Whispering Verse

The Freeman family now lives on the second floor of an apartment along the street. Although the area of ​​the house is not as large as before, at least it is clean, tidy and safe, and it is no problem as a temporary place to stay. But after all, the man of the family is dead, and their lives will probably be even more difficult in the future.

The two children attended the public high school in the city, and during the summer holidays in the steam era they were at home with Mrs. Freeman. Mrs. Freeman asked the children not to disturb them, and then entertained the two of them in the living room. After returning the key, Priest Augustus introduced Shade to the haggard woman with high nose and yellow hair:

"This is Detective Shad Hamilton of St. Teresa's Square, a friend of mine. He heard about Mr. Freeman from me and went to Hangleton Garden Street with me today."

"Good afternoon, madam, this investigation is just my personal curiosity and there is no charge. It happens that my writer friend is writing a detective novel, and I want to help her collect some materials."

As Shade spoke, he handed over his business card. The title of "Detective of St. Teresa's Square" was very bluffing. In addition, he was a friend brought by Priest Augustus. Naturally, Mrs. Freeman wouldn't mind. his appearance.

After thanking Shade in a low voice, Priest Augustus talked about the two people's experiences in the morning. When asked about the attic, Mrs. Freeman also recalled the oil paintings:

"Those are my husband's scrap manuscripts. Usually these works are burned to prevent them from being sold on the market. He passed away too suddenly and did not have time to destroy the last batch of scrap manuscripts. I originally planned to take them away, but I probably forgot. It’s in the attic.”

Shade actually sympathized with this middle-aged woman. She had no legitimate income and her whole family relied on the dead painter to support her. When I moved out of the house in a hurry, I even left my luggage behind. In the days to come, after selling the remaining paintings at home, they had to survive on their own.

"I want to confirm that when Mr. Freeman suffered an accident, was there any blood stains in the attic?"

Shade asked. Mrs. Freeman nodded with a sad look on her face:

"Yes, there were cuts on his palms. In addition, there were five or six old non-fatal wounds on his body. The police at Ridwich Field also discovered this when they examined the body, but No matching knife was found in the attic and it was later assumed that he had hit something sharp during the fall.”

"I do not know you"

Shade wanted to ask Mr. Freeman what the woman in front of him was doing when the accident happened, but the words came to his lips but he couldn't. The experience of young foreigners cannot compare with that of old priests. Priest Augustus put it another way:

"How long after Mr. Freeman's accident did you discover him?"

"About half an hour later, when the children were playing in the garden, I went to buy bread. We thought he was collecting old drawings in the attic, but we didn't expect it."

Even though a week had passed, the woman still forgot the horrific scene that day.

Shade and the priest, who were sitting on the sofa, glanced at each other. The priest said cautiously:

"What happened to Mr. Freeman seems to have nothing to do with the generally recognized haunting incident in the church. However, within a week or two after Mr. Freeman's mental state changed, did he come into contact with anything strange? For example, antiques bought from nowhere, strange potions, or bone ornaments accidentally obtained from vendors?”

"No, he has been busy painting all summer and rarely produces anything. If it is really strange, it can only be half a month ago. A friend he met in Kasenlik when he was young sent it from the south. Some of his oil paintings. An old local painter passed away, and his collection of worthless old paintings were sold in batches. My husband commissioned a friend to buy a batch, hoping to find some inspiration from other people's painting styles."

Shade and the priest looked at each other again. As a result, their original thinking was wrong. It’s not the evil spirits that have taken over the house, or the house itself holding any secrets. If there is indeed something mysterious about Mr. Freeman's death, it may well have something to do with the paintings.

When they moved, the paintings were taken to the new rental apartment by Mrs. Freeman. Because the family only lived here temporarily and planned to move to a cheaper neighborhood in Tobesk North District until the previous house was sold, most of the luggage was not unpacked but stored in a separate room in the apartment.

Most of the wooden boxes stacked in the corner are paintings collected by Mr. Grieman during his lifetime. It's a pity that these relics are not valuable, otherwise the family's life could be improved.

Mrs. Greenman quickly found the wooden box where the oil paintings were stored. The wooden box had been opened, and a very professional cardboard picture folder was used to store the oil paintings.

Priest August took the folder and started rummaging through it, while Shade stood aside and chatted with Mrs. Freeman:

"I noticed that this wooden box has been opened. Has anyone touched the contents?"

"The children may have rummaged for toys inside. After moving here, I was dealing with things all day long and rarely took care of them."

"Shadow!"

The priest suddenly shouted, and Shade turned around quickly:

"What's wrong?"

"One piece is missing, one painting is missing."

He opened the white cardboard picture folder, and one of the pictures in the middle was actually blank. This is not the front and back ends, but the two adjacent paintings on this page are also there, so there is indeed a missing painting here.

"Maybe the children moved it"

Seeing that both Shade and the old priest looked wrong, the middle-aged woman who didn't know what happened said in a panic.

The priest immediately gave her the picture folder:

"Mrs. Freeman, please confirm which painting is missing here and recall the content. Shade, you go find the older boy. I will bring the little girl over."

"clear."

The rental apartment was about the same size as Room 1 on the second floor of Shade's house. After leaving the room where the cardboard boxes were stored, Shade walked forward and crossed the bathroom door, then reached out and knocked on the closed door:

"Please open the door. Your mother has something to do with you."

But there was no sound from inside. Shade turned his head and saw that Priest Augustus had led the little girl holding the rabbit doll out of the room, and Mrs. Grimman, who was holding a picture folder, also came outside, with a look on her face. Somewhat dazed:

"The lost painting, I remember, seems to be a painting of the sundries on the table. A rotten black apple, a plaster statue of two heads on the front and back, a toy wooden model of a three-story house, a golden pendant and a An antique vase with a weird pattern. I have no deep impression of this painting. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have even remembered that I knew this painting existed.”

She had a confused look on her face, obviously doubting her own memory.

In Mrs. Freeman's account, everything on the picture sounded problematic.