Volume 1: First Arrival Chapter 045 The whole story
"Henry, could you please recount what you witnessed?"
Henry hesitated for a moment, and looked at Kirk carefully. He saw warm encouragement in those ocean-like eyes, which gradually soothed the anxiety and fear in his heart.
The confusion and bewilderment he felt after witnessing the incident seemed to have finally calmed down a little at this moment, and he finally nodded, mustering the courage to speak again.
"I was looking through the telescope there, and then I noticed something strange about 411..."
"Why 411?" Kirk interrupted. "I mean, the Plaza Hotel is a huge building with countless rooms, like a beehive. Even if you look at each room one by one, it will take a long time. How did you notice 411?"
"Area D, Room 411. This is the room where Kevin lived in 'Home Alone 2.'" Henry gave a direct answer without any hesitation.
Kirk raised his chin slightly, "Very good, and then what did you see?"
"A woman."
"She was pressed against the window, her hands were covered in blood, and she slowly fell down. Then she tried to grab the curtain to support her body, and the whole curtain was torn off."
"Finally, she fell to the ground."
"Later, I was too scared and didn't dare to continue watching."
"I first went to the public phone there and called 911 to notify the NYPD. Then I ran all the way to the hotel lobby and told the security guard and lobby manager at the door."
"I hope they can go to the room immediately, maybe the lady can still be saved, maybe they can catch the bad guys on the spot, maybe everything is still in time."
"But they didn't believe me, they thought I wasn't seeing clearly, they thought I was playing a prank, they thought I was using my imagination."
"I, I didn't..."
"The way they looked at me was like seeing a bad kid making trouble. They were ready to tell my parents that I was playing a prank and interfering with their work, but I didn't."
"Dad is in a meeting, Mom is at work, I can't disturb them, I can't."
"Besides, I didn't play any pranks, really."
“They said I did it just to get my parents’ attention because I was bored in the hotel alone.”
"But I didn't. I saw what I saw. I could have sworn it!"
Having said that, Henry couldn't help but pause, his face full of grievance.
The rambling words were incoherent and fragmented, but they were able to piece together Henry's loneliness and timidity from those trivial clues.
No wonder Henry likes "Home Alone" so much, and no wonder Henry chose to run away after a series of misunderstandings - he really didn't want the hotel staff to inform his parents and be thought by his parents that he was playing a prank, which might destroy the last bit of warmth between him and his parents. He had no other choice.
No wonder Henry finally came to Gapstow Arch Bridge, which carried so many expectations and wishes for Henry.
No wonder Henry called Kirk with the last glimmer of hope, just hoping that someone would believe him. If Kirk also refused to believe...
To be precise, most of Kirk's previous predictions were overturned and were inaccurate. Obviously, things were slightly different from what he expected.
However, this is no longer the point.
Looking at the little guy in front of him, Kirk was filled with heartache, and couldn't help but think of his younger brother, Nate Hull. Something soft in the depths of his memory was touched, that guy who seemed stubborn but was actually soft.
Kirk's eyes also softened.
Henry took a deep breath and tried his best to hold back his tears. However, his cheeks flushed slightly and he still couldn't hold back his tears. Tears broke free from his eye sockets and slid down. His eyes, which were covered with a thin layer of mist, showed a little fragility.
It is a kind of bewilderment and confusion. In the world of children, they cannot fully understand the suspicion, betrayal, attack and harm of adults; those condescending gazes and perfunctory words can easily destroy the most important and grand splendor in their world.
Kirk nodded gently, "I believe you."
A sentence so light and simple, fell into Henry's ears, but it was like the sound of nature, and his whole face brightened up, "Kirk, are you serious?"
Kirk joked, "A little more serious than when you were about to dive."
puff.
Henry burst into laughter.
Kirk continued to ask, "Did you see any details?"
"I mean, the way the woman was dressed or her facial features, or the figure behind her, her height, body shape, or the color of her clothes."
"Any details."
The most difficult part of the whole incident is that the witness was "not" at the scene, and there is no way to reconstruct the scene from the perspective of smell, vision, and perception.
In just a few words, Henry's eyes brightened up again, because Kirk believed him and because Kirk finally asked him seriously about what he had seen.
Henry really wanted to help the woman.
However, his confidence had just been ignited. After thinking about it seriously, Henry was like a deflated ball, his shoulders drooped, and he could not hide his disappointment, "No."
He was also very, very sorry, “I’m sorry, I really wanted to help.”
"But I'm not lying, I really saw it; but the image through the telescope was not clear, and I didn't see any details."
Just as he opened his mouth, the nightmare came back again. Henry hurriedly defended himself, repeating the same words over and over again.
Henry didn't even wait for Kirk to speak. He took Kirk's right hand and trotted along. "Really, you can see for yourself. It's really hard to see clearly here."
Henry dragged Kirk to the telescope, muttered to himself, and took out coins from his trouser pocket. He was so flustered that the coins fell to the ground.
Kirk bent down and picked up the coins, then put them all back into Henry's palm and patted him on the shoulder gently. "Henry, do you remember? You are my client, and I came here specifically to investigate the case. Don't worry, I won't make a judgment easily. Don't be nervous. I will give you an answer."
"I believe you did see something, so now let's figure out what you saw. Okay?"
Kirk's comfort finally made Henry regain his composure, and a smile appeared on the corners of his mouth again.
Kirk, true to his word, did not waste his time, dropped a coin into the telescope, and began to look for the 411 of the Plaza Hotel in front of him.
He needed to look back at the room from Henry's perspective—
No.
Nothing was found.
The outside of the room looked the same as the inside, completely normal, nothing out of the ordinary.
Also, as Henry said, the field of view through the telescope was not clear, and one could only see some movements of figures, but it was difficult to see specific faces.
Things are very tricky.
Even if they had face-to-face conversations with eyewitnesses, the useful information was still very limited, and after going around in circles, they were still standing still.
From all aspects, no case occurred at all.
However, Kirk's intuition told him otherwise.
It's not just because I believe in Henry's testimony, and it's not just because of the suspiciousness of the curtains in the room. It's an intuition, a keen intuition that something is wrong.
For the police, intuition is not trustworthy and evidence is the only basis; but for private detectives, intuition is often the key to getting to the truth.
That feeling is invisible and intangible but real.
but……
This was not just any place, this was the Plaza Hotel, and they were not sure if there were any untouchable giants in the current guest list, and even Callum could not maintain the blockade for too long.
So, what should we do now?
