It was still drizzling outside the window. It seemed like the night would never end.
The candlelight flickered in the rain, and the room was quiet and dark.
Lin Sanjiu sat on the floor, her fingers still trembling. She stared at the woman in front of her with lingering fear. She knocked over the low-legged table in her shock. She called out a few more times, but there was no response. Lin Sanjiu pulled the sofa aside and finally revealed the owner of the pale face underneath.
Annie Chapman's face was still covered in a thick layer of makeup. Her bright red lips were slightly agape, and her eyeballs were bulging out of her eye sockets as if they were about to pop out.
She didn't look any different from before, but there was a purplish bruise on her neck. The bruise had spread out, and Lin Sanjiu had to look carefully to make out that it was a pair of handprints. The corner of Annie's dress was still wet from the rain, and one of her shoes was missing. Her wrinkled bare feet were exposed, and there was mud between her toes.
Lin Sanjiu couldn't help sucking in a deep breath and averted her gaze. When she turned back, Annie's frozen face was still lying on the floor, staring at her blankly.
"When did Annie die? How did a corpse come to the Dalton brothers' house? "
Lin Sanjiu stared blankly at the female corpse on the floor, and her mind was in a mess. Just when she didn't know what to do, she heard the door lock click. Someone pushed the door open.
"So, you're back," the young man said with a sullen face as he leaned into the room. When he looked up, his gaze fell on the female corpse. His face suddenly changed. He took two steps back and knocked into the coat rack next to the door. The young man pointed at the female corpse on the ground and asked in a trembling voice, "What … What is going on?"
"I didn't kill her!" Lin Sanjiu said anxiously, "When I came back, she was already under the sofa."
"Under the sofa?"
The young man was stunned. At that moment, a blank expression suddenly appeared on his face. It was as if those four words were a huge puzzle to him.
"Yes," Lin Sanjiu stared at him, "Only the four of us can enter this place —"
"I didn't do it!" the young man suddenly became agitated. He shouted loudly, startling Lin Sanjiu. The anger he felt when he first entered the door gradually returned, and the blue veins on his forehead throbbed. "Why would I waste time doing such a thing? I … I …"
His strange behavior was quickly answered. The young man kicked the coat rack on the ground and said hatefully, "I can't believe I missed Jack the Ripper!"
"I see," Lin Sanjiu finally understood.
The place where they found the corpse was not far from the alley where they were chasing after Annie. If he hadn't been chasing after Annie, they would have already met Jack the Ripper. For this young man, there was nothing more meaningful than this. Four people had died in the blink of an eye, and there was not much time left for him.
The young man cursed a few more times in a low and angry voice. From time to time, he would glance at Annie, who was lying on the ground. After some time, he forced himself to calm down and started mumbling to himself.
"There are a few carriages next to the corpse," Lin Sanjiu couldn't tell if he was talking to himself or Lin Sanjiu, "Yes, that's right … Before I came in, I always thought that Jack the Ripper was a coachman. The corpse we found on the road seemed to have been dead for some time. It wasn't killed tonight. This is in line with my previous speculation. After he killed someone, he stuffed the corpse into a carriage so that it wouldn't be discovered and it would be easier for him to move the corpse. Besides, coachmen are usually big and strong … "
Before Lin Sanjiu could say anything, he picked up his raincoat from the ground and walked out the door.
"Where are you going?" Lin Sanjiu yelled at him as she caught up to him.
However, the young man did not even turn his head or reply to her. He just strode forward. Just when Lin Sanjiu was about to chase after him, the Potato brothers pushed open the gate of the courtyard and hurried toward them.
Both of them stopped when they saw each other. The rain was so heavy that it was hard to open one's eyes. The younger brother wiped his face and stared blankly at the two of them, "Why are you two standing outside?"
"Nothing," said the young man dully, and was about to step round them to get out of the room.
"Are you going to chase after the murderer?" the elder brother asked suddenly.
"Yes."
"It's too late for you to go now," the younger brother immediately added. "He just caught another prostitute, but the woman's cries for help were heard, so Jack the Ripper abandoned her and ran —"
Lin Sanjiu was stunned. She suddenly realized that Jack the Ripper had not managed to kill her, so he changed his target. She walked closer and looked up. She saw that the young man's face had turned green. Apparently, he didn't expect that he would miss Jack the Ripper again. "The woman is dead," the younger brother looked at the young man's face and continued, "Before the murderer ran away, he stabbed her to death. I guess he didn't want anyone to see his face."
"In other words, there are a total of five victims!"
Lin Sanjiu couldn't help heaving a sigh of relief when the thought surfaced in her mind. She was already confused by the game, so she just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. However, she was the only one who felt relieved. The elder brother of the potato brothers cursed, "Motherf * cker." As for the young man, there was no need to mention him.
"Let's wait for the game to end," the younger brother sighed and walked into the house. He seemed a little reluctant, "Seriously … this murderer is really fast. I don't know what he's doing."
"Annie's body is in the house —"
Lin Sanjiu swallowed the words that were at the tip of her tongue. She suddenly shuddered as she thought of something. She rushed forward and stood in front of the younger brother.
"You guys are the ones who killed Annie and hid her in the house, right?"
In the rainy night, everything was a blur. The younger brother stood in front of her without saying a word. The young man was startled. He turned around abruptly.
"What are you talking about?" the elder brother asked impatiently.
"If you guys didn't know that Annie was dead, why would you say something like waiting for the game to end?" Lin Sanjiu didn't know if she was being overly sensitive, but she knew that only one of the four of them could hide Annie's body in the house, "To you guys, there should only be four dead people!"
The brothers fell silent. Only the pitter-patter of the rain could be heard in the dirty and messy courtyard. After some time, the younger brother suddenly said, "Isn't it fast if there are only four people? It's normal for us to wait for the game to end. "
Lin Sanjiu was taken aback. Just when she thought what he said made sense, she had a vague feeling that something wasn't right. Just when she frowned and tried to sort out the thoughts in her mind, she heard the door of the house next to hers being pushed open. The round-headed man who had spoken to her earlier greeted the two brothers with a grin, "Gentlemen! Why are you standing in the rain? Why don't you come to my house? "
Apparently, he was still helping his wife to pimp her.
Lin Sanjiu shot a glance at him. In that one glance, she suddenly realized what was wrong.
After discovering the corpse, she met up with the Potato Brothers. It took her about half an hour to find them and return to the house. When she returned, she met the round-headed man at the door. The latter had mentioned that Mr. Dalton had just left. At that time, she subconsciously thought that he was referring to the fact that the Potato brothers had left the cheap rental house half an hour ago. In that case, it wasn't inappropriate to use the word "just left" to describe it.
However, she had almost forgotten that in the game, the entire night was only four hours long.
In the four hours of night, a person who had walked for half an hour was equivalent to someone who had left for about one and a half hours in real life. In any case, it couldn't be considered as "just left", right?
"He heard you guys leaving after you hid the body." Even though it was just a speculation, Lin Sanjiu told the brothers in an unquestionable tone.
She wanted to trick them, but to her surprise, the brothers suddenly took a step back and sighed, "Yes, we did hide the prostitute under the sofa."
Lin Sanjiu was shocked. Before she could react, she heard them say, "But we didn't kill her!"
"If you didn't kill her, why did you put in so much effort to hide her in the house? Do you know the murderer? "
The brothers immediately fell silent. They seemed to mutter, "I don't know," but they didn't say anything else.
The round-headed coachman stood at the door of his house, so he couldn't hear their conversation. However, when he saw the brothers being stopped by "Carlo", he couldn't help feeling anxious. He grabbed a few old newspapers from the house and covered his head with them. Then, he rushed into the courtyard and pulled his brother's sleeve enthusiastically, "You guys should come to my house! I just bought some snacks. Let's have some together — "
Impatiently, Lin Sanjiu moved her body to the side and let the enthusiastic coachman pass her. She kept her eyes on the two brothers. The coachman did not close the door when he rushed out, so the door was wide open. The light from the electric bulb shone through the door. As a coachman, he must have installed such an advanced device in his house for the convenience of his wife's guests.
The brothers looked at each other and then at Lin Sanjiu at the same time. Probably to get rid of her question, they nodded in tacit agreement and smiled at the coachman, "Alright, let's go in!"
The coachman was overjoyed. When he turned his head and saw that Lin Sanjiu was trying to stop them, he raised his eyebrows and shouted, "Let's go! Go somewhere else today!" The two brothers seized the opportunity and walked to the neighbor's house. The coachman's plump and fair wife immediately welcomed them into her house.
Seeing that the situation was settled, the coachman ignored Lin Sanjiu and ran back to his house. He threw the newspapers on the floor and closed the door.
Lin Sanjiu and the young man couldn't help following him. However, they stood outside the door and didn't know what to say.
"Maybe they really didn't kill her," the young man suddenly said in a low voice, "... Otherwise, there's no reason for them to only admit to hiding the corpse but not the murderer."
Lin Sanjiu stared at the spot under her feet and didn't say anything.
The young man mumbled something, but Lin Sanjiu didn't hear him. Her mind was completely focused on the newspaper under her feet.
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