Chapter 699: Suspicion

Felix Thorne came over to help as well. He and a few other strong young men headed to the clinic. Silas Golding’s legs were so weak he couldn’t even climb onto the tractor and was kicked back down in disgust by Jethro Golding.

Jethro Golding wanted to go too, but Byron Thorne stopped him. "The young men are going with them, it’ll be fine. I need to talk to you about something."

At this point, several of the village’s respected elders had gathered. Preston Thorne and Shane Thorne were there as well. Byron Thorne sniffed each of the leftover dishes on the table, his expression growing darker and darker. He picked up a bowl containing only a few slices of salted pork and turned to Silas Golding. "You didn’t eat any of the salted pork tonight, did you?"

Silas Golding nodded, his head hanging low. "It’s a rare treat to have meat," he said, dejected. "I wanted to save it."

"Your wife ate most of it, didn’t she?" Byron Thorne asked.

Silas Golding nodded again, but he was starting to realize something was wrong. "Is... is there something wrong with the salted pork?" he asked, alarmed and suspicious.

’The old woman really had eaten most of it. She’d been acting erratically lately, all muddle-headed. When she steamed the plate of salted pork tonight, she snatched it up and started eating before it even reached the table. Scolding her was useless, so he hadn’t eaten any himself, deciding to save the meat for his son and grandson instead. Who would have thought it would lead to disaster?’

"It was poisoned with Heartbreak Grass."

Everyone jumped the moment Byron Thorne spoke, but his next words were even more shocking. "Felix’s salted pork was also poisoned with Heartbreak Grass. They steamed some tonight as well. Fortunately, their dog gave them a warning, so Felix and his family didn’t eat any. They fed it to the chickens instead, and every one of them died."

"What kind of damn bastard would do something like this? Pulling this kind of crap during the New Year!"

"You don’t think ours was poisoned, too, do you?!"

"This won’t do. We have to report this to the police! This monster has to be caught, or none of us will have any peace this New Year!"

...

The villagers were both alarmed and afraid. They worried that their own salted pork had been poisoned, and they were even more terrified that the culprit, still lurking in the shadows, would strike again. If they poisoned the well, the entire village would be doomed.

"It should just be my family and Silas’s," Byron Thorne said, having already pieced things together. "Only our two families’ dogs acted up. I suspect the poison was planted that night. This person holds a grudge against both of us." He already had a suspect in mind, but he found it hard to believe. ’She’s just a ten-year-old girl, after all. How could she be so vicious?’

"Who holds a grudge against both our families? I’ve never wronged anyone in the village, but you..."

Silas Golding blurted it out before trailing off, embarrassed. Byron Thorne understood what he meant. "My family hasn’t made any enemies in the village either, aside from the past troubles with your family."

"Then who could it be? Who could be so vicious?"

Silas Golding tore at his hair in anguish. His son, grandson, and daughter-in-law were all hovering between life and death. He couldn’t just stand around any longer and made to leave for the clinic.

"Wait, I’ll go with you. I’m going to grab some money."

Jethro Golding was worried, too—five lives were on the line. He ran home to get some cash, worried that Felix and the others hadn’t brought enough with them.

"This needs to be reported to the police station. I’ll go into town and make the call," Preston Thorne said, his heart heavy with a mix of anger and dismay. ’For such a deranged and vicious person to appear in the area under my watch... this is my failure. I have to drag this monster into the light.’

Adrian Hawthorne also came over when he heard the news. He’d gotten the full story from Tang Xiaonan, and his primary suspect was immediately Jacqueline Spann.

"Has Jacqueline Spann been back?" Adrian Hawthorne asked Silas Golding.

Distraught, Silas Golding had a dazed look on his face; his mind was already at the clinic. He didn’t hear the question clearly. Adrian Hawthorne asked again. This time, Silas snapped out of it and shook his head. "She hasn’t come back."

Jethro Golding and Preston Thorne were sharp men; they immediately understood the implication of Adrian Hawthorne’s question.