Herbert brought the water and handed one of the glasses to the young policeman. He handed his to the other policeman. The two policemen asked Robert some more questions and made notes. After about twenty minutes, they got up and left.
As they were leaving, Herbert suddenly asked the young policeman, “Aren’t you going to drink the water?” Neither of them had finished their water.
Jimmy thought about it, picked up his cup of water, and left. The middle-aged policeman did not take the cup of water with him.
After sending the police off, Robert closed the door. Herbert was clearing the dining table. Robert walked behind him and suddenly said, “Hold out your hand.”
Herbert bit his lip and tensed, not daring to look back.
When Robert spoke again, there was no warmth in his voice. “Herbert, extend your right hand.”
Herbert had to turn around. His right hand was clenched into a fist and he refused to let go.
Robert sneered and pulled his fingers apart one by one. After pulling them apart, he stared at the word ‘SOS’ written in black marker on Herbert’s palm. He thought of something and turned to pick up the blanket left behind by the middle-aged policeman in the bin. He saw that there was an SOS signal printed at the bottom of the cup.
A cruel smile appeared on Robert’s face. “Very good, you son of a bitch. How dare you betray me!”
Robert punched Herbert in the head.
Herbert tilted his body and hit his head on the table. He fell to the ground, his head bleeding. He thought Robert would kill him, but instead Robert strode into the gym. Realizing what Robert was going to do, Herbert slowly crawled toward the gym.
Before he reached the gym, he heard the sound of something hard hitting someone in the basement.
Accompanying that voice was Robert’s cursing—
“Meng, you really raised a good son! That ingrate actually wanted to harm me!”
“He’s disobedient. It’s all your fault!”
Herbert ran into the basement and saw his mother lying on the ground, beaten to death.
He thought that his mother had been beaten to death, but she was alive again. She was just a little ugly.
Xiao Meng, who was originally locked upstairs, was locked in the basement this time.
…
The two policemen left their house. The middle-aged policeman said to Jimmy, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Dr. Robert. After all, he looks too harmless.”
Jimmy said nothing. He was studying the cup in his hand.
“Hey, what are you doing?” The middle-aged policeman was puzzled to see Jimmy staring at the disposable cup in his hand.
Jimmy twirled the cup a few times to make sure there was nothing unusual on it before throwing it away. “I was just thinking about a question. According to the people in town, Robert’s wife is a very gentle person who cares about the family. How could she leave the child and go back to her parents’ house alone?”
“Hey! What’s so strange about that? Maybe the couple quarreled and he returned to his family in a fit of anger.”
“Let me tell you, women love to be unreasonable…”
Jimmy was no longer in the mood to listen to what the man was saying. As he walked, he thought about the connections between these cases. However, no matter how he looked at it, the murderer’s crime patterns were untraceable. He specially chose people with abnormal brain nerves.
These people were either especially smart or mentally unsound. Among the many people who despised him, Jimmy always felt that the most normal-looking Dr. Robert was actually the most suspicious.
However, this was a case. Jimmy did not dare to judge if a person was suspicious based on his intuition.
Jimmy was about to get married. He and his girlfriend, Rachel, were planning to get married next month. The two of them lived together now, but Rachel worked a little far away and often did not go home for days. Jimmy took off his clothes, showered, and did not wash his clothes. He lay on the bed and continued to think about these cases.
Clarice had not seen Herbert for a few days. This morning, she arrived at Herbert’s house early and bumped into Robert, who was planning to go out to work.
Robert was surprised to see her.
“Hello, child.” Robert smiled gently at her.
Clarice stared at this person, feeling a little afraid.
She knew how evil and twisted this person’s soul was behind his smile.
Fortunately, Clarice was bold enough to call out to Robert. “Uncle.” Seeing Robert’s smile widen, Clarice asked him, “Where’s Herbert?”
Robert was surprised.
“You know our Herbert?”
“Of course we’re good friends.”
“Oh, I’m so glad he made a good friend like you.” Robert pointed upstairs and said, “Herbert has been feeling a little unwell for the past two days. He has a cold and is resting upstairs. I’m going to work now and can’t entertain you. Perhaps you can come tonight?”
Clarice agreed.
As he watched Clarice turn to leave, Robert stared at her small figure like an eagle watching a little rabbit with nowhere to run.
Clarice did not know that the demon behind her was already preparing to reach out to her.
When she got home, she saw that Julia was looking good and her mood soared. “When you’re feeling better in two days, we can go to town to shop. I heard that there’s a handmade art shop in town. We can ask the boss to make you a seashell necklace.”
Hearing this, Julia was indeed interested. “Did he do a good job?”
“We’ll know when we see it. We can ask Herbert to take us there.”
“You went to his house just now?”
“Yes. I didn’t see him. Robert said he was sick and resting.”
“I see.”
It was three days after she saw Herbert again.
Herbert was even more depressed than before. When he looked at people, his gaze became colder and more gloomy. In the morning, when he was wandering in front of his courtyard, he saw a paper cup in the grass. Herbert stared at the paper cup and his eyes flashed cold.
The police were unreliable.
He had already left a distress signal on that person. Did he not see it or did he see it but pretended not to see it?
Herbert was thinking about this alone when a small stone hit his back.
He turned around and saw Julia and Clarice.
“Herbert, have you recovered from your cold?” Clarice stared at Herbert’s face, trying to find signs of illness. She didn’t see how weak Herbert was, but she realized that his bangs were all down, as if he was covering some mark.
Clarice narrowed her eyes and thought: Did he catch a cold these few days, or is he hiding and recuperating?
Herbert said coldly, “Yes.”
