Chapter Eighty-One
Peter _ Rob Stevenson
 
     Peter felt that as time passed, he not only failed to find his parents, but things also got more complicated than before; who was that strange man? Why did Mr. Collins want to kill the unknown man and why didn't he do it? Why did the man deliberately hit Peter and took him to his house and then let him go without doing anything special and told him "When you find out who I am, you will come back to this house." This was a very strange thing and Peter's mind was filled with bad thoughts and these unanswered questions.
Peter went to the appointment he had made again with Mr. Moyes without any trouble or incident.
   They were sitting in silence and solitude in Mr. Moyes's house again; finally Mr. Moyes said: "I think we are friends now, so call me Scott and be comfortable with me; Amy told me that last time you couldn't come because you had an accident; are you feeling well now?"
   "I'm fine, thank you; this accident was a strange thing for me that slowed down the process of writing an interesting book."
   "Is this story so interesting to you?"
   Peter said: "This story is interesting, but I don't want to write your biography, I just wanted to get acquainted with the life of a professional chef and otherwise the events of the story and even the names of the characters are different in general." Then he said: "By the way, you have a very special signature!"
   Scott said: "Really! So you write your own book?" Then he laughed and said: "I'm sorry, do you want another signature?"
   "Unfortunately, I don't have a book for signature with me now."
   Peter looked at the door and wall of the house for the first time and noticed the depressing black and white décor of it and then the number of family photos that were less than the fingers of one hand, a few candles lit, a mat for meditation or meditation was also seen; he coughed and said: "Of course I write my own book and thank you for your help. You help a new and mysterious writer in a strange way who suddenly appeared in front of your door." Then he turned on the recorder to record.
   Mr. Moyes laughed and said: "Did you call yourself 'mysterious'?"
   "Yes; I think we had a very interesting acquaintance; isn't it?"
   Scott said: "It was an interesting acquaintance, but I still don't understand why I cooperate with you." Then he said softly: "Although the story is not the real life of mine." Then he went to the kitchen without waiting and came back with a strawberry cake and some tarts for the reception and put them on the table and said: "Do you want cake or tart?"
   Peter was tempted by the shape and smell of them; but he said with a big smile: "No, thank you." Because he thought that Scott might be a killer or a criminal.
   Peter heard Scott's last sentence very clearly and although he was thinking about Scott's intention of asking this question; he said without any reaction: "Please continue the story for me."
   "Where should I start this story?"
   "You had two children named William and …?"
   "A daughter named Mary whom I loved very much."
   Peter did not expect this name at all and could not believe that he had heard the name Mary; for this reason he said with surprise and softly: "What did you say? Did you say your daughter's name was 'Mary'?"
   "Yes, my daughter's name was Mary, but why are you so surprised?"
   Peter said: "I was not surprised, I was a little upset because Mary is the name of someone who I am upset with and now I remembered her." Then he said to himself: "I feel that I owe Anna, but is Mary Moyes really the name of the daughter of this family or is this another lie from this Mr. Moyes liar and suspicious?" Then he shrugged and said: "Will you tell me your daughter's full name?"
    Scott looked at Peter with surprise but calmly said: "There is no need Rob."
   "Well, if you don't mind, explain to me about that dinner and that upsetting incident."
   "After all these years, that incident still seems hard and unbelievable to me; every time I remember it, I want to go out and kill him at the moment."
At that moment the phone rang but Scott did not pay attention to it.
   Peter said: "Excuse me, do you want to kill someone ?!"
   "I know who caused this bad incident."
   "You know! I'm a little confused."
   Scott continued his strange discussion without paying attention to Peter's condition and surprised face and said: "But I said it very seriously. One day I will really kill him soon."
  The phone went on the answering machine and the loud voice of a man was broadcast saying: "Hello Scott, are you there?"
   Scott turned red and said: "Martin!"
   Peter said to himself: "The same man who deliberately hit me with the car." Then he said softly and indignantly: "You! No, you just confessed to the intention of killing someone?"
   "No one can stop me because I have a reason for this work, for the children who are no longer with me, for Amy."
   Peter gathered all his courage and said softly: "I'm really confused, please explain this strange case to me."
   "I know who killed my children."
   "Your children were killed ?!"
   Scott sighed and said: "Unfortunately yes, I wish it was a dream."
   Peter said to himself: "So the probability that this family is related to Anna Walberg and me must be very low, but I can't believe it."
   "We had gone on a trip together and when we came back we realized that the world had gone dark and we had lost the most lovable creatures on earth."
   "How did this happen?"
   "They fell into the lake next to the house and drowned. The worst thing was that the children's faces were gone; they were unrecognizable, but we recognized them by their clothes and belongings."
   Peter said to himself: "How is it possible that those children drowned in the lake next to the house in these conditions? I don't know if I should believe these words or not!" Then he said: "The worst possible thing that could happen, I'm sorry."
A few drops of tears quickly left traces of a few thin lines on Scott's face; a man who until a few moments ago was easily talking about killing a person was now crying easily and without any control over himself.
   Peter felt sorry for the man for a brief moment, but only a brief moment, because he knew the man who was sitting in front of him and crying was a pretender and a liar. The reason was his wife's words; that's why he said to Mr. Moyes with indifference: "I think I still have half an hour to listen to your words."
The phone rang again.
   Scott, after regaining control of himself, said: "That bastard was like my brother, we were related. I resisted a lot against my reason to not believe this, but I can't fool myself anymore, I can't be a fool anymore."
   "Strange! How does an acquaintance do this? With what motive?"
   "Envy and hatred."
   "Killing two children out of envy and hatred is very insane, that person can only be a madman."
  The phone went to the answering machine again and Martin's voice was playing in the room again, saying: "Amy, are you there?" Then he chuckled.
   Scott said: "He's a madman who is protected by his brother-in-law, even though he hates him too."
   Peter could no longer resist his curiosity; he said with a trembling voice: "What's his name?"
   Scott Moyes said angrily: "It doesn't matter what his name is, what matters is that he doesn't live anymore." Then he said: "I'm not feeling well, this interview is over, I'm sorry but I'm not feeling well."
     Peter, as he walked on the sidewalk, thought about Mr. Moyes's words, which seemed very strange and painful to him. Peter was immersed in bad thoughts and with these bad thoughts he went to his appointment with Mrs. Moyes, when suddenly a man bumped into him on the sidewalk. Peter came to himself and in a moment his eyes fell on Mr. Chef; Peter pretended not to notice and continued on his way and said to himself: "So Mr. Chef is following me, but why? Does he doubt me or his wife? Anyway, he shouldn't find out who I'm meeting. Mr. Chef's behavior is strange." Peter very professionally passed through the cars and people and after covering a long distance; after making sure no one was following him, he took himself to the meeting place.
     The meeting place was a two-story restaurant that seemed very quiet at lunchtime. One of the staff there was standing at the door to guide Peter or Mr. Stevenson inside. Although the restaurant was closed, Peter went inside.
One of the waiters guided him to the second floor.
   Peter was surprised to see that Mrs. Moyes was sitting behind a table in a quiet hall. Peter, who was standing next to the table, said: "Did you wait for me too long? I apologize for this delay, but I had to because Mr. Moyes was following me. I didn't move until I was sure he wasn't coming this way."
   Mrs. Moyes stood up and without being able to answer this apology, she said in a loud voice like a scream of surprise: "He was following you?"
   "Yes, this is true."
    Amy Moyes, as she sat down, said in a soft and enchanted voice: "Scott is scared?!"
  Peter heard this and as he sat on the chair, he said to himself: "What is Mr. Moyes afraid of? What causes him to be afraid? This story is getting very strange." Then he said: "This place seems very quiet."
The waiter gave them the menu and left.
   Mrs. Moyes, who was looking at the menu, said: "I rented the whole restaurant today, now play that recorded voice for me."
   Peter closed the menu and did just that without any argument.
They brought the food; shrimp pasta for Peter and steak for Mrs. Moyes.
Throughout the time that Mrs. Moyes was listening to Scott's voice, Peter was surprised to see that Mrs. Moyes was listening to her husband's voice with anger; only the intensity and weakness of this feeling of anger varied at times.
    This reaction of Mrs. Moyes unconsciously stimulated a sense of excitement in Peter. It seemed that Mrs. Moyes didn't matter to him at all, only his parents mattered. He just wanted to know if they were alive or not? Were they happy in life or not? Peter was in these thoughts when he realized that Mrs. Moyes had put the knife and fork on the table and the first drop of tears had left her eyes, then the second one and she started crying very realistically.
Peter, who was caught off guard, clumsily offered a handkerchief to Amy Moyes and said: "I didn't want to upset you at all."
   Amy, who was wiping her tears with a handkerchief, as soon as she regained control of herself, said: "I'm not crying because of you." Her words were unfinished because the crying had started again. She said with a trembling voice: "Scott lied to me all these years."
   "I don't know what to do or what to say; I'm sorry."
   Amy said: "He lied to you all this time too." Suddenly her phone rang; Amy Moyes said: "Scott is calling me!" She didn't answer and the phone ringing continued.
   "Really? What was the first lie?"
   "My family had a friendly relationship with this family, so my first meeting with Scott was not at the company. My first meeting with Scott was in one of these visits at their house."
   "Why did he have to lie to me about this?"
   "Because he wanted to hide a truth."
   "What truth?"
   Amy said: "My relationship with Scott was formal from the beginning and I didn't intend to marry him because I really loved someone else." Her phone rang again and she said: "Scott again!" She got up and apparently wanted to answer, but the mobile slipped from her hand and despite her efforts, it hit the ground; Amy bent down and tried her mobile, then sighed and said: "It doesn't work at all." She left for a few minutes and came back and sat in front of Peter.
   Peter said: "I'm confused."
   "You asked me to tell you the truth of the story instead of listening to Scott's recorded words."
   "It was a deal".
   "Yes. You believed that my husband was lying, but I could tell from your face that you didn't believe me either."
   "To be honest, it's hard for me to believe it."
   "Anyway, I have to tell you the story."
   "Please go ahead, I'm listening with interest."
   Mrs. Moyes reluctantly put a piece of meat in her mouth; she paused for a moment and then said: "I and that person whom I don't want to mention his name had a serious intention to get married and after a while we finally got married and had a child. We lived happily for a while until I got pregnant again and I was in turmoil about how to tell him. In the morning, some police came to the house and arrested him for deliberately setting fire to a house and murdering a familiar family or better to say one of his acquaintances and took him away; it was unbelievable, he was just laughing like crazy."
   "This story is really strange."
   "We had a hard fight the night before this happened and he stormed out of the house; he was angry, but I never thought he would do such a thing."
   "What evidence did the police arrest him with?"
   "A video camera that showed him being in the wrong place at the wrong time and according to his brother he had threatened that family."
   During this time, the mobile phone rang softly a few times and Peter continued the discussion: "So he had a motive for murder." He was afraid it was Scott; and it was, and Peter used the number he had gotten from Anna to text Martin, the address of that restaurant and messaged him: I need help; Scott Moyes shouldn't get close to here.
The same chef?! So you owe me.
   Amy Moyes said: "But he wasn't convicted."
   "How is that possible?"
   "I don't know, he pretended to be insane and due to the lack of sufficient evidence he was acquitted of any charge."
   "So what happened to that video?"
   "It was in court that the prosecutor realized that the video was gone."
   Peter said to himself: "Someone erased that video? This story has gotten very complicated." He was embarrassed to ask the question he wanted to ask, but he said: "Do you still love him?"
   Amy Moyes paused for a short moment and calmly said: "Although this question is personal, I'll answer you and say that not only do I have no feelings for him, but I also hate him to some extent."
   "Why?"
   "From what Scott said, it turned out that Scott also thinks he is the killer of the children."
   "Do you believe Mr. Moyes?"
   "He might have told the truth because he was not in a good mental state."
   "Was he crazy in your opinion?"
   "It was hard for me to believe, but before that happened I heard from one of his brothers saying "he had some strange behaviors in the company that scared everyone." It was strange for his brother too, but when he came home he didn't have any irrational or strange behavior, he was happy as always, but he looked at me strangely."
   "Did he kill your children?"
   "I doubt he would kill his own children."
   Peter said in surprise: "Those children, are they his children?" Then he remembered the words of this woman just a few minutes ago; he had to focus more, anyway he said to himself: "Considering that he is insane, this doesn't seem unlikely." Then he said: "What happened after he was arrested?"
   "I met him several times and he only asked me every time if I really believed he could be a savage killer. He said that it was only important to him what I thought. He told me that if everyone in the world except me knew him as a savage killer, he wouldn't care."
   "And you didn't believe him?"
   Mrs. Moyes said with a sob: "Damn me, I should have answered him, I should have told him that I trust and rely on him 100 percent. Even if it was a lie."
   "When he was acquitted of this charge, did your life return to normal?"
   Amy Moyes lowered her head and played with her almost untouched food. She said: "No, he wrote me a short letter saying that he was leaving me because I deserved more than living with a psychotic killer."
   "What did you do?"
   Amy said: "I searched for him a lot, I had to find him, I had to make him understand that I love him. I searched for him like crazy for a long time, I admit I was crazy; I was restless in the true sense of the word, I had no life. Until I saw Scott, he helped me live, I searched for my lost one with Scott's help for a while, but I became hopeless and depressed. In disbelief, I saw Scott proposing to me and I accepted, my life had taken an indescribable speed, the events that happened to me in life didn't matter to me at all. When I came to myself, I realized Scott was my husband." Then she laughed like crazy and said: "It's ridiculous, isn't it? It's really ridiculous. If I was a criminal, I would kill you now. Now you know the biggest secret of my life."
   Peter said: "Thank God you're not a criminal, Mrs. Moyes. But I promise you that I won't tell anyone about this because I really want to live, I have an important goal in my life."
   Mrs. Moyes said softly and soullessly: "Well, I'm happy for you." Then she said: "We got married quickly and without me asking him, he took me on a forced trip for a year and told everyone that Will was our child."
   Peter said to himself: "It's really complicated." Then he said: "Did you and Mr. Moyes have a daughter named Mary?"
   "Yes, but she wasn't my real child, I mean we adopted Mary."
   Peter said to himself: "So Anna has nothing to do with this family." Then he said: "Can you explain to me about Will?"
   Mrs. Moyes, who was trying hard to control her nerves, said with a trembling voice: "Can we change the subject? I can't even imagine his face properly, I don't remember what his face looked like when he smiled." She was about to burst into tears.
   Peter said to himself: "Her words are contradictory; she's not feeling well." Then he said: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, that's enough for now." Then he looked at his wristwatch and said: "I have to go home. See you soon."