What happened to Isaac?

Xavier and Louis sat opposite each other.

"Everyone's happy to catch a foreign criminal," Louis said, "but don't expect me to be a scapegoat."

"We—at least I don't mean to accuse you at the moment, Father Louis," said Xavier, "take it easy and have a cup of tea."

Isaac then served two cups of tea, then stood silently in a corner, pretending to be a wallflower.Louis couldn't help looking at him at first, but soon, his eyes returned to Xavier, just silent.

"Aren't you going to tell me something?" Xavier said. "There's no one taking notes here. Don't worry."

After hearing this, Louis opened his mouth twice, as if he felt very embarrassed: "I don't want to talk about others behind their backs."

This sounded very weird, but Xavier didn't show any doubts.He said gently, "Talk about yourself, too."

"Me?" Louie said, "...I have nothing to say."

Xavier sighed.

After a long silence, seeing that the tea was completely cold, he said, "Okay, that's it, thank you."

Knowing that he could leave suddenly, Louis seemed uneasy instead.He didn't stand up, and seemed to want to leave very much, frowning, with a very contradictory look.

"Don't you have anything to ask me?" Louis asked.

Xavier shook his head: "I can't ask anything, can I? Unless you are willing to tell me."

Louis fell silent again.

After a while, Isaac, who was originally standing in the corner, came over and removed the cups and plates in front of Louis.

"A word of advice, Father," said Isaac grimly. "I've been in prison, and I know courts well. No one cares what you do, only what you look like."

The threatening warning in this sentence was choking, which obviously frightened Louis.Of course, this is when he cannot see Isaac's tail.In fact, as soon as the words fell, Isaac's taut tail was wagging happily, because he recited the words Xavier told him verbatim.

"Don't be like this, Isaac." At this time, Xavier broke the solemn atmosphere with a soft tone at the right time, "but Father Louis, what you said is not unreasonable. No matter what you are hiding, your attitude is very dangerous."

"But... I don't understand. I don't know anything. What can I say?" Louie asked.

"For example, what you wanted to say just now."

"Sorry, but I don't see how that has anything to do with proving my innocence."

"Which one is the detective sitting here?" Isaac said angrily.

"Isaac!" Xavier pretended to stop, "However, Father Louis, you have to say something first, so I can know whether it is useful or not."

"Then..." Louis said, "someone who is trusted, who moves freely, who understands the monks. Isn't Abbot Robert the same?"

Xavier said: "Are you suggesting to me the dean's suspicion?"

"This--! I didn't say that," Louis stood up as if being stabbed by this sentence, "I'm sorry, I have to go."

Louie thought Xavier would stop him, but no.He closed the doorknob, and Xavier said in French, "Goodbye."

Louis paused when he opened the door, and turned his head in surprise: "Your French is pretty good."

"Really? Thanks," Xavier said. "My fiancée is French."

Isaac coughed hard.

"I thought you were single," Louie said.

Xavier touched his left ring finger: "I got engaged half a month ago. I took off the ring before I came here. After all, I have to do an autopsy."

"Oh, yes," Louis suddenly realized, his expression became gentler, "It's really rare."

"I'm a businessman, so I don't care that much about this," Xavier said, and gave Isaac a wink. "Besides, French girls are also very attractive..."

As we all know, men's sense of identity with women in their own country often only exists when they are praised by men from other countries.Those smooth long hair and romantic nature seem to be boasting about themselves, and it is obvious that Louis also feels very good.

While Xavier and Louis were chatting, Isaac poured a new cup of tea and put it on the table. With a little trick, he lured Louis, whose attention was distracted by Xavier, back to the coffee table and sat down.When the latter came back to his senses, he had already taken two sips of tea.

Louis was dumb for a moment, then sighed: "It seems that I have to confess to you today. I did hide something.

"That was... five years ago. There was a young nun in the convent who was said to have misbehavior. I declare in advance that I don't know her well and cannot be responsible for this evaluation. Anyway, she was not there at morning prayer that day, and the room was empty." Yes, personal belongings are still in the dormitory, there is no written description of whereabouts. We looked around, and a nun saw one of her shoes under a low wall in the courtyard. At first, everyone thought she had climbed over the wall to meet someone ...man, or as she complained she wanted to go home and didn't want to stay in the convent anymore, she never came back. It wasn't until the nun's parents wrote to ask that we were shocked that she hadn't returned home at all , and may even have been missing for months—of course, a long time later.”

"It's not as simple as disappearing, is it?"

Louis was silent for a long time, and frequently wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, as if trying to wipe away a drop of sweat that didn't exist.

"Otherwise why are you bringing up this old matter all of a sudden?" Xavier said softly.

"...well, yes," Louie said, "the night before she disappeared, I got bogged down in my scriptures and couldn't sleep, so I decided to just take a walk in the courtyard by myself."

"It was about two o'clock in the morning, maybe later. I walked through the corridor and came to the courtyard."

During the day, many monks walked and meditated here, but in the middle of the night, when the dew became deeper, only insects were left singing on the grass leaves.

"Through the courtyard, you can see the patio. There is a low wall to the southwest of the patio - it was repaired not long ago, and it is about seven or eight feet away from the current cellar at three o'clock. In fact, this is where the cellar should have been. At that time , the cellar is still a shallow pit, just below the gap in the low wall. I saw a person dragging something towards the low wall from a distance in the courtyard.”

"Have you followed?"

"Yes," said Louie, "I wanted to go. But because I saw that man who looked like... I was terrified, but I sneaked past the wall. I saw him stooping and staggering a The sack was being dragged into the pit. Suddenly the pockets of the sack fell apart - a pair of legs were exposed inside the sack, one shoe was on, the other was bare, with mud on the toes. I thought this, this was horrible, I couldn't bear Can't stop backing away."

Click.The sound of breaking branches.

"Who's there?" the man turned his head and asked calmly.

Louis' mind went blank for a moment.

It's Robert.Robert is burying a body.

"There are mainly students in the monastery, and there are not many old people. Robert's white hair was not as much as it is now, but he was recognizable at a glance... I ran away."

Louis turned around and ran back to the dormitory building desperately, the oncoming wind blew his face stinging.

Across the courtyard, across the corridor, he heard another sound between his footsteps and his breathing.Are you catching up?He didn't dare to look back, he only hoped that the night was so dark that Robert didn't see his face clearly...

Louis went upstairs in three steps at a time, almost bumping his head against the door.The trembling hands couldn't hold the key repeatedly, and the footsteps downstairs were going up step by step.

dong dong!dong dong!

The heartbeat roared violently in his ears, he forced himself to slow down his breathing, turned the door lock, put his hands against the door frame to let the latch slide down silently; he hurriedly blew out the candles on the desk, kicked off his shoes, and lay on the bed with his clothes closed, his eyes closed. With tightly closed, trembling lips, the scriptures were silently recited.

The sound of slow pacing in the corridor gradually approached——

despair.

stopped at his door.

"I no longer meditate on the scriptures, I dare not think about anything. I cover my mouth and nose tightly, and if possible, I even want to hold my beating heart. I am too scared... I don't know how long it has been , the footsteps resounded—and went away.”

Louis took a sip of his tea and waited for a while before continuing:

"I felt like I was having a nightmare. The next morning, I saw the shoes in the corner and realized it was real. Although I didn't see it with my own eyes, this nun must have been buried in our God, I don’t know until now, maybe I can’t figure it out for the rest of my life, why no one noticed that the hole under the corner of the wall was moved a few feet to the side? There are dead bodies buried in the corner, why all People only saw her missing shoes? I was so scared that my legs were shaking and I felt sick, but I tried my best to pretend I didn't know anything."

"Wait a moment," said Xavier, "you suspected that the body was buried in the ground but kept silent. Did you dare not, or did you not want to?"

Louis raised his head in shock, showing shame and dodge for a moment.But soon, this shame turned into anger: "What do you mean?"

"How did you feel when Robert walked away from your door that night?"

"Feeling?" Louie said strangely, "How can I feel? Relieved, scared, that's it."

"If you want me to say, the words may not be very nice, I hope you don't think I'm targeting you or something, I don't mean that," Xavier said, "let me complete your psychological activities, Louis Father, when you heard the footsteps going away, the first thing you felt was sincere gratitude. You thought that Dean Robert was hesitating when he stood at the door. After all, you have known each other for so many years, maybe he finally misses the old love and is willing to let you go; You think that as long as you pretend not to know, you can continue to whitewash the peace."

Louis had a livid face and didn't speak.

"But maybe one day you suddenly realize that Robert's kindness probably only exists in your imagination. Otherwise, even if you face charges, you will keep this secret in your heart.

"That night, he really wanted to find you, to find the man who saw what he was doing. He put his ear to every door, listening for the rapid breathing from which room...you think he was trying You hesitate?"

"Stop talking!" Louie interrupted him roughly.

"I wish a spell would stop everything, too," Xavier said, "but that's impossible to change. He let you go, he just didn't hear you, for no other reason."

"But after that? You wishfully acquiesced to all the 'accidents' of the next few years: an unclean nun, a violent concierge, a lazy monk. And of course, David, your mutual friend with Daniel, You know he's not a bad guy, but he's dead."

The rain outside the window is gradually receding, and the ends of the new leaves in early spring are decorated with unbroken raindrops. Inside the window is the silence that breaks at the touch of a touch, and the short-term balance breaks at the touch of a touch——

tick.

A drop of rain rolls off the blade, and a drop of water falls on the table.Then came two drops, three drops... After the rain stopped outside the window, Father Louis began to rain.

He bit his lower lip and wept silently.Louis is no longer young, but like a child who has been wronged, his face flushed, and he poured out the panic and confusion accumulated over the years: "I can't think of it...but...what should I do? Detective? What's right, Detective? . . . "

Xavier could not answer these questions for him.He waited for Louis to finish crying, then handed over the handkerchief, without saying a word of comfort, and asked seriously, "Have you told anyone else about this?"

"This matter?" Louis froze for a moment.

"You witnessed the dean's burial."

"This...no."

"Really? Anyone?" Xavier asked.

"You don't trust me—me, a grown man?"

"No, I didn't mean that, it's just that this matter needs to be taken seriously," Xavier sighed, "I'm going to verify it near the low wall you mentioned. If the situation is consistent with what you said, it may become a right Evidence in your favor. During this time, please stay in your room, Officer Andy will stay to protect you."

"What I hate the most about you British people is that you put on a show and insist on calling surveillance as protection." Louis wiped his face with a handkerchief, his eyes were still red, but his expression has calmed down a lot, "But I still have to check on Gavin As for his physical condition, he hasn’t recovered from his cold for the past few days, and I’m worried that he might develop pneumonia. If you are worried, you can ask the police officer to follow me.”

Still thinking about others at this time, Xavier felt a little dumbfounded when he heard this: "Then do as you said."

After ordering Andy, Xavier took Isaac and police officer Dean to follow Louis' words to find the so-called burial place.With a touch of the shovel, Dean noticed that the soil was loose somewhere, and he and Isaac dug down about six feet—the depth at which corpses are usually buried, but there was nothing in the soil.

"Did you listen to him tell a story for so long?"

Dean couldn't help but feel a little dissatisfied after working so hard but getting nothing.He wanted to say something more, but Isaac stared back into his throat with a fierce look.

"You can think so too." Xavier put on his gloves and turned the soil, and showed Dean a soft white writhing live maggot, and then used a "magic reagent" that was ahead of the times, and the soil showed Fluorescent dots representing blood, but not much.

"There used to be corpses here, and judging from the amount of bleeding, the dead were still alive for a while after being buried," Xavier said. "According to Louis, this makes sense. A nun wanted to climb the wall to go out for a tryst in the middle of the night. Caught straight up on top of the wall. Robert grabs her leg from below and she wrenches one shoe away and steps onto the wall barefoot so the toes and forefoot are smudged and the details match ...but she was held back. She fell backwards, on the back of her head, and a small rock would have killed her if she hadn't broken her neck."

"But there is no body here now, so it has been moved? When was it?"

"The exact time cannot be determined, but it should be in the near future."

"But why move the body? How did the murderer expect us to know what happened five years ago?"

Xavier didn't answer for a while, and his face suddenly became dignified.At this time, a person ran from a distance from the direction of the dormitory. It turned out to be a young monk.

He said out of breath, "Father Louis is gone!"