Chapter 4 Secret Room Murder Case
As it turns out, detective work isn't as fun as Watson imagined.
It had been a week since he became Miss Holmes's assistant. After signing the labor contract, Charlotte saw that he had no fixed place to live, so she allocated the spare room upstairs to him as a bedroom.
Watson also moved his luggage over and took charge of the security work of the Sherlock Holmes Detective Agency.
No. 221B Baker Street was originally a three-story apartment building. It was bought by Miss Charlotte's father, the Duke of Holmes, and later transformed into a professional detective agency. The spacious and airy hall became an office for receiving customers.
What is different from the original work is that Charlotte does not live here. She is actually a wealthy aristocratic daughter. She spends most of her time busy with her own things, such as chemical experiments, autopsy, swordsmanship training, equestrian training, and firearms shooting. ...Daily life is not without richness.
So this large detective agency was fully managed by Watson. It sounds like he has a lot of power, but in fact he is responsible for doing some chores, cleaning, receiving customers and recording needs, sorting and summarizing cases in newspapers... work business It's not boring.
Although there are some jobs that come to your door on their own initiative, most of them come in person from richly dressed aristocratic masters/ladies, entrusting your detective agency to help find missing pets, investigate lost property, and find evidence of the cheating of the wife/master’s lover...
It was all trivial matters. Although the rewards promised by the nobles were quite generous, it was more like a free favor than a job.
Most of these distinguished guests were received by Holmes himself. When Watson was preparing tea, the customers did not look anxious at all. Instead, they looked as calm as if they were leisurely tourists, pointing at the decoration and furnishings in the detective agency.
Charlotte seemed to be very nice to these guests, but after they left, she immediately stopped smiling and specifically told Watson: There is no need to really investigate jobs like this where the pay is obviously higher than the market, just treat them well and pretend. Just record it carefully.
There are also some ordinary visitors, such as street vendors in business disputes, railway employees who have made mistakes at work, old gentlemen with family feuds, fashionable girls who are confused about their future...
They were all introduced by other private investigators and were in real trouble and needed the guidance of impartial and intelligent people.
Holmes would first listen to what they told them about what happened, then analyze the problem and give appropriate suggestions for a small consulting fee.
Watson basically listened and wrote the dossier, but he also got a better understanding of the wisdom of this female version of Sherlock Holmes.
Compared with the detective Sherlock in the original work, Miss Charlotte obviously has a wider range of knowledge. Perhaps because she comes from a wealthy background, she does not need to be distracted by money, but can devote more energy to learning all aspects of knowledge. .
Perhaps due to gender differences, differences in body hormone secretion and the influence of aristocratic etiquette and upbringing, the temperament and habits of this Miss Holmes are also different from those of the original Holmes.
His temper is not so eccentric, but more gentle, and he does not use stimulant drugs to cheer up his spirits during boring breaks when there is no case to pursue.
Apart from the natural physical differences between men and women, Miss Charlotte may not be able to match the detective Sherlock in terms of force, but in terms of rich knowledge, the Sherlock Holmes that Watson knows may have won - at least she will admit that the earth revolves around the sun. Turn.
Since joining the Sherlock Holmes Detective Agency, Watson has almost never stepped out of the door except during breaks, and has only been engaged in clerical work.
After a long time, he couldn't help but feel a little bored.
However, Watson is quite patient. He also knows that the real Holmes cannot be like the Grim Reaper primary school student. There are murders happening around him every three days with various methods of committing crimes.
He was happy to be free... Every day he would sit in the hall and read old books bought from street stalls, enriching his knowledge and gradually calming down his restless heart.
From time to time, at the invitation of young Stanford, we would get together to drink two bottles of wine, and our days were very leisurely.
To be honest, little Stanford is indeed a good friend. Although he comes from a wealthy family, he treats people without any airs. He often entertains people with delicious food and wine, and introduces him to good jobs. He also introduces various places in London at the wine table. The social network and anecdotes of the social class really gave Watson a lot of help in integrating into London.
The leisurely routine lasted for nearly a month, and Watson's leg and foot problems still showed no improvement, but ripples began to appear in his peaceful life.
It all starts with that souvenir.
It was a rare day for Holmes to have some free time. She had just finished her experimental work upstairs and was sitting with Watson in the reception hall sipping black tea.
After a month of getting along, the two have become familiar enough to joke around.
During the conversation, Charlotte suddenly walked to the window. She pointed out the window and said, "Watson, who do you think that person is?"
This is a little game that the two play in their spare time. They judge the identity and whereabouts of passers-by by observing their words and expressions.
Watson heard the sound and came to the window, looking along Charlotte's ink-stained fingers.
I saw a strong man in simple clothes across the street. He had a thick beard on his face. Watson had seen many people with this look in the army.
The man moved slowly with his head held high, his sharp eyes fixed on the house numbers of each house, and he counted them from house to house. He held a large blue envelope in his right hand. Although he was not wearing a uniform, he was obviously a messenger.
Watson also noticed that there was a blue sea anchor-like tattoo on the back of the other person's hand holding the letter, which was like some kind of sailor's symbol.
He only took one look and immediately came to the conclusion, "This is a naval officer who has just retired. He has a military-style beard on his face, a sailor tattoo on the back of his hand, and his head held high like a leader." The appearance can prove this.”
"And I venture to guess that he is probably looking for our Sherlock Holmes Detective Agency."
As soon as he finished speaking, the man outside the window looked at the room as if he suddenly realized something, and ran over in stride.
Dong-dong-dong, there was a rapid and heavy knock on the door.
Charlotte clapped and praised: "Beautiful, what a wonderful reasoning!"
Watson smiled, got up and opened the door for the visitor.
The visitor asked in a deep and deep voice: "Hello, is Miss Holmes here? I have a letter from her here."
The female detective came over and said, "I am Charlotte Holmes."
The man seemed to be confirming Holmes's appearance, nodded, and took out an envelope from his arms, "Hello, Miss Holmes, this is your letter. Do you need a reply on the spot?"
After receiving Charlotte's shaking head in denial, the man thrust the letter into Charlotte's hand. He put his heels together, stood at attention, raised his hands in salute, and then hurried to the next place.
Charlotte sat back on the sofa, opened the letter and read through it, her face suddenly showed an excited expression, like a child who got a new toy.
She threw the letter over and said, "Watson, look at this, there is a bizarre case coming to your door."
Watson took the letter and looked at it——
"Dear Miss Charlotte Holmes:
Last night, a strange murder occurred at No. 3 Garden Street, Lauriston.
The crime occurred in an empty house that had been abandoned for a long time. At around three o'clock in the morning, the patrol police nearby heard a shrill scream from inside the house. Knowing that the house had been uninhabited for a long time, the patrol officers suspected something was wrong, so they went to check.
The doors and windows of this long-abandoned house were all locked, and no light could be seen inside. The patrolman broke the door lock and entered. He saw the body of a middle-aged man lying in the hall filled with books.
The deceased was a well-dressed gentleman. His clothes were clean and tidy. He had not been robbed and had no identification materials on him.
There were no signs of struggle at the crime scene, there were no injuries on the body, and the cause of death was unknown.
Why did the deceased enter the empty house, and how did the murderer commit the crime... We are puzzled and deeply aware of the thorny nature of this case.
Please come here at twelve o'clock, we will always be waiting for you on site. Everything at the murder scene will remain untouched until we hear back from you.
If you don't have free time to come, we will also inform you of the follow-up details. We hope to get your on-site guidance, we will be very grateful.
Sincerely, Tobias Grayson”
Watson secretly thought: "Research on the word in blood..."