Cinephile hustle

"How is that possible? And I've had enough of the innkeeper's waffles! There's got to be prime steak at the Camporam's dinner!"

Ian sighed heavily.

When they returned to the hotel, Ian specially shaved off his stubble, borrowed an iron from the hotel owner, and ironed the suit.

Hailey leaned against the bathroom door with his arms folded, staring at Ian intently.

"Can you stop staring at me? Taking advantage of the time now, you can go to the balcony and get crazy. Just don't jump off!"

"I'm admiring your sexy hip line."

Ian straightened up. "Do you want me to hit you in the face with an iron?"

"Uncle Ian is angry." Haley turned around regretfully.

The dinner party at the Camporams was truly extraordinary.Ian and Haley walked among them holding on to their glasses of wine, wondering if all the important people in the town had come.In addition to the teachers and classmates of the school, there are also Mr. Camporam's business partners.

"Oh! Ian and Haley, you are really here! Enjoy tonight's wine and food, I hope this is the best day you have spent in W town." Mrs. Camporam smiled Welcome, she blinked and said, "There are very special events tonight. I don't know if you two have lost relatives or friends. Maybe you will have a chance to talk to them tonight."

"Huh?" Ian didn't understand what she meant at all.

Lawrence came behind Mrs. Camporam, showing a helpless smile, "Actually, my mother missed Lucia so much, so she invited a psychic."

"Oh...we understand..." Ian nodded.

Mrs. Camporam smiled, "Agent Connor, don't misunderstand me. I'm not so obsessed with my daughter. It's just that the children in the town are very interested in such things. I'm afraid they have already played similar games in private. Played the game many times. It's just that this is Lucia's last anniversary dinner, and I wanted it to be special. Maybe... there is a one in ten thousand chance that Lucia will show up and tell us that she is fine now, Let us rest assured."

When Mrs. Camporam said this, she was obviously looking at her son.

Haley leaned into Ian's ear and whispered, "Looking at Mrs. Camporam's reaction, it seems that Lawrence is the one who can't let go of Lucia the most?"

When the two of them turned around, the already shallow smile on Ian's lips disappeared completely, "Did you see what is hanging around Mrs. Camporam's neck?"

"I see, the diamond cross. And the diamond at the end of the cross is newly patched. Should we find someone in the sewer to look for the broken diamond that accidentally fell?"

"What do you think the probability of finding it is?"

"It's like winning the lottery plus you and I were struck by lightning on a sunny day. It's a pity we didn't bring reagents with us, otherwise we could at least see if there was a blood reaction on her cross pendant."

"So what if there is? There is no way to do DNA comparison."

"But anyway, you now have a suspect in Ellen's murder, all that's left is to find her motive and murder weapon...assuming you can't find another person wearing a cross in this small town .”

Ian snorted coldly, "These are all based on the fact that you think Allen finally grabbed the cross. All our reasoning seems to be traceable, but it is actually untenable."

"The proof is in countless coincidences, trust me, Ian."

At this time, Mr. Camporam came over, and Hailey greeted him very enthusiastically. The two chatted very speculatively. Within half a minute, Hailey forgot about Ian.

Ian held on to his wine glass, seemingly leisurely, but in fact his eyes were examining everyone at the dinner party.

Almost all women here wear pendants around their necks.Ian imagined countless times in his heart whether Alan would hurt his hands if he pulled them.

Round pearls are impossible.

The edges and corners of the gemstone necklace are not sharp enough, and it is probably impossible.

"Hey! I heard you are a federal agent?" A guy wearing black-rimmed glasses came to Ian's side.

"I am. Are you..."

"Oh, I'm a reporter. Not in the town, but in the city. Our paper doesn't say anything less good about the Camporams."

"Oh." Ian was very disinterested in the strike-up of strangers, especially when the other party was a reporter.

"The Camporam family is really rich. Rich people have different hobbies. Mr. Camporam likes to use money to give scholarships to students. Mrs. Camporam likes to collect all kinds of extravagant bags with sky-high prices For example, last month, I saw her carrying a custom-made handmade leather bag worth 12 US dollars, but she hasn’t used that bag even once recently because there are other better bags.”

Mr. Reporter boasted about the Camporam family's wealth, but Ian didn't seem interested.The colder Ian was, the more Mr. Reporter wanted to attract his attention.

"Ah, by the way, have you ever heard the legend of W town?"

"Are you referring to the disappearance of teenagers 20 years ago?" Ian finally spoke, and the reporter showed a relieved expression.

"Hmm. Now there are three more murders in the town, Mr. Detective... Do you think it is related to those cases more than 20 years ago?"

Ian shook his head with a smile, "I really don't know about this."

"Oh, shut up! You must have found something, right?"

"Even if Detective Connor finds out something, are you going to tell you to make up some outrageous stories and write them in the newspaper?"

Lawrence came to the reporter coldly. The other party showed an embarrassed expression and left with his head down.

"These reporters are like this. The pain of others can become the material of their writing. Even Lucia..." Lawrence lowered his head, his eyes dimmed.

Ian patted him on the shoulder, "You really love Lucia."

"...Yes. I... didn't intend to inherit the family business, but chose art. I went to Boston to escape everything here. Lucia and I had an appointment, and when she graduated from high school... also Will come to Boston. In this way, she can see the outside world and be under my protection. It’s just that I didn’t expect that she would die in the safest place I thought in less than half a year after I left… "

"Excuse me, Lawrence...can I ask a question?"

"You ask." Lawrence shrugged his shoulders indifferently, "I guess what you want to ask is about Lena, Ellen and Annie?"

"Yes. I heard that they were also there on the day Lucia's accident happened. Since that day, how many of them seem to be not as close as before?"

"Maybe they will think of Lucia whenever they see each other? I'm sorry, I rarely come back to town after Lucia's death. So my father knows better than me what happened to those children." Lawrence looked at his own Father, realizing he was standing with Hailey, smiled mockingly, "Ian, I have to worry about your partner."

"worry about what?"

"My father was very interested in beautiful young people. Although Agent Hayley Russell had a gun on his body, he had a moving face."

Ian was stunned, he didn't expect Lawrence to say such words so easily.

"Haha, Ian... did I fool you? My father was very hospitable and had a lot to talk to young people about. He was a nice guy."

Ian forced a smile, but he didn't think Lawrence was joking.Because no son would use this as a joke.

At this moment, the sound of the wine glass falling was heard, and it was Haili who splashed the red wine on Mr. Camporam's sleeve when he turned around.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't notice you were behind me!" Hailey's apology was very sincere.

Ian let out a chuckle.Hailey really won't give up any chance to verify his conjecture.

"It's okay! You didn't do it on purpose! And I have a lot of clothes, so I can change my clothes so that the guests present will always feel fresh about me." Mr. Camporam took off his suit and rolled up his sleeves.

Very disappointingly, there were no scars on either of his arms.

Haley turned around and shook his head at Ian.

When Mr. Camporam changed his clothes and returned to the dinner party, Mrs. Camporam knocked on the wine glass, "It's almost midnight, it's time to say goodbye to Lucia! I specially invited the psychic Elysee! Who would like to join the channeling tonight?"

Ian looked around and found that many teenage children raised their hands. Although some were scared and some were puzzled, some of them took this as a joke and were not interested.

And Hailey even raised his hand.

Ian sighed, and walked to Haili's side, "We are not familiar with the Camporam family at all, how can you randomly participate in the psychic meeting held by others for your daughter?"

Hailey turned his face sideways, his lips almost pressed against Ian's earlobe, and the warm touch flashed by.

"I know the psychic Elyse. She's a liar. If I'm not wrong, Elyse took money from the Camporams and put on a play to make their son Lawrence feel good about the dead Lucia. .Ian, are you not going to participate? Just to observe the reactions of the Camporams and Lawrence."

"Come on, I think you're trying to scare them by playing tricks."

"Then please act with me." Haili blinked, grabbed Ian's arm and raised his hand.

"Oh! Ian and Haley! You are welcome to join!"

Mrs. Camporam brought Haley and Ian into Lucia's room.

There is a round table in the center of the room.

Candles were burning on the round table.The servants shut the windows and doors, and the lights went out.

Only a candle burning silently in the dark.