Whispering Poems

Whispering Poems Chapter 360

2021-09-27

Chapter 359 A friend's old painting

The Freemans now live on the second floor of an apartment along the street , although the area of the house is not as big as before, but at least it is clean, tidy and safe, and there is no problem as a temporary foothold. But after all, the male master of the family is dead, and their lives will probably be more difficult in the future.

The two children go to a public high school in the city, and there are summer vacations in the steam era, and they are at home with Mrs. Freeman. Mrs. Freeman told the children not to disturb, and then entertained the two in the living room. After returning the keys, August first introduced Shade to the haggard woman with high nose and yellow hair:

“This is Detective Shade Hamilton of St. Teresa Square, a friend of mine. He heard about Mr. Freeman from me and went with me to Hangleton Gardens today."

"Good afternoon ma'am, this investigation is just my personal curiosity and is free of charge. It just so happens that my writer friend is writing detective novels and I want to help her gather some material."

Shade said The words handed out his business card. The title of "Detective of Sainteland Place" was very intimidating. In addition, he was a friend brought by Auguste Priest. Naturally, Mrs. Freeman would not mind his appearance.

After thanking Shade in a low voice, Augustus priest talked about their experiences in the morning. When asked about the attic, Mrs. Freeman also recalled those paintings:
"It was my husband's scraps, and these works are usually burnt to prevent them from going to the market. His death was too sudden. , I didn't have time to destroy the last batch of scraps, I originally planned to take them away, probably forgot them in the attic."

Shade actually sympathizes with this middle-aged woman, she has no legitimate income, the whole family They all depend on dead painters for a living. When I moved out of the house in a hurry, I even left my luggage behind. And in the days to come, after selling the few paintings left at home, they would have to survive on their own.

"I want to make sure, when Mr. Freeman had an accident, did he also leave blood in the attic?"

Shade asked, Mrs. Freeman nodded, With a sad look on his face:

"Yes, there are cuts on his palms, apart from this, and five or six old non-fatal wounds. Police at Ridwich Field. We found this as well when we examined the body, but no matching knives were found in the attic, and it was later speculated that it was something sharp when it fell."

"Don't know about you."

Shade wanted to ask Mr. Freeman what the woman in front of him was doing when the accident happened, but he couldn't get the words out. The experience of the young outlander is not as good as that of the old priest, Augustus priest 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 in the attic picking up old drawings, didn't expect"

Even though it's been a week, The woman still can't forget the terrifying scene that day.

Shade and Priest, who were sitting on the sofa, looked at each other, and Priest said cautiously:

"As for Mr. Freeman, at present, it should be generally recognized with the church. The haunting incident is irrelevant. However, within a week or two of Mr. Freeman's mental state change, has he been exposed to anything strange? Antiques bought out of nowhere, strange potions, or the occasional vendor The bone ornaments you got there?"

"No, he's been busy painting all summer and rarely does anything weird, if it's really weird, it's probably only half a month ago , some oil paintings sent to him from the south by a friend he met in Carson Rick when he was young. An old local painter passed away, and his valuable old paintings were sold in batches. My husband entrusted a friend Bought a batch and wanted to get some inspiration from other people's painting styles."

Shade looked at the priest once again, and the two of them were wrong. It wasn't the Evil Spirit who occupied the house, or the house itself had any secrets. If Mr. Freeman's death really involved mysterious, it probably had something to do with that batch of paintings.

When the house moved, the paintings were also brought to the new rental apartment by Mrs. Freeman. Because the family is only living here temporarily, and plans to wait until the previous house is sold, and move to a cheaper neighborhood in the northern district of Tobesque, so most of the luggage is not unpacked, but is stored in a separate room in the apartment.

Stacked in wooden boxes in the corners, most of them are paintings collected by Mr. Grimman during his lifetime. It's a pity that these relics are not valuable, otherwise the family's life could be improved.

Mrs. Grimman quickly found the wooden box in which the paintings were stored. The wooden box had been opened, and a very professional cardboard clip was used to store the paintings.

Auguspriest started rummaging with the clip, while Shade stood by and chatted with Mrs. Freeman:
“I noticed that this wooden box had been opened and someone had moved the inside. Anything?"

"The children may have been rummaging for toys in it, and since I moved here, I've been dealing with things all day long and rarely taking care of them"

"Shade !"

The priest suddenly shouted, and Shade turned around quickly:

"What's wrong?"

"One less painting, one less painting. ”

He pulled out White's cardboard portfolio, and one of the sheets in the middle was actually blank. This is not the front and back ends, the two adjacent paintings on this page are also there, so there is indeed a missing painting here.

"Maybe the children moved."

Seeing that Shade's and the old priest's faces were wrong, the middle-aged woman who didn't know what was going on said in a panic.

The priest immediately shoved the picture clip to her:

"Mrs. Freeman, please confirm which picture is missing here, and recall the content of the picture. Shade, you Go find the older boy, and I'll bring the little girl here."

"Understood."

The rental apartment is about the size of Shade's house on the second floor. Big, after leaving the room where the cardboard boxes were stored, Shade walked forward past the bathroom door, and 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 August priest had led the little girl with the rabbit doll out of the room, and Mrs. Grimman with the picture clip had also arrived. Outside, the expression on his face was a little dazed:

"The lost painting, I remember as if it was painted on the sundries on the table. A rotten black apple, a plaster statue with front and rear double heads, A toy wooden model of a three-story house, a golden pendant, and an antique vase with a quirky pattern Yes."

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

In Mrs. Freeman's account, every item on the screen sounds problematic.

(end of this chapter)