[Melissa, can you stop bringing this up…] Klein secretly muttered. He felt as if his headaches were coming back again.
The amount of forgotten knowledge was not too much, but it was not little either. The interview would take place on the day after tomorrow. How could there be sufficient time for him to revise?
Additionally, he was also involved in a strange and terrible incident, how could he have the mood to study?
After giving a perfunctory response to his sister, Klein began to pretend reading a book. Melissa moved a chair to the table and sat next to him. She was using the gas light to complete her homework.
The atmosphere was quiet and peaceful. At about eleven o’clock, the brother and sister bade each other good nights and went to their individual bed.
Dun!
Dun! Dun!
A series of knocks woke Klein up from his dreams.
He glanced at the bright morning light outside the window and sat up in a dazed state.
"Who is it?”
[What time is this? Why didn’t Melissa wake me up?]
“It's me, Dunn Smith.” There was a calm male voice outside the door.
[Dunn Smith? I don’t know who is that…] Klein shook his head and got out of bed. He dragged his feet towards the door.
As he opened the door, he saw the gray pupil police officer from yesterday.
“What happened?” Kleine asked vigilantly.
The gray pupil officer replied with a solemn expression.
“We found a coachman who confirmed that you had been to Mr. McGovern’s residence on the 27th, the day of Mr. McGovern’s and Ms. Naya’s deaths. Mr. McGovern had also paid for your coach fare.”
Klein froze for a moment, without the fear or guilt of being exposed.
It was because he was not lying at all. In fact, he felt that the evidence provided by the police officer Dunn Smith was not really unexpected.
[So on June 27th, the original-self went to Welch’s residence. On the night of his return, he committed suicide, exactly like Welch and Naya!]
Klein opened his mouth and forced a smile.
“This is not enough evidence to prove that I am directly related to the death of Welch and Naya. To be honest, I also want to know what had happened and figure out what my two poor friends encountered. However, I really can’t remember anything. I have almost completely forgotten what I had done on the 27th. You may not believe it, but I have to rely on my own notes to guess that I might have been to Welch’s house on the 27th.”
“You are very calm.” The gray pupil police officer Dunn Smith did not show any signs of frustration and nodded with a smile.
“You should be able to sense my sincerity.” Klein looked directly at the other person’s eyes.
[All that I have said are true. Of course, they are just part of the truth!]
Dunn Smith did not respond immediately, he swept his eyes across the room before he continued slowly.
“Mr. McGovern had lost a revolver. I suppose I should be able to find it here. Right, Mr. Moretti?”
Sure enough… Klein finally figured out the origin of the revolver, and with thoughts spinning through his mind he quickly made a decision.
He raised his hands halfway in the air, stepped back, and motioned his chin towards the bed.
“It is at the back of the bed.”
He didn’t specifically say the lower bed, because normal people wouldn’t hide anything on the back of the upper bed, as it would allow visitors to see it at a glance.
The gray pupil police officer Dunn did not move forward.
“Anything else to add?"
Klein replied without hesitation.
“Yes!”
"I woke up in the middle of the night yesterday. I found myself lying on my desk, next to a revolver, and there was a bullet shell on the ground beside the wall. It seemed that I was committing a suicide. Perhaps I had no experience, especially on using a pistol, or I was too scared to do it. In short, the bullet did not achieve the desired effect, my head was still intact, and I am still living.”
“Since then, I have forgotten some memories, including what I did or saw at the Weich's place on the 27th. I am not lying because I really don’t remember it.”
In order to wash away the suspicions and resolve his own bizarre encounter, Klein had almost said everything, except his crossing over and the mysterious "meeting".
In addition, he deliberately phrased his words so that they could stand the test. For example, he did not say that the bullet did not hit his head, only to describe that it did not achieve the desired effect and that his head was still intact.
In the another person’s ears, the two seemed to express the same meaning, but in reality, they were completely different.
The gray pupil police officer Dunn listened quietly and spoke slowly.
“This is very much in line with my expectation and the hidden logic of similar incidents. Of course, I don’t know how you managed to survive.”
“Thanks for believing in me. I also don’t know how did I survive the incident.” Klein was slightly relieved.
“But,” Dunne threw a twist, “whether I believe in you is not important. Now that you have a high degree of suspicion, you must be confirmed by an ‘expert’ that you have really forgotten the encounter, or that you didn’t directly cause the death of Mr. McGovern and Ms. Naya.”
He coughed and showed a serious expression.
“Mr. Morreti, please cooperate with the investigation and return to the police station with us. It will take two to three days if you do not have any problems.”
“Has the expert arrived?” Klein asked.
[Didn't you mention two days’ time?]
“She was earlier than our expectation.” Dunn moved sideways and motioned for Klein to come out.
“Can I leave a note?” Klein asked.
Benson was still on a business trip and Melissa went to school. He could only leave a message telling them that he was involved in Welch's case so that they would not worry about his absence.
Dunn nodded.
“Sure.”
When Klein returned to his desk, he began to look for paper and craft his next step.
To be honest, he did not want to see the expert. After all, he had a bigger secret.
In a world with the seven churches, under the premise that the “predecessor” Russell was met with assassination, “transmigration” was probably something that might be dealt with seriously by the tribunal departments.
However, he was not a match for a professional police officer as he had no weapons, no fighting skills, nor any extraordinary abilities. Not to mention the fact that there were several of Dunn's subordinates standing in the shadows outside the door.
If they fired a volley, he would be done for.
“umm, let me take one step at a time and see how it goes.” Klein left a note, took the key and followed Dunn out of the room.
In the dark corridor, there were four police officers in black uniform and white strips standing on both sides and they looked very alert.
Pa. Pa. Pa. Klein followed Dunn and stepped down the wooden staircase. As he walked down the staircase, he could hear the creaking of the wooden steps.
There was a four-wheeled single-horse carriage waiting outside the apartment. The side of the carriage was marked with a "Double-Sword across Royal Crown" police sign. The surrounding was as busy and crowded as every morning.
“Come on.” Dunn motioned Klein to get up the carriage.
Klein was just about to take a step. Suddenly, a hawker selling oysters seized a customer and accused him of being a thief.
As the two sides scuffled and rioted. The horses were startled, and the surroundings immediately became filled with confusion.
An opportunity!
Klein couldn’t bother to think much about it, he leaned forward and dashed into the crowd.
Shoving, dodging, and pushing, he ran wildly, towards the other side of the street.
Under the current circumstances, in order to avoid meeting the expert, he could go to the dock outside the city and take a ship downstream the Tusok River and flee to the capital, Beckland. The population there was large enough for him to hide easily.
Of course, it was also possible to board a steam train, head east to the nearest port of Empat, take the sea route to Pritz, and then to Beckland.
After a while, Klein ran out of the street outside his apartment and turned into Iron Cross Street. There were several hireable carriages being parked at the junction.
“To the pier outside the city.” Klein used his hands as support and jumped onto one of them.
His plan was very clear. He wanted to deliberately mislead the chasing police. Therefore, he would wait until the carriage moved a certain distance before jumping out of it.
“Okay.” The coachman pulled the reins.
Da. Da. Da. The carriage left Iron Cross Street.
Just as Klein was preparing to jump, he suddenly found the carriage had turned into another road, not the road leading to the exit of the city!
“Where are you going?” Klein paused and asked with concern.
“To Welch’s residence…” The coachman answered in a cold voice.
What? Klein was shocked. Then, the coachman turned his head to reveal a pair of dark gray eyes. It was Dunn Smith!
“You!” Klein panicked. He felt the whole world started spinning, and suddenly he sat up.
[Sit up?] Klein glanced left and right, looking puzzled. He noticed that the red moon was glowing outside the windows and the room was covered with crimson “filament.”
He reached out and touched his forehead. It was wet and cold, full of cold sweat. The same was the feeling on his back.
“A nightmare…” Klein gasped slowly. “Fortunately…”
He felt quite awake in his dreams and could also think calmly. It was a rather strange experience.
After a slight relaxation, Klein took a look at the pocket watch and found that it was only two o’clock in the early morning. He quietly got out of bed and intended to wash his face in the public washroom and resolve the issue of a bloated abdomen.
He opened the door and walked down the dimly lit passage. Under the faint moonlight, he moved in soft footsteps towards the public toilet.
Suddenly, he saw a silhouette standing in front of the window at the end of the corridor.
The figure was dressed in a black windbreaker that was shorter than a robe but longer than a suit.
The figure was half-immersed in the darkness, bathed in the cold and bright crimson moonlight.
The figure slowly turned around, his eyes deep, gray, and cold.
Dunn Smith!