"The Widow" Bertha

After the business in South Shore Street was settled, Bertha started back to Pall Mall Street.

I came back early today. Unfortunately, it was rare for Mr. Mycroft Holmes to get off work on time. When Bertha entered, he was already waiting in the study.

"Miss," the butler said upon seeing Bertha's return, "do you need me to inform Mr. Holmes?"

"Need not."

Bertha thought for a moment: "I'll go by myself."

When she came to the study, Mycroft was indeed sitting at the desk, but instead of reading, he was thinking about something with a pen and paper.Hearing Bertha's deliberately heavy footsteps, the man looked up.

"Good afternoon, Bertha," he laughed, "in such a good mood?"

"Is it that obvious?"

Bertha touched her face, and the corners of her mouth also curled up: "It's a good day, so you're naturally in a good mood. But you, Mike, agreed to help me, and you have an idea?"

When Mycroft heard this, he showed a ridiculous expression: "I just promised you yesterday, my dear, you have to give me some time."

After speaking, he put down the pen in his hand and waved to Bertha.

Bertha: "What?"

Mycroft: "Come here, please."

So Bertha stepped forward, round the desk, and came to Mycroft's side.The man sitting on the chair spread out the paper in his hand, and Bertha realized that what he was holding was not a blank piece of paper, but a sixteen-size map.Mycroft pointed to locations around London on the map with the end of his pen: "Where do you think is convenient?"

This is the place where Bertha is looking for the "Secret Chamber Murder Case".

Sure enough, if I leave the matter to Holmes, I will just lie down and wait for the matter to be settled.

Bertha glanced around, but nothing could be seen from the extremely high-scale map. Mycroft drew a rather large area, which made Bertha somewhat at a loss.

"Where do you think it fits?" So she asked.

"If it's a murder case in a secret room, it's natural to have a private manor far away from the city and in a closed environment. You can just choose one," Holmes said.

"Choose...a random manor?"

"That's right," Mycroft twitched his lips, "Don't worry, manors located in small towns and towns are mostly back-up residences. If you select a lot within this range, you can always borrow a house."

The implication is that the house I borrowed is mine, so don't worry about complications.

"You are amazing, Mike." Bertha praised you without faults. "I underestimated your ability. You can do things so quickly."

"No, Bertha."

Mycroft couldn't laugh or cry: "Let's save unnecessary compliments for now. The question now is, how to write invitations to those who want to be there?"

Bertha: "You want me to write?"

"Since you are planning to arrange a drama involving murder, I think you can set up suspense from the prologue," Mycroft said with interest, "It doesn't matter who writes the invitation, the important thing is who sends it. To whom and for whom."

Bertha understood immediately.

What he meant was that as long as people can be invited over, it doesn't matter who's name is used to issue the invitation.With the words of Mycroft Holmes, even if Bertha brazenly said that it was Queen Victoria who invited the cabinet ministers, there would be no bad consequences.

OK, who doesn't love a drama with a lot of conflict?

Bertha curled her lips: "It's better to ask someone to write it, so as to conceal the handwriting."

Mycroft nodded: "Reasonable considerations. First of all, we should confirm the people present."

As he said that, he slowly put away the map and took out a stack of letter paper, which meant that he was preparing to write a draft invitation.

"To whom first?" asked Bertha.

Mycroft looked up at Bertha, and there was even a bit of insincere flattery in his smile.It seemed as if he agreed to Bertha's proposal and wrote the draft of the invitation himself, he was just playing around with his lover: "The drama you arrange is of course up to you, my dear."

"That……"

Bertha didn't care what Mycroft thought, she thought for a while: "Write to Dr. Long first, he is the easiest to invite, and write that the host invites him to his private mansion as a guest."

"So we're having a salon in a private estate?"

"The party was good," Bertha pretended to be mysterious. "The problem now is to invite Dr. Lane to visit in the name of Sir Ward, but not to allow them to collude with each other."

"In Sir Ward's name...be more direct."

"Ok?"

Mycroft pondered for a moment, then wrote.

Different from Sherlock Holmes' flamboyant and arrogant handwriting, Mycroft's handwriting is much neater on weekdays, which is obviously the result of deliberately restraining himself for work.It's just that it's not a formal drafting document at the moment, and when he writes casually, he also reveals a bit of sharpness similar to that of his younger brother.

Bertha bent down so that she could see what Mycroft was writing, and this brought her closer to the man, almost shoulder to shoulder.If she wanted to, she could kiss Holmes' face with just a slight tilt of her head.

"Write an invitation in the name of the Truth Society, asking him to secretly assist Colonel Dent in completing his mission," Bertha read out the content written by Mycroft, and said, not without surprise, "This is good, Mike!"

Colonel Dent tore up the script of the previous werewolf killing, and Bertha was upset. Unexpectedly, not long after turning around, Mr. Mycroft Holmes actually started a new round for her!

Even dignified Sherlock Holmes didn't expect that he would write so easily, in exchange for Bertha's joyful expression.

He thought for a while, and then figured out the key point: "You are very interested in arrangements such as covering up secrets."

Bertha smiled and said, "Of course! Now, all the key personnel present will have secrets."

As she spoke, she stretched out her hand and took the pen in Mycroft's hand.

The tall girl rests next to the well-dressed man in a relaxed and intimate posture, and the small gesture of "grabbing" his pen looks like a couple flirting with each other before.

Bertha held Mycroft's pen affectionately, and wrote on his behalf: "Colonel Dent is the same, he is also a suspect, so he received a secret invitation from the Truth Society and was invited to come here to assist Dr. Long in completing his mission. ...What about Sir Ward? We can't confirm whether he is really an enemy now."

"It's easy."

Mycroft took the pen again, and the expensive pen was passed around like a toy between the two of them. He held the pen body, and Bertha's body temperature still remained on it: "It is impossible to invite only suspects. Man, now that a party is set—”

He paused, and then said: "I remember that the Keeper of the Seal, Mr. George Lancaster, has a manor in the town of Northfield near London. He has very close exchanges with the academic community, and he prefers to teach Dr. If we are friends, let’s tentatively ask him to be the host of the party.”

Bertha: "..."

Mycroft: "In this way, the basic party members are also roughly handed over to him for consideration, including you and me, what do you think?"

Bertha: "..."

So, in the whole of the UK, you know which ministers know who, which knights have a good relationship with you, and you know it all, and even all of them are in this head less than three inches away from Bertha.

If you are not the head of intelligence, Bertha really can't think of anyone else who can be.

"Is there a problem, dear?" Mycroft detected Bertha's surprise.

"Please invite so many high-ranking officials and nobles," Bertha reminded, "It's not so fast to solve a 'murder case', will it delay the operation of the government?"

"Oh dear."

Mycroft sighed.

He showed the alienation and arrogance he had when he attended the party before, and the smile on the corner of his mouth became a little colder.Even though he was still sitting at the desk in a casual posture, he was involuntarily revealing that he was in control of everything.

"As a matter of fact," said Mycroft, "the Queen's government would be able to go about its business without these politicians."

"..."

It can be seen that you really look down on those politicians.Bertha tilted her head: "Then I have to thank you in advance for selling me this face."

"You're welcome, Bertha."

Mycroft didn't take it seriously, and then turned his attention to the list: "Right now, there are three guests with secrets."

"Five," reminded Bertha, "and you and me."

"That's right, there are you and me," Mycroft couldn't help laughing, "Do you have any other people you want to invite?"

"Well...call Jane up."

Bertha thought about it, and decided to invite Miss Jane Eyre together—it wasn't Bertha's own initiative, but the two of them cooperated very well when they were in Thornfield Manor, and Miss Jane Eyre always liked Ann. Sitting quietly in the corner, Bertha felt that when she helped "solve the case" last time, she also enjoyed it.

It's fine if you don't like it, but if she likes it, how can Bertha miss a friend?

"The more actors, the better," Bertha said enthusiastically. "She likes to participate, so she will send an invitation to Jane."

"it is good."

"and also--"

"Sir, miss."

Bertha was interrupted by the butler who knocked on the door halfway through her speech.

The old butler walked in after getting permission, as if he didn't realize how close the two were behind the desk: "Miss Marple, there is a telegram from you."

telegraph?

At this time, who else can send a telegram to Bertha.You must know that telegrams in the [-]th century were charged by the word, which was very expensive.If it is not a matter that needs to be communicated in a timely manner, letters are more cost-effective.

The housekeeper politely delivered a telegram to Bertha, and when she received it, she immediately raised her eyebrows.

Mycroft was quite curious: "What's the matter?"

Bertha put away the telegram: "Nothing, please add Mr. Edward Rochester to the invited guests."

Mycroft: "..."

Technically speaking, Bertha Mason is still Rochester's legal wife to this day, because she is alive and well.As one of the few insiders and Bertha's "current lover", Mr. Holmes sitting next to her has no awareness of facing his girlfriend's ex-husband at all.

Instead, he said very considerately: "You want to plan a 'murder case', Bertha, is it appropriate to involve Mr. Rochester?"

Bertha revealed a nasty smile when she heard the words: "It's not appropriate, but isn't it better?"

You must know that the end of their marriage is based on a death!

Bertha Mason fell into the ground. She didn't need to think too much, she could guess with a little guesswork that there must be rumors that Rochester's mad wife killed her because he couldn't bear it.That being the case, asking him to witness another murder was no big deal.

Besides, Bertha was very busy at present, and had no time to entertain him specially.

Seeing Bertha's insistence, Mycroft didn't say much to persuade him, and added the names of Mr. Rochester and Miss Jane Eyre to the list with his own hand.

"I suppose there's no one else?" he asked.

"These are enough." Bertha was very happy.

She said it from the bottom of her heart, and even Bertha thought the idea of ​​another locked room murder, amusing as it was, was nonsense.Unexpectedly, Mycroft actually had the same idea as hers—you can do whatever you want, and what is more important than adding a little interest to the process.

"You've been so kind to me, Mike."

Bertha elongated her tone on purpose, she placed her slender hands affectionately on Mycroft's shoulders, and said slowly, "I have to think about how to thank you."

"Efforts with little effort are nothing to worry about."

"That won't work."

She took Mycroft's pen again, but this time she capped it and placed it neatly beside the list.

Now even Holmes had no reason to avoid Bertha's gaze.

He turned his head slightly, and faced the dark golden eyes that were close at hand. The distance was so close that both of them could feel the breath from each other.

"As a thank you..."

There was a bit of cunning in those beautiful eyes, and Bertha raised her hand to touch her cheek: "You can kiss me."

Mycroft laughed out loud.

There seems to be a war between them that no one will give in. There is no smoke, nothing to do with life, it is just a test and maneuver in the intimate relationship. Whoever bows his head first is doomed to be defeated.

Is there any reason to refuse an invitation from a beauty?

"It's my pleasure, dear."

Obviously, such an "offensive" cannot shake Holmes' defense.Mr. Mycroft Holmes was still in the same attitude that seemed to be favored but indifferent. He let Bertha wrap his broad arms around him, and all he did was smile dotingly, and then leaned forward slightly——

Bertha's handsome face was but a movement away from him.

However, just before Mycroft was about to wear off the last dimension between the two, Bertha turned her head without warning and chose to meet his eyes.

She moved Holmes unexpectedly, and the Jamaican's lips touched his.

The smell of perfume, the faint smell of beeswax on the lip gloss, and Bertha's, feminine scent, all of these mixed together in an instant, swept towards Mycroft Holmes' lungs.

And Bertha just pecked lightly on the other's lips.

Then she stood up gracefully and smiled brightly: "As a thank you, Mike."

The other party didn't give Mycroft time to react, and Bertha didn't care how he responded at all. The beautiful girl kissed proactively, withdrawing but almost ruthlessly.After the kiss was over, she turned around and left gracefully, leaving the man alone in the cold silence of the study.

Mycroft Holmes lightly rubbed his lips with his thumb, then brought his fingertips up to his nose and sniffed lightly.

Roses, cloves and gooseberries.

He twisted his fingers indiscriminately, and chuckled in the empty study.

It really does suit her well.