The Freeman family now lives on the second floor of an apartment along the street. Although the house is not as big as before, at least it is clean and safe, and there is no problem as a temporary foothold. But after all, the male master of the family is dead, and their life may be even more difficult in the future.
The two children attended the public high school in the city, and Steam Age also had summer vacations, and they were at home with Mrs. Freeman. Mrs. Freeman told the children not to disturb, and then entertained the two in the living room. After returning the key, Priest Augustus introduced Shad to the somewhat haggard woman with tall nose and yellow hair:
"This is Detective Chad Hamilton of Saint Teresa Square. He is my friend. He heard about Mr. Freeman from me and went to Hangleton Garden Street with me today."
"Good afternoon, ma'am, this investigation is just my personal curiosity, and there is no charge. It happens that my writer friend is writing a detective novel, and I want to help her collect some materials."
Shade handed over his business card while talking. The name of "Detective of Place Saint Teresa" was very bluffing, and he was a friend brought by Priest Augustus, so naturally Mrs. Freeman would not mind. his appearance.
After thanking Xia De in a low voice, Priest Augustus talked about the experience of the two in the morning. When asked about the attic, Mrs. Freeman also recalled the paintings:
"Those are my husband's waste manuscripts. Usually these works will be burned to prevent them from falling into the market. He passed away too suddenly, and there was no time to destroy the last batch of waste manuscripts. I originally planned to take them away, probably because I forgot In the attic."
Xia De actually sympathized with this middle-aged woman. She had no legitimate income, and the whole family was supported by the dead painter. When I moved out of the house in a hurry, I even left my luggage behind. And in the days to come, after selling the few remaining paintings at home, they had to survive on their own.
"I want to confirm, did Mr. Freeman leave blood in the attic when he was in an accident?"
Shad asked, and Mrs. Freeman nodded with a sad look on her face:
"Yes, there were cuts on the palms of his hands, and half a dozen other non-fatal wounds. The police at Ridwich Field also found this when they examined the body, but No matching knives were found in the attic and it was later assumed that the fall hit something sharp."
"I do not know you......"
Xia De wanted to ask what the woman in front of Mr. Freeman was doing when the accident happened, but he couldn't come out when the words came to his lips. The experience of the young stranger is not as good as that of the old priest, and the priest of Augustus put it another way:
"How long after Mr. Freeman's accident did you find him?"
"About half an hour later, while the children were playing in the garden, I went to buy bread. We thought he was in the attic collecting old drawings, but..."
Even though it had been a week, the woman still forgot the terrible scene of that day.
Xia De, who was sitting on the sofa, glanced at the priest, and the priest said cautiously:
"The matter about Mr. Freeman should have nothing to do with the generally recognized haunting incident in the church. However, within a week or two after Mr. Freeman's mental state changed, did he come into contact with any strange things? Such as antiques bought from unknown sources, strange potions, or bone decorations that were accidentally obtained from vendors?"
"No, he has been busy painting all summer and rarely shows... If he really said something strange, it could only be that he met half a month ago in Carson Rik when he was young. A friend sent him some oil paintings from the south. An old local painter passed away, and his worthless old paintings were sold in batches. My husband entrusted a friend to buy a batch, hoping to learn from other people's painting style Find some inspiration."
Xia De and the priest looked at each other again. In this way, the original thinking of the two was wrong. It's not the evil spirits that have taken over the house, nor is it that the house itself holds any secrets. If Mr. Freeman's death really involved mystery, it likely had something to do with that batch of paintings.
When moving, those paintings were also brought to the new rental apartment by Mrs. Freeman. Because the family only lived here temporarily and planned to move to the cheapest 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.
Mrs. Griman quickly found the wooden box where the oil paintings were stored. The wooden box had been opened, and a very professional cardboard clip was used to store the oil paintings.
Priest Augustus took the clip and began to rummage, while Shade stood aside and chatted with Mrs. Freeman:
"I noticed that this wooden box has been opened. Has anyone touched the contents?"
"The kids may have rummaged through it for their toys, and since moving here I've been dealing with things all day and very little with them..."
"Shad!"
The priest suddenly yelled, and Xia De hurriedly turned around:
"What's wrong?"
"One piece is missing, one painting is missing."
He opened the white cardboard folder, and one of the pages in the middle was actually blank. These are not the front and back ends, but the adjacent two paintings on this page are also there, so one painting is indeed missing here.
"Maybe the kids moved..."
Seeing that the faces of Xia De and the old priest were not right, the middle-aged woman who didn't know what happened said in a panic.
The priest immediately put the portfolio on her:
"Mrs. Freeman~www.mtlnovel.com~ Please confirm which painting is missing here, and recall the content of the picture. Shade, go find the older boy, and I will bring the little girl here."
"clear."
The area of the rented apartment is about the same size as the No. 1 room on the second floor of Xia De's house. After leaving the room where the cardboard boxes are stored, Xia De walked forward and passed the door of the bathroom, and then reached out and knocked on the closed door:
"Please open the door, your mother has something to do with you."
But there was no sound coming from inside. Shade turned his head and saw that Priest Augustus had led the little girl holding a rabbit doll out of the room, and Mrs. Griman with a portfolio had also come outside. Some trance:
"The painting that I lost, I remember it seemed to be a painting of sundries on the table. A rotten black apple, a plaster statue with two heads at the front and back, a toy wooden model of a three-story house, a golden pendant and a Antique vase with quirky patterns...I'm not very impressed with the painting, and if you guys hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't even remember knowing it existed."
She had a puzzled look on her face, obviously doubting her own memory.
In Mrs. Freeman's narration, everything on the screen sounds questionable.
https://
The genius remembers the address of this site in one second:. Mobile version reading website: