CH 5

Translation checker: GRain

Editor: Junyans

The follow-up work of the traffic accident took a month to resolve, but it was still far from over. There was still a long recovery period, both for those who had lost their loved ones and those who had been seriously injured. 

Lynn’s police duties were back on track, and it was still all incidents of petty theft or small cases like cats unable to climb down from trees.

As for his private life, his daughter was still playing with another young girl, and from time to time he had to send the child back to her home or greet Arthur at the door when he had had brought Chrissie back.

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That person appeared repeatedly in his life—someone he thought he should be vigilant against and stay as far away from as possible. All his experience as a police officer had taught him this, and his experience was always right.

When you had such a clear understanding of the whole situation, there should have been no problem in taking action, but it was just that… that was not the case here. 

In October, a big case happened in Oak Town. The whole town was extremely distressed and scared, and every family with children felt anxious.

The Morton family’s little girl had gone missing.

The child had just turned nine years old. She had missed the school bus that day because she had stayed until late at her school playing with her friends. The school was very close to her house and her parents were busy, so she went home by herself after school in the afternoon.

Someone had seen a white Ford, which didn’t look like a car from the town, pull up next to her. The little girl had gotten in and disappeared.

Lynn received the call when he had already gotten off work and was having dinner. He dropped his plate and hurried over, and he was stuck in the police station for many days after that, with no chance to go back home.

Nothing was more torturous than this kind of case, and nothing was more difficult than this for a parent to face, especially when it happened to a child. Although this kind of thing actually happened from time to time, it was so awful that it was unexplainable.

Lynn knew how perverse some people could be in this world, and that no place in the world was safe. Even in such a peaceful town, some terrible people could appear and destroy what you had been trying to protect. And when he received that call and realized that a child was indeed missing, his first reaction was the same as most parents, and that was to worry about his own child, Chrissie.

He had left in a hurry at dinner, and now Chrissie was home alone—Lynn called immediately to confirm whether she was still home—and if little Morton was not found immediately, he wouldn’t be able to return home, and Chrissie would be home alone tonight. Perhaps he might not be able to return home tomorrow and the day after that, too. There was nothing he could do to take care of her. 

The thought of it was unbearable to Lynn, and he wanted to go back immediately and keep his child by his side, not let her leave his sight for even half a step.

Several times, he couldn’t even listen clearly to his subordinates’ reports, just by thinking that the criminals might still be in town. The crime was obviously committed mainly against seven- and eight-year-old girls. His little girl was alone and unprotected, and someone might hurt her at any moment, causing irreversible harm.

He knew the horror of the world. He had already seen too much of it.

He picked up his phone and called Arthur. 

“Arthur’s house, who’s calling?” Krystyn said.

“This is Lynn. Can you put your father on the phone, Krystyn?”

The girl sounded in affirmation, and her voice calling her father came from the phone. After a moment, the phone was picked up, and the calm, indifferent voice came from the other side of the phone. “Officer Lynn?”

At that moment, Lynn felt strangely relieved. He wasn’t sure if this was a kind of degeneration. He had always trusted only himself but now, he felt genuine safety and trust in the voice of a suspected criminal. 

“I suppose you already know about Morton’s child,” he said.

“I’ve heard about it,” Arthur said, “Do you think it’s an outsider?”

“It’s a possibility. Here’s the problem: I’m afraid I can’t go home these two days. Chrissie’s by herself. The criminal could still be in town…”

He paused for a moment. “Things really aren’t looking good, Arthur. I can’t leave her alone.” 

“I’ll pick her up now,” the other person said before hanging up.

Lynn called Chrissie and informed her that Arthur would be picking her up for staying overnight. The little girl tried to keep calm, but the thought of being with Krystyn obviously made her very delighted. Children had no idea about the pains of being parents at all.

Later that evening, Arthur called to tell him that he had picked up Chrissie and that the little girl was right in front of him. He assured him, “She’ll be very safe.”

Lynn put down the phone and suddenly realized how scared he had been. There were so many horrifying things in this world. 

But in that moment, he felt that his spirit was once again whole, and he could use all his energy to deal with the case at hand without worrying about a part of himself being torn away again.

She was at Arthur’s. Neither the school, nor Mrs. Gedell’s house, nor the door of his room with its countless locks could give him such a feeling of security.

But Arthur’s place could.

Because he was a very impressive person? Lynn reasoned that maybe it was just because he understood, understood the horror and danger of the world, and the madness of protecting that tiny treasure at all costs. 

For two days after that, Lynn was very busy gathering clues from all parties, thinking with fear that someone would show up at any moment to report the discovery of a child’s body in a quiet corner.

The police station’s phones were ringing off the hook. Everyone wanted to know if their children were safe. Schools decided to suspend classes for a period of time. All parents were nervously keeping an eye on their children and wouldn’t let them leave their sight.

Lynn worked several days in a row, and according to police analysis, the child had probably been killed, but people still didn’t want to give up hope.

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When Arthur opened the door, the first thought in Lynn’s head was: Oh my God, the food smells so good that it’s dizzying.

Jtglrrlf gertfv bea bo atf gbbw jcv teuufv tlw. Oscc qlmxfv tfg eq. Llr cfwfrlr aegcfv ab bcf rlvf jcv ifa tlw lc. Oscc rjk tlr bkc gfoifmalbc oijrtlcu bc atf uijrr. Llr yijmx tjlg kjr wfrrs, tlr yfjgv raeyyif tjv ugbkc eq, jcv tf ibbxfv ilxf j qtjcabw ktb tjv fnfgsatlcu rdeffhfv bea bo tlw, sfa tlr fsfr kfgf rtjgq fcbeut ab rajy rbwfbcf ja jcs alwf atgbeut jcv atgbeut.

He walked into the room. Arthur’s family had been about to eat, and the food on the table had just been set, rich and tempting, which made Lynn strongly recall that his last meal had been at noon the previous day.

Arthur stared at him, and Krystyn stared at Arthur severely. 

The host slowly pulled back his chair and asked, “Since it’s such a coincidental time, would you mind staying for a casual meal, Officer?”

Lynn knew it was bad, but he really didn’t have the courage to refuse. He put Chrissie down, coughed, and said, “Then, I’ll trouble you.”

Arthur frowned, probably not expecting him to actually agree. Before he could say anything else, Krystyn said cheerfully, “You’ll love my dad’s cooking. Today we made beef stew in red wine, and he’s very good at it. You know, he didn’t even know what butter was before, but when he really decided to learn cooking, he learned it very quickly.”

“Oh, then I’m looking forward to it,” Lynn said as he sat down in a chair. The food on the table was so tempting that it made his eyes glaze over. He tried to maintain table manners and not reach out to steal anything. Arthur placed the cutlery in front of him with a cold expression, clearly not happy about him staying for the meal. 

Lynn said dryly, “Thank you.”

Arthur said coldly, “No, I hope you like my cooking,” while glaring at Krystyn, and his daughter glared back hard.

“Uh, it looks very tempting,” Lynn said.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t know you were coming so I didn’t poison it,” Arthur said. 

“Manners, Dad!” Krystyn said.

“I don’t think Officer Lynn would mind little things like that. He’s open-minded.”

Lynn laughed and said, “I think I’d swallow it all, even if it was poisoned.”

“Then Christmas would have arrived early.” 

“Dad!”

Arthur finally finished dividing the food—actually, there was still a good deal left which he hadn’t finished dividing yet—and Lynn started to finish off his plate.

Arthur gave him a strange look, but said nothing.

The food tasted extremely good. Lynn had a hard time imagining that someone like Arthur could cook so well. He seemed like the type of person who would never go near the kitchen, but would boss the chef around and complain that the meat wasn’t tender enough and the vegetables weren’t fresh enough. 

Krystyn mentioned a few times that it wasn’t that long ago that Arthur had been a complete idiot about cooking, probably worse than Lynn himself. At least he could reheat pizza in the microwave when he had been six.

But, in order to help the people around them, some people would learn things they had never expected to touch before and become an expert.

The meal was so delicious that Lynn really wished that he could lick the plates clean. He couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten something so tasty. It was the kind of food that you would make when you were willing to take care of someone else. It took time and effort, but you were not in a hurry and were willing to spend such effort.

He ate everything in a few minutes, and wondered, somewhat guiltily, since Arthur had obviously not considered doing his portion, if he had eaten part of Arthur’s share, because the guy hadn’t really eaten much. 

After dinner, Arthur cleared the table, then went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, with the two children helping out, looking happy and warm at home.

Lynn awkwardly tried to help with some of the work. He went to help Arthur put away the dishes. Arthur washed the dishes in a neat and efficient manner. He stared at his hands, wondering what on earth had changed a man like him so much that he was willing to stay here to wash the dishes?

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that when Arthur handed him the plate, his hand slipped and the plate fell, and Arthur quickly caught it with his backhand.

The movement was extremely swift and steady, requiring first-class reflexes. Arthur put the plate away and said to Lynn, “I think it’s time for you to get back to work, Officer.” 

Lynn raised his hand in a gesture of surrender. “I also think it would be less out of place for me to go back to work, too.”

Arthur waved his hand, earnestly wishing that he had left sooner, while continuing to wash the dishes.

Arthur must have wanted him to get as far away from his house as possible, Lynn thought, as any proximity would be unhelpful to hiding his secrets. It was just like how Lynn had always decided to keep a distance from people like Arthur. People who wanted to protect secrets at all costs were always too dangerous.

But he took one last look at Arthur before he left. The man was quietly washing the dishes, and the two children were running around, laughing brightly. Everything existed simply for the sake of living quietly. 

He knew full well that Arthur was a man of disaster and darkness, but he was really unable to associate this man, this scene, with any image of danger or horror.

The Morton family’s little girl had still not been found.

The month after that, no children from Oak Town had gone missing. Apparently the killer had left town, and many parents were relieved. But the missing girl was always like a fishbone stuck in everyone’s throat. This was the kind of thorn that people would never forget in their whole lives.

The child’s family, however, had been torn apart and completely destroyed. 

But other people’s lives still had to go on. As soon as overtime had subsided, Lynn had gone to Arthur’s house to get Chrissie back, and at his daughter’s order, Arthur reluctantly invited him for a cup of tea.

The tea had been carefully brewed, but the atmosphere was stiff. Lynn drank everything in the cup in one gulp, and Arthur tried his best not to show a contemptuous expression. He asked, “How’s it going?”

“We think some passing criminal did it,” Lynn said, “He left town that night, and now he’s in who knows where in the world.”

“When he was passing by, he accidentally found a little girl to amuse himself with, and then threw her away when he was done with her,” Arthur said coldly. 

“Yes,” Lynn said. He placed the cup back on the table. The porcelain collided with the table, making a sharp sound.

Arthur was silent, and the light shone from behind, making the atmosphere heavy.

“It’s just an arbitrary game to kill time,” Arthur said.

Lynn leaned back heavily on the sofa, pressed the center of his brows, and said, “Sometimes I think about Emma’s case, and now this case, and realize how there’s no safe place in the world. It’s too terrible. No matter where one goes, if there’s no safe place, what can they do?!” 

Arthur didn’t say anything for a while, then he picked up the teapot and slowly poured Lynn a cup of tea, saying, “Tea should be drunk slowly.”

After gloomily sitting on the sofa for a while, Lynn sat up straight and picked up the cup of tea. He drank it slowly, and it didn’t taste bad. The beauty of tasting this kind of thing seemed to lie in the more subtle aspects that required some effort, and did not stimulate the senses directly.

They drank the tea in silence for a while. It was very quiet save for the sound of Arthur pouring tea into the cup. He had brought this habit with him from a different world, and even when he arrived here, he still gave off the impression of being calm and steady.

Lynn was not good at expressing himself. He always hid some terrible things in his heart. It was the kind of darkness which couldn’t see the light, because it was too bad. And speaking it out loud would leave him screaming hysterically. It was better to keep them to himself. But here and now, he wanted to say something. 

When he opened his mouth, his voice was suppressed and angry. “I can’t find the bastard!”

“He was a passerby, driving a car, and he would have been gone within an hour, nowhere to be found,” Arthur said.

“I did everything in my ability, but I still couldn’t find that bastard!” Lynn yelled, “I couldn’t find that kid. Oh God, she’s only nine!”

Arthur slowly poured tea into his empty cup. 

“In this world, sin is not punished, nor is virtue rewarded,” Arthur said, “It’s a very dangerous and scary place, and it’s unbelievably bad. I’ve done everything in my ability to keep my daughter safe, but there really isn’t any safe place in the world. Lynn, there is no such place in the world.”

He stared into his cup of tea and whispered, “We don’t have such a place.”

He poured himself some more tea and said, “The kids are upstairs playing and discussing an essay about whales and don’t want to split up just yet. We can finish this pot of tea and wait for them for a while.”

Lynn smiled and drank the tea slowly. It seemed interesting to do such a delicate thing occasionally. 

Almost an hour had passed since they had finished drinking that pot of tea. Lynn found it hard to believe that he would spend so much time alone with Arthur and would even taste tea!

It even felt surprisingly good.

He led Chrissie away. When he reached the door, the two girls were still reluctant to say goodbye—it really made people jealous. Chrissie was always overjoyed to be at Arthur’s house, and when it was time to leave, she was as sad as if she was leaving Disneyland—and Lynn shook hands with Arthur solemnly.

“Thank you for taking care of her,” he said. 

“You’re welcome.”

The two fathers looked at each other for a moment. Lynn thought, of course we should both be relieved. Because we could finally leave our previously close lives together and keep our distance. The two men had come from afar to Oak Town and wanted to pursue a life that was absolutely beneficial and harmless.

On the way back, Lynn told himself that, and he knew in his heart that it was impossible.

By the way, little Morton was found on the other side of the country two years later. She still remembered her name and home address, but she couldn’t tell what had happened during the time she was missing. The point was, Lynn thought, that it was hard to imagine that she had endured a disaster which was difficult to survive. 

The local police were cautiously trying to trigger some of her memories in the hope of catching the kidnapper. It was said that they already had some clues.

But that was all in the future.

The instinct Lynn had against Arthur was accurate. His instincts were always very accurate, no matter whether it was when he had been in the Major Crimes Unit or when he had first seen Arthur: the person had been very elegant at the time, but the darkness inside his bones and the smell of secrets that had lingered on him had stirred Lynn’s police instincts.

After that, Lynn and Arthur’s lives really became closer and closer. 

On a normal afternoon—there were a lot of normal afternoons like this—he went to Arthur’s house to pick up Chrissie and bring her back home. The two children were doing homework in the living room. When she saw Lynn coming over, Chrissie happily greeted him, “Wait for a bit, Daddy. The homework is due on Monday, I’m almost finished.”

—Sometimes Lynn thought that the children might have felt something. Now, when Chrissie was hanging around her good friend, they appeared as if it was natural. Life soundlessly reverted back to the time before he had talked with her.

Moreover… it had gone one step further.

Arthur had been boiling water when he saw Lynn come in, and he said, “I’m just making some tea, would you like to sit down and have some?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Lynn said, sitting down on the sofa while Arthur prepared the tea in the kitchen.

“Get two more biscuits, Dad,” Krystyn yelled, then smiling brightly at Lynn, she said, “Uncle Lynn, you’ll love the chocolate biscuits. Dad makes good tea, right?”

“Yes, it’s very good,” Lynn replied. The girl’s smile was so bright that he couldn’t tell why it made him a little nervous.

“You should stop by more frequently for tea. I heard from Chrissie that you’re not very good at cooking and things like baking, but my dad is good at it,” Krystyn said. 

“That’s really…” Lynn said, “Thank you so much.”

“There’s no need for these formalities. Chrissie is like a sister to me, you’re like a father to me, you’re a part of our family,” Krystyn said.

“What are you waffling about, Krystyn,” Arthur said as he brought out the tea.

“I hope to make Officer Lynn feel at home,” Krystyn said. 

“I don’t think he needs this, especially in our home,” Arthur said, giving Lynn a look, “He needs a new shirt more than anything.”

Lynn glanced at his shirt, which was indeed a little wrinkled. “I like this shirt.”

“I hate it,” Arthur said.

“I’m very sorry, Officer Lynn,” Krystyn said, “I wish he’d learned basic manners when he had learned how to cook.” 

“It’s okay, your father says things in a straightforward and brutal manner. I really like it.”

“Gee, if you like it, then I don’t have anything to say,” Krystyn said.

Lynn thought the conversation was a little odd, but couldn’t quite put his finger on what he found odd. Arthur prepared the snacks, and the two little girls cheered and rushed to eat the afternoon meal. They were as thick as thieves and the two fathers couldn’t get a word in.

Lynn took a bite of the biscuit and was amazed at how delicious it was. 

“Did you make this? Oh my God, it’s so good. You’re too professional!”

“Really?” Arthur said suspiciously, “I don’t know. I hate sweets, but Krystyn likes them. Her mother used to make them for her.”

He looked picky and didn’t touch the biscuits.

Lynn was a little bit in awe of him. 

He remembered occasionally hearing people in the town talk about Arthur’s wife. The information about his past was very vague. He only knew that his wife’s name was Hilda and she had died of a sudden heart attack, after which Arthur had left the city where he had used to live and settled here. Rumors said that he had wanted a change of mood so that he wouldn’t feel sad every time he thought of his wife.

According to gossip, she had been an elegant, erudite and beautiful woman, but that had probably been said because it was hard to imagine what kind of woman Arthur could be with. Considering that she had passed away untimely, it was not too much to add some more praise.

Lynn imagined her as a good person, who had probably been pretty good at baking the treats Krystyn liked. According to Krystyn, Hilda and Arthur had had a pretty good relationship—she said even the female mosquitoes hadn’t dared come near Arthur when she had been around.

Lynn didn’t know what had happened to her. Was it really a heart attack? He also wondered what kind of past Arthur had. But he knew that now that she was gone, Arthur was actually taking on everything in his life by himself. 

“I know it’s hard for people who don’t like sweets to understand the joy of eating them,” he said to Arthur, “But you make the best biscuits I’ve ever eaten.”

Arthur looked at him and gave him a smile. It was a reserved smile, of course, but Lynn could tell that he was absolutely delighted.

“I spent a lot of effort and checked a lot of books,” Arthur said.

“You’re a genius at making desserts,” said Lynn. 

“You can take some with you if you like,” Arthur said, “Since I’m making it again tomorrow.”

In this way, when Lynn left, he carried a bag of Arthur’s hand-baked desserts. He and Chrissie ate half of them along the way. This thing was definitely made beyond the professional level.

No wonder Chrissie liked to hang out at Arthur’s house so much, Lynn thought. She could eat, drink, and have fun all she wanted

“I think his biscuits are much better than other people’s in town,” Lynn said, “Krystyn said Arthur’s chocolate pie wasn’t as good as some of the ‘sweet mothers’ in town? But this is the best thing I’ve ever had.” 

“Oh, Krystyn said that since that time, he’s been working hard at it. He’s not a big fan of losing,” Chrissie said. “Well, actually, according to her, Mr. Arthur seems to be very, very bored; he has a shelf full of cookbooks…”

Lynn glanced at her and said, “Doesn’t he do some medical research at home?”

“Yes, but he’s still very bored,” Chrissie said, “Krystyn said that his old life was too rich, and staying in a small town is the greatest test for someone with his talent, and he did a lot of things to fight those… Daddy, are you really not going back to where you used to work? This is completely different from your previous life.”

“Do you like it here, Chrissie?” Lynn asked. 

Chrissie nodded vigorously, her eyes shining.

“Daddy’s not going anywhere, Chrissie. I think I like this place, too.”