The Freeman family now lives on the second floor of an apartment along the street. Although the house is not as big as before, it is at least clean, tidy and safe, and there is no problem as a temporary place to stay. But after all, the man of the house is dead, and their lives will probably be more difficult in the future.
The two children were attending a public middle school in the city. In the steam age, there were summer vacations, so they stayed at home with Mrs. Freeman. Mrs. Freeman asked the children not to disturb them, and then entertained the two in the living room. After returning the key, Father Augustus introduced Shade to the haggard, high-nosed, yellow-haired woman:
"This is Detective Shad Hamilton of St. Teresa's Place, a friend of mine. He heard from me about Mr. Freeman, and he went with me to Hangleton Gardens to-day."
"Good afternoon, ma'am. This investigation is just out of my personal curiosity and is free of charge. It just so happens that my writer friend is writing a detective novel, and I want to help her collect some materials."
As Shad spoke, he handed over his business card. The title of "The Detective of St. Teresa's Square" was very intimidating, and he was a friend brought by Father Augustus, so Mrs. Freeman naturally would not mind his presence.
After quietly thanking Shade, Father Augustus talked about their experiences in the morning. When asked about the attic, Mrs. Freeman also recalled the paintings:
"Those were my husband's scraps. Normally, these works would be burned to prevent them from being sold on the market. He died so suddenly that he didn't have time to destroy the last batch of scraps. I had intended to take them away, but I probably forgot about them in the attic."
Xia De actually felt very sorry for this middle-aged woman. She had no legitimate income, and her whole family depended on the dead painter for support. When they hurriedly moved out of the house, they even left their luggage behind. In the days to come, after selling the only paintings left in the house, they would have to rely on themselves to survive.
"I want to confirm whether there were bloodstains in the attic when Mr. Freeman encountered an accident?"
Shade asked, and Mrs. Freeman nodded with a sad look on her face:
"Yes, there were cuts on his palms, and there were five or six other old injuries that were not fatal. The police at Ridwich Field also discovered this when they examined the body, but they did not find a matching knife in the attic. Later they speculated that he had hit something sharp when he fell."
"I don't know if you..."
Shade wanted to ask what the woman was doing when Mr. Freeman got into trouble, but he couldn't say it. The young stranger's experience was not as good as the old priest's, so Father Augustus said it in a different way:
"How long after Mr. Freeman's accident did you discover him?"
"About half an hour later, the children were playing in the garden and I was buying bread. We thought he was in the attic collecting old drawings, but... "
Even though a week had passed, the woman still hadn't forgotten the horrific scene that day.
Xia De, who was sitting on the sofa, looked at the priest, and the priest said cautiously:
"As for Mr. Freeman's matter, it seems that it has nothing to do with the haunted incidents commonly known in the church. However, within a week or two when Mr. Freeman's mental state changed, did he come into contact with any strange things? For example, antiques bought from somewhere, strange potions, or bone decorations accidentally obtained from vendors?"
"No, he was busy painting all summer and rarely published... If there was anything strange, it could only be some oil paintings sent to him from the south by a friend he met in Carsonrick when he was young half a month ago. An old local painter passed away, and his collection of worthless old paintings was sold in batches. My husband asked a friend to buy a batch of them, hoping to find some inspiration from other people's painting styles."
Shade looked at the priest again. This showed that their original idea was wrong. It was not an evil spirit that occupied the house, nor was there any secret in the house itself. If Mr. Freeman's death was really mysterious, it was probably related to the paintings.
When they moved, Mrs. Freeman took the paintings with her to the new rental apartment. Because the family was only staying here temporarily and planned to move to a cheaper neighborhood in the northern part of Tobesk after the previous house was sold, most of the luggage was not unpacked but stored in a separate room in the apartment.
Most of the wooden boxes stacked in the corner are paintings collected by Mr. Griman during his lifetime. It's a pity that these relics are not valuable, otherwise the family's life could be improved.
Mrs. Griman quickly found the wooden box where the paintings were stored. The box had been opened, and a very professional cardboard painting folder was used to store the paintings.
Father Augustus took the tongs and began to search, while Shad stood aside and chatted with Mrs. Freeman:
"I noticed that this wooden box has been opened. Has anyone touched the contents?"
"The children may have rummaged through the toys in there. After moving here, I was busy dealing with things all day and night and rarely took care of them..."
"Shad!"
The priest suddenly shouted, and Shade turned around quickly:
"What's wrong?"
"One is missing, one is missing a painting."
He opened the white cardboard folder and found that one of the pages in the middle was blank. It wasn't just the front and back ends, the two adjacent paintings on this page were also there, so there was indeed a painting missing here.
"Maybe the children moved..."
Seeing that Xia De and the old priest looked unhappy, the middle-aged woman, who didn't know what had happened, said in panic.
The priest immediately handed her the portfolio:
"Mrs. Freeman, please confirm which painting is missing and recall the content of the painting. Shad, go find the older boy and I will bring the little girl over."
"clear."
The rental apartment was about the same size as Room 1 on the second floor of Xia De's house. After leaving the room where the boxes were stored, Xia De walked forward, passed the bathroom door, and then reached out and knocked on the closed door:
"Please open the door. Your mother wants to see you."
But no sound came from inside. Shade turned around and saw that Father Augustus had led the little girl holding the rabbit doll out of the room, and Mrs. Grimman, holding a sketchbook, also came out with a dazed look on her face.
"As for the lost painting, I remember it seemed to be a painting of miscellaneous items on a table. A rotten black apple, a plaster statue with two heads, a toy wooden model of a three-story house, a golden pendant, and an antique vase with a weird pattern... I don't have a deep impression of this painting. If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't even remember that I knew this painting existed."
She had a puzzled look on her face, and was clearly doubting her own memory.
And in Mrs. Freeman's narration, every object in the picture sounds problematic.