Chapter 68 - Chapter 2 Case
Zach hung up the phone and walked to the reception room of the Grande Funeral Home. On the side of the brown leather sofa, there was a wooden triangle newspaper rack. Every morning, old Hank who woke up the earliest would walk on the dirt road in front of the Grande Funeral Home, head towards Highway 27, and retrieve newspapers from the mailbox under the sign of Grande. However, in the past two months, there was an extra magazine called “Urban Legends – Barton Weekly” every Monday (Chapter 31 of Volume I).
Zach didn’t have the habit of reading newspapers. Old Hank usually talked about interesting things to Benjamin after reading it. If Benjamin’s attention was drawn, he would discuss it with Zach.
Zach pulled out today’s newspaper, thought about it, and pulled out this week’s “Urban Legends”. Too lazy to go back to the office, he sat on the sofa to read.
The report in the newspaper is very ‘plain’. The author had the objectiveness of a journalist, and there was no personal judgment on the ‘suicide technique’ in the text.
“The deceased used a sharp object, knife, glass, tableware, etc., to pierce his left chest, resulting in immediate death. As for the motive of suicide, the reporter has not received a response from the police as of the press time.”
Then the report listed a list of the names who had recently committed suicides, a total of eight people and attached a picture of the scene taken yesterday after the last name. The environment in the picture is obviously the kitchen of a middle-class family, with policemen plain-clothes and police uniforms trying to block the reporter’s cameras, but the deceased who fell on the side of the counter in the dry blood who could still be seen in the gap that was between the people in the crowd.
Zach squinted his eyes and found James’ face among the police officers. The homicide division appeared there, meaning that the Barton Police Department no longer considered this to be a ‘suicide’ case.
The vampire stared at the photo for a while, and the photo taken in a hurry did not give him other clues. Zach put down the newspaper and picked up the magazine. Flipping open the cover, he glanced through the catalog.
“The Midnight Grim Reaper! Suicide? Or Vengeance? Let Me Take You To The Little-known Barton Midnight Exchange!”
Zach raised his eyebrows. Such an ambiguous title actually attracted his attention…
Zach flipped through the page, found the article, and read it with interest.
The author has woven a place called ‘Midnight Market’, where people can buy luck with their lives. Every person that committed suicide had traded in this place but refused to pay with their lives, which was used as currency in this place. So the debt collectors forcibly seized the ‘expense’ they deserved, creating such a weird suicide method.
There were also a lot of interview quotes in the article, about the narrative of the family of the deceased, winning the lottery, getting a promotion, and completing a big deal. The article seemingly wanted to use this to prove the authenticity of the ‘luck’ transaction.
Finally, the author came to a very ridiculous conclusion, ‘Never buy goods that you can’t afford!’
Zach closed the magazine, stroked his chin, and picked up the list of suicides in the newspaper. After thinking for a while, he stared at one of the names, “Chris”. He had an impression of this name because he had seen this seen in Maddison’s work report.
He first returned to the office, called Maddison, who was in the mill, and confirmed that Chris was still there. Zach pushed open the kitchen door again, and asked Benjamin who was still kneading dough: “Benjamin, something has happened, do you want to come with me?”
“No.” Benjamin flattened, stretched, twisted the dough under him… “Busy.”
“Benjamin.” Alice ran to Benjamin and pressed the dough: “Go! We don’t need your help here.” The banshee needed her friends to concentrate on preparing food, otherwise, they would not be able to finish the preparation before the children finished their class in [Parker Primary School]!
“Oh.” Benjamin stepped aside from the desk, glanced at Zach who was looking at him full of expectation, took off his apron in Lola’s disappointed eyes, and walked towards Zach.
After a while, the efficiency of the Grande family’s kitchen really improved. After all, Benjamin could not do anything but knead a dough, and in terms of Lola, she was even worse.
Benjamin’s truck was driven away from the Grande Funeral Home and headed for the mill. Zach briefly explained the case, and then the topic was changed.
“Ben.” Zach said with a trace of grievance. “You have been ignoring me.”
“Ben, Ja, Min.” The werewolf couldn’t help but get goosebumps every time he heard the acronym, “You asked for it.”
“Okay.” Zach stopped showing aggrieved expression and said seriously, “I know you are upset. However, those hunters must be eliminated. Using my method, or the method of the Barton Police Department. We all know that their only reason to stay in Barton is to deal with you.”
“I don’t need your help.” Benjamin was leaning on the steering wheel. It seemed that it was a nuisance to talk to Zach. He reached for the radio with his right hand and the volume of the radio was adjusted to maximum.
Zach frowned, he really couldn’t accept Benjamin’s musical aesthetics and turned the volume down again.
“You are Alpha, of course, you don’t need it. But Grande needs it, I can’t risk letting those hunters track down to the Grande Funeral Home.”
“Humph!” Benjamin snorted coldly: “So it is my fault then? I brought danger to the Grande Funeral Home, do you mean that?”
Zach lowered his head and realized that he had said something wrong: “You know, I didn’t mean that.”
“I’m sorry, it sounds like that.” Benjamin shook his head blankly.
“Tell me, Benjamin.” Zach looked at Benjamin’s side face with a serious expression. The vampire really wanted to know why Benjamin had been ignoring him, “Did I do something that upset you? Except for the disposal of a few hunters, I always think that our views on hunters are the same. At the Grande Funeral Home, we didn’t kill them because we need to take care of Hank, but other than that, what would upset you?”
Benjamin pouted his lips. Zach was right. Benjamin knew that although he himself was overly sympathetic about other people all the time, he would not feel sympathy for the enemies who only wanted to kill him. Alpha’s anger of being attacked was no less than that of the vampire…
“Because you decided to do it yourself.” Benjamin glanced at Zach: “You decided to do it secretly behind my back.”
Zach raised his eyebrows. It turned out to be this. Benjamin was angry that he didn’t feel that he was involved. Zach nodded helplessly, and laughed somewhat self-deprecatingly: “And I failed. In the end, it was still you who ‘saved’ everyone.”
“Yes!” There was a smile at the corner of Benjamin’s mouth. If the werewolf hadn’t appeared at a critical moment, the bloodline of ‘Toreador’ would have disappeared.
“But you forced me to become a real threat to Grande.” The smile on Benjamin’s face disappeared and he glanced at Zach.
Zach sighed, and the werewolf’s transformation was to save him, but he completed it one day earlier. Benjamin was right. In the space surrounded by three cars, the Alpha Wolf that was clawing the ground and stirring up the dust with its breath was a threat to all breathing lives at that moment.
“That won’t happen again.” Zach patted Benjamin’s sturdy arm.
After a moment of silence, Zach wanted to lighten the mood, “Well, where did you go? Do you still remember? That morning?”
Benjamin’s head didn’t move, his brown eyes glanced at Zach. Just one glance. Zach sat straight honestly and stopped talking.