If it weren’t for this, would the Wilkie family have been wiped out? It was all in this woman’s hands, and who would reveal the family’s scandals.
‘What did you overhear?’ Paige asked.
Mr. Wilkie was deeply impressed by this incident and, lost in his memories, said, ‘At that time, the Wilkie family was headed by my great-grandfather. One day, he suddenly said that he wanted to hold a banquet at a hotel and asked the whole family to go first. I didn’t bring any toys with me, so I snuck back home. The house was very quiet. I saw my great-grandfather and a man in the living room. The man was dressed in black and I couldn’t see his face clearly.’
‘But I felt that my granduncle was very respectful towards him, because the man was sitting while my granduncle was standing.”
It was a kind of hierarchical relationship, but after all, his granduncle was the head of the family and the leader of the company. He was always on a higher level than anyone else. When had it ever been like that?
That was one of the reasons it left such an impression on him.
‘What did they talk about?’ Paige asked again.
Facing Paige’s pressing questions, Mr. Wilkie’s hand tightened and he continued unwillingly, ‘I could sense that my granduncle was very scared. He kept saying that everything had been so long ago, and that after everyone had agreed to forget about the Folsom family and pretend they had never met, he didn’t understand why that person had to appear again.
‘Continue,’ Paige said coldly.
‘I heard what the man said. He still hadn’t found it. My great-uncle said there was nothing he could do if he couldn’t find it, and the man then grabbed my great-uncle by the throat.”
As he recalled that moment, Mr. Wilkie’s expression became somewhat chilling, and the hair on his arms stood on end. ‘I was hiding behind a vase, and I saw my great-uncle’s face swell up as he was strangled, his pupils dilating. But even so, he didn’t dare resist, as if he could only resign himself to being killed.’
Hearing this, Paige frowned, ‘What happened next?’
‘After that, the man let go of his hand, and my great-uncle knelt on the ground and thanked him, saying that if he found it, he would definitely give it to him with both hands and never dare to deceive him,’
said Mr. Wilkie.
‘What was the man looking for?’ Paige asked.
‘I don’t know. I later guessed what it might be. The Folsom family was so prosperous and wealthy back then, and they collected countless treasures. I think it was probably something special that was not taken out for division during the division of the spoils, which is why they were so suspicious of each other.”
As he spoke, Mr. Wilkie glanced at her again, ‘When it comes to me, I have looked up the Wilkie family, and there is nothing special about them. You don’t need to set your sights on the Wilkie family anymore.’
‘What did the man look like?’ Paige continued to ask.
‘I already said, I was hiding and couldn’t see his face clearly,’ Mr. Wilkie said impatiently.
Paige asked the prison guard to get her some paper and a pencil. She twirled the pencil between her fingertips and looked at him coldly, ‘Tell me every detail you remember, even the furnishings in the house. Think hard.’
‘…”
Mr. Wilkie really didn’t want to talk to her, but there was no room for resistance.
He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and recalled the scene from that year. ‘At that time, our home had the kind of old-fashioned furnishings, with some yellowed leather sofas. The man was sitting on the single sofa, dressed strangely, wearing a black cloak with a hood that covered his head completely.’
Paige asked indifferently as she held a pencil and sketched rapidly on the paper, ‘Where was the vase you hid?’
Mr. Wilkie told the truth.
As she sketched, she frowned, suddenly put down the pencil, and looked at him coldly, ‘Mr. Wilkie, is it interesting to lie to me now?’
Mr. Wilkie looked at him in silence.
‘This position you’re hiding in is easy to spot. Besides, these two people were plotting, so careful, how could they not notice you? How could you not see the man’s face?’ Paige’s voice was even colder.
‘Impossible, I wasn’t noticed,’
Mr. Wilkie insisted, ‘that man let go of my great-uncle and left.’
‘I have a minimum of logical judgment.’
Paige held up the drawing in her hand for him to see.
Mr. Wilkie glanced over and his face turned pale with fear. He looked at her in horror and said, ‘You… you drew this from just what I said?’
It was as if he had been completely copied, only without the colouring.
Paige looked at him coldly, and Mr. Wilkie looked over and realised that from the perspective of the drawing, the position where he was hiding was indeed extremely easy to be discovered.
Impossible…
He wasn’t discovered at the time, clearly he wasn’t.
Suddenly, a scene flashed before his eyes, the vase next to him was pushed over heavily, and the tall, sinister figure of a man suddenly stood in front of him…
‘…’
Mr. Wilkie started shaking in his chair, and he looked at Paige in horror, ‘I feel like I’ve been discovered, but I can’t remember anything about what that man looked like.’
Paige observed his expression. This was an old case, and it had nothing to do with him now, so he didn’t need to lie.
He couldn’t remember.
A child in that kind of environment suddenly saw the face of the man who was going to kill his great-uncle…
‘You may have been too shocked to forget the most frightening part,’ said Paige, putting away the drawing in front of her, ‘I will send a doctor to hypnotize you to see if you can remember the man’s face.’
After saying that, Paige stood up.
Mr. Wilkie looked at her, ‘What is your relationship with the Folsom family? Why are you investigating this family murder case from a century ago? Are you trying to get the treasure too?’
‘Do you know anything else?’ Paige looked back at him.
Mr. Wilkie shook his head, ‘That’s all I know. I feel that Mr. Cruise knows more, but he has always kept it a secret and never talks about it.’
“Just wait for the doctor,’
Paige said, taking the drawing paper and striding out.
As soon as she got out of the prison, she contacted Dr. Clinton, who she remembered had some research on hypnosis and might be able to help Mr. Wilkie remember that forgotten image.
…
The next day, Dr. Clinton was able to take time away from his busy work in the research lab and go to the prison.
Paige drove there, ready to listen to the hypnosis process the whole time, so that she could draw the contents of the drawing in time.
While waiting at a red light, she received a phone call that Mr. Wilkie had committed suicide in prison, hanging himself with his own clothes.
This news made Enrico unable to sit still.
When Paige walked into Enrico’s office, Dr. Clinton, Jaden and Nick were standing inside giving a report, while Enrico was sitting in a chair with a gloomy expression and cold eyes.
“When I arrived, the body had just been taken out. They said he committed suicide last night, and the prison guards failed to notice in time,’
Dr. Clinton said as he stood there.
‘Mr. Cruise’s autopsy report is out, confirming suicide,’ Nick said from the side.
On hearing this, Enrico sneered, ‘When is a bad time to die, and you all rush to commit suicide at this time? Are these days auspicious days? Can you go to heaven by committing suicide?’