When Ryan and Benjamin returned to Anderson's house, it was already the evening. With the change of seasons, the sunshine time gradually lengthened. Porto at six o'clock was in the twilight of sunshine and darkness.
The reason for their late return was that after leaving James' attic, they took a detour to the only place near the work of the kidnapped suicide man found by the police to see if there were any clues to be found, but there was no result, so they had to return to Anderson in the dark.
The light and dark ambiguities should have been cherished, but the Anderson family seemed to disdain such a time.
Old Hank disappeared, and Kim was standing alone in the kitchen, enjoying the fruits of the afternoon. Alice and Louise were sitting in Ryan's second-floor room watching 'Cook's kitchen'.
Alice is an absolute fan of Cook. A few days ago, this cooking program was advanced to five o'clock, which is relatively unpopular. The simple Banshee wrote a letter to the TV station to protest: "at six o'clock, most working people have just finished their work. When they return home and turn on the TV, they can only see the freshly baked food, but they don't know the cooking materials and techniques. This is wrong!"
Of course, the Banshee's letter didn't get any response, but Cook, who was a little fat, expressed his optimism in the program the next day: "it's also a pleasant thing for the godmothers to prepare a perfect dinner for their husbands and children before dinner."The heart of Banshee melted.
Ryan stood by the door, watching Alice say goodbye to the people on TV, and agreed to meet again on time tomorrow. He couldn't help feeling a little happy.
"There are several calls." Louise waited patiently for Ryan to immerse himself for a while. "I didn't answer. it left a message."
Ryan smiled and nodded. The three left the room. Alice was about to start preparing dinner. Apparently, she pushed off Laura's celebration party at [Parker primary school] for Cook's sake.
Ryan returned to the office, habitually poured himself a glass of 'wine', and pressed the play button on the answering machine.
Some regular appointment and consultation calls were written down by Ryan on paper.
"Anderson funeral home, Mr. Anderson. Well, this is Wells from Porto land planning administration."
The voice from the answering machine was somewhat dull, and the tone of voice showed the fatigue of the host. Ryan raised his eyebrows and continued to listen.
"I'm calling because, uh, the Western cemetery once planned at Anderson's house has been recovered by the municipal government and is now in the preliminary investigation stage of reconstruction."
Ryan took a sip of the wine. He underestimated Anthony. The Mayor moved the land so quickly.
"Er, so we need to check some information and expect Mr. Anderson's cooperation. Well, that's it. I don't know if Mr. Anderson will have time tomorrow. Er... In short, contact me when you receive a message. Call XXXX. Oh, yes, please contact me during working hours. Thank you."
The sound of the telephone hanging up. Ryan looked at the present and happily put it behind him.
The answering machine was continuing.
"It's still me, Wells. You didn't call back. Maybe you weren't there or something else. Well, I'm off duty."
Ryan sighed, still the tired and weak male voice. Ryan listened helplessly.
"Anyway, you will always come back in the evening to listen to the message. Anyway, I will go to Anderson's house tomorrow morning. Please don't leave. That's it. Er, thank you. Goodbye."
Ryan smiled helplessly. He had heard the helplessness and impatience of the government worker. Ryan put down his glass, thought for a while, and decided not to embarrass this guy. He would just wait for his arrival tomorrow.
But before that, Ryan picked up the phone and dialed the private line in Anthony's office. Government workers never speak clearly. Ryan didn't know what the other party wanted to investigate. It should be helpful to ask Anthony.
"Who." Anthony was always direct.
"Ryan!" Ryan swung his glass.
Heavy sigh. Anthony's tone on the receiver was more impatient than any government worker. However, it is understandable that after six o'clock, the Mayor of Porto was still working hard in his office. This is a good thing! Right! Right?
"What's the matter with you?"
In the receiver, a whimper peculiar to women could not escape the vampire's ears. Ryan bent his eyes, and it seemed that the beautiful secretary had been taken down.
"Am I interrupting something? Maybe I should call back later." Ryan's tone was chuckling. He could even imagine Anthony getting angry on the phone!
Bang! The phone was hung up.
It was already seven o'clock when the phone rang. Let's applaud Porto Mayor Anthony.
"What can I do for you?" Anthony swept away his previous impatience, and a pleasant voice came from the receiver.
"Tomorrow, people from the Porto land planning administration will investigate the west side cemetery." Although Ryan could not say that he was happy for his friend, his tone also unconsciously brought a friendly smile, "what should I pay attention to?"
"Oh!" Anthony was reminded of something: "nothing, just routine investigation. Just prepare the funeral records of the west side cemetery."
"It's easy," Ryan remembered the scene he saw in Ford's funeral home this afternoon. The government staff was harassed. He believed that the situation of Ford's house, the former owner of the tomb, was not much better. Ryan hesitated again: "Anthony, do you really want to move the land over there? You know there are many big people in Porto buried there."
"I know." Anthony took away the remaining frivolity: "that's why there is an investigation. You should know about the mess at Ford, so we hope that the planning of the next few cemetery areas can be smooth. You should not worry about the specific work, just cooperate." Mayor Porto obviously knew enough about the public-private division and did not disclose more because of his relationship with Ryan.
Ryan was satisfied with this response. Anthony will not allow the legal rights of Porto citizens to be violated, and Anderson is also a member of Porto. Ryan most appreciates Anthony's impartiality and expects James to do the same.
"OK." Ryan nodded on the phone and thought for a while. He didn't mention the little problem James encountered. Instead, he reminded Anthony to protect himself as usual and hung up the phone.
Anderson's nights were no different from ordinary people's, with life's breathing and heartbeat continuing smoothly in the dark. The inanimate, like the coffin in the showroom, the ornamental furniture in the office, the hay in Benjamin's warehouse, the vampire lying next to Louise, the Earthbound spirit floating on the roof humming the Beavers song... In short, everyone will find a way to rest.
Until....
Before dawn, old Hank opened his eyes, pushed open the door of Anderson's house, hunched over, and went to collect today's newspaper in the morning sunshine. Alice was shaken up by the big Dane and rubbed her confused eyes into the kitchen. Benjamin stretched his body in the sun with his bare upper body, and the light hair covering the strong body was gilded in the sun. Ryan slowly waited for the blood resuscitation of the whole body, then covered Louise who was still sleeping, and finally, the Run with the characteristic obscenity of teenagers was driven away.
That's how Anderson's day began.
Before nine o'clock, an old car stopped at the gate of Anderson's house. A government worker named Wells, dressed in a faded suit after repeated washing, held a brown briefcase with its edges peeled off, pushed the large frame glasses on the bridge of his nose, and stood opposite Ryan's desk.
"Yes." Wells, who looked less than thirty, stretched out his right hand. Ryan held it and separated, "thank you for your time." Wells spoke politely, but his eyes were cold, which was consistent with Ryan's impression of all government workers. With his right hand back, he pulled out a work permit from his bag and handed it to Ryan: "Wells Pitt."
Ryan glanced at his work permit and handed it back to him: "nice to meet you, Mr. Peter."
"Just call me Wells." Wells showed a smile of self-mockery. He had a bad impression of Anderson because he didn't get the answer phone yesterday. But now, the other party was at least a polite guy.
" Just call me Ryan. I missed your call when I was out yesterday. I'm really sorry." Ryan smiled and apologized for yesterday.
"Well, nothing." Wells took out a few pieces of information in his bag and handed them to Ryan. It was really a guy who didn't want to waste any time: "I wish you were here today. This is the description of this survey. Take a look."
After receiving the information, Ryan glanced at it roughly. Apart from the official words such as "for better planning the land of Porto city", the key point was to obtain the funeral records of Anderson's house in the Western cemetery.
Ryan nodded: "I heard some news about this, and I was ready last night." Ryan pointed to the side of his desk, a neat pile of documents, "but I still need a court warrant." Ryan smiled at the civil servant.
"Er -" Wells' eyes behind the lens stared at Ryan in front of him.
"You should know that after the privatization of the funeral industry, these data have changed from public data to private data. If you want to see it, I need a search warrant from the court." Ryan looked at Wells as if he didn't understand, and explained.
"Of course, you can also count everyone's name directly in the cemetery, so you don't need these." Ryan's "good intention" reminded the guy who just got a little favor with Anderson.
After a short silence, Wells folded up the information he had just handed out and walked out of Ryan's office without saying goodbye. A moment later, the sound of the engine of the old car rang out, away from the Anderson house.
Just after nine o'clock, Ryan's desk phone rang. Ryan picked it up. It's Anthony's voice. It seemed that the Mayor finally received the message Ryan left him last night.
"Are you sure?!"
"I'm pretty sure. I confirmed what happened to Hank." Ryan said flatly.
"Where is he?!" Anthony's voice was full of strange emotions, excitement, anger, and fear.
"North Garden, the fourth row and the second row in the East, has no name."
Yes, Ryan doesn't want to make things difficult for the ordinary civil servant named Wells but thought it was necessary to tell Anthony what he had found. The decision was not in Ryan's hands. He should respect Anthony's ideas. Therefore, the planning progress of the Western cemetery must be delayed.
Maybe you will wonder why people like old Hank have such a high acceptance of a group of non-human people. Here is the answer, because old Hank personally buried one. Although he was engraved with 'anonymous' on the tombstone, he kept his real name for the sake of respect.
Who is he? He is Ian Antony, Ryan's first 'child', Antony's brother, who let Porto Mayor Antony win the Purple Heart Medal awarded by the Federation. (Purple Heart Medal is granted to the disabled in the federal war. If the grantee sacrifices, the family accepts.)