Because Zach had said hello in advance, Madison had been waiting in front of the mill early. The mill was completed a week ago, and the 'Grand House' signboard was erected in front of the door. Madison nervously introduced the real boss to the new employees here.
Zach waved his hand nonchalantly and followed Madison into the basement. The silver metal cabinet was pressed against the wall, and a faint coldness came out. Madison checked the information and opened a cabinet door.
"Chris Irvine, thirty-two years old, male..."
Madison was reading the information when he was interrupted by Benjamin, who took the information and said, "You can go out."
"Oh." Madison exited silently, leaving the two of them behind.
The cabinet was completely pulled out, and Zach opened the white plastic bag to reveal the body inside. White frost covered the skin, making the black and red stitches on his chest very obvious.
Benjamin flipped through the information. There wasn't much recorded on it. After all, it was someone sent by the Barton South District Police Station. Because this Chris had no family, he could only store it here temporarily.
"This wound is really messy." Zach tilted his head and stared at Chris's left chest. Even after suturing, you can still see the uneven incisions. It's really hard to imagine what the reason was. With such consideration, he stabbed his own heart with a knife...
"Chaos is normal." Benjamin didn't find anything useful in the record. "Dirty wounds mean it was not homicide."
Zack's head, if it was a homicide, the wound would at least be smooth. He looked around, found gloves and scissors, and cut open the forensic sutures.
"Well -" Zach said in a long voice, and opened the other person's chest to show Benjamin, "What do you think?"
James' description on the phone was not accurate. On the exposed heart, two diagonal wounds formed a large mark, which was the real fatal injury. The ventricular muscle is punctured and massive bleeding leads directly to death.
"Did he scratch it himself?" Benjamin frowned and looked at Chris's harmless face. The more he couldn't understand, what kind of mentality did this guy have to want to scratch his heart? ? Benjamin is now considering the reality of 'suicide'.
"No." Zach sighed for no reason and shook his head: "He did it himself."
"What do you know?" Benjamin looked at Zach's expression: "Have you ever seen such a situation?"
"Unfortunately, I've seen it before." Zach closed the wound again, thought for a while, took out the needle and thread, and began to sew up the poor man again.
"This is a mark, an exclusive mark, which means that this body and his soul belong to someone." Zach had, uh, a hint of admiration on his face, "Moreover, this mark should not be Cut it open. This means that the contract is over and the exclusiveness is broken." Zach leaned forward, leaning his face against Chris, who was covered in frost, with heartfelt admiration: "You are a brave man, you are free, May you go to heaven. But you committed suicide, so... I wish you a happy life in hell."
Benjamin's eyebrows raised. He didn't like the vampire's sinister tone: "Who are you? Crossroads Demon? The contract with Crossroads only charges souls. I didn't know they were also interested in sex. Moreover, the contract can use this How to break it? Never heard of it. And it's a cross, not a cross."
"Okay, Benjamin, you're too young." Zach smiled at Benjamin, and only Zach could be qualified to be such a werewolf: "This was not done by the Crossroads Demon, but by another ancient, uh, human being .We called him 'Papa Midnight'."
Benjamin's face turned gloomy after Zach said that name.
Please understand Benjamin’s emotional changes. We already know that vampires cannot enter the homes of people of Indian descent without accepting invitations. This is a curse planted on these outsiders by the former aborigines who rejected the invasion of colonists. .
Of course, in addition to restricting the movements of vampires, the former aborigines also took other insurance measures. One of them is to use the 'Gangro' who has the ability to shape-shift in the vampire clan to create the vampire's natural enemy - the werewolf.
Of course, all these incredible things should be attributed to an 'ancient' man, who is the ancestor of witchcraft. Zach, please call him 'Papa Midnight'.
Curious about such a mysterious and magical thing, of course I asked the vampire a question.
"Why? Does this mark have any special meaning?" I asked.
The vampire thought for a while and asked me: "What would happen if you tilted the cross of the Holy Mother Church and announced the establishment of a new church?"
"I think I will be beaten by the priest."
"Well, that's right. This is the effect that 'Papa Midnight' wants." The vampire replied.
"Oh." I thought for a while, and seemed to understand something. I don't know why, but I sympathized with this ancient man. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the current main faith in the Federation is still the Holy Bishop.
After bidding farewell to Madison, Benjamin's truck returned to Route 7, but the direction was not to go south back to Grand House, but to continue north. When it just entered the North District, it turned west, toward Pais to the west. Yingkai goes.
Although it is still a working day, there are still many people in the residential area of Paisying. Zach wouldn't judge these people for being idle, because most of them are low-income earners with erratic working hours.
There is little change here from the last time Zach visited at night, with dilapidated mailboxes, crooked fences, and neglected streets.
Benjamin was a little surprised. Zach pushed open the fence of the 'Wind's house and rang the doorbell.
"They actually invited you in?!" The werewolf shook his head and stood on the somewhat decayed porch.
Zach smiled matter-of-factly and continued to ring the doorbell.
The only possibility that the ancestor of witchcraft would appear in the city of Barton is that this couple summoned him. Apart from them, no one in Barton has such ability. Zach had some guesses as to the reason for the summons, but he wasn't sure.
"Hey! You two!" On one side of the fence, a middle-aged man wearing loose work clothes was lying on the fence and asked warily: "Who are you looking for?"
"Corden." (Ryan's father) Zach turned and smiled at the stranger. He was already paying attention to the movement in the house, but he didn't hear anyone at home.
"Oh, he's not here." The middle-aged man put down his guard. Since he could call him by his abbreviation, he must be someone he knew. He pushed open the fence next to Hayate's house and took out the key. It was his neighbor who lived next door. In such a district, neighbors must take care of each other. The middle-aged man waved to Zach: "They are often away from home during this period. What can I do for you? I can leave you a message."
"Thank you so much." Zach exited the front porch and smiled at the middle-aged man, "Tell him that 'Grand' is here. I have something to discuss with him."
"Grande? That Grande from the funeral home?" The middle-aged man's head suddenly froze, and then he murmured as if to himself, "Poor Ryan, he really needs a new place to live. By the way. , you can go to the old cemetery and have a look, maybe they will be there."
Zach and Benjamin looked at each other. It seemed that Ryan's digging was not a secret in this area. As a hunter, Rui Wenqi had too many loopholes in their actions.
After thanking their middle-aged neighbor, Zach and Benjamin got in the car again and drove out of Paisin. Today's trip was a bit boring. It seemed that they were always on the road. The next stop was the cemetery that once belonged to the Ford Funeral Home.
Zach rarely visited his colleagues and did not conduct any friendly inspections. Now he was startled when he came to Ford's former graveyard at the junction of north and south.
This place no longer looks like a cemetery. People in formal suits and work clothes can be seen everywhere, explaining and arguing with the crying citizens.
Now Zach realizes that it is not that there are loopholes in Rui Wenqi's actions, but that the city government has aroused public anger.
When the cemetery was still under the jurisdiction of the municipal government, the government would renovate the cemetery every few decades. Some places will be planned for urban construction, and some will be reserved as new cemeteries. A person's grave does not exist forever. In a cemetery, there is usually a piece of land or a memorial hall with a large number of tombstones densely gathered. This is where the deceased truly lives forever.
This was common in other parts of the Commonwealth, but in Patton it had never occurred. Because Barton is a new city, the city government doesn't need to kill people yet.
This time, the trial of funeral privatization in Massachusetts directly cut off Barton's process of slowly adapting to this phenomenon. As a result, some people who were born in Barton City cannot accept the fact that the deceased will be disturbed, and are arguing with city staff.
Zach could see that the cemetery in the north, where the guilty were usually buried, had been completely opened, and the graves of those who no one cared about were naturally the first to be destroyed. Construction lines isolate the land, and we don’t know what will be built there in the future. In the cemeteries in other directions, there are also staff holding minesweeper-like instruments to detect something.
"Don't touch my grandma! You gangsters!!"
Zach listened to the cry of a middle-aged woman next to him, and unconsciously thought of the Grande House cemetery in the West End. Could it be the same scene
Zach shook his head with a wry smile, he thought too much, how could it be possible. Most of the people buried in the cemetery in the west area are pioneers from Barton City. Anthony probably wouldn't dare to touch the land there easily.
The two of them walked around the cemetery and found no sign of the Gale and his wife. They realized that their trip was in vain.
"Where are we going now?" Benjamin asked Zach, who was thinking, with one hand on the steering wheel and not moving the truck.
"Go to James? He should know some clues." Zach suggested as he was not sure.
"Okay." Benjamin moved the truck.
Zach's uncertainty comes from not knowing where things are going. Papa Midnight, in Indian witchcraft, he is like the holy father of the holy bishop. If the bizarre suicide in Barton City is related to him, the vampire does not know how he and the Grand House should face it.