Late at night.

Dean and Jonathan returned to the intensive care unit.

"Hi, Uncle Paqui." Jonathan waved his hand at the big man guarding the door like a god, and the latter gave him a warm hug, almost suffocating the boy with his chest muscles,

"How's it going? Dean, this kid didn't bully the small, right? ”

"You're joking, he taught me a lot of useful things and gave me two books," Jonathan said gratefully, and went into the room again to hug the tired woman, "Aunt Lucia, I've come to see you, how is Peter?" ”

"Woo... The same old way. The woman covered her mouth sadly,

Paqui shook his head and turned to Dean, "What clues did you investigate?" ”

Dean recounted his previous actions, and then questioned the woman beside the bedside,

"Ms. Lucia, why didn't you tell me that Peter was in Monica's magic show before he fell unconscious."

"Monica, the scantily clad prostitute dancing in the tent?" Lucia suddenly got up, a hideous look appeared on her tired pale face, and her eyes flashed with anger, "How could Peter go to see such a shameless performance?" ”

"But there were several witnesses who saw him at the magic show." Dean's words were like needles, and Lucia's face turned blue and purple for a while, and she gritted her teeth, as if sparks were flashing in the air.

This anger was beyond Dean's comprehension.

After a while, she took a deep breath to restrain her anger, sat back on the edge of the bed, and clasped Peter's hand with both hands, and touched it lightly on her chin, "I'm sorry I'm too excited, I really don't like Peter going to that kind of improper place." But during that time, I was busy working the night shift, and I didn't know his movements, so I didn't mean to hide it from you. ”

"I see." Dean stared at the haggard face covered by the oxygen mask and said, "According to my investigation, Peter was ostracized by his classmates because of his special hobbies, and he was very unhappy and lonely. ”

"Lonely? With me by his side, how could he be lonely? Lucia shook her head stubbornly, and her red hair, which had not been washed for a while, rippled with oil,

"Then you know, he sometimes hid in the bookstore and cried alone, and he even volunteered a few times at the magic show, and I suspect he has the urge to commit suicide."

Lucia seemed to be electrocuted, her face turned white, and a large number of nasolabial folds and crow's feet appeared, revealing a great panic and pain, and then she clung to the patient's withered hand with such force that her nails sank into the flesh.

"Nope! Peter was a good boy, and his mother's faith did not allow him to commit suicide, and he would not do that. ”

"I take such good care of him, he won't cruelly leave me alone and leave alone!"

"Peter couldn't have killed himself!"

"Gather your strength, Auntie, you're going to hurt Peter." Jonathan persuaded her, and the woman hurriedly let go, and carefully recuperated her hands, with a gentle demeanor, as if she were caring for fragile porcelain.

Dean's brow furrowed even tighter when he saw this.

Peter's closest people contradict the clues they have investigated.

Paqui patted the woman's shoulder soothingly, and then looked at Dean again, "You can't label a normal person as suicidal for nothing, and Peter doesn't have any traces of suicide on his body." ”

"So I need more leads." Dean warned Lucia, "If you want to save Peter, don't hide anything. ”

"What to hide? I've said everything I need to say! The woman stared at Dean with some nervousness, "If I can save Peter, I am willing to die immediately, go to hell, and exchange my life for my life!" ”

Tough woman.

Dean rubbed his temples, a little angry in his heart, and at the same time couldn't help but have a bold thought, could it be that this woman poisoned her nephew?

But he didn't have any evidence, and his progress didn't change.

He sighed, the woman is extremely emotionally unstable now, and it is not good to continue to ask,

"Can I visit your and Peter's house, then?"

"Just go."

Lucia handed over a bunch of keys, and her bloodshot eyes did not leave Peter,

"Maple Street, 25, Peter's condition is dangerous, I have to look after him and can't leave, you go by yourself. Please don't break anything in the house. ”

"Yes. I won't bother. Dean left the room and entered the hallway, and said to Paqui, "I forgot to ask, you visited Monica's magic show?" ”

The big man shook his head, stretched out his index finger and shook it, "I repeat, I only like yellow-skinned women, and I'm not interested in white women wearing revealing heavy makeup." ”

"But I suspect Monica has something to do with Peter's illness, and I need someone to find her in the town near Hawkins, and preferably bring her back."

Pakui frowned and patted his chest proudly,

"Leave it to me, I'll make a few calls, and a guy will be there to help you find someone soon."

……

At around twelve o'clock in the morning, Dean and Jonathan got back on the road, and with him as the backbone, Jonathan also insisted on saving his friends together, so he also made a special call home to urge his younger brother Will not to play DND and go to bed early.

When Dean was driving, he went through the clues in his head again, and had a vague idea, but the current investigation progress is too small, and the clues are not enough, so it is far from certain.

"Dean, how do I feel that you are a little different from the detective in the book?" Jonathan, who was in the co-pilot, interrupted his thoughts by munching on an energy bar, "There are no magnifying glasses, markers, gloves, and quartz watches, and the way you investigate is a bit confusing to me." ”

"It's too ordinary, isn't it? After all, I am still an amateur detective, and my case-handling skills are seriously insufficient. Dean puffed out his cheeks like a squirrel and swallowed a burger in one gulp, "It's all guesswork and luck." ”

"Hopefully, this time, the Spirit of the Ancestors will be on our side."

Jonathan also closed his eyes and prayed.

"By the way, Dean, Peter's house is 25 Maple Street, very close to 16 Maggie's house, should we visit Maggie first? What if she knows something? ”

"The girl who was frightened by Peter's confession?"

"Yes, she's the only girl Peter ever liked."

"It's midnight now, is it convenient?" But Dean's considerations proved to be superfluous.

When he drove past the small villa of red bricks and green tiles at No. 16 Maple Street, God's perspective swept away, and there was only an ordinary-looking short-haired girl lying on the bed in the bedroom on the second floor, holding an acoustic guitar in a daze.

Parents are not at home.

Bang, bang.

The two knocked on the door.

"Who?"

"It's me, Jonathan... Peter's friend. Jonathan said hesitantly, Dean on the side shook his head, how can this guy be shy at every turn.

The house was quiet at first, and then there was a rush of footsteps approaching the door, and the girl looked at the cat's eyes.

"It's too late today, Jonathan, is there anything you can talk about tomorrow? See you at the mall? ”

"We... Something important..."

Dean couldn't listen anymore and spoke loudly,

"Maggie, is she? I'm a private detective hired by Peter's aunt Lucia, and I'm currently investigating Peter's illness," Dean took out his detective's license from his bosom and slapped it on the cat's eye,

The girl was stunned for a moment, and opened her mouth to reveal shiny braces, "Shouldn't Peter call a doctor when he's sick, why call a detective?" ”

"Because he is very sick and there is a special cause of the disease, it needs to be investigated."

"Peter's condition is very bad right now, and accidents can happen at any time, if you have any clues about his illness, or his abnormal behavior before his illness, please tell me."

The girl leaned against the wooden door and hesitated,

Seeing this, Dean looked at Jonathan, who gritted his teeth and said boldly,

"Maggie, if you drag it any longer, Peter will die. If you're still angry that he intimidated you with a toy, I apologize for him. Jonathan bowed very sincerely, "For the sake of my classmates, do me a favor." ”

"No need to apologize, it's all over." Maggie hesitated, "But is Peter really dying?" ”

"The doctors all said he didn't have much time left."

At this time, Dean's God perspective observed that the girl inside the door showed a worried expression, and there was a hint of regret in his eyes, and he hurriedly said nonsense,

"Maggie, you know what? Before he fell into a coma, Peter kept saying that you were the prettiest and kindest girl in school, and that he would never forget you. ”

Finally, Maggie covered her chest, closed her eyes, and spoke tremblingly,

"What do you want to know?"

Dean couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth, "Anything to do with Peter... Don't miss a word. ”

"Then you'll have to keep it a secret for me, swear!"

"I assure you in the name of a private detective, and I'm just an outsider to Hawkins, I don't know your classmates, teachers, or parents, and I don't pose any threat to you." Dean raised his hand in a cat's eye, "You don't even have to open the door, just say it through the door." ”

"I swear to God," Jonathan swallowed, promising loudly, "we're definitely not going to leak tonight's conversation to the outside world, otherwise... Otherwise, I won't be able to have a girlfriend for the rest of my life! ”

"Well, I believe you," Maggie took a deep breath, her ant-like whisper sounding over the trees, "I had sex with Peter some time before he fell unconscious. ”

"What?" Jonathan was so shocked that he almost jumped on the spot, "Why didn't Peter mention it to me!" ”

"I told him to keep it a secret."

Dean on the side was really powerless to complain, how could there be so many secrets between this group of adolescent teenagers and girls, and they would be kept secret at every turn.

"But don't you hate Peter? He scares you with his blood-stained wolf tooth necklace confession. Jonathan still doesn't believe it,

"I was quite angry at first, but after the anger subsided, I suddenly felt that the monster remarks in his mouth sounded scary, but it was very fresh and cool to listen to more, and I began to secretly follow him, and then found that in addition to his eccentricity and withdrawnness, he was actually a very gentle person who liked to think about others." There was a glimmer of light in Maggie's eyes,

"And you know, we haven't dated anyone at our age, we're still virgins, and we're going to be mercilessly ridiculed by our friends, so I asked him to have a relationship, and every night, my parents and his aunt go out to work, and we go on a date."

"He kept his promise and never revealed it, so he didn't even know about you, his best friend."

"A month ago, on my birthday, I brought up wanting to experience it with him for the first time, in my home."

Jonathan's mouth opened wide in surprise and envy, how could he not have encountered such a good thing?

And Dean felt amazing—the information he heard from other people's mouths was completely different from the truth of the investigation himself.

"We were ready for everything, the atmosphere was perfect, everything went well, he behaved very patiently, gently, made me feel that choosing him was the wisest decision of my life, we got into the groove, we started to enjoy it, but when I sat on it, he suddenly..."Maggie paused, wrinkled his nose, "he suddenly yelled 'Lucia', pushed me away in fear, hurriedly got dressed and ran out of the house. ”

There's so much in that short sentence.

Jonathan was directly stunned on the spot, and Dean was also stunned for a moment.

The progress of the survey jumped from 25 percent to 30 percent.

"I don't know what that is, but no woman can stand to hear her boyfriend call out the name of another woman when she is intimate."

"I was as nauseous as eating a fly, and I even had psychological shadows, and I had nightmares for days. Peter ruined my first time, he insulted me! Maggie rested her forehead against the door panel, her complicated face drooping, "I've treated him like air ever since, and I haven't bothered him." ”

"I barely spoke to him until he had an accident."

"Do you still hate him?" Jonathan asked, a little confused,

"Hate it or not, the relationship between me and him is completely over."

"You just mentioned almost, that is, there was still an exchange?" Dean captures a key word.

"Well, after that disgusting incident, the day before he fell unconscious, he came to my house again, apologized to me sincerely, and gave me a gift, a guitar..."Maggie muttered, "I mentioned to him that I was saving money to buy a guitar, but I didn't expect him to keep it in mind." ”

"I gave the guitar and what did I say?" Dean asked,

"There was only one 'goodbye'..."Maggie raised her face, her eyes full of dazed and melancholy, "His expression was strange, full of reluctance, and a kind of relief, and it gave me the feeling that he was about to leave Hawkins and would never come back, and that he had an accident the next day." ”

"I never got over that hurdle in my heart, and I didn't dare to go to the hospital to face Peter."

The progress of the survey jumped to 35 percent.

"But I hope you will save Peter, he is a good man and does not deserve such a fate." Maggie pleaded with her face against the wooden door, "Bring me a greeting, and help me keep it a secret, don't tell me about tonight." ”

……

At three o'clock in the morning, even the moon hid in the clouds, and the sky was pitch black.

The air was fresh and there was a biting coldness.

Dean and Jonathan say goodbye to Maggie and drive to 25 Maple Street.

Bronco walked through the night.

Dean stared straight out the car window into the night, and all the clues he had found today flashed through his mind.

There are only a few that can cause progress changes-

Peter is a lonely, peculiar eccentric

Monica's magic show

Peter had suicidal tendencies

When Peter was intimate with his girlfriend, he was very frightened and called out the name of his aunt Lucia.

Peter said goodbye to both his best friend and ex-girlfriend before he fell into a coma.

Dean felt like he was almost sorting out.

"Man, Peter said goodbye to Maggie, does that mean he really wants to kill himself?" Jonathan asked wryly, keenly not mentioning Lucia.

"This probability is getting bigger and bigger, and I hope that they can find important evidence in their home."

(End of chapter)