Chapter 41 Chapter Forty

When I got home and found Miles there, it was a solid proof of God's existence.Or maybe it’s ironclad proof that God doesn’t exist.In short, the answer is black and white.He sat in the kitchen, writing quickly on a scrap of paper.Then he raised his head absent-mindedly.Hi Davy.He said. I thought both you and Leah had gone to work.I said. I have changed my mind.And she has to go home to get something, he said, but she should go to the office when it's done. This is better.No one knew she was coming home except him.The cake came in a cardboard box tied with a golden ribbon with a curled end.The knot was too tight for me to untie, so I cut it with kitchen scissors.I put the cake on the table.Miles grimaced.What is this?

I saw it in the window of the pastry shop, and I said, I couldn't resist the temptation.Maybe you will also want to take it with coffee.Would you like a cup of coffee? It will be fine if you help me soak it. I filled the kettle with water and turned it on.The murder knife was brought back by me. I unpacked the outer layer and put the knife next to the cake.I saw that it was still stained with Leah's blood, so I tore off two kitchen rolls.One wraps the handle, and the other wipes the blade, so most, but not all, of the dark blood is removed.I took a packet of ground coffee from the fridge and spooned it into the coffee pot.When the coffee was brewed, I took the two mugs to the table and sat across from Miles.What are you doing?I asked.

There are too many things to deal with at home. After he finished speaking, he took a sip of coffee, thank you. Is Mike there?I asked. I didn't see him.Myers said. No one else seemed to be home.I said. I had to know if Miles had met someone who could provide an alibi.I thought I heard Dalio upstairs, he said, and everyone else was out. He went on writing column after column of numbers, but then he sighed and drew a line across the paper. excuse me.I said. No, none of your business, he said, I'm worrying about money.Maybe you can share yourselves. I shouldn't get much.I said.

Miles shrugged displeased.He got up and walked around the kitchen.Things shouldn't have gone this way, he said, but I don't know how to end this nightmare.Everything I do seems to add insult to injury. Have a slice of cake, I said, it will make you feel better. He reluctantly laughed a few times.It's too early to eat now.He said. You don't know how to enjoy it.I said. Maybe later, he said distractedly, I mean, you know I had an affair with Estelle, right?And Leah is not a particularly smooth person. Now that you're there, can you cut a piece of cake for me?I interrupted his spout of nonsense.

What? cake. Miles looked puzzled.Oh that's fine.He picked up the knife and cut a piece of cake for me, and then cut a piece for himself.You made me want to eat too.He took a bite and grimaced.Wow, so rich. Just delicious.I said. A few minutes later, Miles came out of the kitchen, and I heard the door slam shut.I wipe the chocolate off the blade and put it back in the plastic bag.Dalio and Mike were nowhere to be seen in the room.Miles' room is a mess.While Leah was getting ready to move in, the others were moving out.There are many stacks of her clothes on the floor, and her cosmetics, small glass bottles and small plastic bottles can be seen everywhere.I opened a few drawers of Miles' desk.The bottom drawer held old photographs and postcards, his student tennis trophies, and two old plugs.I ended up stuffing the knife from the shopping bag between the two mattresses, where actors always hide things in movies and they always get caught.

After I left Miles' room, I called Melanie's office.I said to her: I love her, I really want to see her, and I want her to come to me immediately after get off work.I wanted to meet her and talk to her.She was overjoyed when she heard it, and cried and laughed almost at the same time.Although there were voices from Dalio's room, I didn't want to talk to anyone at this moment, so I went back to my room and lay on my bed.For a few hours, I felt engrossed.Now I have the feeling that after seeing the dentist, the anesthesia wears off.Before, I was paralyzed, but now that the real world has invaded, my head is stinging and hurting.

Now that it's over, Estelle will know the truth.The police will know the truth too.If I've done something utterly stupid, if I've missed something, left something about me at the scene, it's too late to fix it, someone will come after me soon.Police are currently investigating three murders, which are no small matter.I have a splitting headache.It's one thing to kill someone, but it's another thing to create the illusion I've helped create.I have to separate the two things, and the experts will figure it out.I have only one advantage.They will look for clues that are clever, logical, or crazy, and connect them one by one.But I am neither resourceful nor logical nor insane.They are just misfortunes linked together.Am I clumsy and creating clues for them to follow?Only Estelle.Everything is about her in the end.

I feel so tired.I just want to go back to the days before I made a big mistake.But I can't turn back time, so I have to draw a line under it, get away and start over.Do it again, do it again.In the meantime, I had to simulate the show again.How will this play play out?Who will be the first to find out?I imagined that Estelle would ask for a phone call and call home.Mike or Dalio answers the phone, and then spreads the news with a twinkle-eyed, undisguised excitement, the electric pulsation of when people have terrible news to share with you.I suddenly felt that I had to get out of the house.I couldn't be there when first-hand news came and people huddled together trying to get bits and pieces of information and speculate about what happened.

I ran downstairs, nodding to Dalio on the way.He asked if I could do him a favor.I shook my head and said someone called me.I have something urgent to do. It looks like the consequences will be disastrous.He said. I told him to talk to him later, and called Melanie again after I left the house. You are following me.she says. This is the first time she has wronged me.Am I clingy?Are you making yourself vulnerable?can't you?I ask her. No, no, of course.she says. I said I would pick her up from get off work.I have something to discuss with her.She doesn't leave the gallery until ten past five.I have four hours to kill and nothing to do.Time flies by indistinctly.I wandered the streets, watching passers-by, men with stained pants talking to themselves while drinking beer; people with headphones; shoppers in a hurry.Everyone moved quickly, shuttling through the unfamiliar sea of ​​people.What if one, two or three of them disappeared?A hundred years from now, there will still be crowds, drunks talking to themselves and shoppers bustling by, just with a different set of people.The old man has long mourned.

I took Melanie for a cup of coffee, hinted that everyone would be kicked out, she smiled coyly, and said maybe we could find a place to live together; I nodded and smiled, saying that I could think about it, and now it was time to go home . As soon as I opened the door, I saw Dalio standing on the porch with wide-eyed eyes.He walked up to us and whispered our names.David, he said, Xiaomei. Right now I need Melanie's reasoning as one needs a cigarette sometimes.In fact, you don't particularly want to smoke.Just looking for something to do, don't let your hands sit idle.Removing a cigarette, putting it in your mouth, or playing with a lighter or matches can make you less neurotic.As long as Melanie shows up, is my shield, does what I say, and sings with me, I can become a new kind of creature: David and Mei.So sweet, so young, so loving.People don't pay attention to us.Best of all, she could respond on behalf of both of us.I pretended to be stunned by the news, too shocked to speak.I looked at Melanie as if she were an actor in action.Her acting is really superb.I saw her pale and beautiful face flushed, tears welling up, she stuttered when she spoke, she asked and said she couldn't believe it, she wrapped my arms tightly, trying to remember the last time I saw Leah. When did it happen, and what did Leah say.I stood beside her quietly, with my arms around her, smelling her soft hair from time to time.

Pipa heard our conversation and walked out of her room.She seemed the calmest of them all.Immediately I thought Melanie looked ridiculous, her cheeks stained with black tears, weeping for someone she didn't even know and didn't like. What's next?I asked. You ask me who am I asking?She said Miles was downstairs.Go see him. Wouldn't it be better for you to go? She smiled.no.she says. So our young couple went downstairs to find Miles sitting alone at his desk staring into space.We made tea, opened tins of biscuits, sat holding hands, and nodded in whispers while Miles wept and mumbled and incomprehensible things.Talk too much.So confusing and so much to remember.I was worried that I would say the wrong thing, but I couldn't find an excuse to get up and leave him alone.And then Estelle came.She was dressed in rough, outlandish clothing: someone else's T-shirt and sweatpants.She looked tired and unkempt, but she exuded a light of preparation for battle. Scary, right?As soon as I said that, I realized how stupid the question was, and Estelle immediately choked me back mercilessly.Miles stood up, and I could tell he was closer to Estelle than to us.It was because he had no one else to confide in that he reluctantly talked to us just now.In fact, it doesn't matter if he talks to himself.Now with Estelle, he lets go of his guard, hugs her, and talks to her in a different, natural tone.We watched the two curiously. I have something for you.He said so, then looked around, looked at us with embarrassment, and said that he had something to say before going out. They came out of the kitchen and Melanie turned to me.What's the matter? do not know.Let's go upstairs. We climbed up the stairs and saw Miles and Estelle huddled together mysteriously on the stairs.I heard what I thought I heard Estelle say: Miles, I can't take twenty thousand pounds in cash!But the two of them looked left and right, and when they saw me, they fell silent.Keep me out.We slowly brushed past them both. everything fine?I asked. Estelle turned her back on me.I'll talk to you later.she says. if anything OK, she said, OK, thanks. But I have seen the cash in her hand.