Chapter 69
Because Zach had informed in advance, Maddison was already waiting in front of the mill. The construction of the mill was completed a week ago, and the sign of ‘Grande Funeral Home’ was also erected in front of the door. Maddison was a little nervous and introduced the real boss to the new employees here.
Zach waved his hand carelessly and followed Maddison into the basement. The metal cabinet against the wall was emitting a slight coldness. Maddison checked the information and opened a cabinet door.
“Chris Irwin, thirty-two years old, male..”
Maddison, who was reading the information, was interrupted by Benjamin and took over the information, “You can leave now.”
“Oh.” Maddison left silently, leaving two people in the basement.
The cabinet was completely pulled out, and Zach opened the white plastic bag to reveal the body inside. On the white frost covered the skin the black and red stitches on the body’s chest were very obvious.
Benjamin flipped through the information, and there was not much information recorded on it. After all, it was sent by the Barton Southern District Police Department, because this Chris had no family and could only be stored here temporarily.
“This wound is really messy.” Zach tilted his head and stared at Chris’ left chest. Even after stitching, he could still see the uneven cut of the wound. It was really hard to imagine why he would use a knife to stab his own heart..
“It is normal to be messy.” Benjamin did not find anything useful on the record, “The wound is not clean, it means it is not homicide.”
Zach nodded, if it was a homicide, the wound would at least be smooth. He looked around, found gloves, scissors, and cut open the forensic suture.
“Hm..” Zach drew out his voice, and opened the body’s chest to show Benjamin, “What do you think?”
James’s description on the phone was not accurate. On the exposed heart, two slanted cuts formed a small X-shaped mark, which was the real fatal injury. The ventricles of the heart were punctured and the person was bleeding to death.
“Did he draw it himself?” Benjamin frowned and looked at Chris’s harmless face. He was even more confused. Why would this man want to draw an x on his heart? Benjamin was now considering the authenticity of ‘suicide’.
“No.” Zach sighed for no reason and shook his head: “He drew it himself.”
“You know something?” Benjamin looked at Zach’s expression: “Have you seen such a situation?”
“Unfortunately, I have seen it.” Zach closed the wound again, thought about it, got the needle and thread, and started to stitch the poor man again.
“This is a mark, an exclusive mark, which means that this body and his soul belong to someone.” Zach had, uh, a touch of admiration on his face, “Also, this mark shouldn’t be cut open. This means that the contract was ended and the exclusiveness was broken.” Zach leaned forward, facing Chris, who was covered in frost, with a heartfelt admiration: “You are a brave man, you are free, and may you go to heaven. But you committed suicide, so.. Have a good time in hell.”
Benjamin raised his eyebrows. He didn’t like the vampire’s ambiguous tone: “What are you talking about? The Crossroads demon? The contract with The Crossroads only charges the soul, I didn’t know that they are also interested in the body. Moreover, can the contract be broken in this way? I have never heard of this. And this is an X, not a cross. ”
“Well, Benjamin, you are still too young.” Zach smiled at Benjamin, and only Zach was qualified to say that about the werewolf: “This was not done by the Demon of the Crossroads, but by another ancient, uh, person. We call him ‘Papa Midnight’. ”
Benjamin’s face turned gloomy after Zach said the name.
Please understand Benjamin’s emotional changes. We already know that vampires can’t walk into the homes of people of Inan descent without invitations. This is because the former aborigines repelled the invasion of colonists and cast a curse on these outsiders.
Of course, in addition to restricting the actions of vampires, the former aborigines also implemented other security measures. One of them is: Using the “Gangrel”, one of the vampire clans that have the ability to transform, to create the vampire’s natural enemy – werewolves.
Of course, all these incredible things should be attributed to an ‘ancient’ man, the ancestor of witchcraft. Like Zach said, please call him ‘Papa Midnight’.
For such a mysterious and magical thing, of course, I asked the vampire curiously.
“Why X? Does this mark have any special meaning?” I asked.
The vampire thought for a while and asked me: “If you put the cross of the Church of Holy Lord slantingly, and then announce the establishment of a new church, what will happen?”
“I think I will be beaten up by the priest.”
“Mhm, that’s right. This is what the ‘Papa Midnight’ wants.” The vampire replied.
“Oh.” I thought for a while, and seemed to understand something. I don’t know why, but I felt some sympathy for this ancient man. Perhaps it has something to do with the main faith of the Federation, or the Church of Holy Lord.
After saying goodbye to Madison, Benjamin’s truck returned to Highway 27, but the direction was not heading south back to the Grande Funeral Home, but to continue north. When just entering the Northern District, they turned west and headed towards the [Passing].
Although it was still the workday, there were still many people in the residential area of Passing. Zach would not judge these people, because most of them were low-income earners with unstable working hours.
There was no change from the last time Zach visited during the night. The dilapidated mailbox, the crooked fence, and the dirty street.
Benjamin was a little surprised. Zach pushed open the fence of the Gale family’s house and rang the doorbell.
“They actually invited you in? !” The werewolf shook his head and also stood on the somewhat decaying porch.
Zach smiled naturally, and continued to ring the doorbell.
The ancestor of witchcraft would appear in the city of Barton, and the only possibility was that the couple summoned him. Except for them, no one in Barton had this ability. Zach had some guesses about the reason for the summon, but he was not very sure.
“Hey! You two!” On one side of the fence, a middle-aged man wearing loose overalls, lying on the fence, asked with caution: “Who are you looking for?”
“Coord.” Zach turned and smiled at the stranger. He was already paying attention to the movement in the house, but he didn’t hear anyone at home.
“Oh, he’s not in.” The middle-aged man lowered his guard. Since the man could call out the house owner’s name, he should be someone familiar with the owner. He pushed open the fence next to Gale’s family’s house and took out the key. It was the neighbor who lived nearby. In such a community, neighbors must take care of each other. The middle-aged man waved to Zach: “They are often not at home during this period, do you need anything from them? I can leave a message for you.”
“Thank you so much.” Zach exited the front porch and smiled at the middle-aged man, “Tell him that ‘Grande’ has been here. And we want to discuss something with him.”
“Grande! Grande of that funeral home?” The middle-aged man nodded suddenly, then as if talking to himself, he muttered, “Poor Ryan, he really needs a new home. By the way, you can go to the old cemetery to see, maybe they will be there.”
Zach and Benjamin glanced at each other, and it seemed that the thing about Ryan being dug up by someone was not a secret in this area. As a hunter, Revenge left too many traces behind.
After thanking the middle-aged neighbor, Zach and Benjamin got in the car again and drove out of Passing. Today’s itinerary was a bit boring. It seemed to be always on the road. The next stop was the cemetery that once belonged to [Ford Funeral Home].
Zach rarely visited the other people that were also in the funeral business. Now when he came to the cemetery where Ford used to be at the junction of the north and the south of Barton, he was taken aback.
This was no longer what the cemetery looked like. People in formal wear and work uniforms could be seen everywhere, and they were explaining and arguing with the crying citizens.
Zach now realized that it was not that Revenge and other hunters had left many traces behind, but that the city government had caused public outrage.
When the cemetery was still under the jurisdiction of the municipal government, the government would renovate the cemetery every few decades. Some places would be planned for urban construction, and some places would be reserved as new cemeteries. A person’s grave does not exist forever. In a cemetery, there is usually a small plot of land, or a memorial hall, densely packed with a large number of tombstones. This is the place where the real deceased live forever.
This is very common in other parts of the Federation, but in Barton, it never happened before. Because Barton is a new city, the city government didn’t need to take the dead people’s land.
The trial of the privatization of funeral business in the state of Massa this time directly cut off the process of Barton’s slow adaptation to this phenomenon. As a result, those who were born in Barton couldn’t accept the fact that the deceased would be disturbed, and they were arguing with the city government staff.
Zach could see that the area in the north of the cemetery, where the criminals were usually buried, has been completely dug open, and the graves of those who don’t care are naturally the first to be destroyed. The construction line has isolated the land. No one knows what will be built there in the future. In the other areas of the cemetery, there are also staff members holding the metal-detector-like instruments seemingly detecting something.
“Don’t touch my grandma! You bandits! !”
historical
Zach listened to the cry of a middle-aged woman next to him, and he subconsciously thought of the cemetery of the Grande Funeral Home in the Western District. Could it be the same?
Zach shook his head with a bitter smile, thinking that it was impossible. Most of the people that were buried in the western cemetery are the pioneers of Barton, and Anthony probably wouldn’t dare to touch that land there easily.
The two of them strolled around in the cemetery, but they did not find the Gale couple. They then realized they had wasted their time coming here.
“Where are we going now?” Benjamin put his hand on the steering wheel and did not start the truck, and asked Zach who was thinking.
“Go to James? He should know some clues.” Zach also was not sure, so he proposed.
“Okay.” Benjamin started the truck.
Zach’s uncertainty comes from not knowing where things are going. Papa Midnight, in Inan witchcraft, is like God the Father of the Church of Holy Lord. If the bizarre suicide of Barton is related to him, the vampire does not know how he, the Grande Funeral Home, should face it.