Dean and Alvin beckoned Holden at the top of the stairs to return to the first-floor hall.

The three of them sat in a circle around the couch.

Holden listened to Dean recount the clues he had asked from his neighbors, and spoke,

"This is consistent with what I've learned from the property and the Henderson government department. For the past two decades, both departments have been receiving checks for strata fees and property taxes from the residents of House 369, namely Panon, almost every year, until five years ago, when Panon stopped mailing checks. ”

"The tax department tried to contact him, but failed, and Panon's world evaporated."

"Let me tell you this, the IRS is the most powerful department in the whole of America, and even they haven't been able to find Panon, and there is little hope that anyone else will find him." "The Henderson administration has also listed Pannon as a missing person, and in two or three years, he will be declared dead." ”

"Is Panon really missing?"

Amir stared straight at the ground, his face so pale that he lost his blood.

Bang!

He slammed the table,

"It's all my fault that I'm a selfish, indifferent idiot! If I had come to visit Panon a few years earlier and I had taken care of him, he wouldn't have disappeared. ”

What an emotional guy.

Dean hurriedly appeased,

"Don't get excited, you were also bankrupt at that time, the house was auctioned, and you couldn't live on the streets, where did you have the spare strength to help your relatives hundreds of miles away. Not even God can judge you. ”

"No, you don't understand what I've done to Panon... I... I'm sorry for him..."

Alvin held his head and his shoulders trembled.

"Then speak up." Holden stared at his pained face, and his voice was gentle and soft, "You'll feel better if someone shares your worries together." ”

Almi gritted his teeth,

"Give me some more time, and when I'm ready, I'll tell you the story of me and Panon. Now please go ahead, anything else to discover? ”

"I heard a message from the Henderson Police Department." Holden tapped his finger lightly on the coffee table, "Some time after Ling's brother Panon disappeared, there was a homicide in this house. ”

Dean nodded, "That's what the neighbors told us... The police cordoned off the house for a day and carried out the body of a homeless man? ”

"Not a bum."

Holden stared at the window not far away, his eyes became solemn,

"It's an old man in his sixties, and his identity is not simple, even unusual."

Dean and Alvin both cheered up,

"High social status?"

"Hmm. The deceased's name was Alexander Raphael, and he was a well-known psychic medium throughout Nevada. ”

Holden pulls a full-body photograph from his bosom.

Medium-sized old man in a black robe.

Slightly hunched.

His hair was gray, his skin was unusually pale, and he had a large hooked nose on a horse's face, thin lips, and eyes that were wide and somewhat protruding, giving him the feeling of being extremely excited at any time.

"Medium?"

Dean's eyelids began to beat incessantly, and a faint sense of foreboding hung over him.

"Mediums are also called psychics. In places like Siberia, northern Asia, Alaska, etc., it is known as a shaman. "They claim that they can communicate with the ghosts of the deceased, and they can ask the ghosts to share their information to help the living." ”

"So the medium can see the ghost?" Dean wondered if the psychic could see his killer "Shadow of the Past".

"Legend has it that they have special eyes that allow them to see ghosts. It can also help ordinary people who are drowning in grief to connect with their deceased relatives in search of psychological solace. ”

When it comes to the topic of the occult, both Dean and Almi are tacitly silent,

Only Holden's voice echoed in the room.

"In the United States, there is always no shortage of superstitious and ignorant people, whether in the city or in the countryside, there are a considerable number of people who believe in psychics, most of whom are bereaved and eager to use the power of psychic mediums to reconnect with their loved ones."

"There are also fanatics who take the powerful medium as a belief and worship it themselves as believers, imitate them, meditate and train, and look forward to the day when they will be able to master the power of this dialogue with the deceased."

"And this Mr. Alexander Raphael, according to my research, once channeled hundreds of customers, and because of his miraculous performance, he gained a group of believers. He was highly respected in psychic circles in America. ”

Holden's voice stopped, and he waited silently for the two listeners to digest the information.

……

"Holden, do you believe in the power of mediums?" Dean asked, he has the "shadow" in his hands, and naturally knows that there are supernatural forces in this world, and he also wants to take the opportunity to find out what the official knows about it.

"You FBI must have done a lot of research on these idealistic theories, right? Is there a conclusion? ”

Holden's expression was very strange, on the bridge of his nose, the wise and calm eyes, lost his calmness, became indecisive, and a little confused.

After a long time, he pondered,

"There was once a department that specially invited a group of well-known psychic mediums and summoned them to conduct many psychic experiments in front of many media, but 99% of them were exposed on the spot. Their so-called psychic is nothing more than a farce supported by superb acting skills and a detailed investigation of the person they communicate with in advance. ”

"What about the remaining one percent?" Dean asked,

"I can't explain it, I don't dare to jump to conclusions."

"Does that mean there are examples of successful psychics?" Dean said.

"No, with today's technology, there is no way to uncover their clever deception!" "Now, let's not talk about those superstitious things, but to get back to the point, the venerable Mr. Alexander Raphael died in this house, and died in a strange way." ”

Holden got up and circled around the couch, pointing to the dining table not far away.

"According to the case file, he was killed by the table with his neck broken."

"After he died, the killer pulled out a pair of his eyes and took them away, leaving two bloody holes."

"To commit such a heinous crime against an old man in his sixties is simply demonic," Alvin asked with a pale face, "has the murderer been caught?" ”

Holden shook his head,

"Do you think the murderer is possible—" Dean looked at the two of them with a meaningful gaze.

"No way, Panon is not in good health, and he doesn't have the strength to break people's necks."

Alvin is categorical,

"Although he is introverted, he is not bad at heart, and he will never hurt anyone!"

"Alvin is right." Holden agreed, "Panon disappeared five years ago, and Alexander died two years ago, and the two cases are too far apart in time. According to my research, there is no obvious overlap between Panon and Alexander's lives. ”

"The most important point is that the real murderer cleaned up the traces of the scene very cleanly, and the Henderson police only came to a rough inference - one of Alexander's competitors in the psychic world hired a professional-level killer to attack him."

……

There was a moment of silence in the room.

All three of them unconsciously wondered if there was some connection between the two pending cases.

But there are too few clues at the moment to get results.

"I don't understand one thing," Dean asked, "why Alexander, the psychic, is in an abandoned house in a run-down neighborhood on the outskirts of Henderson." What is his purpose? ”

"Who knows? Mediums are mysterious. Holden said jokingly, "Maybe he thinks this place is a treasure trove of feng shui, suitable for meditation." ”

……

Feng Shui treasure?

Alvin smiled wryly.

This place is full of memories of his ups and downs.

More than 20 years ago, my father died of illness on the bed,

My brother also disappeared here five years ago.

Two years ago, an unsolicited psychic medium was killed.

Yesterday, two new Blood Killers were added to the house.

It is a proper place of doom.

……

At this moment, Holden glanced under the table, and was suddenly attracted by the reddish-brown wooden box, which looked more delicate and mysterious in the sunlight, especially the pale blue pupil pattern, which seemed to be filled with seductive magic. "Where did you find this antique?"

"In the attic, I think this thing is a bit wicked." Dean had a solemn expression,

"Isn't it just a box, and you can't have a lamp god and a devil popping out?"

Holden carried the wooden box outside into the house and opened it in the sunlight, and an elegant fragrance poured out.

The glare of the sun shone out two strange things in the box—

Two planks overlapping top and bottom.

A rectangular piece is the size of a chessboard, with YES, NO, HELLO, and three bold English words drawn on the top.

Further down is a list of all the English letters.

And at the bottom are drawn ten numbers from 0 to 9.

At a cursory glance, the chessboard looks like some kind of children's educational toy.

But if you look closely, the background color of those letters and numbers is as white as ashes, which is creepy.

The other, much smaller plank, the size of a palm, was teardrop-shaped, with a transparent piece of glass embedded near its tip, through which the other side could be clearly seen.

……

Holden took out a teardrop-shaped board and rubbed it, put it to his nose and sniffed,

"Made of sandalwood."

"What the hell is this?" Dean asked,

"Have you never played a Halloween adventure? Around Halloween, thrill-seeking teenagers gather in remote abandoned houses to try to communicate with nearby ghosts with this set of soul saga. ”

"This board-shaped, letter-filled, large-area plank is called a Ouija board."

"This little teardrop-shaped plank is called a plank."

"They combine to form a soul succuba board."

Holden pressed the plate against the Ouija board, allowing the lens of the plate lens to hold down the word "NO".

"The children sit in a closed chamber, summon ghosts and ask each other questions, and then the ghosts will push the lenses of the board to cover the numbers and letters on the Ouija board and piece together its answers."

Dean suddenly,

He had seen this thing many times in movie sets in his previous life.

But does it really work?

Dean questioned Shadow, but Shadow didn't respond.

Hall shook his head and smiled and continued,

"The essence of playing this game is to 'scare yourself'. The legends that summon evil spirits are nothing more than made-up horror stories. ”

"But mediums like to use a ouija board to amplify their abilities. So... Eight or nine are not far from ten, these two boards and boxes are supposed to be the relics of Alexander Raphael, the psychic who died in the house. ”

Alvin had a look of disappointment on his face when he heard this.

"Did Panon play soul divination before?" Dean glanced at the progress of the system, such a day of investigation, coupled with the discussion of the psychic medium, the progress of the investigation only increased from fifteen percent to twenty percent, and there was still a long way to go from the goal.

Alvin shook his head, "He's very timid, and he never celebrates Halloween." ”

All three were silent.

Holden began to repeatedly inspect the mahogany box, trying to find the hidden mezzanine.

But he found nothing but to put the ouija board back in the chest.

"In addition to this box, there is a bed in the attic, and we will go check it again, this time with a few more flashlights."

……

In the narrow and dark attic, the bright light of three flashlights illuminated the swarthy bed.

"So heavy, made of cement?" Holden lifted the corner of the bed with his right hand, but his face was flushed and he couldn't lift it at all.

And Dean carefully wiped it with his hand, and with a compound of dust, hair, and dander in his palm, he frowned,

"Throw it here, man, I'll take it back and ask a friend to test it, and compare it to the biological sample Alexander left behind two years ago."

Holden took out a pair of tweezers from his coat pocket, a test tube, carefully clipped the residue into the tube, closed it, and put it in a plastic bag.

"If nothing else, these remnants should come from Alexander, the psychic."

"The bed and the soul divination board, cramped the dark space, after Panon's disappearance, Alexander made this ownerless house his own territory."

Holden analyzed,

"I think he was going to settle in this attic for a long time, training his psychic abilities day and night, but he was accidentally assassinated."

"But I don't see any relationship between him and Panon at the moment."

Dean nodded, looking to the other side,

"Alvin?"

"Alvin!"

"Ahh I'm here! I'm listening—" Alvin looked away from the dark bed and made a strange request, "Mr. Holden, can you bring my blood back with you and compare it to this residue?" ”

Dean suddenly felt that this guy was hiding something from him.

"Luckily, I was prepared."

And Holden nodded, took out a blood collection needle from the briefcase, handed it to Alvin, instructed him to collect blood from the vein on the back of his hand, and quickly retrieved a bright red sample and put it in the briefcase,

"I'll compare your blood, this residue, and Alexander's old sample, and maybe find new clues. It's not too early, let's go back to the hotel and come back tomorrow. ”

"I want to stay overnight."

Alvin's words surprised the two.

"You're not kidding, you're not afraid of the Blood Gang's revenge?" Holden didn't understand.

"Didn't you say you couldn't sleep well in this house?" Dean was equally puzzled.

"I'm sorry, I had to stay and confirm an idea..."

Alvin looked at the two of them pleadingly, his attitude was extremely resolute,

Holden and Dean exchanged a look.

"Dean, you are good, stay with Alvin and take care of him."

"Okay... I sacrificed my sacrifice. Dean looked at Holden, "How long will it take for this test to come back?" ”

His mission lasted only seven days.

And it is worth mentioning that the world's DNA testing has developed several years faster than the world in the previous life.

In the past 80 years, the relevant technology in the previous world was still in its infancy, but this world has been relatively perfect.

"I'm going to try to finish it tomorrow," Holden said, "and I'll do my best to get the forensic guys to work overtime to do a favor." ”