Things were a little different from what Marcy had thought. Things were a little different from what Ed had thought.

Not far from the door of Mrs. Bing's old house, a small silver car was parked. The car was small, but it was worth a lot of money at a glance - it was a sports car, the kind of sports car that could turn into lightning when it ran. Marcy's private car looks like a shopping cart in comparison.

Whether it is Ed or Marcy, because of the requirements of their professions, because of the experience and habits accumulated over the years, both of them are far more powerful than ordinary people. They don't need to flip a special switch to activate the machine-sharp and precise pan-radar detection mode whenever and wherever they need it - but that's not why they're paying special attention to the silver trot in front of them now. They would have noticed this car so keenly because in this part of the street, apart from Marcy's car, there was only this one, which was also parked in front of the old house, and could be seen by a passer-by, as long as he had eyes.

Lady Bing's old mansion shocked Ed when it first came into Ed's eyes, causing him to stop and look at it for a while—if he remembers correctly—but then, because the owner was Lady Bing, the house became Eddard's nightmare. More than once he wanted a fire to burn the Watchman's wheat field, but he knew he couldn't. But even though he knew he couldn't do it, he wanted to do it anyway. So he didn't want to come back here, he didn't want to see this place. That's why he asked Marcy to come with him.

If there was no one to lean on, Ed was afraid that he would let himself out and bite the poisonous old lady like a dog the moment he saw her again—he was worried, but he found that the situation was a little different than he thought.

There are really not many differences, just one "point". But that's the only thing that changes everything.

As in the last visit, the living room where Mrs. Bing used to entertain her guests remained largely unchanged. Ed and Marcy sat in the sofa chairs where the guests were sitting, a little reserved. Ed is because ...... Some reasons, and a little restrained, but Marcy is a little restrained entirely because Ed is a little restrained. Nervousness is contagious, and Marcy is a little contagious right now. She sensed it now, Ed was scared of the old lady they were visiting, and he was scared as much as she was afraid of her mother. It's almost as if they're visiting Ed's right now.

But it was a little subtle that Mrs. Ben sat across from their table, but neither of them looked at her now. Ed's eyes were fixed on the piano that hadn't been played in an unknown amount of time, and Marcy's eyes were fixed on the girl.

I don't know if it's time or not, today there is not only Mrs. Bin herself in the old mansion, there is also a girl in addition to her.

She looked two or three years older than Susan, but definitely not more than twenty. She wears a hooded black and blue sweatshirt and jeans of the same color. The jeans were tight and perfectly framed the curves of her legs. Her hair should not be short, but how long it is unknown, because she pinned them to the back of her head, and made them look like flowers, which was a little heroic.

She was chewing bubblegum at the very end, and her small, upturned nose was humming a tune that Ed hadn't heard. She moved back and forth as far as the three of them in the living room could see, as if she were some kind of elf born out of dust.

She's cleaning. It's not a big cleaning, but she cleans very carefully, very hard, very violent, and spares no effort. She is like the kind of girl who spends a day washing up dirty clothes after she has saved up a bunch of dirty clothes, and she can't be said to be lazy, but she can only be said to be very individual.

Ed was staring at the girl like Marcy, but she glanced at her with the thumbs of a coke can floating in the Coke can. She didn't show obvious dislike or liking, but rather a kind of indifference that came from the bottom of her heart - it didn't matter if the subject was Eddard. This is the top level of indifference and indifference.

Ed guessed the girl's identity. Then, for some reason, he suddenly came to his senses, and at the same time lost interest in girls. He was as respectful as he could of Madame Bean and everything around her—the farther away the better.

Marcy didn't have Ed's concerns. She seemed to be interested in the girl, staring at her incessantly. Ed ignored her, and didn't pay any more attention to the rude girl. He put the teacup back on the table and looked up at Mrs. Bing. And Mrs. Bing lowered her eyes and did not look at him.

"What do you mean," she said slowly, "I already know that. ”

"The answer."

"No need to ask. You've brought the detectives to my house, and there's no way I'm going to lie in front of the detectives. ”

"Not necessarily. It's not the first time you've met this detective. ”

"I haven't told a lie before...... I just didn't tell the whole story. ”

Ed smiled, his hands folded on the table, fingers tapping his arms one at a time. Mrs. Bing looked up and looked at Ed with a hint of curiosity.

"How did you find out it was mine?"

When Mrs. Bing asked this question, Marcy turned her head and looked at Eddard as well. She didn't say much after entering the door, and after a brief chat with Mrs. Bing and a self-introduction, she kept her mouth shut, letting Ed run forward with the ball. She's not a fool, on the contrary, her mind and reflexes are even faster than Ed in some ways. She had understood since she got out of the car, since Ed had told her that his destination was the house of Mrs. Bing, who had provided key information to the police.

Mrs. Penn is the one Ed says is behind this—but the question is, how did Ed know about this?

"Guess." Ed said. The tone is natural and without hesitation.

“…… Guess? Mrs. Bing looked at Ed with slanted eyes, a smile on her lips—the gentle, slightly mischievous smile of Grandma Hearth, almost choking Ed on her own saliva—she was clearly dissatisfied with Ed's answer to her, and wanted him to be more detailed. And Marcy next to her was on the same side of the battle as her at this moment.

Ed looked at the two helplessly and waved his hand. "I just guessed." "But of course it's not a guess – as I once said to a good fellow, detectives have their own set of games, and they play back and forth in their heads every day." I just modified the rules a little bit and added a few variables. ”

"I don't understand what you're saying."

"I don't understand either." "I'm just going to talk nonsense — it's actually easy to guess." The person who sent me an anonymous commission, whoever he is, must meet two crucial conditions, one is that he is the first to find out after the incident, and the other is that he must have my contact information. Excluding Susan, the doctor, and A.R.X, the only one who meets these two conditions is one person left—and that's you, Lady Bing. ”

Ed spoke slowly, concisely, and tried to explain things in the shortest possible words. Because he didn't really like to talk to the old guy in front of him.

“…… He's a detective after all, ha. Mrs. Bing smiled and shook her head.

Ed looked at Mrs. Bing a little strangely, because Mrs. Bing gave him a strange feeling today—this was definitely not the odd and sharp-toothed old woman he had known before. He realized that for some reason the old guy was in a good mood today, and he was very restrained. And then he realized what the reason was,

Glancing at the sweatshirt girl who was still working silently, without saying a word, with a cold aura, Ed licked his lips.

"What's her name?" He asked.

"Who?" Mrs. Bing asked. Even though she didn't name her, she realized that Ed was talking to her.

"She," Eddard pointed in the girl's direction, "your little hired man." ”

"Adele." Mrs. Bing said.

"How old is she?" Marcy suddenly asked aloud at this point.

“…… Eighteen years old. Mrs. Bing looked at Marcy and said cautiously. She thought the detective was thinking about issues related to child labor. To her relief, Marcy nodded her head and didn't say anything more.

"The ......," she said cautiously, after a moment's hesitation, "Is the case over now?" Did little Susan find her? ”

“……”

"If it's inconvenient to say, you don't have to tell me." Seeing Ed and Marcy looking at each other after hearing her question, the old Mrs. Bing immediately stretched out her hands and waved them in a panic, "I just asked casually, and I didn't want to interfere in the work of the police." I was just...... Want to know if little Susan is okay now. The woman who took her away, I always felt that something was wrong with her. She gave me a bad feeling. ”

"She's not a good person." Marcy snorted beside her.

"Don't worry," seeing Mrs. Bing's sudden change in face, Ed slapped Marcy's thigh intently, signaling her not to talk nonsense, "The case is over." She's alive and safe now. She...... Went to the surface city of Bahar, where her aunt was. ”

Mrs. Bing breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled, and her whole body seemed to relax.

"yes, that's good...... That's good. ”

“……”

Ed tilted his head to look at the old lady in front of him who had each stuffed each of the six flavors into his mouth and asked him to taste it, his eyes were half-open, his eyelids blinked, and then his brows suddenly furrowed slightly.

"Mrs. Bing," he said, "may I ask you a question?" ”

"Of course, anything goes."

"Why did you think of asking me to investigate? You don't like your neighbors, and you shouldn't have any reason to meddle with them. ”

“……”

"Excuse me, if you don't want to answer that question......"

"There's nothing you don't want to answer." The old lady waved her hand and interrupted Ed. Only three points of her smile were genuine, and the rest were something else, something else that needed to be thought about, "I should have told you what I did the most." ”

"Yes," Ed nodded, "leaning against the window and looking out." Because that's all you can do. ”

"Do you know how long I've been doing this?"

“……”

"It's been eight years." The old lady smiled and sighed, "Since my father, husband, and son all died on that damn battlefield, I have lost the meaning of life for a while. I stayed at home all day, not knowing what to do, not knowing how to live...... Then, one day, sitting by the window, I saw the child. ”

Ed closed his lips and exchanged glances with Marcy. None of them said a word, and listened to Mrs. Bing's words.

"I haven't spoken to them, and now I think it must have been a mistake. I should have a lot of things to do, but I didn't do any. The old lady lowered her head, her voice lowered, "I watched those two fools become addicted to drugs, and watched them turn themselves into monsters that they didn't even recognize...... I watched the girl grow up in that environment year after year, watched her cry more than once, watched her change from noisy to silent, watched her never complain to her parents again, watched her abandon all hope and become something more distorted than her parents. ”

“……”

"That night, I don't know what happened to them, but I knew something must have happened, something really bad. I felt like I should do something, I should do something, but I couldn't help anything, the only thing I could do was find someone to come and help...... So I thought of you. ”

"The business card." Ed said.

"The business card." The old lady nodded, "You told me that your job is to help others." So I sent the letter of entrustment and the money to the address on your business card. I'm so glad I did that now, and you really helped. ”

"So," Marcy interjected at this point, "you're looking for Ed because you want to help that girl?" ”

"We all have times of suffering." The old lady smiled at Marcy and said, "But this is not a reason for us to give in, otherwise we will be part of the darkness and hatred, and we will be the things we have fought for." I don't want to throw in the towel, so I'm holding my back, and no matter what the world has done to me, what I hold on to and believe in will not change. ”

“……”

"I'm sorry," Madame Bin said suddenly, her brow furrowed this time, "but you have come here today to find out if the identity of the client is me?" I remember that anonymous delegation is not illegal...... Is it because the commission money is not enough? Need to add extra money? ”

"No, no, no," Ed hurriedly waved his hand, "That's not what it means - the commission is enough, enough, and there is no need to add any more money." We're just going to stop by and have a look today, and we're going right away. ”

"Is this leaving?"

"That's right, we have other things to do, so let's not bother with you yet. Have a nice day. ”

Marcy, who had been secretly slapped twice by Ed, also reflected, got up and echoed Ed, politely said goodbye to Mrs. Bing, and then the two walked briskly towards the front door. Although Mrs. Bing still wanted to say something, she didn't have a chance at all, so she finally shut up.

Adele, the girl in the sweatshirt, looks out of the window of the house after Ed and Marcy leave. She watched as the two walked through the courtyard, out of the gate, and around the corner. The corners of her mouth twitched disdainfully.

“…… Strip. Child. ”

……

Sitting back in the car, Ed and Marcy fell into a long silence.

"It's ironic." Ed said. He couldn't seem to say he was in a good mood or a bad mood. He was just thinking about something really funny and really bad.

"Sarcasm."

"The old man was not knocked down, but the child gave in first."

"She's weakling." Marcy said with her head down.

"Then why is she weak?" Ed squinted at Marcy, "Because she's throwing in the towel." ”

“……”

"Losers make excuses, winners find ways, and losers always have a whole bunch of reasons that seem unassailable to them – and I don't want to hear any of them." Ed snorted, took a cigarillo from his bosom, lit it in his mouth, and took a hard breath.

Marcy was silent, staring at the steering wheel with half-open eyes. Then she suddenly turned her head, reached out and pulled the cigarette out of Ed's mouth, biting it with her teeth and inhaling harder.

“……”

"Don't say anything." She raised her index finger at Ed irritably, staring gloomily at the road outside the car window in front of her, "What—don't say anything." ”