Shadow Gallery 2

Part 2: Under the Mask

(Boston·Abandoned Opera House)

The remains of the chandelier swayed overhead, and Irene counted the bloodstains on the marble steps.

Twelve steps. The last two digits of the number "1821" that appeared when the painting was scanned by X-ray were the same.

"The second victim, soprano Anna Lester." The goateed detective covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, "The murderer's footprints were on the stage ceiling, but there was only..." He looked up at the thirty-meter-high dome, "spider webs."

Irene dug her nails into her palm. The numbers she found at the bottom of the canvas three days ago were burning her retina at this moment-in Vienna in 1821, Count von Essen's family of five were stabbed to death, and the murderer imitated the "Dancer in the Shadows" which had not yet been published. And her great-grandfather Carl Hughes was the surviving gardener of the Count's Mansion.

The phone vibrated in her pocket. It was not a text message, but a live broadcast notification automatically pushed by the dark web forum. A man in a Venetian carnival mask was wiping a dagger. The caption read: "Act III - Midnight Chimes". For every $1,000 in tipping, the countdown was shortened by one minute.

When I returned to the apartment, the package was lying on the doormat.

The self on the sketch paper was standing in front of the window. The masked man in the shadow behind him was holding a paintbrush, but the tip of the brush was dripping with bright red liquid. Irene turned on the ultraviolet light, and a line of small words appeared on the edge of the drawing paper: You missed the dancer's shoes.

The high-definition photo of "Dancer in the Shadows" flashed on the computer screen. After twenty times magnification, three letters were faintly visible on the murderer's silver-lined boot heel: L.M.W.