Chapter 9 chapter eight

Quesetti's mother is called Mary.Margaret.Quesetti, everyone called her Mary Peg.She possesses specialties that are useful both as an advanced research librarian and as a mother, such as an extraordinary memory, a love of truth, an incorrigible attention to detail, and professional-level lie detection.Therefore, although she also wants to give her son the privacy he should have as an adult, in this small Queens bungalow, mother and child have too many opportunities to interact in daily life, and she can generally grasp the son's privacy. How do you feel at the moment.Until ten days ago, the interaction between mother and child was probably like this.He has always been a little melancholy, but one day he suddenly sang while taking a bath, his whole body was radiant from the inside out, she guessed he was in love.Parents are always happy and scared when they know such things.But after a while, he broke down again, and she concluded that he had been dumped, and the joy of the relationship was surprisingly strong and ended surprisingly quickly.

I am very worried about him.She told her eldest daughter on the phone that this is not like him. Mom, he keeps getting dumped.The eldest daughter, Jenna Keen, is a psychiatrist and her mother's chief adviser: she is very nice, but she doesn't know anything about having a girlfriend.It's fine. Jenna, you didn't see him, he was like a walking dead.When I got home from get off work, I felt like I had worked hard all day in the salt mines. I didn’t eat and went to bed at 8:30, which was so unnatural. Well, I can talk to him about Jenna said. Do you mean heal him? Mom, it's not therapy, I can't heal my own loved ones, but if you want to hear someone else's opinion, I can find a way.

Daughter, I know if my kids are crazy.He's not there yet, I mean he's not that crazy yet.Here's my plan: cook a nice breakfast on Saturday, sit him down and eat it, then ask him what's wrong.What do you think? Jenna said a few words in support of Mom's approach, without comment at all.Even in her dreams, Jenna dared not dream that she could have the ability to tell the truth like her mother. When her mother, Mary Pegg, called to ask for advice from others, she actually meant that she hoped that others would agree with her, so Jenna also did her duty and said something of support for her mother.In fact, she thinks that the younger brother just needs to move out of his mother's house, find a decent job, and get a girlfriend.The most important of these is to stop living with my mother.But she didn't want to cause an argument.When she and her two younger sisters became adults, they moved away as soon as they could. It wasn't that they didn't love their mother, but the shadow she cast was too great.Poor brother!

Every time Mary Pegg asks her eldest daughter Jenna for professional advice, she feels better and is glad that her daughter's advice matches her own.She served a hearty and delicious breakfast as planned.The son showed up at the table, drank a little fresh orange juice, ate a few mouthfuls of French toast, and said thank you so much for the breakfast, but he wasn't really hungry.Upon hearing her son say this, Mary Peg tapped her spoon on the glass to imitate the bang of a fire alarm.The son turned sharply and stared at her. Come on, bastard, go ahead!She stared straight at him as he spoke, the color of her eyes was as hot as gas lamps, and her temperature was the same.

say what? say what?Do you think you're a zombie from Night of the Living Dead?It's been almost two weeks, do you think I didn't notice?I think you're just about to break down. Mom, I'm fine Obviously there is something!It's that girl, her name is Carlo, right? Caroline.Lori.He sighed deeply. That's her.Well, you know I never pry into the private lives of my children. It's better. Albert, how dare you talk back!She immediately changed to a more gentle tone, to be honest, I am a little worried about you, you have broken up with girls before, but your behavior is not so weird.

It's not a breakup, Mom, it's not that I don't know what it is, that's the problem.I mean, we've only dated once, and it was really good, but she just kind of disappeared, I think. Mary Pegg took a sip of coffee and waited. A few minutes later, Albert had already told the whole story, including Miss Lori's devious life story, the manuscript, and Bustrow.Her husband used to describe the process of handling cases to her. Other police officers would think that their wives were too fragile to listen to police stories, but her husband was different, and Mary Page was indeed not vulnerable.That's the trick, she thought, a sympathetic ear, a word of encouragement.She was a little disturbed, hearing that her son fell in love with someone like Miss Luo Li, if it was stricter, it would not be an exaggeration to say that she was a felon, and she didn't like anything about Luo Li, but she restrained herself and didn't say anything about her Opinion.Now her son was talking about the development after the first date. Of course, he didn't give all the details clearly, but she could fill in the blanks with her experience and imagination.

As I just said, we got along well that time, and I was in a very good mood. I was looking forward to seeing her in the store when I went to work the next day.Turns out she wasn't there.I asked Mr. Glaser, and he said that Luo Li called to ask for leave for a few days. I thought it was a bit strange. I mean, I thought we should have some affection, and she should call me.But like I said, she's a weirdo, so you know, I just play cool.Anyway, when the day came when she was supposed to be back at work, she didn't show up, Glaser called her, the phone was dead, we were all a little panicked, I went to her house after get off work to see what was going on.When I got to the street where she lived, I saw a big garbage truck parked outside, and a demolition crew was tearing down her building, their work was coming to an end for the day, but I saw they set up a chute, Let the workers dump the scraps and things directly into the garbage truck, right on top of her window on the top floor.I asked the foreman, he didn't know anything, and he received a call from the building management company, saying that there was an urgent project and the building was going to be demolished.He gave me the name of the building management company but wouldn't let me into the building.The furniture, as I said, was beautifully made by herself out of cardboard, and I saw her work table and other things crushed, and it was like seeing her dead body.

Quesetti seemed to be shaking, pushing the French toast away with her fork. Anyway, there was nothing I could do there, and I was so scared out of my wits that I had to leave.There were papers falling from the street and sidewalks, and it was a very windy day, so I thought something lighter might have floated off the truck, or been blown away as it fell from the chute onto the truck.I was like an idiot, picking up those papers down the street, thinking: she's going to want this, this picture, this postcard; I'm really stupid, because she should have taken everything she wanted. He took out his wallet and showed her a folded postcard and a folded photograph.

It's sad, right?Walking around with these things, as if expecting a miracle, as if as long as I'm still holding some of hers we're still somehow connected and she hasn't quite disappeared.He put the papers in his wallet, looking desperate.Mary Peg wanted to hold him on her lap and kiss his brow as she had done when she was a child, but she had to bear it.She just said: Well, what about those ancient books?Do you think she took it? hope so.I didn't see those books. According to my opinion, they should be crushed under the truck. It's a bit ironic, like the plot of the classic old movie "Blood on the Sands", in which no one got the treasure in the end.

The last sentence made Mary Pegg a little more relieved.If he's still talking about movies, it shouldn't be hopeless yet.She said: You must have called the management company, right? Of course, I also ran to their company.That company was called Abel Real Estate Management, and it was over at the Brooklyn District Council. There was only one receptionist in the office who was completely out of shape, and the boss who never joined the company.When I finally got on the phone with my boss, he said he didn't know Carolyn.For a character like Luo Li, the top floor had never been rented out as a residence, and it was impossible to live there, so it was demolished.I asked him who was the owner of the house, and he said it was a secret, an international consortium.I called Professor Booth Zhuo, and the secretary of the department said that he had already left for England the day before, and he was not sure when he would return. If the visiting professor had no classes, he was free to go wherever he wanted.It's summer, so he doesn't have classes, but she won't give me the professor's contact number in Oxford.

His dejected expression made her feel a pang in her heart.Mom, I don't know what to do, I think something must have happened to her, I always feel it's my fault. Nonsense, the only thing you did wrong was to cooperate with her scheme.Listen, I know you like this girl, but it looks like she's gone off with some illegal money. Illegally obtained property?Mom, she's not robbing a liquor store, she's a bookbinder, restoring a set of beautiful books that the boss doesn't want, and Glaser isn't losing a penny, he just wants the money for selling the set. Remember, he didn't get the money. I'm not making excuses, but if she's really a liar, she's a thief.There were some things she wouldn't do, and it wasn't exactly her style to sneak away like this and not give Glaser what she was supposed to be getting.I mean, she has things she wants to do.You haven't seen her home, she built her own small world in that dilapidated house in the Red Bend District, a workspace built by herself, and her work is all she has.She would never just leave everything behind. Honey, I don't know, does this young woman sound inscrutable, almost erratic, can I say?According to her, she was severely abused, and you're saying she's a bit of a fugitive?Possibly caught?What do you mean by shaking your head? No, and I'm not sure she's a fugitive.I did a lot of research on the Internet, and you think, if a man named Roy put a man named CarolynSomething like Lori's girl locked up for ten years and used as a sex toy should be a hit, but I couldn't find anything.I called the Kansas City Star, the Topeka Capital, the Wichita Eagle, and a few other Kansas newspapers and got nothing. No one had ever heard of such a case.Well, maybe she changed her name, but still so I'll just call Patty. Mary Pegg noticed her son's expression.Calling Patty clearly made his son look ashamed.He should really feel ashamed too.Patty, the second daughter, followed in her father's footsteps into the New York City Police Department and was promoted to the third-level detective.NYPD officers should not use their authority to conduct investigations for family members, but many people do, and Mary Pegg occasionally uses her daughter's channels to obtain information for her own research.Every time she did this, her son would scold her severely.Didn't expect it now?Ha ha! But she put away her complacent expression, and simply spit out: Oh? Yeah, I asked her to check the records to see if she was a fugitive. Then There is no record, at least with Caroline.Luo Li's status is none. Are you saying she lied?About that uncle and the identity of the fugitive? I guess so.How else would it make sense?I guess that's what breaks me because I really like her, it's kind of like you and dad keep talking about the first time you met, you were behind the counter in the library, When he came to borrow books, the two of you looked at each other and felt very confident.We are like this too. Yes, that's right, but, dear baby son, that feeling needs to be mutual. I didn't pack up my luggage and disappear after a date with your dad. I thought I was with her!I thought that was it, if not, if this is all a fantasy in my head, where the hell am I?I must be crazy. Please, you are not crazy.If there is something abnormal about you, I will be the first to tell you, just like I hope you will tell me if I have dementia.She clapped her palms and made a crisp sound, as if this incident had been going on for a long time.She said: What are we going to do? us? certainly.Now apparently everything revolves around this Professor Boothrow.What do we know about him? Mom, what are you talking about?What does Bustrow have to do with Lori's disappearance?He bought the manuscript, he slipped away, and that was it.Even so, I checked his affairs, and he seems to be a maverick in the academic world.Quesetti explained the famous quarto fraud, she remembered. Oh, that's the guy.She exclaimed, things are getting more and more complicated, aren't they?Now our first priority is to ask you, Auntie Fanny, to help interpret the text, just like you should have done back then.He looked at her puzzled, and she continued: "Albert, you don't think that Buszjo's translation is correct, do you?"Of course he was lying. You said that you intuitively thought that you were cheated. If that woman hadn't runny nose and tears, and told you all those nonsense stories, how could you have sold him the manuscript?They are fellows. impossible mom This is the only possible explanation.She's just playing with you, I'm sorry darling, but that's the way it is, sometimes we fall in love with the wrong people, cupid with a bow and arrows, not a psychology full of personality Folder for quizzes.I had this experience when I was young, not just once. Listen for an example.Quesetti was interested to hear. The children in the family were fascinated by their mother's wild past, but she only brought it up when she was teaching the children, such as now.Every time the child asks, her answer is: I just know it myself.as it is now.She added: "Anyway, I'm calling Fanny now to make an appointment, and you can see her as soon as you get off work on Monday." Quesetti had no objection.At six o'clock on Monday afternoon, he would go to the manuscript department of the New York Public Library with the papers wrapped in the mailing tube.Fanny.Dubowitz was in the seat, a petite woman, not under five feet, with a poodle-like face, ugly but lovable.Bright brown eyes, set deep behind heavy glasses, gray hair pulled into a librarian's chignon, held in place with a thick yellow pencil.A postwar orphan from Poland, she was a lifelong librarian, mostly at the New York Public Library, specializing in manuscripts for the last two decades.Quesetti had known Aunt Fanny from birth, and thought she was the wisest person he had ever known, but when she was praised for her encyclopedic mind, she always said with an accent: I know everything. Don't know, but I know where to find the answer.When he was a child, he and his sisters often came up with some questions to beat Aunt Fanny, such as how many bottles of Coke were sold in Astanbra, Ohio in 1928?But she always wins them over and tells them how she found the answer, and the story is always good. After saying hello, Aunt Fanny asked about his sister and mother, as well as about himself, but Quesetti was very sure that his mother had explained everything to Auntie, so he quickly got to the point.He took the paper out of the tube and passed it to her, and she took it to a large work table and arranged the papers in three long rows, which were the copies of the manuscript he sold to Buszrow, and the ones he brought back. original. As she spread the papers, some words of surprise came out of her mouth, probably in Polish.Albert, are these eighteen sheets the original? Yes, it looks like a coded letter, I didn't sell it to Bustrow. You rolled the paper up like the calendar paper?Too much!She left for a while, and when she came back, she took the transparent folder and carefully put the coded letters into it. Well, she said: Now let's see what's there. Fanny looked at these documents for a long time, carefully inspecting them with a large rectangular magnifying glass, and finally she said: It is very interesting, you know, there are actually three documents here, these copies are divided into two, and these originals are one. Yes, I guessed it too, these four are obviously preaching speeches, records of some printer, I have no interest in these.The others were letters from a man called Brace Godou. Well, your mother said you sold the letter to Boothrow. Yes, Fanny, I'm so sorry, I should have come to you first. Yes, you should, your dear mother thinks you've been cheated. I know. She patted his arm, well, we'll find out later.Where do you think Shakespeare is mentioned in the letter, point it out to me. Quesetti pointed out to her, and the little librarian adjusted a long-armed desk lamp that cast a strong light on pale paper, which she looked through her glasses.It is indeed very clear handwriting, she said: I have seen more scribbled ones.She read the words aloud and slowly, like a third grader, and when she finished she exclaimed: Oh my God! Damn!Quesetti cursed, and punched himself hard on the thigh, which was very painful. Damn you, Fanny went on, "you've been pretty badly lied to, according to the friend in the letter.How much does he pay you? Three thousand five hundred. God, what a pity! I can ask for more money, can't I? Yes, if you come to me first, we can first confirm the authenticity of this document.Given the nature and importance of this document, the appraisal will be a major project, and it is impossible to predict how high the auction price will be.The library may not be able to sell because this is not our collection route, but the Fogg Shakespeare Library and the Huntington Library will go all out.More importantly, for a person like Bustrow, being able to own such a thing alone is a guarantee of career for him, no wonder he wants to lie to you!He must know that this thing can bring him back to the core of Shakespeare research immediately, and absolutely no one will mention the incident that he was deceived before.It's like an explosion that exploded into a whole new field of scholarship, where people have long debated Shakespeare's religious beliefs and politics, and now we find a government official at the time who suspects that Shakespeare was Catholic and still Treasonous Roman Catholicism.That alone opens up a whole new set of research to do.This Brace Godou, his life, who he knew, where he's been, and the life of his master Lord Deng, maybe there are files in some secret archive that no one has ever found, and we all know Shakespeare was not ordered to die, we wonder why?Is there someone more powerful than Lord Deng protecting him?There are many other problems.We now have a set of coded letters describing the observations of Shakespeare by a spy who lived at the same time as Shakespeare, and who has left behind a manuscript of Shakespeare's activities in such detail that the record itself would be valuable if it could be Deciphering it, believe me, cryptographers would love to have the manuscript if they wanted to, but at least we have the originals. Fanny leaned back in her chair, stared at the ceiling, fanned herself dramatically with her hands, and let out her characteristic high-pitched laugh, like a puppy barking.Quesetti has been familiar with this movement since she was a child. If these children go to the aunt and ask a question that they think is completely impossible to answer, Aunt Fanny will make this movement.But, my dear Albert, even this appeal is a piece of cake compared with the real prize. Quesetti's throat starts to go dry, you mean there might actually be a manuscript of Shakespeare's own? Yes, and not only that.Let me see, did he write the date?She picked up a magnifying glass and scoured the pages like a bird looking for bugs, well, here's one, in 1608, here's another one, yes, he probably started surveillance in 1610, you know the year How important is it, Albert? "Macbeth"? No, Macbeth was written in 1606, and we know how it was written, and it has nothing to do with the secrets involved in Bracegrave's struggle.In 1610, Shakespeare wrote The Tempest. Afterwards, except for some small works and cooperation with others, Shakespeare never wrote other plays, which means OMG, a new script! A new Shakespeare play that no one ever knew, never recorded, and never doubted existed, written in my own hand.She puts her hands on her chest. my heart.My dear, I am too old to face this kind of stimulation.In short, if it is true, I mean if, then we often say priceless now, just to mean very expensive, but this will be really priceless. millions? 呿!Millions and tens of billions are possible.If the manuscript itself can be identified as authentic, it will be the most precious single manuscript in history, and perhaps it can be tied with the most expensive painting in the world to become the most precious movable property in the world.Moreover, whoever owns the script also owns the copyright.I'm not an expert on this, but I guess it should be.If it is performed on stage, every director and producer in the world will rush for the opportunity to produce the premiere, even if they sell their children as the price!Not to mention the movies!But on the other hand, I'm afraid we're also thinking too brightly about things, and the whole thing could be an elaborate hoax. scam?I don't understand, who is lying to whom? Bustrow had lost to clever counterfeiters once, and maybe those liars felt that now was the time to lie to him again. Really?I thought he was the worst choice, who would believe him?The point is that he has no credibility at all, that's why he is so eager to turn around. She laughs, you should go to the casino sometimes, if the people who lost badly were not in a hurry to turn around, like you said, the casino would have been closed long ago.Of course, if I were a bad guy, I wouldn't design such a bureau. Why? Honey, how do you fake that jackpot?The play?It's one thing to forge a bad quarto of Hamlet, because we have Hamlet, we have bad quartos, and we know some sources of inspiration for Shakespeare's writing, and the content itself doesn't need to be anything special, somehow. It doesn't even need to be reasonable, as bad quartos often do.You know what a bad quarto is, don't you?Yes, very good.You must understand that these are two different things and in this case you have to invent a play written by the greatest poet of all time and at the peak of his writing which is simply not possible and someone has tried . who? In the eighteenth century a man named Henry.William.An Irish douchebag whose father was a scholar and William Jr., trying to impress his father, started finding documents about Shakespeare in old suitcases, ridiculous, but with the level of scholarship and analysis at the time, Many people have been duped.Well, he was stuck, and had to find a new play by Shakespeare, so he did, claiming he had found an unfinished play called Mr. Forti, which Kemble had put on Zolli The stage of the theater was naturally kicked off the stage by the audience.At the same time, the great scholar Malone revealed that all other documents were fake, and the whole deception fell apart.The Mr. Irishman was a fool and was easily exposed.But the guy who lied to Professor Bustrow was called Basco, and he was a smart guy.But we're talking about something on another level, it can't just be a parody, it has to be the real Shakespeare, and he's dead. So you think all this is true? Having not seen the original, I can't say that.Now, I'll give you the contents of Bracegold's letter in electronic form, so you don't have to learn Jacobean script to understand what he's saying.In addition, I will prepare another electronic file based on these encrypted letters, so that you can at least see what the encrypted file looks like. If you don't mind, I want to leave these letters here and do some basic tests. If These documents are not from the seventeenth century at all, so we can laugh and forget about it.In fact, I will do this test first, and if it is confirmed to be true, I will email you the contents of both files, and I will also introduce you to someone who is very interested in deciphering, and he is a real expert .If we can find out a way to decipher it, it will increase the bargaining chip for Bushzhuo, because he doesn't know that there are these, this part may hide the hiding place of the autograph manuscript, understand? Quesetti understood, and he said: Thank you, Fanny.I feel like a stupid bastard. That's right.But as I often say, all is not lost yet.I'd love to meet this Boothrow and tell him what I think of his stupid trick.I'll start by transcribing the code, it shouldn't take long, can you stay? No, I have to go back to work.I don't know much about password cracking, but maybe it's just a simple code replacement, and it wasn't possible to have such a complicated system in the past. Ah, you may not believe it, but someone once discovered a cipher written in French in the age of the emperors, which no one has been able to break.However, we may be lucky. Who is that decoding expert you just mentioned? You mean Klimt?He is also Polish like me, a relatively late immigrant.During the Cold War he worked as a cryptographer for the Polish Secret Police.After coming to the United States, his current job is to drive a hearse.Don't bother me now, I can finish it soon.Don't blame yourself too much, Albert, this matter involves a young lady, and you are still young. Quesetti, however, felt almost as old as Fanny.He walked out of the library, caught a bus on Madison Avenue, and headed uptown back to the bookstore.The new clerk was Pamela, a real Barna graduate, petite, very smart, beautiful, very elegantly dressed, and engaged to some guy who worked in Wall Street.Everything is like Caroline.Raleigh never existed, except for the occasional mention by Glaser that she ran off with Churchill's Voyages and never told him what she was going to do with it.But today when Quesetti stepped into the store, Glaser greeted him and told him to go into the little office at the back of the store. As you should be wondering, Lori finally showed up.Glaser said: Look at this. He handed Quesetti a brown envelope with a foreign mail label on it, with British stamps and a London postmark.Inside the envelope was a piece of letter paper, with Luo Li's beautiful italic handwriting, written in black ink on the thick and soft paper, he felt his face start to heat up, and his heart ached.He had to control himself so that he didn't hold the letter up to his nose and sniff it.He begins to read: Dear Mr. Glaser: Please forgive me for leaving you in this situation and not telling you what I was doing.I don't know when the bookstore will resume business again. I think there should be enough time. It shouldn't be difficult for you to find someone to replace me, but I should have called you earlier.I'm really sorry, something happened at home, they called me back to London; and as it stands, I'm going to stay here. Good news for you, I have sold all the maps and charts in Churchill's Voyagers for a far better price than we sell them in America, £3,200!When it comes to fine quality prints from the good old days, British appetites seem to be insatiable.I wired 5,712.Eighty-five dollars for you.As for the miscellaneous fees and handling fees, etc., I will pay them myself, which is the inconvenience caused by the price premium. Say goodbye to Mrs. Glaser and Albert for me, you've been too kind to me, I don't deserve it. Unlimited blessings Caroline.Lori Quesetti handed the letter back, feeling as if his stomach was heavy with lead. He had to clear his throat before he could speak: Well, that's good for her, I didn't know her family was in England. Yes, replied Glaser: she mentioned once that her last name was originally Roleigh, which was Walter.Sir Lorelei's Lorelei hinted that she had something to do with that famous family.Maybe she inherited the family castle, which would be worth a fortune, and I always thought Caroline's future would be more than a bookstore clerk.Have you printed those auction notices I want? It was done this morning, and it should be in your mailbox. Glaser mumbled that I got it, and then walked away.Quesetti went back down the stairs to his cave, where it was a more comfortable place to work than it was before the fire, because the insurance premium covered a complete renovation, including beautiful steel shelving, a new Dell computer, All the equipment is up-to-date, the ceiling smells of fresh paint, the floor tiles are free of dust and the smell of cooking oil, but none of these improvements can significantly improve Quesetti's mood.Such dialogues often appear in the small theater in his mind, every time he asks: How can she do this?Immediately there is an answer: idiot!You've only had one date, what else do you want?true love forever?She catches a better one and slips away.On the other hand, Quesetti firmly believed that the matter was not over yet, and he could not accept that Lori had lied to him in that way that night.Yes, she was a liar, but he couldn't accept such a big lie.Why should she?Just to thank him for arranging a nice evening of shopping and dinner for her?It doesn't really make sense. Speaking of lies, his inner voice spoke again: the letter was all bullshit, and she hadn't opened the books so she hadn't sold the pages.He was as sure of it as his body's natural response.So here's the question: Where did she find nearly six thousand dollars for Glaser?The answer is: provided.Add in travel expenses to England, and the only suspect is Professor Boothrow, since no one else in this matter is as rich as he and happens to be in England.But why?Kidnap?No, that's ridiculous, English literature professors don't kidnap people except in those movies that Quesetti despises, so why would she go? There are two possibilities, one uncomfortable and one scary.The uncomfortable possibility is that Lori finds an opportunity to make a fortune, and that's a chance to find that Shakespeare treasure.She read Bracelet's letter, called Bustreau without Quesetti behind her back (after all he had been waiting outside the apartment for so long!), arranged for Bustreau to make an offer for the manuscript, and gave Quesetti The pressure made him sell.Then, though she was a little in love (at least that was his wishful thinking), she was not in love so deeply that she took advantage of any opportunity that would save her from poverty. Another frightening possibility is that she was coerced into doing so.Booth Zhuo has her handle. Once it is made public, the consequences will be more terrible than losing her job. It should have something to do with the police.No, she lied to him too. At least according to the information provided by his sister, the police were not chasing Caroline.Lori.But maybe both possibilities are a little bit, he must have new intelligence to judge, intelligence can let you distinguish whether it is a lie or the truth. As he thought this, Quesetti slid the chair toward his new computer.In fact, he did have some new information, but he was depressed recently, so he didn't expect to use it.From the back pocket of his jeans he pulled two things he'd picked up on the street outside Lori's old house: a postcard and a photograph.It was one of those snapshots that could be developed in an hour, and it showed two women and two children, a boy of about four and a baby girl.One of the women was a younger version of Caroline.Lori, with her hair combed up and tucked under a mesh hat, and the other, a beautiful blonde, are sitting on a bench, looking like they're in a park or playground, enjoying the summer sun, surrounded by thick shade trees, Casting shadows on the ground, they looked at the photographer smiling, and the sun was shining on their faces, so they all squinted.It wasn't a good photo, and Quisetti knew that cheap instant cameras couldn't handle the strong contrast between sunlight and shadow, so the faces were a bit covered, especially the kids'.He studied the glowing faces in the photographs, looking for family traits, but there were still too few clues. He scanned the photos into the computer, adjusted the contrast with drawing software, and then downloaded another software he had used before, using data to enhance the resolution of these photos and make the images of the family clearer.It was indeed evident that they were family, and it must have been Lori's sister, or at least a cousin, and the two children were obviously related by blood to one or both of the women.Quesetti couldn't explain why he knew this, but he had an extended family himself, and extended families were common in the community and ethnic group he lived in, so he could intuitively determine the truth of the photo. 明信片上的圖片有著威多特營隊的銘刻字樣，看起來好像是用樺樹樹枝寫成的。圖裡面有一個冷杉環繞的山間湖泊，以及一個船塢，還有幾個男孩在划獨木舟，寫訊息的那一面有個三年前的郵戳，童稚的筆跡用大寫寫著：親愛的媽媽，我在營隊過的很開心，我們有抓到蛇，我愛你，艾密特；地址則是成人的字跡，收件人為奧如德太太，郵遞區號是一六五七一，地址在賓州布雷達克鎮高塔路一六一號。 奎塞提轉向電腦，用地址查了地圖，結果是在賓州西部，靠近伊利湖。他用搜尋引擎查看該地址的實景，看到的景象是一棟有著現代結構的房子，還有周圍附屬的建築，房子旁邊有樹林環繞。鏡頭拉遠，他看到一個半鄉村的社區，許多原本是工業發達的地區，衰落之後這些地區的周圍就會出現這樣破舊的小城鎮情景：五畝大的土地，破車和家電堆在院子裡，還有木頭堆，這裡住著的人以前曾經從事製造業或礦業，工作還不錯，但現在只能靠著打零工或沒前途的工作勉強度日，然後在這裡留下這樣的生活痕跡。是這個小鎮造就了羅莉這樣給人異國感覺的人嗎？他再看了一眼照片，兩個女人和孩子在遊樂園裡，他希望能夠穿越時空到三十年後的未來，他肯定到了那個時候，就可以用搜尋引擎看到別人家裡擺設，查詢地球上所有人臉孔，但是現在，他必須親自跑一趟。 布瑞斯葛斗的第八封信 我們一路乘著順風在海上航行，然後到了七月二十三日，天空忽然烏雲密佈有如黑夜，吹起一陣狂風，艦隊遭到徹底摧毀，我們的船也在礁石上撞毀，幸得上帝垂憐，我們只損失了三名弟兄，但其中也包括托利佛先生，願上帝善待他的靈魂，現在他的疑問總算有了解答，因為他可以和上帝面對面了。暴風雨消退之後，我們發現自己身處在百慕達，都感到相當害怕，因為所有水手都把這裡叫做惡魔之島。要是在這裡等待救援，只怕會被惡魔生吞活剥，水手都是這麼想的。但我們別無選擇，所以只好上岸。雖然沒有人來搭救，我們卻發現一個近乎天堂的地方，有清水、綠草地、果實纍纍的果樹等等，空氣中還飄著非常甜美的迷人花香，這裡也有豐富的上好杉樹木料可用，於是我們動手建造了兩艘船，載得下所有人，就這樣，我們再度啟航之前，在島上生活了一年。因為我能夠憑藉星星和太陽來領航，大家都很信任我，而我們也的確達成了主人的期望，在一六一〇年的五月二十三日抵達詹姆斯鎮。這一段故事妳應該已經讀過了，我們當中有個人叫威廉．斯特雷奇，他寫了一本書描述這段經歷，所以我就不多說了。 我在七月六日搭上第一艘停靠普利茅斯的船回到英國，很想回到倫敦，因為我想要去找間猶太帳房，把我的單據換成金幣，讓妳父親知道，我已經夠資格娶我親愛的小南為妻。於是我隔天就搭著船，找了個猶太人，帶著沉甸甸的口袋，走起路來感覺揚眉吐氣。但是後來我到了鐵人旅店去詢問，才知道幾個月前妳已經嫁給普丁路上的魚販，叫做湯瑪斯．芬奇。 我的心好痛，因為我把所有希望都寄託在與妳結婚這件事上，我現在沒有親人、沒有朋友，也沒有家，再加上托利佛先生的狂想，一點一滴侵蝕了我過去對正統宗教的信仰，我不知道應該怎麼看待自己，但我想我很可能會被打入地獄，而我並不是很在意。於是我的靈魂迷失了。不過我還有錢，還有一些朋友，這些人只要你有錢就會自己貼過來，所以我過了好幾個星期放蕩胡鬧的日子。小南，我沒有告訴過妳，而我永遠也不會告訴妳，在那段日子裡我做了哪些惡劣的事，但是某天早上我在普利茅斯醒來，床邊還躺著一個妓女，我發現自己皮包裡只剩下兩先令又三便士。跟我一起買醉的那群傢伙裡，有個名叫克藍蕭的人，他說自己的生意只要這麼一點本錢就能做，也就是說，他是個走私販子。他說我是個勇敢的好夥伴，又知道走私的手法，若是跟他合作，就能一起賺大錢，從海上走私加那利葡萄酒、薩克葡萄酒，還有其他貨品。於是我們一起做生意做了好一陣子，但是這個克藍蕭不只喜歡賣酒，還很喜歡喝酒，又沒什麼本事，工作笨手笨腳的，還老喜歡在酒店那種地方吹嘘，終於有天晚上我們被海防官員抓住，給我們上腳鐐，關進倫敦塔裡。 在那裡，好心的哈斯丁先生前來看我，他說：小子，你居然敢走私貨物不報關税，這下你肯定要被吊死了，沒有人救得了你，你真是個傻瓜，為什麼不來找我呢？難道我會不讓你回來工作嗎？我覺得自己墮落至此，感到很羞愧，但是我又開始祈禱了，我已經好久沒有禱告，這麼做讓我感到安慰，我想仁慈的上帝或許會拯救每一個人，包括我在內，因為耶穌到世上並非要拯救義人，而是要拯救罪人的。 愛妻小南，這些事情妳已經都知道了，但我是為了我們的兒子小理查而寫的，好讓我在天之靈還能以父親的口吻跟他說話。不過現在我要說的事情，除了當時在場的人之外沒有其他人知道，而且當時在場的人當中，只剩我還活著了。某天早上，我戴著鎖鏈躺在骯髒的草堆上，想著過去我還全心信奉上帝的時候，過著多麼好的日子，我多希望自己是行善之人，而非像現在這樣做惡。然後一名獄卒走過來說：站起來。他解開我的鎖鏈，拿清水來給我梳洗、刮鬍子，還給我新衣服。他示意我跟著他走，我跟著他進到白塔的一間小房間裡，地上鋪著全新的草蓆，房裡升起溫暖的火，有張桌子，上頭擺著肉，杯子裡裝了加那利葡萄酒，旁邊還有椅子。房裡有個陌生的男人對我說：坐下吃東西吧。