America's King of Poetry

Chapter 20 Square Piece J

Arthur stood at the door for a long time, or he thought he stood for a long time, and the time seemed to pass slowly and long, but it didn't last long.

He remembered that he had been in this room, this refuge before.The walls of the room are two colors of green and white, the white is lime and the green in the lower half is paint.The layout of the room is very simple, with two bunk beds, a large cabinet, and a small round table.There is a washroom surrounded by a curtain in the corner of the room.

Now the appearance of the room in front of me has completely changed, the walls are painted pink, not the light pink of the exterior wall of the villa, but the same color as the flamingo.The two bunk beds were replaced by a carved wooden bed.The cabinet disappeared, and a floor-to-ceiling carved mirror was added, and the round table became a large chair with a wide back.There were velvet carpets, redecorated ceilings, and fancy crystal chandeliers instead of simple incandescent lights.

The girl stood under the crystal chandelier and smiled obediently at Arthur.

She wore a white lace skirt with a lake-green liner over it.A short golden hair over the ear, neatly combed, and a wooden hairpin clamped the bangs up.Her face is white and delicate, she is a beautiful little girl, with a small nose dotted on her oval face, anyone who sees her will find her cute—provided it is not in such a place.

who is she?Why are you here?Arthur didn't know.

But the phantom he had just experienced made Arthur understand something in his heart. He finally stepped into the room with his legs, and the suffocation came again, and he was a little out of breath.Arthur took a deep breath, suppressed the irritability in his chest, and stepped on the velvet carpet to the little girl.This is the carpet that was laid in the living room back then. It was cut by Tony and brought into the cellar.

The little girl's eyes were fixed on Arthur, and she always kept a faint smile on her face. She seemed cute at first glance, but after a long time, it made people feel scary.

Her smile makes her look like a puppet.

Arthur squatted down and got close to the girl, his breathing became more and more rapid, and the feeling of suffocation made him a little dizzy.

"Hi...Hi." Arthur reluctantly greeted the girl, "Can you tell me, who are you?"

The girl still had a smile on her face, looked at Arthur with her hazel eyes, and shook her head slightly.

Arthur didn't know if she meant she didn't know, or couldn't say.

"Then...then can you tell me where you are from?" Arthur asked again.

The girl still shook her head.

"How old are you?" Arthur felt like a child trafficker.

Still shaking his head, making people confused.

Arthur felt more and more suffocation, he hurriedly took out the playing card, the Jack of Diamonds, from his pocket.He handed the card to the girl, with the back facing her, and asked carefully: "Can you read the words on it? Can you?"

The girl rolled her hazel eyes and stared at the backs of the cards for a moment, and finally nodded this time.Arthur felt a lot more relaxed in an instant, the suffocation was slowly subsiding, and the stone pressing on his chest was removed.He was overjoyed, knowing that this girl was the person corresponding to the jack of squares, but he didn't expect it to be a little girl.

Arthur said again: "You...can you read these sentences again?"

Arthur decided to take a risk, and if the girl's mouth reading poems became too much for him, he immediately put the cards away and told her to stop.But is this really okay?Arthur didn't know, but he wanted to give it a try. He was experimenting with himself.He wanted to see if there was any relationship between the number and sequence of the cards, and the difficulty of establishing a "link".

The refuge is very quiet, it is well isolated from the outside world, and the sound cannot be transmitted or transmitted.Arthur could hear his own heart beating as he waited for the girl to open her mouth.He could smell the faint fragrance from the girl's body, it wasn't perfume or deodorant, but a kind of grassy and woody fragrance, which seemed to have a little earthy fragrance.

The girl stared at the back of the playing card, and the rows of gilded small characters stood out on the dark red pattern. This is a passage from Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear": Come, let's away to prison...

She restrained the stiff smile on her face, opened her lips slightly, and read the first sentence: "Come on, let's go to prison..."

As soon as the word "Prison" came into Arthur's ears, Arthur felt his brain being scratched, and a vortex suddenly appeared in front of him, a huge vortex, pink room, white and green room, crystal chandeliers, incandescent lamps, bunk beds, wooden beds, the empty eyes of the dead deer, the blood flowing out of Clado who was crushed to death on the beach, and Tony Luciano lying in the pit doing his last whispers... everything, the past, the present and the future , fell into the maelstrom before their eyes, spinning continuously.

With the rotation, the feeling of suffocation came one after another, as if drowning in the water, but Arthur didn't want to struggle, he felt relieved, and he felt unprecedented peace.The pale pink Sizhao flowers fluttering in the wind gently landed on the blue water surface without causing any ripples. The water slowly engulfed the petals, and life slowly sank and disappeared until the dark bottom of the water decayed.

……

"Arthur, Arthur, Arthur!"

Russell's voice came from Arthur's ear, he slowly opened his eyes, and the crystal chandelier appeared in his eyes again.He saw Russell and the little girl squatting next to him, Arthur straightened up, and the feeling of drowning was gone.He was still holding the diamond J in his left hand. He opened his hand and found that the poem on the back was still there, except for the first sentence "Come on, let's go to prison".

It seemed that the little girl couldn't take it anymore after the first sentence. If she finished reading...no need to finish reading, he might never wake up again after reading another sentence.

"I felt that something was going on here, so I came down." Russell and Arthur were connected to a certain extent, and he felt Arthur's danger through communication, so he asked Montoro to guard Old Larry and came down to check the situation by himself.As a result, he saw Arthur lying on the carpet in the room, with a little girl standing beside him in a daze.

"Who is she?" Russell asked, relieved to see Arthur wake up.

"That's what I want to ask you, where's old Larry?" Arthur put away the cards, and looked at the little girl again.Her expression became more natural, the weird and stiff smile no longer appeared on her face, and there was a lot of light in her light brown eyes.Arthur looked at her, and she looked at Arthur.

The verse on the back of the card was not finished, but just reading one sentence seemed to have some effect. When Arthur led her out of the room, the little girl didn't have any resistance.But Arthur asked what her name was, and the little girl said nothing, just shook her head.When she walked out of the iron gate and came to the oak barrel corridor, the little girl reached out and grabbed the corner of Arthur's clothes. She seemed a little scared.

Arthur thought to himself, I am right to be afraid of you, I almost read me to death just now.

Arthur was sure that the feeling of drowning and suffocation just now was the feeling of being close to death.The brain is secreting dopamine, which calms the body down.It is said that when herbivores are eaten by carnivores, their brains will secrete a large amount of dopamine to reduce the pain of being eaten.

Leaving the cellar, Arthur felt as if he had risen from the bottom of the sea, and he was greatly relieved.Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, you can see the Sizhao flower trees outside. The pink petals are charming and full of vitality under the moonlight.Looking at the clock on the wall, he had only been down for 10 minutes.

Old Larry saw the little girl being brought up by Arthur, with a frightened expression on his face, and then he said softly to the girl like acting: "Oh, this is... this is Flo's niece, she...she plays here, and Tony thought she was noisy, so he let her stay in the room in the cellar. It has been renovated and it is very suitable for children to stay there. It is very suitable."

Flo is the Mexican maid in Tony's family, but looking at the appearance of this little girl, she doesn't look like a Mexican.Larry, who had been calm before, saw the girl completely flustered, and he didn't make up a lie for 10 minutes.Arthur stared at him coldly, Russell pointed a gun at Larry's head, and said, "Tell the truth, Larry."

Old Larry's face changed again and again, and finally his lips trembled, his hands twisted together, and he said, "I...I'm guilty, Tony and I are both guilty, may God forgive, forgive! Tony...Tony has a special preference for women, he doesn't like grown women, he only likes children..."

Arthur was furious when he heard this. Although he guessed the possibility, but thinking of the crimes Tony had committed in the cellar shelter, Arthur really wanted to dig his body out of Oyster Bay and whip him again.It would be cheap for him to bury him alive.Montolo on the side reacted even more violently. He rushed forward and punched old Larry, knocking him to the ground.Italians attach great importance to family and children, and Montolo himself has a daughter.When he thought that his former boss was such a pervert, and Tony had hugged his daughter, he felt sick.

"Shit Tony, can you believe it, can you believe it? Christmas, Christmas, he's watching TV with my little girl on his lap, and I think it's because he's sweet!"

Montoro was going crazy thinking about it, he didn't feel any guilt about killing Tony now, not at all.Montolo even regretted that the method of killing him was too kind, and he should have suffered more.

Russell was still very calm, unable to feel the slightest emotion from him, he continued to ask: "Who is this little girl, and how long has she been here?"

Old Larry fell to the ground, and the corner of his mouth was broken by Montoro. His old bones couldn't stand tossing, and he didn't want to be beaten again, so he said honestly, "She was brought in during the day, and in the afternoon, she came in from another passage. I don't know who she is, and I never care. Then, after a while, they will pick her up."

The other passage that old Larry mentioned was a secret exit from the cellar, leading to the vineyard near the villa, which belonged to the Luciano family.It was originally designed to be used in wartime, and later it was also used to transport wine. Now it is used by Tony as a secret passage for playing with little girls.

"Who sent it?" Arthur asked. He felt that there was a huge shadow behind it, and someone was engaged in this dirty industry.

Old Larry fell to the ground and shook his head, muttering, "I can't say it, I can't say it, I... you know enough, I'm guilty, let God forgive me, you take her away, save her away, Tony should have done nothing to her. You have done what you should do, other things, you shouldn't know, you shouldn't."

Arthur leaned close to old Larry, stretched out his hand to grab his neck, and said viciously, "Tell me what you know, and God will forgive you, otherwise, you'll be waiting to go to hell!" As Arthur said, Old Larry blushed from suffocation.But he still said "no, no, no"... just refused to say it.

There was no other way, Arthur had no choice but to let go. Old Larry coughed violently on the ground, and spit a mouthful of bloody phlegm on the floor. Montolo's punch knocked his old teeth loose.But old Larry kept his mouth shut, and would rather die than reveal the person who transported the girl. He was determined to protect the secret behind it with his death.

Arthur looked at Russell, Russell shook his head, he could kill old Larry, but it was difficult for him to make Larry speak.Arthur was thinking about what to do with this dirty old guy who was Tony's accomplice to the little girl, and he had never been married, and he might have a habit of that.

At this time, the little girl who had been hiding behind Arthur suddenly walked towards old Larry. She came up to Larry and stroked his head with her hand.Old Larry looked at the girl and said "I'm sorry, I'm sorry", whether he was addressing the girl in front of him or the girl who had been tortured in the cellar.

The little girl leaned close to old Larry's ear, moved her lips twice, and said something to him, and clear tears burst out of old Larry's old and cloudy eyes.His expression changed from fear and panic to calm and solemn.He reached out and dipped his index finger in the blood he spit out, and drew a pattern on the maple floor, then got up, turned and walked towards the large French windows.

Montoro wanted to stop him, but Arthur said, "Let him go." Montoro moved away, but old Larry ignored him, walked to the floor-to-ceiling glass window, opened the glass door leading to the yard with a "click", and walked out calmly.When he came to the Sizhao flower tree, he stopped.Pink petals fell and landed on his shoulders.

The three of Arthur looked at him, not knowing what he wanted to do. Arthur looked at the drawing on the floor, it was a spiral pattern, what the hell was this?Lollipops?It's fine if you write an acronym, but what do you mean by drawing a lollipop?

At this moment, there was a "plop" sound from the yard, and old Larry jumped into the swimming pool.Arthur hurriedly went out to check, and found that the old Larry who fell into the water did not struggle, and sank straight into the water, sinking to the bottom of the pool.A series of bubbles floated up, and after a while, the bubbles disappeared.After a while, old Larry's body rose to the surface and was drowned.

"What's the matter? What happened?" Montoro followed behind with a puzzled look on his face. What did the little girl say to Old Larry that he just died?

"Suicide in fear of guilt." Arthur concluded the death of old Larry, of course he knew the real cause of old Larry's death, only the little girl knew.At this moment, she was standing in the living room, admiring the oil painting hanging on the wall.There is a clear stream in the oil painting, surrounded by clusters of green trees and shrubs, the stream and the jungle are glowing dark yellow under the reflection of the setting sun, and in the distance are rolling green hills and the roasted red glow of the sunset.

A very ordinary landscape oil painting, Tony's taste is really mediocre, this kind of realistic oil painting is not worth much if it is not made by a famous artist.

Arthur returned to the living room, came to the little girl, knelt down, and asked softly, "Hey, can you tell me your name?"

The girl looked away from the oil painting, looked at Arthur, and shook her head again.

"So...you can talk, but you can't talk to me, can you?"

The girl nodded, then returned her gaze to the painting.

Arthur sighed, it really was because of the large gap in the sequence levels, he couldn't establish a "link", he couldn't even speak.Arthur took down the oil painting on the wall, handed it to Montolo, and said, "Put away the painting and take it away, and then deal with old Larry's body."

Montoro nodded, the main job tonight is to dig a hole.

Russell pulled out the gun again at this time, Arthur cast a questioning look at Russell, and Russell pointed to the stairs.Arthur listened, and there seemed to be movement upstairs.By the way, there is another maid who sleeps on the second floor.Arthur waved his hand to stop Russell, and stepped on the stairs alone, creaking upstairs.

At the top of the stairs, he saw a woman sitting by the wall in pajamas, covering her mouth and daring not to move.Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes when she saw Arthur appear.It was Flo, the Mexican maid in Tony's family. She woke up when she heard the sound, and ran to the stairs to check, only to find that something was wrong.

She thought she would be killed, but Arthur stepped forward to help her up, patted her on the back, and said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I won't do anything to you, don't worry, I'm Arthur, Tony's nephew, Arthur."

Flo swallowed back her tears, she relaxed and choked up, "I...I, I don't know what happened, I don't know."

Arthur said in as gentle a tone as possible: "Nothing happened. Tony and Larry did some bad things and we found out. Larry just jumped into the swimming pool and committed suicide."

Hearing what Arthur said, Flo covered her mouth again, tears poured out again, and she worried that she would also be killed.

"Don't be afraid, we will take care of everything, and it has nothing to do with you. The premise is that you must not tell anything about what happened tonight, neither what you saw nor heard."

Flo nodded vigorously. She knew that the owner Tony was related to the underworld, and she was worried about being implicated, but because of the high salary, she still accepted the job and worked for more than a year.Before she came, she told herself that she would act as if she didn't know anything she saw, and only work to get paid.

Seeing that Flo gradually calmed down, Arthur led her to sit down at the foot of the stairs. He wanted to ask her some questions about old Larry and Tony, but thinking that tonight was not the time, he decided to deal with other matters before solving this doubt.Moreover, Arthur was not 100% sure whether Flo would slip up or not, and a woman's ability to keep secrets could never be overestimated.

So Arthur asked, "Flo, do you have any children?"

Flo was taken aback, she hesitated for a moment, Arthur added: "Don't deceive me, I have no malice. But if you deceive me, it means you have malice towards me. I don't like people who are malicious towards me."

Flo had to tell the truth: "Yes, a son and a daughter."

Arthur nodded, and said: "I will visit you, your family, and your children after a while, and tell Russell your address and contact information. Don't be afraid, it's just a visit, I need to know something. And you, find another job, you are no longer needed here. Do you understand?"

When speaking, Arthur unconsciously made a gesture commonly used by Italians-putting his fingers together on his chest.Flo was both relieved and scared, relieved because she should be fine tonight, and afraid that this group of people had already targeted her family.In fact, Arthur just wanted to know about the transportation of girls, but a small threat might make Flo keep his mouth shut.

The threat of carrots and sticks, Arthur is getting more and more proficient in using this set of things.

(End of this chapter)