In 1993, hospitals across the mainland with CT equipment were few and far between. As for Seaview General Hospital, it wasn’t until 1998 that they introduced such equipment. Most crucially, by the time this letter was received, Shirley Wright’s memorial service had already been held. But as a father, of course he wanted to understand exactly how his daughter had died, which is why there was that postmortem blood test.

“But, since it was found that Shirley Wright’s blood contained a large number of parasite eggs, the hospital’s diagnosis of a brain tumor could have been wrong. So why did things later…”

William Williams didn’t finish his sentence, but Adrian Wright understood what he was implying.

“Because Seaview General Hospital was also my wife’s labor insurance hospital!”

So that’s how it was. Seaview General Hospital’s diagnosis of Shirley Wright’s illness was full of doubts, but the person was already dead, and there was no concrete evidence of a misdiagnosed brain tumor. Under the medical insurance system of that time, Beatrice Collins’s medical treatment and prescriptions all had to be at Seaview General Hospital. Should he make a scene for the sake of the deceased, or swallow his anger for the sake of the living? No matter how much pain Adrian Wright felt, he still had to make a choice.

“So, about this matter—the discovery of parasite eggs in Xiu Lin’s blood—does Susan know?”

Adrian Wright shook his head. “Since I decided not to make a fuss, I didn’t tell anyone.”

William Williams sat there in silence, and for a moment, the atmosphere became eerily quiet.

All the necessary questions had actually been asked by now.

What remained were the questions that shouldn’t be asked.

William Williams swallowed several times, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. His heartbeat began to quicken; he hadn’t felt this way in a long time, not even in the cutthroat business world of recent years.

The awkward silence lasted for several minutes. William Williams thought several times about standing up and taking his leave, but he couldn’t bring himself to get out of the chair. Finally, he opened his mouth and took a deep breath, his wandering gaze returning to Adrian Wright’s face across from him.

“In November 1997, Susan was hospitalized at Wright Memorial Hospital for a few days. During those days, she had multiple blood tests, and the first time she specifically requested a test for parasite eggs. Did you know about this?”

Adrian Wright didn’t answer as directly as before. He controlled his expression, but the wrinkles on his face suddenly deepened.

“Why are you asking about all this?”

“So, you do know.” William Williams’s heart sank.

“At that time, there were rumors that someone in the class wanted to harm Susan Wright, and even rumors that Susan Wright had been poisoned. Did you know about this?”

Adrian Wright still didn’t answer.

“So, you know about that too.” William Williams’s expression began to turn sorrowful. “My relationship with Xiu Lin and Xiu Juan was much deeper than that of ordinary classmates. My understanding of the two of them is certainly deeper than you might imagine. Parasite eggs entering the bloodstream is extremely rare in clinical cases. Why did Xiu Lin get this illness, and why did Xiu Juan suspect she had it too? I’ve been thinking about this for the past two days. I know how much Xiu Juan wanted to stand out, and I also know that if Xiu Lin were still alive, you would only have supported her to go to college.”

William Williams spoke faster and faster, an indescribable emotion gripping his heart, tears welling up in his eyes without him even realizing it.

“Xiu Lin died, and Xiu Juan went to college. But when she felt someone wanted to harm her, felt she’d been poisoned, even at the very end of her life, she was extremely averse to contacting the police. She was such a smart and rational person—why, when faced with such a life-and-death issue, would she give up the channel that could best protect her? And you, Xiu Juan’s father, when you had only this last daughter left, when this daughter died young and under strange circumstances, when you heard the rumors of poisoning, you remained silent. Silence was your choice. For a normal father, even if there was the slightest doubt about his daughter’s death, he would never do that. Can you tell me why?”

Adrian Wright’s face turned ashen, his lips pressed into a thin line.

He reached out and pressed his hand on the check, as if pushing a mountain, slowly, slowly, pushing it back toward William Williams.

William Williams didn’t take the check back. He stood up, supporting himself on the armrest.

“You don’t have to tell me. I know. I’ve asked myself countless times in my heart. There’s only one possibility, only one path, that would make Susan Wright act that way, and make you act that way.”

William Williams opened the door himself and staggered out. Behind him, a heart-wrenching roar suddenly rang out.

“Karma!”

William Williams, tears streaming down his face, wandered aimlessly down the street, paying no attention to the astonished looks of passersby. Across the street, a woman watched him from afar, then took out her phone and dialed a number.

“William Williams? Long time no see.”

7

When William Williams opened the door and entered the room, he saw Fiona Bennett just pulling her right hand back. It was a somewhat odd gesture—Fiona Bennett was sitting upright on the sofa, her expression calm, both hands hanging at her sides, making no other movement. What had she just been doing, William Williams wondered. Was she… pulling back a fist?

William Williams was about to greet Fiona Bennett, but noticed she was lost in thought.

Her posture was no longer as tense as before, but had relaxed, and a gentle, faintly warm smile appeared on her face. She gazed at the opposite side, though there was actually nothing there. William Williams stood in the entryway watching Fiona Bennett, but Fiona Bennett was completely unaware that he had come in.

“Did you see Gabriel Adams?” William Williams asked.

Only then did Fiona Bennett snap out of it.

“Oh, you’re back?” she said. “What did you just say?”

William Williams shook his head. “You’ve been waiting a while, haven’t you? Sorry about that.”

Of the two messages on Gabriel Adams’s phone, one had helped Fiona Bennett and William Williams narrow down the list of suspects, but before they could verify the other, a sudden mysterious text disrupted their progress. There had been surprising discoveries at both Seaview General Hospital and Wright Memorial Hospital, but after turning things over and over in her mind, and practically wearing out the textbooks Gabriel Adams had left behind, Fiona Bennett still couldn’t connect these findings to the case. Maybe there would be new messages to guide the investigation, but Fiona Bennett didn’t plan to just sit and wait. She wanted to discuss with William Williams whether they should quickly check out the other place mentioned in Gabriel Adams’s phone. Unlike Fiona Bennett, who was completely focused on solving the case, William Williams still had a company to run, so he had Fiona Bennett come over first—the guest waiting for the host.

Fiona Bennett laid out the ideas she’d organized at home one by one for discussion with William Williams. She hoped William Williams could help her sort through them and see if they could spark any new directions. But today, William Williams seemed rather uninterested, only listening to Fiona Bennett’s analysis and occasionally responding.

Did something happen to him at work? Fiona Bennett wondered.

“You’re meeting Matthew Mitchell the day after tomorrow, right?” Fiona Bennett asked. “How exactly are you planning to get a sample of his handwriting? If it’s just a few words, that won’t do—you need him to write as much as possible for it to be useful for analysis.”

“I’m not meeting him the day after tomorrow anymore,” William Williams said.

“Rescheduled?” Fiona Bennett sounded a bit disappointed. “Then how about we go find that Lawrence Carter in the next day or two? Do you have time?”

Lawrence Carter was the name mentioned in the other message on Gabriel Adams’s phone.

“I’ll be a bit busy these days.”

“Then maybe I’ll go find him myself,” Fiona Bennett said. For her, every day’s delay meant a greater risk of being found by Frank Bishop. Since things had already come to a head, she was sure Frank Bishop would never give up looking for her.

“Have you thought about what it would mean if Frank Bishop were the murderer?” William Williams suddenly asked.

“Frank Bishop?” Fiona Bennett frowned. “Even though he wants to have me committed now, the night Gabriel Adams died he was performing surgery at the hospital, and went home right after. I specifically checked the timing. And in the weeks before Susan Wright died, we were practically inseparable—he shouldn’t have had time to poison anyone. His current actions only show he’s connected to the case somehow; he probably knows some inside information, but he’s not the one who actually did it. In the end, I still don’t believe he could be that cruel. Why do you suspect Frank Bishop? Even if there are doubts, without real evidence, the police wouldn’t believe it.”

“That’s not what I mean. I’m saying, hypothetically, if all the evidence pointed to him—someone you’ve known for so long, lived with—if he turned out to be the murderer, how would you feel?”

Fiona Bennett didn’t know why William Williams suddenly asked such a nearly offensive question. He seemed a bit off today. But as she understood the true meaning of the question, Fiona Bennett suddenly felt as if a giant ladle had stirred the lake of her heart, and the silt she’d barely managed to settle was once again churned up. Those memories she’d forced herself to ignore, those countless threads of the past years, all wove together into a deep cavern, opening its maw to swallow Fiona Bennett whole.