Mermaid Reef

Ten o'clock in the morning, Simplon-Orient-Express smoking room.

The carriages are decorated with Moroccan tapestries, beautiful teak wood floors, and Genoese velvet pillows on the large sofas.

A crystal ashtray sits on the round table, along with pipe cleaners, teas from the Far East, and Arabic hookahs.

With a smug smile, the banker Bauer took out a gold antique box, then put a piece of purple velvet in his hand, and carefully took out a gold coin from the box.

"This is the most valuable Spanish gold coin minted in the [-]th century, the king's gold coin! Count Legris, look at the royal coat of arms on the back. This is specially minted for the royal family, and it is well preserved. Look at this noble And the gorgeous light... Its value is hundreds of times that of those golden fleeces!"

The white-haired old French aristocrat originally looked a little impatient, but when he saw the gold coin, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

The butler beside him immediately handed over a magnifying glass in a gold frame set with jewels, which was originally used by the old earl when reading letters.

"Ordinary people don't understand its preciousness, and I think the respected Earl Legris will not be mistaken." The banker said cautiously.

The second grandson of King Louis XIV of France has succeeded to the Spanish throne, and Bauer believes that these gold coins will be more sought-after in France.

It's a pity that France is too close to England.

If those absurd curses were to reach Paris, he would not earn a penny.

The banker suppressed his uneasiness and looked at the old earl expectantly.

The old earl was smoking his pipe, and he wore no gloves, much less the purple velvet handkerchief.

——This is not a gem, a gold coin more than 200 years ago, and his family's history is longer than this gold coin.

The old earl took a closer look with a magnifying glass and knew it was true.

Although the gold coins were fine, he would not buy antique coins from a stranger on the train.

The banker said eagerly, "I'm only selling at half the market price."

He opened the box and showed the old count the gold coins inside. There were about twenty gold coins.

"I have already contacted an auction house in Venice. This is a certificate issued by an appraiser from the Bank of London. There will be a special antique coin expert in Venice to appraise... If it is not for this damn economic crisis, let all the factories under my name If it is closed and the property shrinks a lot, I will definitely not do this..."

The old earl raised his hand to interrupt the banker's chanting, and gave his butler a wink.

The steward immediately asked the banker to leave.

The banker left in a rage, only to almost bump into a stocky man at the door.

"Oh, sorry!" The man greeted the banker warmly, and he seemed to be going to the library next door.

The banker inspected the guy's new, crisp clothes, of good material, with the wrong shoes, and that flamboyant American accent.

An upstart.

The banker remembered that it was the American car dealer who lived in box six.

The bankers quickly changed targets.

He also planned to sell the precious king's gold coins to the British in Box No. [-], those ordinary golden fleece gold coins, why not just sell them to this guy.

Eleven o'clock in the morning, first class carriage.

The conductor was holding a book with a red cover in his hand, and was knocking on the door according to the order of the boxes.

"Ma'am, it's time for lunch."

The conductor came to the door of Box No. [-] and greeted Miss Vanessa.

He was not at all surprised that the lady didn't get up for breakfast. Many guests in the first-class compartment slept late and woke up very late.

The aristocrats even enjoyed their breakfast while sitting on the bed. Only those who bought second-class tickets would be reluctant to part with the daily fixed free breakfast, and ran to occupy a vacant seat in the dining car early.

Watching Miss Vanessa leave, the conductor went to knock on the door of carriage No. [-] again.

For the first time, there was no movement inside.

The second time, there was still no movement.

The conductor suddenly remembered that after the train departed last night, he hadn't seen the passengers in carriages [-] and [-]. He was on duty in the corridor of the carriage at night, so that he could respond to the service bell summoned by the passengers in the compartment at any time.

Although dozing off was unavoidable, the conductor made sure that he never heard the service bells of these two cars, nor did he see the two passengers in the dining car, smoking room, etc. from morning till now.

An Englishman, another...

Seems to be Italian?

The conductor found that his memory was blurred, and he quickly opened the passenger register in his hand.

"Mr. Johnson? Mr. Gamel?"

The door of the box opened suddenly.

The conductor met the silver Venetian mask, looked dazed for a moment, and then said respectfully as if seeing an ordinary first-class passenger: "Excuse me, it's time for lunch. Also, the two gentlemen are arriving in Venice. Afterwards, do I need to buy tickets for the Far East Line? We will send a telegram when we arrive at Lausanne Station in Switzerland today to book tickets on our behalf, ensuring that passengers can transfer directly to the Orient Express on the Far East Line at Venice Station.”

"no need."

Jason also opened the door of Box No. [-], neatly dressed and wearing a hat.

"Let's go to the restaurant, what's the menu for today?"

"French cuisine, the habit of the Orient Express is to serve the cuisine of that country when we are located in it. Today we have fresh oysters, lobsters, and salmon."

This obviously didn't arouse Jason's interest.

He has long been tired of eating things in the sea.

"anything else?"

"Lamb chops, truffles and foie gras."

The conductor led the two passengers to the dining car, maybe even he didn't know why he was so thoughtful.

The corridor of the carriage is very narrow, and two people cannot walk side by side.

Gemil walked behind Jensen, he was more interested in the rolling mountains outside the car window than the human dishes.

"It's the Alps, even in summer, you can see the snow-capped peaks."

"I really want to lie down and try." Gemil said to himself.

"Sorry, sir..."

The conductor showed doubts, and Jason coughed and said softly, "My friend wants to go skiing in Switzerland."

"Ah, skiing, do you like that fashionable sport too?"

The conductor not only spoke English fluently, but also had extensive knowledge. He immediately talked about the grand event in Chamonix, France in 1924 (Note).

He spoke so vividly that when he arrived at the door of the dining car, Jason even felt that the car was too short to hear more about the ice and snow games of humans.

All passengers who bought first-class tickets have a reserved seat in the dining car and are concentrated in one area. When the conductor went to the only empty table and took away the two marked metal plates with the box number, he suddenly found that There seems to be something wrong with the surrounding atmosphere.

Jason stood at the door of the carriage without moving. He looked at the people in the dining car with strange eyes.

What he was looking at was the dining area in the first-class car ahead.

In fact, the other passengers in the dining car were still eating and communicating normally as if they hadn't seen him.

The waiter holding the plate automatically avoided Jason and served others.

Surprisingly, the passengers in the first-class carriages noticed Jason one after another, and then stopped in unison.

Jason is a very conspicuous man.

He was handsome, very young, well dressed, and such a man is usually of good birth and high status.

Just like the Earl Legris just now, everyone will stop talking and eating, and nod their heads. This is social etiquette.

but--

The whole carriage seemed to be divided into two parts, some people turned a blind eye to Jensen, and the other part all looked up at Jensen.

Jason took off his hat, took it in his hand, walked to the empty table and sat down.

"What's going on? Can they all see you?" Gemil asked in a low voice.

Jason took the menu handed over by the conductor, and he felt that the eyes of these people were all focused on him, and they were not assigned to Gemil at all... Oh no, there were two exceptions.

John struggled to press down on a bearded man, and then tried to cover his mouth. The dishes on the table jingled, attracting other people's attention.

"It's nothing." John explained to the conductor, and asked the people around him, "Detective Martin, what are you doing?"

"Don't you find it strange that there is a man wearing a Venetian mask on the train?" Detective Martin said through his teeth.

John looked at him in surprise. When he got into the car yesterday, he found that no one could notice the mask on Gemil's face, as if it was an ordinary face. It turned out that the police detective from Scotland Yard had the same personality as himself. The ability to see through the truth?

"Those are two dangerous people, I advise you to calm down first." John warned in a low voice.

"No, I know another person who doesn't wear a mask... I saw him at a murder scene, and he was standing next to the body with an Arab psychic."

John was startled when he heard it, and then he got a headache. He quickly persuaded: "We are on the train, why are you in a hurry, unless the other party jumps off the train. And the most important thing should not be the gold coins... Is that gang of robbers staring at the gold coins? "

Detective Martin calmed down, and John let go of his hand.

"You know those two guys." Detective Martin stared at John.

The detective said feebly: "In our line of work, there are always some dangerous people. Believe me, these are the two most dangerous people I know...."

"Really? What are they from? The leader of a transnational criminal gang? A counterfeit dealer? An arms dealer?" Detective Martin asked.

John was about to speak when he suddenly saw Gemil waving at him.

John pointed to his nose.

Gemil nodded.

Detective Martin immediately became nervous, and John could only explain: "Don't be nervous, I'll go over there."

Detective Martin wanted to stop John from "tipping off the news", but the detective was too flexible and he didn't stop him.

In the eyes of those who couldn't see Gemil, John argued with his deskmate for a while, and then ran to the empty seat opposite Jason and sat down without even asking, which can be said to be very rude.

"Do you need me to introduce today's menu to you two?" John tried to force a smile.

"Two?"

The American auto dealer at the back table laughed exaggeratedly.

The old earl on the table next to him showed a disgusted expression. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, got up and left, and his servant hurriedly followed.

John twitched his eyebrows and asked in a low voice, "They can only see one person?"

"You're still so smart." Gemil found this incident very interesting, and he controlled his voice so that only the people on this table could hear it.

John wanted to leave immediately, but he was still a step too late. Jason had already spoken: "This matter is related to you, Mr. Detective. Tell me, where did you put the final gold coins I paid you two years ago? "

"That bag of Spanish gold coins? I've deposited them in a bank." John also lowered his voice.

At that time, he was targeted by reporters, police, and colleagues, and everyone knew that he had a big secret.

The mystery of the origins of Lady Caroline's wealth.

"...If I take out a bag of Spanish gold coins to appraise and sell them, I will definitely encounter a series of obstacles. I have bought the boat ticket and am eager to leave London. If I carry these gold coins with me, it will also cause trouble. The customs section I spend all my time catching smugglers, I have the right to search the suitcases, and I'm not an aristocrat. So I disguised myself and opened an anonymous safe. I haven't been back to London for two years. The money should still be in the bank. I paid it storage charges for five years."

When John said this, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Cursed gold coins?

"Is that my money?" The detective was stunned.

Jason put down the menu, looked at John and said, "No, it's my money. A sum of money that was not handed over to you smoothly, you must have not touched those gold coins, and even put them in without changing the purse The bank. I am the owner of the money, not you, because you didn't get it 'in your own hands'."

John: "..."

Is the evil god's money so dangerous?

"Any contact with 'mystery' is dangerous. Originally, the 'contact' would end automatically when the money was in your hands, but you did not 'receive'."

Jason pressed the menu with his hand and pushed it to Gemil who was watching the excitement.

Jason said in a cold tone: "Now there are other accidents with this money. It has begun to have a strong aggressiveness and will cause human beings to die tragically."

Speaking of this, Jason stopped suddenly because the waiter came over.

Gemil couldn't understand French, so he casually pointed to two lines on the menu, and the waiter respectfully accepted them.

Gemil continued to listen to Jensen threatening the detective.

Jason said in a voice that made John's scalp tingle: "As soon as I walked into this car today, I felt that everyone at the six tables around here owed me money! You should investigate, from last night to noon today , What did the passengers in the first class compartment do!"

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The author has something to say:

Note: The grand event in Chamonix, France in 1924, the first Winter Olympics

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I thought only the conductor + detective + strange banker could see me, but as soon as Jason entered the door

Good guy, everyone in the first class can see him

Still owe him all the money?

How do you owe it?