Whenever Jorgen felt that the case had made significant progress, he would go to the Boar and Whistle Inn to celebrate. This time he did not take the front entrance, but went around to the alley behind the inn. He just saw Nicole Langston coming out of the back door of the shop and pouring a basin of dirty water into the ditch in front of the door.
When he was ten meters away from her, Jorgen suddenly had the whim to ask her father, David, if he had come home yet. As soon as he opened his mouth, he saw a black shadow suddenly leap up from behind Nicole and pounce on her.
Jorgen shouted and rushed forward. The black shadow stood up and quickly ran away. Jorgen wanted to chase after him, but Nicole's crying pinned his feet in place.
When Shelley heard her daughter crying, she also came out of the back door. When she saw Jorgen there, she said in an incredulous tone, "Jorgen, what...what did you do to my daughter?"
Fortunately, it did not take too much time to clear up this misunderstanding, and except for spraining her ankle when she fell to the ground, Nicole was not seriously injured. To soothe her emotions, Jorgen helped Shelley carry her into the bedroom to rest. Shelley drove all the guests away and closed the door.
"Jorgen, you should leave too. Nicole was just frightened. I can take care of her."
"Then, I..."
As Jorgen was about to leave, Nicole said in a tearful voice, "No, mom, don't drive him away. I have something to tell him."
"Nicole...?" Sherry was full of doubts.
"Very important things, mom. I have to say it..."
"Nicole, speak. Don't worry, you're safe now." Jorgen said.
"I know who killed them, he came for revenge..." Nicole sobbed, "He really is the 'Ghost of Van Cleef'. But not Edwin's ghost, Gothalo's...now it's my turn..."
"Nicole, what nonsense are you talking about?" To Shelley, her daughter's words were like sleep talking, but Jorgen knew what she meant - though he never imagined Nicole would be involved in this.
"I know who Gothalo is, Nicole. He was Edwin's brother and disappeared fifteen years ago. What do you want to tell me? You must speak clearly!"
"No, Gothalo didn't disappear," Nicole covered her eyes, tears flowing through her fingers, "He died, he was killed...killed right in Throat Slitting Alley!"
"Killed...?" Jorgen struggled to make his brain flexible.
"Yes. The five of us just wanted to play a joke, like usual, bully him...but he suddenly pulled out a knife, waving it around...I was on lookout at the mouth of the alley at the time and didn't see it with my own eyes. I don't know who wrested the knife away, and then..."
"My God." Shelley's eyes were wide.
"Nicole, were you familiar with the two brothers? And who were the 'five' people you mentioned? Tell me more in detail!" Jorgen was extremely excited.
"At that time, Gothalo was often bullied by us...because he was stupid and foolish. But as long as Edwin was there, we didn't dare play tricks on him. Gothalo wrote in 'mirror writing', that is, writing that needed to be read upside down...In fact, perhaps because there was something wrong with his mind, he couldn't write normal writing at all. He recorded all the times we bullied him in that diary in mirror writing. He worshipped his brother and even imagined himself as Edwin, signing every diary entry as 'V3', that is, 'EV'...He hid that diary very well, we couldn't find it, so we often troubled him for that.
"When Gothalo was killed, the five people present, besides me, were Oliver Sandler, Raiden Fandaron, Graham...I don't remember the fifth person clearly, I had never seen him before that accident."
Oliver, Raiden, Graham - these three names that had been swirling in Jorgen's head for a whole month and a half now came together in a way he had never expected.
Could it be that they were killed not because they betrayed the Stonemasons, but because they conspired to kill Gothalo Van Cleef?
Could it be true as in Bartholomew's nightmare that Edwin Van Cleef had never died, and now he wanted to avenge his brother?
Jorgen only felt dizzy.
But no matter whether the murderer was Edwin himself or the so-called "ghost", why did he attack Elin Tias?
"The man who was about to attack me just now, although I couldn't see his face, I felt that it must be the face of one of the Van Cleef brothers, whether brother or brother...I'm the fourth or fifth person, he'll come to kill me..."
Shelley pushed Jorgen away and hugged her daughter tightly.