chapter 31

“-kreungkreung……”

“Why, it still hurts?”

They were about to get out of the school cafeteria but the catering man who recognized them did them a favour, telling them to just eat at school. Jude, who was spooning soup, grimaced and touched his stomach, causing anxiety on Tim’s face. It was a pity to see Jude, who never said he was sick while eating strange junk food, moaning all day long, and Tim clicked his tongue with an unpleasant sound.

“I think you should go to the hospital. Seeing that it keeps hurting, I really don’t even know where it could have gone wrong.”

“Yes, well… If I have time….”

“Not when you have time, make sure you go. You don’t look so good, just tell them you’re in a hurry at the station and come back…”

“Well, excuse me–”

Hearing a small, cautious voice, Tim cut off his words and turned his head. Two girls and a boy stood side by side, one of whom has a memorable face to the two detectives.

“Clara? What’s going on? And the others…..”

“I’m Connie, this is Mary. Clara said she had something to say, so we came with her. Clara, come on.”

When Connie poked Clara in the back, Clara looked back with a sneaky look at the boy and approached Tim while wincing.

“Well, you know, it might not be a big deal, but as you said earlier, is there any adult or anyone he’s recently gotten close to…..”

“Oh, I did. Why, do you have anyone in your mind?”

“Well, it’s not a suspicious person, but there’s one person I’ve been seeing recently who suddenly got close to Reeve, but, I didn’t think it was weird because it was a teacher…”

“Really? It’s all right, who is it? Do you know what kind of person are they?”

The child soon looked at the floor as if she was scared to speak. Clara then raised her round eyes, as if she had made up her mind to the soft-spoken Tim.

“He’s a social science teacher, and his name is Lance Hamilton. Well, he’s been talking to Reeve a lot lately, and I……I don’t know about Carrie, who died the second, but he was also close to Eli. I, I don’t think he’s a weirdo, but I just thought I’d have to tell you.”

“Well, what kind of person is he?”

“He talked a lot about difficult philosophies. Yeah, pe, pessimism? He said that, and he talked a lot about what it is to live and die, and it’s so difficult that I don’t understand everything, but I think he’s a bit of an unusual person.”

“Yes… …I got it. Thank you for coming to tell me. How did you know we were here?”

The twin-ponytailed girl smiled a little shyly and held her hands together.

“I asked the teacher, and the teacher said you were heading toward the cafeteria. Hey, I’m going to get going now. The class is starting.”

“Okay, go ahead. To the other kids, I hope you don’t say anything.”

“Yes, goodbye!”

Listening to Connie and Mary’s scolding–“Are you dragging both of us to say that?”– Clara turned her steps with a much brighter face. To Jude, who was still gently patting his stomach, Tim quickly turned his head and opened his mouth.

“What do you say, should we summon him and investigate?”

“……then……….we have a reason……… kreung to hand it over to Beckman, and let’s go back separately. I’m going to take a break…..”

“I’ll keep in touch with Beckman. By the way, do you really not have to go to the hospital?”

“Yes…….. I’m feeling better now. Let’s go, I’ll get better after a little rest.”

What a dubious answer. Tim tilted his head with a discomforting look on his face, but Jude rose from his seat with an unfinished bowl of soup without saying anything. As he stared at the quivering back for a moment, Tim shook his head and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

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