𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑺𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆. 𝑨 𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍.

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝟏𝟔 - 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓.

*𝑴𝑨𝑿 𝑷𝑶𝑽 *

"𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂 𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓."

*

𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑. 𝑯𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆. "𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕?" 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔.

𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉. "𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒎𝒆." 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈.

𝑯𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒑. "𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.. 𝒃𝒂𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕." 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔.

𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝑰 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒂 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕, '𝒘𝒉𝒐?'.

𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔. "𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕?" 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒚. 𝑯𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, "𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍?"

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚. "𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏. 𝑨𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒐, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓."

𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒚. "𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕. 𝑺𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒈."

𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆. "𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕?.."

𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒚. "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒅, 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆.

𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆. 𝑺𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏. 𝑰, 𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏. 𝑰 𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅, 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔."