Karen frowned and was about to continue to mock her, but he seemed to suddenly think of something and turned his head sharply to look at the 'dummy', just in time to see it raise its head and reveal a shining eye from the cracks in the straw.
"Ah!" He screamed, took three steps back, pulled out his gun and aimed at the 'dummy': "What the hell is this!??"
Is this alive?
This thing... is actually alive?
"Mr. Xinlai." Hitzfeld glanced at Bishop Lanno, "You have remained silent from the beginning until now. Are you planning to let someone take the blame for you?"
"I never thought so!" The dummy, that is, Mark Sinley, finally spoke, "I will bear all my sins!"
He stood up from the ground on his own, stretched out his hands to tear off all the disguise, revealing his deformed body.
Looking at the upper torso alone, he was still normal, but starting from the left side of his chest downwards, his skin and flesh shrank like a water bag that had been emptied of liquid.
In addition, his limbs, his neck, and his face were so severely atrophied that wooden braces were installed in these areas.
Even so, his hands and feet were only half the thickness of Darent's, and with that "skull face" with sunken cheeks, everyone who saw his appearance was shocked.
"I won't tell you until I'm dressed," he requested.
Ethan immediately took off his coat and threw it to him. After he put it on, it somewhat concealed the abnormality of his legs and feet. If you ignore his face, he finally looks like a normal person.
"Can I have another cigarette?"
Ethan opened his mouth, but did as he was told.
"Thank you!"
He lit up the cigarette, took a puff with great satisfaction, and then his skull face gave an extremely terrifying smile: "I was indeed the one who killed that bitch."
"Who is he talking about?" Karen next to her looked at the girl and others.
"Arsha-Sinlai." He answered with a skull face, "Last night, in the 'Death of Lady Sinlai', the one who committed the murder, escaped, and was shot without any harm was me."
His voice was deep and hoarse, and many people who heard it got goose bumps.
If this wasn't a church hall with so many people gathered together, the sound combined with the face would be enough to give people nightmares.
"There are traces of bullets here." Skull Face lifted his right leg to show everyone - they could see there was indeed a deep wound there. "I faked my death because I wanted to find out who was hurting me."
"Hurt you?" Karen yelled, "What do you mean? What nonsense are you talking about!?"
"Are you a policeman?" The skull-faced man looked at him.
"That's right!" Kelly answered confidently.
Then he was hit hard in the face, so fast that he fell to the ground before he could react.
"Director!"
“Director!!”
Several policemen in black immediately rushed forward to help him up, while other policemen pointed their guns at the skull face, looking like they wanted to shoot but didn't dare to.
"I remember you, Karen Baker." The hoarse voice continued.
"Three years ago, at my funeral, Lanno hinted to you that you should ask Mr. Binns more questions..."
"But how did you answer him?"
"You said, 'There's no need for that. The murderer has been caught anyway, so let's solve the case as quickly as possible.'"
Karen was half lying on the ground, covering her face with one hand, her expression becoming extremely terrified.
"He also told you that the person who hit me to death had mental problems and might have been stimulated by evil forces." The skull face moved closer to him, "But what about you? You pretended not to hear it... because you were eager to protect your achievements... There has been no evil spirits in Fellington for half a year... a great achievement..."
He didn't stop until Karen was so scared that she covered her face with her sleeves. Then he suddenly turned around and said to Hitzfeld, "I know you."
"From the opera?" Hitzfeld was not surprised.
"Right." The other party nodded. "Lan Nuo knows how depressed I am... He often invites traveling theater troupes to perform here. Whenever that happens, I hide in the shelves, pretending to be a mannequin hanging clothes, staring at the stage... watching those girls take turns to perform your story."
"I was down there when you first came to church."
"That backyard, under that big tree."
"Lanno was afraid that my rage would burn out my sanity, so he locked me up there and sat on it himself."
"He doesn't want you to do anything stupid." Hitzfeld narrowed his eyes slightly.
"But there are things I have to do." Skull Face shook his head, "You've also seen my body... People like me don't have a good life. I can forgive her for wanting to harm me, and I can ignore her having an affair with someone else, but she killed Brody--"
He began to grit his teeth: "She must die!"
"You must die in my hands!!!"
"So you've already guessed." Hitzfeld completely ignored his outburst. "Why? Are you sure it was Bill who did it?"
"……No."
"Then how can you be sure it's her?"
"We're all sure that some people are up to something..." Skull Face said, "Since the car accident, but we're not sure - we don't know who they are, or even what they want..."
"But I've been hiding here!"
"I am the shadow!"
"I am the deity that everyone thinks they are facing when they are alone in a room!"
"I can see her expression!"
"That guy reported the case and told everyone about Ghost Street. Instead of bringing Brody with her, she deliberately left him at home and smiled that smile while she prayed - I knew it was her from then on!"
Having said this, he suddenly turned and rushed towards Bill Ponson. Fortunately, Captain Gale had been keeping an eye on him and intercepted him halfway.
"I am going to kill you!"
He was held by Gale, unable to move, but still roared madly: "I will kill you! Ah-ah-"
Chapter 43: The Count's Mask
Although he was not particularly clear about the specific reasons, Mark was not blind and he saw how these people treated Bill Ponson.
So he directly guessed that this person was most likely the real culprit behind the scenes - it was he who asked the woman to marry him, including his own car accident and Brody's death, which were also arranged by the other party.
Of course he couldn't control himself.
He had no meaning or hope to live anymore, and all the things he said before were just to pave the way for his sudden attack.
It’s a pity that he was stopped.
He could only shout a few words from a distance, and the short and fat man was so scared that he didn't even care about the gunshot wound and twisted his butt to move several meters away.
"Do you have anything to say, Bishop Lanno?"
Hitzfeld looked at the white-haired old man who was sitting.
"This is all my responsibility." Bishop Lanno said expressionlessly.
"I'm a coward."
"I was the one who chose to back down... I was afraid... I didn't fulfill my promise to Nellie. I didn't dare to marry a Devourer... It's mostly my fault that things turned out this way."
No wonder he was so nice to Mark.
Ethan watched him from the side.
Because of guilt, he and Mark have a father-son relationship. After Pruss and Nellie died, it was probably his arrangement that Mark was able to return to No. 14.
"He knows all this?" Hitzfeld asked again.
"know."
"How much do you know?"
“Almost all.”
"But you didn't tell him that at first."
"Yes...I told him this after he had the car accident."
"I suppose you discussed these matters in the open space in the red tomato garden."
"......?" Bishop Lanno couldn't help but look up at her.
"And you talked to him before in the same place. You were not ready to tell him everything at that time, but you must have hinted to him that you wanted to give him some of the power of the orchard after your death."
"You make me suspect that you were hiding nearby and watching us... Miss Hitzfeld." Bishop Lanno was stunned. "How could you..."
"Leader——"
Just then a knight in plain clothes rushed into the hall.
"We've found out, Captain! There's a secret room under that vacant lot, and it's connected to the cellar of the house at No. 15 Enling Road!"
"And that's not all!" He said this with an excited look, "We found a lot of notes and manuscripts in the secret room! After a quick inspection, we preliminarily determined that they should come from... Count Brund!!"
"What!?"
"The Count's relics?"
"is that true?"
When the news came out, many people were surprised. The knight kept nodding his head to assure everyone, and even swore in public that he had seen more than one signature of the earl.
Beside him, Bill's head drooped completely. Bishop Lanno squinted at him, as if thinking about something.
"He meant it for his own good, but he didn't know that this action would ruin Mark's life."
Hitzfeld whispered to Ethan.
“An old house.”
"An out-of-place owner who would rather live in fear than sell it."
"A confirmed secret passage from the cellar of the house to the red tomato garden."
"It can be imagined that our Mr. Pang Sen must have discovered the secret passage by chance and obtained the earl's inheritance in the secret room at the end of the secret passage, including the mask."
"And what did he want to do? He might have seen the message in those letters and notes and learned that... the count had another legacy, which was hidden somewhere in the red tangerine garden."
"If he wants to seize the Red Tomato Garden, he must at least get a chance to get in."
"And Bishop Lanno happened to stand above Mark's head one night when Mark was in the secret room, hinting to him that he should share power with him."
"…Reality has given the answer to what Bill Ponson would do."
So this is the origin of the tragedy of Mark's family.
Ethan frowned.
After confirming this key information, Bill and his wife conspired to have her change her appearance and marry Mark in order to seize the Red Tomato Farm. They had their eyes on Mark's identity as a potential successor.
Afterwards, Bill may have obtained more intelligence through eavesdropping, and they became more confident. After Lady Sinlai, whose real name was Catharina, gave birth to a child, they killed Mark, hoping to seize power more quickly by taking advantage of Bishop Lanno's guilt towards Mark.
At the same time, they did not just focus on one person, because they heard that Father Vander might become the true heir of the church in the future, so they started to target the priest and let this woman seduce the priest.
The person who hit and killed Mark was probably misled by the mask.
The tragic death of Brody and Mallory, Bill's new wife, were undoubtedly the work of the mask. It was this thing that created the illusion of Ghost Street. This man had been lying since he reported the case.
All the plans are linked together... the ultimate goal is the Red Tomato Garden and the secret legacy left by the Count.
At this point, the truth is revealed.
All the cause and effect connections have been sorted out.
Ethan was not the only one who had some realization. Everyone was smart and gradually turned their attention to Bill and the big iron box next to them.
This box was what Bill had gone to so much trouble to get, and it was dug out from where he had started with the shovel.
"It's already now...go ahead, Bill." Bishop Lanno sighed.
"What's in this box?"
The short and fat man looked at Mark's skull face with fear, pursed his lips, and dared not speak.
“It’s nothing but a huge fortune!”
Mark snorted.
"Stocks! Bonds! Gold bars! What else could it be! What else could it be for!?"
"Maybe not." Hitzfeld said softly, staring at the half mask that Captain Gale had been holding.
