Chapter 8 The ominous breath of death

"Let us pray for him, because both men and women are like flowers in the valley. They are blooming today and may wither tomorrow. Human life is like a season, which comes and goes. Let us Pray."

In the church, the pastor was saying a blessing with a heavy expression.

Peter, dressed in a black suit, sat on the middle seat, with Clark and Azu sitting on his left and right sides.

The two shotas who were at odds with each other have reconciled after Azu's formal apology.

Azu tilted his head and asked Peter in a low voice: "Dad, what happens to people after they die?"

"Some people think we will go to heaven or hell, and some people think we will be reincarnated as children."

"Carnation? Like Rose in the movie Audrey Rose?"

"It's not a carnation, it's rebirth."

Peter corrected his mispronunciation.

(The English pronunciation of rebirth is similar to carnation.)

"etc!"

Peter looked at Azu, "Isn't "Audrey Rose" a horror movie? I told you, John, you can't watch horror movies."

Azu saw Peter's serious face and immediately passed the blame to Clark.

"Clark told me about it, but I haven't read it."

Clark's little face immediately became more depressed.

He didn't like the atmosphere of the church. It was the first time he attended a funeral. The funeral in the church gave him a feeling of awe, and he felt a little quiet and uneasy.

The pastor on the podium has finished his prayer.

Clark explained to Peter with a grimace: "I accidentally saw it on TV, Godfather."

"Hmm, next time you see it, you can ask the adults to change the channel."

Clark nodded obediently.

"Dad, are there any more?"

Azu wanted to hear more about death.

Clark was in awe of death, but Azu didn't feel much about death.

“Catholics believe in heaven and hell, but they also believe in a place called the limbo of hell and a place called purgatory, while Hindus and Buddhists believe in nirvana—”

The two young ladies listened quietly.

Peter spoke more slowly, "There may be more theories, but the fact is that no one knows what will happen after death. People say they know, and they say this because of their faith and believe their own words, 伱Do you know what faith is?"

Both of them shook their heads, "I don't know."

Peter said to the two of them: "Well, we are sitting on the chair now. Do you think my chair will still be here tomorrow?"

"I will, of course."

"Then you have a faith, you believe it's still here, and I believe it too, faith is belief in what something is or what it is like, got it?"

"Understood."

Clark nodded affirmatively.

Azu scratched his head and said, "But we don't know if it will still be here. Maybe a chair thief might break in and steal it, right?"

Clark said to Azu: "Then you have no faith..."

"My beliefs are the same as dad's, dad?"

Azu cast his eyes towards Peter, "Dad, what do you believe in?"

"My faith?"

Peter was stunned for a moment.

What are your beliefs?

Money, power or worldly power?

It seems that I want them all, but it seems that these are not very important to me.

Just when he didn't know how to answer, the pastor's voice "rescued" him.

After hearing the pastor's words, "Please come to the front for the coffin bearers," Peter gave instructions to the two people and walked forward.

He said hello to Louis Wilson, who was about thirty years old and wore glasses.

Although the face of this unfamiliar cousin showed the pain of losing his family, he still seemed to be very strong.

After greeting his cousin, he looked at Clark and Azu.

It was found that the two of them had disappeared.

Shaking his head, he turned his attention to the coffin in front of him.

afternoon.

After the funeral, Peter drove Clark and Azu back to the farm.

Stephens' "This Old House" was playing on the car radio.

"Dad, you must not know what we saw."

Azu said to Peter in a show-off manner: "We saw the dead man lying in the coffin."

Upon hearing Azu's words, Peter's brows immediately frowned.

"That's undignified, John."

Peter scolded Azu, the culprit.

No need to guess, you also know that he was the one who instigated Clark to go with him.

"I know I was wrong, Dad."

Azu hung his head dejectedly and admitted his mistake to Peter.

Seeing that the other party quickly admitted his mistake, Peter did not continue, and the car quickly arrived at the farm.

late at night.

"Dingle bell!"

The farm phone suddenly rang.

Peter, who had already fallen asleep, put on his clothes and walked to the living room to pick up the phone.

"I'm Peter Padrick, yes, yes, okay, I understand."

After hanging up the phone, Peter's brows immediately frowned.

He put on his clothes, went upstairs to see if Azu and Clark were asleep, and then went downstairs to take the car keys from the wall.

The night outside was dim, and light raindrops were falling on the ground.

The car's headlights pierced the dim night.

Peter drove the car and soon arrived at the cemetery he had visited during the day.

There were several police cars parked around the cemetery, and the dazzling red lights flashed in the night.

After Peter got off the car, he walked to the place where the coffin was buried during the day.

Many people gathered around and whispered.

"Louis."

Peter walked up and greeted his cousin with a dull expression.

Louis heard the voice and hurried forward.

Next to him were two policemen following him.

Peter asked his cousin: "Louis, what happened?"

"It's little Terry, his body is gone."

Louis said something that made Peter frown.

He walked to the grave with an umbrella and found that the grave had been dug up and the body inside was missing!

"Did someone steal the body?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out."

A white policeman who was somewhat familiar to Peter stepped forward and said.

The other party was burly and had sharp eyes.

"We meet again, Mr. Padrick. You haven't changed at all after all these years."

"You are..."

Peter looked at him in surprise, "Are you Officer Ryan?"

The other party was Ryan Schneider, who was in charge of investigating the Walmart shooting six years ago and was also the officer who interrogated him.

"Yes, I didn't expect Mr. Padrick to still remember me."

Ryan came up and shook his hand, "Sorry to bother you, because you were one of the four people responsible for carrying the coffin to the burial at that time, so we wanted to find you to understand the situation."