his lease was up, according to their agreement and the law, Luo Qun could have packed up Li Du"s things and then rented out the house to someone else.
Li Du put the doc.u.ments from warehouse number ten on the living room table and took a bath. As he dried himself, a grunt sounded outside. Then, the door was opened, and Luo Qun"s voice was heard. "Shut up, stupid wolf. If you howl again, I"ll kill you!"
Ah Ow"s voice broke in a pitiful howl.
Li Du stuck his head out and asked, "Hey, are you off duty?"
Luo Qun did not answer. She took off her shoes and stepped into the living room. After putting down the food in her hands, she threw herself onto the tidy sofa and felt relieved.
Li Du said discontentedly, "What, don"t you have any reaction to seeing me? What does it mean not to answer?"
Luo Qun still didn"t talk. She took out her mobile phone and started looking at it.
Li Du said, "Didn"t you hear me? Why are you so rude?"
Finally, Luo Qun opened her mouth. She looked at Li Du and said in a gloomy tone, "I have no manners? Who left for half a year? If I was not a policewoman, I would have called the police to find you!"
Li Du laughed and said, "Come on, I contacted you from time to time, right?"
Luo Qun snorted. Again, she did not speak and was obviously very dissatisfied with his long absence.
However, Li Du had a way of getting her to talk, and he said, "Besides, you think I left Flagstaff this time to play? I"m going to do you a favor."
She looked at him suspiciously, then sat up and said, "Do me a favor? You"d better convince me you"re telling the truth, or I swear, lad, I"ll arrest you for cheating the police."
Li Du patted the tea table and said, "Look at this."
Luo Qun opened the file. At one glance, her face suddenly paled. It was as if someone who had been starving for ten days had seen a chicken leg. She opened it and looked at it frantically. After a closer inspection, she looked up at Li Du, stared at him, and said, "Where did you get this?"
"I have to keep it a secret," said Li Du.
Luo Qun suddenly stood up. In a crazy rush, she seized Lu Du"s s.h.i.+rt and shouted at the top of her voice, "Secret? You"re keeping it a secret? Tell me! Tell me! Tell me what it is!"
Li Du patted her shoulder and said, "Sit down, calm down. What can I tell you if you"re this emotional? How would that help?"
Hearing his stern words, Luo Qun suddenly changed her att.i.tude. Her body became limp, and she almost fell down. She grabbed at his clothes and implored, "Tell me quickly. Please, I beg you, tell me what exactly this is…"
Li Du helped her up, went to the refrigerator, and brought her a bottle of wine, saying, "Drink, then calm down. I will tell you everything I know."
Sometimes alcohol could be very calming. After Luo Qun gulped down half a bottle of red wine, she wiped her mouth and said, "Ok, I"m calm. Please tell me, tell me everything!"
Li Du said, "You probably already know this information. You"re a cop, after all, with access to the case."
Luo Qun hurriedly nodded. "Yes, I know most of it, but there are parts I don"t know. For example…"
"Like this picture." Li Du drew out the sketches from the file.
Luo Qun continue to nod. "Yes, yes, I don"t know what this is."
"This is the killer or someone connected to the killer," he said slowly, gazing at her.
Her eyes widened as her hand clutched at the bottle, and the veins on the back of her hand bulged.
"According to the information I got after looking for someone to investigate, there should be two killers. One of them is strong, but no one has seen him. The only certainty is what the man looks like," said Li Du.
"Oh, oh, no, no, no witnesses. Two killers, yes, two! G.o.d, save me!" said Luo Qun like a crazy woman.