Arthur stood in the doorway for a long time, or he felt like he had stood for a long time, and time felt like it had passed slowly and for a long time, but it hadn't been long.

He remembered that he had been to this room, this shelter before. The walls of the room are two colors, green and white, white is lime, and the lower part of the green is paint. The layout of the room is simple, with two bunk beds, a large cupboard, and a small round table. A bathroom in the corner of the room surrounded by a screen.

Now the appearance of the room in front of me has completely changed, and the walls are painted pink, not the pale pink of the villa's exterior walls, but the color of flamingos. Two bunk beds were replaced by a carved wood bed. The cabinet was gone, a floor-to-ceiling carved mirror was added, and the round table became a large chair with a wide back. The room was carpeted with velvet, the ceiling was redecorated and the simple incandescent lamps were replaced by fancy crystal chandeliers.

The girl stood under the crystal chandelier and smiled at Arthur.

She wears a white lace skirt with a lake-green jacket. A short blonde hair with over-the-ear hair, neatly combed, and a wooden hairpin clipping the bangs up. She had a fair and delicate face, a pretty little girl, and a small nose adorned with goose-egg faces, which would be cute to anyone who saw her—if not in such a place.

Who is she? Why is it here? Arthur didn't know.

But the vision he had just experienced made Arthur understand something, and he finally stepped into the room, and the feeling of suffocation came again, and he was a little out of breath. Arthur took a deep breath, suppressed the feeling of irritation in his chest, and stepped on the velvet carpet to the little girl. This is the carpet that was laid in the living room, and it was cut by Tony and brought to the cellar.

The little girl's eyes are fixed on Arthur, and she always has a faint smile on her face, which at first glance seems cute, but after a long time, it makes people feel terrifying.

Her smile makes her look like a puppet.

Arthur crouched down and approached the girl, his breathing becoming more and more rapid, the feeling of suffocation making him a little dizzy.

"Hi... Hi. Arthur reluctantly greeted the girl, "Can you tell me who you are?" ”

The girl still had a smile on her face, her light brown eyes looked at Arthur, and then shook her head slightly.

Arthur didn't know what she meant not to know, or if she couldn't tell.

"That's... Can you tell me where you're from? Arthur asked again.

The girl shook her head anyway.

"How old are you?" Arthur felt like a child trafficker.

It's still shaking his head, which makes people confused.

Arthur felt the suffocation getting heavier and heavier, and he hurriedly took out the playing card, the square J, from his pocket. He handed the card to the girl, with his back facing her, and asked carefully, "Can you see the words on it?" Can you? ”

The girl rolled her light brown eyes and stared at the back of the playing card for a moment, then finally nodded. Arthur instantly felt a lot more relaxed, the suffocation feeling slowly subsided, and the stone pressed on his chest was removed. He was overjoyed in his heart, knowing that this girl was the person corresponding to square piece J, but he didn't expect it to be a little girl.

Arthur added, "You... Can you read these sentences over and over again? ”

Arthur decided to take a risk, and if the girl would be overwhelmed by opening her mouth to read poetry, he immediately put the cards away and told her to stop. But is this really possible? Arthur didn't know, but he wanted to try, and he was experimenting with himself. He wanted to see if and how much it mattered to the number and sequence of the cards, and how difficult it was to establish the "link".

The shelter was quiet, very isolated from the outside world, and the sound could not be transmitted or entered. Arthur could hear his own heartbeat, and he was waiting for the girl to open her mouth. He could smell the faint scent wafting from the girl's body, not perfume or body scent, but a grassy scent with what seemed to be a little earthy scent.

The girl stares at the back of the playing cards, the rows of gilded letters protruding from the dark red pattern, a quote from Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear: "Come, let's away to prison......

She retracted the stiff smile on her face, her lips slightly opened, and she read the first sentence: "Come on, let's go to prison..."

As soon as the word "Prison" entered Arthur's ears, Arthur felt his brain be scratched hard, and suddenly a whirlpool appeared in front of him, a huge whirlpool, a pink room, a white-green room, crystal chandeliers, incandescent lamps, bunk beds, wood carved beds, the hollow eyes of the dead deer, the blood of the cradona who was smashed to death on the beachhead, and Tony Luciano lying in the pit was making his final mutter...... Everything in the past, present and future, fell into that maelstrom before my eyes, spinning and spinning.

As it swirled, the feeling of suffocation came one after another, as if drowning in the water, but Arthur didn't want to struggle, he felt free, he felt calmer than ever. The pale pink flowers fluttering in the wind gently fell on the dark blue water, without stirring up a ripple, the water slowly swallowed up the petals, and life slowly sank and disappeared, until the dark and dull bottom of the water decayed.

……

"Arthur, Arthur, Arthur!"

Russell's voice rang in Arthur's ear, and he slowly opened his eyes, and the crystal chandelier appeared in his eyes again. He saw Russell and the little girl crouching beside him, Arthur straightened up, and the drowning feeling was gone. He was still holding the square piece J in his left hand, and when he opened his hand to look at it, he found that the poem on the back was still there, only the first sentence was missing, "Come on, let's go to prison".

It seems that the little girl can't stand it after only reading the first sentence, and if he finishes reading... He doesn't have to finish reading it, he may never wake up again.

"I felt like something was going on here, so I came down." Russell and Arthur had a certain degree of heart-to-heart, and he sensed Arthur's danger, so he asked Montolo to guard Old Larry and come down to check on the situation himself. As a result, Arthur was seen lying upright on the carpet of the room, and a stunned little girl was standing beside him.

"Who is she?" Russell asked with a sigh of relief when he saw Arthur wake up.

"That's what I want to ask you, what about old Larry?" Arthur put the cards away and looked at the little girl again. Her expression was much more natural, her face no longer had that weird and stiff smile, and her light brown eyes had a lot more aura. Arthur looked at her, and she looked at Arthur too.

The verse on the back of the card was not finished, but only one sentence seemed to have some effect, and when Arthur led her out of the room, the little girl did not resist. But when Arthur asked her what her name was, the little girl didn't say a word, just shook her head. When she walked out of the iron door and into the oak barrel corridor, the little girl reached out and grabbed the corner of Arthur's coat, and she seemed a little frightened.

Arthur thought to himself, I'm afraid of you, I almost killed me just now.

Arthur was convinced that the feeling of drowning and suffocation just now was the feeling of approaching death. The brain is secreting dopamine to calm its body. It is said that when herbivores are eaten by carnivores, their brains secrete a large amount of dopamine to reduce the pain of being eaten.

Leaving the cellar, Arthur felt as if he had risen from the bottom of the sea, and breathed a sigh of relief. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, you can see the four-light flower tree outside, and the pink petals are delicate and moving in the moonlight, full of vitality. Looking at the clock on the wall, he had been down for only 10 minutes.

Old Larry saw the little girl being led up by Arthur, and his face showed a panicked expression, and then he whispered to the girl as if he was acting, "Oh, this is... This is Flo's niece, who... She was playing here, and Tony thought she was noisy, so he let her stay in the cellar room, which had been renovated and was perfect for the kids to stay there. It's a good fit. ”

Flo is a Mexican maid in Tony's house, but look at the appearance of this little girl, where does she have anything to do with Mexicans. Larry, who had been calm before, saw that the girl was completely flustered and didn't make up a lie for 10 minutes. Arthur glared at him coldly, and Russell pointed a gun at Larry's head and said, "Tell the truth, Larry. ”

Old Larry's face changed again and again, and finally his lips trembled, his hands twisted together, and he said, "I... I'm guilty, I'm guilty and Tony's guilty, may God forgive, forgive! Tony... Tony has a special penchant for women, he doesn't like adult women, he only likes children..."

Arthur was furious when he heard this, and although he guessed the possibility, Arthur really wanted to dig up his body from Oyster Bay and whip it again, thinking of the crime Tony had committed in the cellar shelter. It's cheaper to bury him alive. Montolo reacted even more violently, and he rushed forward and punched Larry Sr., knocking him to the ground. Italians attach great importance to family and children, and Montolo himself has a daughter. He felt sick at the thought that the former boss was such a pervert, and that Tony had hugged his own daughter.

"Shit Tony, can you believe it, can you believe it? Christmas, Christmas, he held my little daughter on his lap and watched TV, and I thought it was because he was so kind! ”

Montolo was going mad at the thought of this, he didn't feel any guilt about killing Tony now, not the slightest. Montolo even regretted that he had been killed by a merciful manner, and that he should have suffered more.

Russell was still very calm and couldn't feel the slightest emotion from him, and he continued to ask, "Who is this little girl and how long has she been here?" ”

Old Larry fell to the ground, the corners of his mouth were broken by Montolo, he couldn't bear to toss this old bone, he didn't want to be beaten again, so he told the truth, and said, "She was only sent during the day, and in the afternoon, through another passage." I didn't know who she was, I never cared. Then, after a while, they will pick people up. ”

The other passage that Larry Sr. spoke of was a secret exit from the cellar that led to the vineyard near the villa, which was the property of the Luciano family. Originally designed to be used in wartime, and later used to transport wine, Tony is now used as a secret passage for the little girl.

"Who sent it?" Arthur asked, feeling that there was a huge shadow behind it, that someone was working in this sordid business.

Old Larry fell to the ground and shook his head, muttering, "Can't say, can't say, I... You know enough, I'm guilty, let God forgive me, you take her away, save her away, Tony should have done nothing to her. You've done what you should have done, and there are other things that you shouldn't know, you shouldn't. ”

Arthur leaned over old Larry, reached out and grabbed his neck, and said viciously: "Tell me what you know, God can forgive you, otherwise, you will wait to go to hell!" As he spoke, Arthur slammed his hand, and old Larry's face turned red with suffocation. But his mouth still popped out of "no, no, no...... I just won't say it.

Arthur had no choice but to let go, and old Larry coughed violently on the ground, spitting a mouthful of bloody phlegm to the floor, and Montolo's punch loosened his old teeth. But old Larry would not let go of his mouth, and would rather die than tell the person who transported the girl, and he was determined to protect the secret behind it with his death.

Arthur looked at Russell, Russell shook his head, he could kill old Larry, but he had a hard time getting Larry to speak. Arthur's mind was on what to do with this filthy old fellow, who was Tony's accomplice in the little girl's mischief, and who had never been married, and who might have had a habit of that.

At this moment, the little girl who had been hiding behind Arthur suddenly walked up to the elder Larry, and she came to Larry and reached out to stroke his head lightly. Old Larry looked at the girl and said "I'm sorry, I'm sorry", I don't know if it was said to the girl in front of him, or to the girl who had been tortured in the cellar.

The little girl leaned close to Old Larry's ear, her lips moved twice, and she said something to him, and clear tears suddenly welled up in Old Larry's old cloudy eyes. His expression changed from frightened to calm and solemn. He reached out and dipped his index finger in the blood he had spitted out, drew a pattern on the maple floor, then got up and turned to walk to the large floor-to-ceiling window.

Montolo tried to stop him, but Arthur said, "Let him go." Montolo dodged away, and old Larry ignored it, walked to the floor-to-ceiling glass window, opened the glass door to the courtyard with a "click", and walked out. I walked under the four-shine flower tree and stopped. Pink petals fell and landed on his shoulders.

Arthur looked at him and didn't know what he wanted to do, Arthur looked at the painting on the floor, it was a spiral pattern, what was this? Lollipops? It's okay for you to write an abbreviation, what do you mean by drawing a lollipop?

At this moment, there was a "plop" sound in the yard, and old Larry jumped into the pool. Arthur hurriedly went out to check, and found that the old Larry who had fallen into the water did not struggle, and sank straight into the water, sinking to the bottom of the pool. A series of bubbles floated up, and after a while, the bubbles were gone. After a few more moments, the body of the elder Larry floated to the surface and drowned.

"What's going on? What happened? Montolo, who was following behind, looked puzzled, what did the little girl say to old Larry, and he died like this?

"Suicide in fear of sin." Arthur came to a conclusion about Larry Sr.'s death, and of course he knew the real cause of Larry's death, and only the little girl knew. At the moment, she was standing in the living room, admiring the oil painting hanging on the wall. The painting shows a clear stream flanked by green trees and shrubs, the stream and jungle glowing with a dull yellow glow in the setting sun, and green hills and a red-baked sunset in the distance.

A very ordinary landscape oil painting, Tony's taste is really average, this kind of realistic oil painting is not made by a famous artist and is not worth anything at all.

Arthur returned to the living room, came to the little girl, crouched down, and asked softly, "Hey, can you tell me your name?" ”

The girl's gaze withdrew from the painting, looked at Arthur, and shook her head again.

"That's... You can talk, but you can't talk to me, can you? ”

The girl nodded, then returned her gaze to the painting.

Arthur sighed, sure enough, it was the reason why the gap in the sequence levels was too large, and he couldn't establish a "link", and he couldn't even speak. Arthur took the painting off the wall, handed it to Montolo, and said, "Put it away and take it away, and then dispose of the old Larry's body." ”

Montolo nodded, the main job tonight was to dig the pit.

Russell pulled out his gun again, and Arthur threw a questioning look at Russell, who pointed to the stairs. Arthur leaned over and there seemed to be movement upstairs. By the way, there's a maid sleeping on the second floor. Arthur waved Russell to stop him, stepped on the stairs alone, and squeaked upstairs.

At the top of the stairs, he saw a woman sitting by the wall in her pajamas, covering her mouth and not moving. When she saw Arthur appear, tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. It was Flo, Tony's Mexican maid, who woke up from her sleep and ran to the staircase to check on it, only to find that something was wrong.

She thought that she would be killed, but she didn't expect Arthur to step forward and help her up, patted her on the back, and said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I won't do anything to you, don't worry, I'm Arthur, Tony's nephew, Arthur." ”

Flo swallowed back her tears, she relaxed, and choked up, "I... I, I don't know what's going on, I don't know. ”

Arthur said in as gentle a tone as possible, "Nothing happened, Tony and Larry did something bad and we found out. Larry had just committed suicide by jumping into the pool on his own. ”

Hearing Arthur say this, Flo covers her mouth again, tears welling up again, and she fears that she will also be killed herself.

"Don't be afraid, we'll take care of everything, and it has nothing to do with you. The premise is that you must not say anything about what happened tonight, see it, hear it, or hear it. ”

Flo nodded vigorously, she knew that her master Tony was related to the underworld, and she was worried that she would be implicated, but because of the high salary she was given, she still accepted the job and worked for more than a year. Before she came, she told herself that she didn't know anything she saw, and she only worked for money.

Seeing that Flo was calming down, Arthur led her to sit down at the top of the staircase, and he wanted to ask her a few questions about old Larry and Tony, but he thought that tonight was not the time, and he should settle the matter after the rest of the matter. And whether Flo will say anything or not, Arthur is not 100% sure, and a woman's ability to keep secrets can never be overestimated.

So Arthur asked, "Flo, do you have any children?" ”

Flo was taken aback, she hesitated for a moment, and Arthur added, "Don't lie to me, I have no ill will. But if you deceive me, it means that you have malicious intentions towards me. I don't like people who have ill will towards me. ”

Flo had no choice but to tell the truth: "Yes, a son and a daughter." ”

Arthur nodded and said, "After a while, I will visit you and your family, your children, and tell Russell your address and contact information." Don't be afraid, just visit, I need to know something. And you, find another job, you are no longer needed here. Do you understand? ”

As he spoke, Arthur unconsciously used the usual Italian gesture - five fingers together on his chest. Flo was both relieved and scared, relieved because she shouldn't be okay tonight, and scared that the group had already set their sights on her family. In fact, Arthur just wanted to know about transporting the girl, but a small threat might have kept Flo tight.

Carrots and sticks threatened, this set of things Arthur is getting more and more proficient.