The perpetrator A turned out to be Susan Wright, and Fiona Bennett remained immersed in the shock brought by this news. To Fiona Bennett, Susan Wright was once a radiant figure on a pedestal, but later she became increasingly haggard, eventually died, and after so many years, time had worn away her impression. Then, after Gabriel Adams uncovered the hidden truth about her family background, all of Susan Wright's aura had faded. Yet at this moment, the fact that Susan Wright chose to correspond and confront her own murderer in her darkest hour—such wisdom and courage left Fiona Bennett dazzled. She truly was an extraordinary person. The memories were vivid: it turned out that during those days when she and Susan Wright were searching for the culprit together, there were also these letters clashing in secret. That bottle of mineral water with a pinhole, the incident that made her fully trust and decide to help Susan Wright—behind it all was such meticulous planning. Fiona Bennett first felt admiration, then indignation, and then understanding; all sorts of emotions tangled together, shrouding Susan Wright's image in her heart with layers of mist, making it impossible to see clearly.

Both of them had too much to process and digest, and for a while, the living room was silent.

The first to break the silence was Fiona Bennett. She said to William Williams, "Even so, the person who caused Susan Wright's death may not be just one."

"Why do you say that?"

"Before Susan Wright died, she once told me that among all our classmates, only Frank Bishop was definitely not a problem. At that time, I was dating Frank Bishop, and later we got married. All these years, although I never knew how Susan Wright came to that conclusion, I believed it without doubt. But ever since Frank Bishop found out I was reinvestigating Susan Wright's cause of death, his attitude has become increasingly strange. Just two days ago, he almost had me committed to a psychiatric hospital."

Fiona Bennett also recounted the incident of watching the knife at midnight, and did not shy away from mentioning that she had seen a psychiatrist for a while.

"From the looks of it, Frank Bishop is indeed very suspicious." William Williams nodded in agreement.

"Yes, in the whole sponsored training class, apart from me, you're the only one with no suspicion at all."

"So that's why you came to me?"

Fiona Bennett stared at William Williams. "Are you willing to help me?"

William Williams smiled, "This is the first time we've met, you know."

He paused, seeing Fiona Bennett's face darken, and added, "I'm not helping you; I just can't let Susan Wright's death remain a mystery. This is our first meeting, but as for Susan Wright... I often see her in my dreams. I didn't know why she came to me before, but now I do."

Then, right in front of Fiona Bennett, William Williams called his secretary, requesting a significant reduction in the number of meetings and appointments he had to attend in the near future, delegating signing authority to the heads of each department except in special cases, so as to free up as much time as possible to investigate the death of Susan Wright.

After that, he said to Fiona Bennett, "Stay for a simple dinner at my place tonight. I think we still have a lot to talk about."

Fiona Bennett naturally agreed.

William Williams asked the housekeeper to prepare an extra dinner, then moved the conversation to a more private and enclosed tea room, closing the door behind them. He patted the box of letters and said to Fiona Bennett, "Sorry for holding back at first. Actually, the first time I met Susan Wright wasn't during the freshman military training."

William Williams began to talk about Shirley Wright, a name Fiona Bennett had only heard once from Gabriel Adams, but now it became vivid. A little girl used her classmate's address to correspond with her younger sister as pen pals, hoping to help her sister out of the shadows. The letters went on for years, and in the process, she and her classmate William Williams became good friends. In the end, on her deathbed, she asked William Williams to become another version of herself, the only one who could enter Susan Wright's heart—Bella Collins.

Fiona Bennett couldn't help but wonder: was William Williams's first love Shirley Wright? Was his love for Susan Wright transferred from that girl who passed away so early? It turned out there were two rounds of correspondence that amazed her: one to save herself, and one to save someone else.

"So what exactly was the childhood shadow that tormented Susan Wright all along?" Fiona Bennett asked.

William Williams shook his head. "I don't know. Shirley Wright never told me, and Daphne Morgan never told Bella Collins directly either. It was only hinted at in a few letters. It seemed she did something wrong to a close relative, but to Susan Wright, she felt she had her reasons. Shirley Wright felt guilty toward her sister because of this. When this knot formed, both sisters were quite young. I've always wondered who the person hurt by young Susan Wright was. If it was an elder, adults usually don't hold grudges against children; if it was a peer, it definitely wasn't Shirley Wright. I once guessed it might be related to their mother becoming a vegetable, but after a little investigation, I found out it was due to a train accident. I suppose now only Adrian Wright knows the truth."

After a simple dinner, the two of them began to sort through the existing clues in the tea room. At first, it was mainly Fiona Bennett explaining. Halfway through, William Williams exclaimed in surprise, "I didn't expect your investigative skills to be so strong." Fiona Bennett shook her head, "Most of the investigation wasn't done by me. Before you, I had another partner, but he's already dead." William Williams was stunned, so Fiona Bennett explained who Gabriel Adams was, what he had done, and how he died, then said, "Now you can reconsider whether you want to join in—it's okay either way."

William Williams laughed loudly, "I've already died once. The rest of my life is borrowed time."

What a curious answer, Fiona Bennett thought. William Williams had died once because of Susan Wright, and now he was ready to face death again for her.

"Officer Gregory's death actually reactivated this case. The killer felt threatened, so they targeted Officer Gregory. But his death will definitely leave new clues," William Williams analyzed.

"I just hope the police haven't been completely misled. The cult kidney-eating motive has obvious flaws."

"The police may not have been truly misled. Let me analyze it from their perspective. Would they really miss the suspicious points about the killer's gender? Unlikely. But what can they do? If there are no real clues left at the scene besides the disguise, the police can only focus on motive. But what is the motive? How did the killer know Gabriel Adams would be at The Blue Lounge and set up the trap days in advance? The police don't know about Susan Wright, so they can't investigate the motive. In this situation, it's very hard to make real progress. But if we confess everything about Susan Wright to the police, whether the old case will be reopened is one thing, but for all the doctors from the sponsored training class, the impact would be huge—everyone would be investigated, and it would be a major scandal for the hospital."

"But there really is a killer in the sponsored training class—maybe even two. I think it's time to tell the police everything," Fiona Bennett said.

"Then what do you need me for?" William Williams retorted. Fiona Bennett was taken aback—she had forgotten about the accusation of being mentally ill.

"The best outcome is that we can uncover some new evidence, something that clearly points to the killer, and then tell the police. If we find nothing in the end and you can't come forward, I can do it instead—there's a better chance they'll believe me."

"New evidence... but I have no leads at all right now."

"I do," said William Williams. "Do you have that last letter with you?"

Fiona Bennett took an envelope from her bag, containing the letter about meeting at The Blue Lounge.

William Williams examined the letter for a long time, then said to Fiona Bennett, "The fact that I worked at The Blue Lounge to earn money wasn't a secret in our class—I never hid it, and all the boys definitely knew, though I'm not sure about the girls. Back then, The Blue Lounge wasn't like the 'normal' bar you go to now, but it was enough to open my eyes. Our classmates were all pretty proper, and in the months I worked there, I never saw any of them come to The Blue Lounge. So why would the killer arrange to meet Susan Wright at The Blue Lounge? I can't think of a reason. But from another angle, if this letter was forged, made recently, and deliberately let Gabriel Adams find it, that would explain how the killer knew Gabriel Adams would go to The Blue Lounge. This letter is a trap."

"You can tell the letter was forged recently?"

William Williams shook his head. "No, it looks old. But I'm not an expert, so my opinion doesn't count. We can have it examined, and we also need to retrace Gabriel Adams's steps in investigating the mailboxes, see where he found it."

At this point, William Williams took out the last copy of the letter, stared at it for a while, and said, "Actually, I'm almost certain that the The Blue Lounge letter is fake—meticulously crafted just for Gabriel Adams."

He waved the copy in his hand. "This should be the last real letter. For Susan Wright to invent a fictional murderer and correspond with the real killer—that's a genius idea. But now, it seems the killer isn't simple either. He must have suspected something."

"What did you notice?" Fiona Bennett asked.