What happened to Isaac?

"At first, it was just an accident."

Robert said.

In 1916, the war was not over.Although the people in the British mainland didn't have a sense of the reality of the war—however, old Robert still couldn't sleep at night because he heard about a tragic battle.He was a really decent Catholic abbot back then, with saggy skin and age spots on his arms instead of swollen pinholes.

"I'm a very conservative old guy," he said. "A monastery should always be kept pure. I drove away many unrepentant young people, and the rooms were always full... At first, just like this, I No— ever, never meant to hurt anyone."

Because of tossing and turning, although the curfew was imposed in the monastery at that time, Robert, as the dean, decided to get up and go for a walk.

"I walked all the way to the patio."

Robert heard a rustling.He thought it was a cat, but when he got closer, he squinted his eyes and saw a person climbing on the low wall—to be precise, a nun.Her skirt was hung on a tree branch, revealing her private thighs in an extremely undignified manner.

He turned his face away in anger and embarrassment, and reprimanded in a low voice: "No matter who you are, for the sake of the Lord, hurry down!"

In the darkness, the nun uttered a short cry of surprise, but stepped over the wall with one foot, tugging at the caught skirt, trying to flip outside.

"Just forget about me," she said without turning her head, "I've had enough!"

Every word in those two sentences stung Robert.He thinks he has nothing to do wrong, what does it mean to have had enough?In addition, he vaguely recalled the rumors that the monks and nuns discussed behind his back—he thought, no matter how he dealt with it afterwards, he must not let this nun go out and act wild now.

"In desperation, I grabbed her ankle..."

"Let me go!" The nun turned her head angrily, wanted to push him away, and worried that he was an old man, so she softened her voice and pleaded in a low voice, "I will leave quietly, far away Go, leave this parish, and never come back. Dean, there may be only one love in a lifetime, and I must go!"

"It's ridiculous! Mr. Xavier...you can't imagine how much shock it gave me to hear this. However, I didn't want to publicize this scandal. So at first, I just persuaded her. "

"What nonsense! Did the scriptures you read teach you to behave like this?" The Abbot held her leg tightly, and heard her cry out, "Love is long-suffering and kind; love is Not jealous; love is not boastful, not puffed up, not shameful, not self-seeking, slow to anger. Does not take into account a wrong, does not rejoice in injustice, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things , endure all things; love never fails... What kind of love is so foolish and shallow as you? Turn back! Go back to your room, the matter is debatable."

The nun's eye sockets were wet.However, she shook her head very slowly, broke away from Robert's hand, and squatted on the top of the wall, ready to jump down at any time. A strand of fabric was still hanging on the branch beside her.

"But it wasn't me who killed her, it was a cat."

"cat?"

cat.The Abbey has a lot of stray cats roaming around.There was a particularly dear one, which jumped onto the wall and let out a sharp cry, like a baby crying.The nun was startled, her center of gravity was unstable, she fell backwards——

Then there was a short exclamation.

"When she fell, I dodged.

"Maybe I caught her then, or just put her on the back, and she wouldn't have died. I don't know why I didn't, almost an instinct to avoid danger? Lord, I know that scene—she fell on her back On the ground, blood smeared from the back of my head - will be with me for the rest of my life, like a shadow."

"Have you tried to save her?"

"Yes. I covered her wound with a handkerchief, but the blood kept pouring out, flowing down my arm and into my sleeve. Her neck showed a weird arc..."

Xavier was silent for a while, then said, "But it was just an accident, wasn't it?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," said the Dean, "however, I have her blood on my body; on her ankles there are red marks from the marks of my five fingers, which show no signs of fading. I am too afraid , perhaps someone saw me leave the room? Perhaps—I, Abbot Robert, are to be considered a murderer?"

Robert put the body gently on the ground, and the blood stopped gushing out.His vision was blurred for a moment, and the violent heart tremor and rapid breathing could be heard clearly.His ears are burning.

The cat jumped down, sniffed the corpse from a distance, and licked its paws indifferently.Robert was afraid that it would reveal himself if it was stained with blood, so for the first time in his life, he put on a vicious expression and scared it away.

Rustling, the sound of branches and leaves rubbing against each other was like many people whispering, like chaotic footsteps.

"This has to be done before dawn, I thought. I noticed the unfinished cellar. I buried her in the bloody soil and re-dug a shallow pit next to it, and the second Today, no one noticed the change in the location of the cellar; no one thought that something happened to her, but only thought that this notorious woman finally chose to escape."

"Are you having nightmares?" Xavier asked.

"Every day," said Robert.

"I always thought her ghost was still in the convent. Not long after the nun died, Gavin suddenly caught a cold and had a high fever. I thought it was her revenge. We hired a carriage to take him down the mountain. I was praying. The child was jolting along with the carriage, and the hot breath fell on my hands. I thought from the bottom of my heart, as long as I had the chance, I would die for him; as long as I had the chance to save him, I would dare to do anything...

"The monastery has no money, and neither do I. We can only go to the public hospital. Gavin was pushed away by the doctor, and I sat in the corridor, not knowing how much it would cost and what to do in the future. I felt faint Uneasy, not just because of penniless.

"Then, a man stood in front of me and said, 'You must be Dean Robert.'

"I looked up at him."

Xavier held his breath, and the dean didn't speak.He put his hands on his knees, spread them out, stared at the palms for a long time, clenched his fists, shook his head with a wry smile, as if denying all his life after that: "I will take care of everything he asked for and the promises he gave. Accepted, he gave me a sum of money, after Gavin took the medicine, the high fever subsided quickly, but the abyss was irresistible. It didn’t take me too much time to go from resistance to dependence, maybe in essence I was just A weak, easy sinker. Every needle in my hand, every donation for another purpose, is pulling me down...The monastery is getting richer and richer. Everyone sees plenty of bread Both butter and Butter were very happy, and didn't notice anything wrong. It's ridiculous that only these things can make the monks healthy and prevent the dead gray horse from taking Gavin away."

"So the second time, is it still an accident?" Xavier asked.

"the second time?"

"The second dead."

Dean Robert avoided his eyes in embarrassment: "...every time I was injected with the 'drug', I was like being possessed by a devil, and I completely changed myself. Afterwards, I didn't know what I did."

"But you acted cautiously and meticulously," Xavier said. "All the deceased had the same situation before they died: after confessing to you, they showed a euphoric gesture. You also injected them with so-called drugs. You deny Is this?"

"..."

"Do you still have your 'medicine,' even a little bit? Or do you know what it's called?"

The dean shook his head: "That person brings it to me every time."

"Did you have nightmares afterwards, Robert?"

"It doesn't make sense to say that now."

Xavier sighed: "During this period, you have been helping that person do the accounts?"

"Yes."

"Then the ledger—"

"Please don't ask, Detective, don't go into this matter. It's for your safety. However, I can tell you that shortly after you left due to illness, he came to take the ledger himself."

"Well," said Xavier, "was it your idea or the man's to poison me?"

"not me."

"Aren't you unwilling to be controlled by him like this? Since you can attack monks, naturally, he also..."

The dean looked up at Xavier in fear, and shook his head vigorously: "I can't do it."

"Sorry," said Xavier, "I left it alone. Just now, let's talk about Louie, whom you didn't mention just now."

"..."

"He was an eyewitness in the matter of the nun, wasn't he? Yet you left him out of your account. Besides, you're only talking about old cases for which there's no point in pursuing responsibility now. You're not going to talk to me. Talk about what happened in the past two days?"

The Dean fell silent hesitantly.

"With regard to who is responsible for Douglas' death, it appears at this point that Louie, who has disappeared, is the ideal scapegoat," Xavier said, "if we don't find the body of Louie himself in Douglas' room."

boom!The door was violently opened, and police officer Andy said in a hurry: "My God, Mr. Xavier! According to what you said, we found Louis under Brother Douglas' bed..."

"Is he still alive?" Xavier asked.

Andy shook his head slowly.

Xavier stood up, hugged Andy's shoulders, patted him on the back, and sighed: "Oh, I'll just say it. A Frenchman shouldn't be allowed to be called Louis XVI."

It was an ordinary joke, but none of the people present, including himself, could laugh out loud.