[European Style] Praying Mantis

From that day on, I bid farewell to the landlord who rented the apartment and moved all my luggage into the blue and white house on Hazel Street.Now Dominic is no longer alone, and neither am I.We ate together, slept together, and slept together like all lovers.I'm really starting a new relationship.

On the third day without feeding, Ben died.The stumps of his body were scattered in every corner of the luxurious villa, while his wife jumped around her home with her pliers in hand as if nothing had happened, only her bulging belly was revealed The tragedy that happened.

"God, this is cruel." I couldn't help but say something.

"Poor Ben," said Dominic with a pitiful look, but it only lasted about a second.Then he resumed his original enthusiasm, and suggested, "We should punish Dora."

"Do you mean?"

"Let her also experience the despair her husband experienced." Dominic dropped this sentence nonchalantly, and walked out of the bedroom, "I'm going to bake toast."

Many times, I couldn't understand Dominique's thoughts.He is like a visionary, always coming up with all kinds of weird ideas.Sometimes even sensational.

I want to know more about him, but where do I start?

I think of a person.He must know a lot about Dominic.Taking advantage of Dominic's opportunity to make breakfast, I picked up his mobile phone that he had left on the table, opened the contact list one second before the screen saver started, and wrote down James' phone number.Maybe I can learn something about Laura from him.

One afternoon during the week, I called James from my office.

"Hi, James. I'm Robbie, Nick's friend. Do you remember me?" I started introducing myself as soon as the call connected, "I got your number from Nick."

"Oh, of course I remember, Mr. Reporter! You're a handsome young man." James said with a smile. "What's the matter?"

"James, as a matter of fact, I've been investigating the 'Mantis Case'," I said. "I believe Mrs. Curley is innocent."

Hearing this sentence, he paused for a few seconds before answering: "Of course, Laura was framed by the damn police station and the court."

"You're her father and you must have known her very well," I said, "before she lost control of—I'm sorry I have to say that, what was she like?"

"Laura was a good girl, a kind girl even though we were not related by blood," James said. "Her mother died very early, so I have been trying to take care of her."

"Perhaps, you know who Nick's biological father is?" I finally asked this doubt that had been hidden in my heart for a long time.

"..." He was silent for a moment, "I'm sorry, I don't know. Since Laura went to college, we have seen very little. She lives alone with Nick, and it is very hard. She is a wonderful person. Dear good mother."

He is lying.Dominic told me that he grew up living with his mother and Grandpa James.

"But Nick said he lived with you when he was a kid."

"He remembers wrongly. You know, children tend to confuse many things." James' voice sounded a little nervous, and he even misspoke a few words. "But I do visit him often."

But he had made it clear before that he had very little contact with Laura.This inconsistent explanation is suspicious.But in order not to seem too aggressive to continue the conversation, I took a deep breath and changed the subject: "Thank you for telling me this, James. In fact, because of the expiration of the lease contract, after finding the next I had to stay at Nick's house for a while before moving in. So I wanted to know about his living habits to avoid conflicts."

"Oh, no problem." Mentioning this, James' tone finally became brisk, as if he had survived the disaster, "He likes to raise insects, especially praying mantises. To me, the most incomprehensible That's it. A dog can live for ten years, but a praying mantis dies at most one year old. The strangest thing is, he calls every praying mantis "Dora". You know, he never sees "Dora the Explorer."

"Yes, he does like bugs very much," I said. "Thank you, James. Sorry to take up a little of your time."

"It's okay. I'd love to talk to you. You know, Nick has very few friends," James said.

After the call, I scribbled in my notebook what I had just learned.Apart from some misgivings about Laura's question, the conversation with him went well.But as I was writing, I suddenly had a terrible guess.

I once took a psychology course in college.Until today, I still remember what a professor once said in class: "Many times, in order to avoid some unpleasant memories, people will try their best to deny them. After a long time, it will form a hypnotic effect, as if Really never experienced the same. Like many homophobes are actually hidden gays."

He was absolutely right.At least that theory became reality for Dominique.

So, does James also have this mentality?Since she once had a close relationship with Laura, she now vehemently denies it.But it is generally accepted that intimacy between relatives is a very normal thing, unless... there is something in this intimate relationship that violates ethical taboos.

I recalled Dominic's rough behavior with Bob that night, simply because he was an incestuous child.As I was tying it all together, a scary thought came to me -

Dominic is the child of James and Laura.

My hand holding the gel pen trembled so wildly that the pen fell to the inside of the notebook with a soft "snap".

"This is not reality, it's just conjecture." I kept telling myself, but the clues of this matter were too obvious, and no matter how hard the reasons were, they couldn't convince reason.

That evening, I lingered in front of my house for a long time, thinking about how to face Dominic, even though he didn't know my inner struggle.But I unexpectedly met him at the door.

"Did you forget your keys, Robbie?" Dominic stood behind me, looking at me with a big smile.He held a delicate plastic basket in his hand, and inside it was a lively praying mantis, "Don't worry, I'll open the door."

"This is..." I looked at the praying mantis he brought back and asked.

"The previous Dora died, so this is the new one." Dominic made a little joke while inserting the key into the lock, "Her full name is Dora IV."

"Why are they all called 'Dora'?" I asked curiously. "You seem to like that name very much."

"Because Doug started it." Dominic opened the door and walked in. "When your friend is gone forever, you will miss him in a unique way."

This explanation is reasonable, but I have no reason to feel that the real reason is not limited to this.

"Oh my god, I left my phone in that store." Dominique suddenly realized something, hurriedly put on his shoes, opened the door again and walked out, "I have to go out again!"

Now I'm the only one left in the house.I started rummaging like a kid who breaks loose from his parents and seizes the opportunity to make a mess of the house.Evidence, evidence, all I need is evidence!

After searching all over his room, I realized to my dismay that he was not in the habit of keeping a diary.Or rather, he buried the notepad in a hard-to-find location, as the Nazis had done with the Amber Room decades earlier.

But thank God, I ended up with an unexpected bonus.It was a small SIM card, placed on the last page of his card bag.At this moment, I am as excited as an explorer who discovers pirate treasure during the great voyage.I use a needle to remove the chip in my phone and carefully replace it with the gadget in front of me.

Obviously, he didn't expect that such a thing would be discovered by a guy who didn't know what to do, and he didn't even set a lock screen password.

The phone vibrated a few times, and several new messages from WhatsApp were displayed at the top of the screen.I clicked on the message bar, and a dim photo appeared in front of my eyes.

It was a photographic picture looking down. The photographer pointed the lens at his chest, where a black-coated gun was firmly pressed against it. It could be seen that his left hand had been placed on the trigger.

Along with the photo was a message: "Ellen, I've decided to leave. Nice to meet you, see you in heaven."

The sender's note reads "Jim West".It was the official title of Jimmy, nephew of the editor-in-chief, Mr. Darkeri.

I flipped through the previous chat records with trembling hands:

"My uncle screwed everything up. What the hell. I don't think life is fun."

"If I were you, I couldn't bear this kind of life at all."

"Then what should I do?"

"I firmly believe that death is the best way to escape." "Alan" said, "Don't you think death is the best filter? If you choose to kill yourself, then everyone will think 'Oh, another person forced by life. Poor kid who died, God bless him', and can only think of the good things about you for the rest of his life. If you live on, they'll just call you 'fucking brat' behind your back."

……

The murderer is Dominique.

It was he who killed Jimmy.

The cold hit my body like a blizzard and I could hardly believe what I was seeing.Even thieves eager to sell their stolen goods can't match the speed with which I can get my SIM card back.Then I restored the whole room to its original tidy appearance.At the same time, the sound of the door opening downstairs sounded, and I let out a long breath like the rest of my life.

The author has something to say:

① Amber Room: A gift from Prussian King William I to Peter the Great of Russia in 1716. The walls are inlaid with more than 6 tons of amber and precious jewelry. During World War II, this treasure house was looted and stolen by the Nazis, and its whereabouts are still unknown.