[CM] THE CASE

Your life isn't about following in your father's footsteps, it's about being your own king. ——"Black Panther"

Griffith hadn't had this dream in a long time.

He was shivering shivering inside his young body. Outside the hiding place, the man's heavy panting mixed with his own beating heartbeat, making him feel nauseous and want to vomit.

To be sure, it's not just a dream.

This is his memory, his nightmare, his haunting shadow.

The man roared gruffly: "Open the door! You unlucky bastard! Open the door!"

He didn't dare to open it, just like he didn't dare to think about why his mother locked the door, didn't dare to think about why her screaming disappeared, didn't dare to...

He dared nothing.

Griffith hugged his head.The sound of the heartbeat and the knock on the door gradually overlapped. He was afraid that the wooden door would not be able to withstand the man's anger and expose his frail self.

"You don't fucking drive, do you!" The man kicked hard, "Damn! You're fat, right!"

Men are strong after all, compared to the old wooden door, which is much more fragile.With a loud noise, Griffith raised his head in panic, the man's tall figure was like a raging beast, about to open his bloody mouth——

Griffith screamed, and opened his eyes to see a figure looming over him.

The curtains in the hotel room have a good blackout effect, and there is no light at all after turning off the lights.In this case, Griffith couldn't distinguish between dreams and reality, and struggled subconsciously.He was no longer the helpless kid, but an agent who had passed the FBI's combat training, so he hit the opponent's head with precision, and rolled out of bed together with his quilt with a scream.

Griffith turned on the light, and Reid, who was submerged in the blanket, covered his eyes with a contorted expression.

So at three o'clock in the morning, Griffith had to call the front desk for ice packs.The two sat facing each other on the edge of their respective beds, Griffith wrapping himself in the comforter.

His pajamas were too thin, and the hand holding the quilt trembled slightly. Reid noticed this and thoughtfully turned up the heat on the air conditioner.

"Sorry." Griffith didn't seem to have recovered.He wrapped himself tightly, and if it wasn't for Reid's face still twitching, he might have retreated into the corner of the wall.

"So, hiss—nightmare?"

Griffith nodded.

"Oh." Reid replied dryly, and there was a moment of silence: "Do you mind...I mean, if you don't mind...uh, talk to me?"

Griffith hesitated, shaking his head.

"I can handle it," Griffith whispered.

"Oh." Reid replied a second time, unable to tell whether he was disappointed or not.

Griffith asked softly, "Is the swelling gone?"

"Not that fast." Reid moved the ice pack away to prevent frostbite.He touched the wound lightly, and couldn't help but exclaimed in pain: "Oh!"

Griffith looked very guilty.

"It will be blue tomorrow." Reid muttered, trying to figure out how to explain it to his mother, although she might not notice, depending on Diana's state of mind.

Griffith is like a child who has done something wrong, staring at the "victim" pitifully.

Reid was stared at by him for a few seconds, and sighed: "I'm not angry, and it's not your fault."

Griffith looked eager to retort, but he bit his lower lip and couldn't get a syllable out.

Reid wanted to lean back, but unfortunately there was no pillow behind him, so he had to straighten his back, trying to change the subject: "Did you sleep early today?"

"It's not early," Griffith said. "I didn't go to bed until you lay down, and it was… one o'clock?"

"I tried to keep my voice down," Reid said in surprise.

"No, it's useless." Griffith gave him a weak smile. "I don't fall asleep easily. The smaller the movement, the harder it is, because I will chase after it unconsciously, just like...flies buzzing."

Reid looked frustrated: "I thought I was doing well enough, forget it, I will go to bed earlier in the future."

The moody Griffith obviously didn't notice his intriguing "later".

Reid continued to apply ice.He looked down and saw Griffith's ankle.He wasn't wearing socks, and his ankles overlapped for warmth, rubbing back and forth as he swayed from time to time—

Reid suddenly felt a little hot, and started to unbutton a button.It took him a while to realize something was wrong: he was really hot.

The temperature displayed on the remote was already 25 degrees. Griffith shouldn't be cold, but he was shivering.

Maybe he wasn't cold.

Reid reached out and grabbed him suddenly: "Griffith?"

Griffith was taken aback by him: "What?"

"Are you ok?"

"Me? I'm fine..."

Reid cut him off: "Honestly."

"I was just having a nightmare," Griffith smiled at him. "It's okay."

Reid's hand tightened: "Foster, tell me. You have to be honest with me, just like I was honest with you."

Griffith pulled away from him, emphatically, "I'm fine, I'm fine, I just want to be by myself for a while."

"Foster!"

"I'm fine." He emphasized again, "You're the one with the problem, you're hurt."

"Yes, I have something to do, and it hurts a lot now." Reid said frankly, "I'm worrying about how I'm going to meet people tomorrow—well, it's your turn."

"Oh, Reid!" Griffith didn't know whether to laugh or exasperate, "Look, I appreciate your concern, but I, I'm sorry, it's a secret I don't want to keep. We have to respect people's privacy, don't we? "

"But it's not fair." Reid said aggrievedly, "You know me, you know about withdrawal reactions, you know about my mother, but I don't know anything about you."

Griffith insisted: "You know I'm from China, have an adoptive father, and have hallucinations from time to time-isn't that enough?"

"Of course not enough," Reid thought, "I want to chase you."

But it was impossible for him to say it, so he could only hold down his eye sockets and his eager heart in aggrieved manner.

Griffith sighed: "If you don't feel the pain, go to bed first, you have to go out tomorrow."

"……Um."

"I turned off the lights."

"it is good."

"Click", the light went out.

Gideon came to the lake with his fishing gear, and there were already people waiting for him.

The man was wearing a well-made felt hat, a pair of sunglasses pinned to the neckline, and his gray beard seemed to have been styled, looking elegant and full of charm.

Even though we haven't seen each other for a long time, Gideon is still indifferent to his old friend Sao Bao's attire.He quickly hid his dissatisfaction and called out affectionately, "Dave!"

"Oh, Jason!" David Rossi turned around with a look of surprise, "Old friend, long time no see."

"It's not that long. I went to the last time you signed the deal." Gideon gave him a hug.

"Hahaha, of course, there are still people asking for your autograph." Rossi winked at him, "You are still loved as always."

"You, too, love customization," Gideon said.

Rossi quarreled with him and helped him out with his fishing rod.

They chatted a lot about their respective lives, partners who had no signs, and cases they had cooperated with. When Gideon caught the third fish, he heard Rossi ask, "So, I heard you've been looking for James recently?"

Gideon's hands were still wet, and he wiped them with a towel: "My team member is his adopted son."

"Adopted son?" Rossi raised his eyebrows, very surprised, "Didn't he go to China?"

"Yes, they were adopted in China and brought them back with them when they returned home."

"Oh, that's really unexpected. I didn't even know he had returned to China."

"I don't know either." Gideon began to change the bait, and the birds in the distance fluttered their wings, and the canopy swayed.

"What about you? How did you mention him?"

"I heard a rumor," Rossi said. "A kid told me about it when I was signing in Las Vegas. He said he found a dead body."

"Corpse?"

"It's at the bottom of the river, tangled in weeds," Rossi said. "It looks like it's been old, and it's rotten and only the bones are left."

"Then?"

"He called the police and the police were investigating and found that the deceased was between 55 and 300 years old and [-] feet tall - the key is that the river was [-] meters behind James' house."

Gideon's eyes were sharp: "Are you sure?"

"No, but my intuition is not very good." Rossi said seriously, "I asked them to find some tissues to extract DNA, and the results will be available in about three days. Although my intuition cannot be used as a testimony in court, it is very accurate."

Gideon shook hands tightly: "Check first, if it is... I will notify Griffith."

"Tell him the truth," Rossi said meaningfully. "He has a right to know what his adoptive father did."

"No, that's just a hypothesis." Gideon interrupted him coldly, "I won't hide the truth that should be told to him, and I won't mislead him about the rest."

Rossi looked at him for a while, like the helpless and stubborn gaze during the intermission of the argument when there were differences of opinion.

There was a ripple in the lake.

"It's your crew anyway." Rossi shrugged resignedly, "You're hooked."