Detective Bennet [Comprehensive novel]

Overnight, Angus mansion is two worlds.

Last night was a lively and cheerful masked birthday party, and this morning they were arguing endlessly over the disposal of the old Patriarch's body.

bedroom.

Father Faria sees the body of Al Angus.

Al was wearing a nightgown, the belt was not fastened, and the clothes and sheets were slightly damp.His clothes were loose, and we could vaguely see the welt marks on his body.

Father Faria stood solemnly and read a eulogy for Olmer.

Although he had been in contact with Auer under a disguised identity from the beginning to the end, and the two parties were not familiar with each other, this romantic man by nature readily gave him help. Who would have thought that life and death would be separated in just one night.

Father Faria had a general idea of ​​the circumstances of Orr's death.

The masquerade ended at 12:30 am last night, and the guests left one after another.

After a while, the mansion returned to silence, only the Angus family and servants remained.

Orr went back to his room half drunk and fell asleep without taking a shower.

Usually, in this kind of situation, Julia would sleep in separate rooms with Auer, and last night they also went back to their own rooms.

Just after three o'clock in the morning, Johnny, the valet in charge of Orr's daily life, was woken up.Al said he wanted to take a shower and asked Johnny to prepare water quickly.

At 03:30, Johnny asked Orr if he wanted to add hot water as usual, but got no response.

Five minutes later, Johnny pushed open the bathroom door and found the owner Al sitting in the bathtub with his head hanging, as if he was asleep.

Johnny stepped forward to wake up the old owner, but found that Orr was not asleep, but not breathing.

At that time, Johnny immediately notified the other three owners in the family.

Then there was Julia's confrontation with Henry and Bivis, and no one cared about Orr's body still in the bathtub.

At about four o'clock, the butler couldn't persuade the three masters, so he asked Johnny and another servant to carry Orr's body to the bed first.

You can't let the corpse soak in the bathtub all the time, so put a bathrobe on him.

It was exactly what Father Faria saw now.

As for Julia, Henry, and Bivis, the three quarreled until dawn and each sought help.

None of them entered the bedroom again, did not touch Orr again, and did not attempt to properly dispose of the body.

Faria shook her head and left the bedroom.

In the corridor, Henry and Bivis stood facing Julia.

Fermat was already showing impatience.

Before, he proposed to ask Mr. Bennet and Mr. Holmes to investigate the truth of the death of his cousin Orr, and received support from the crowd.Unexpectedly, the two nephews objected when they saw the real person.

The reasons why Henry and Bivis objected were simple and crude.

The two detectives are friends with Mr. F, and Ms. Sinbad, Mr. F's lover, has some friendship with Julia.

Mr. F and Sinbad attended Julia's birthday party yesterday, and they probably came to cheer for Julia today.

Who can guarantee that the two detectives will not favor a friend of a friend because of a friend.Namely, in favor of Julia.

Questioning this, Father Faria spoke out about borrowing a boat from Orr.

Mr. F and Ms. Sinbad clearly care more about their friendship with Orr than with his wife Julia.

The reason is also extremely simple.Auer expressed his sincere friendship to the two with practical actions, and lent a valuable sea ship at a low price.

Although Julia mentioned that once she inherits the estate, she will lend the boat to Mr. F for two years free of charge, but Mr. F thinks it is more important to find out the cause of Orr's death.

Fermat figured out the whole story, and immediately proposed a solution to the worries of the Angus brothers.

No matter who inherits Orr's private sea boat, Mr. F will be allowed to use it for free for two years.

As long as Henry and Bivis dare to make such a promise, then there will be no talk of Mr. F favoring Julia because of interests.

"What? You haven't considered it yet?"

Fermat didn't know what the two cousins ​​were struggling with. Since they believed that Julia killed Al, shouldn't they find out the truth sooner?

Oh!wrong.

Just now Bivis and Henry also expressed that they want to find out the truth as soon as possible.They supported the invitation of Bennet and Holmes from England to investigate, but they were extremely unwilling to wait for half a month.

Today, good investigators are close at hand, and small concerns have solutions.If the Angus brothers are still pushy, people can't help but doubt...

"Okay. We agree to have two detectives investigate the cause of my father's death."

Henry gritted his teeth secretly, the status quo made it impossible for them to refuse. "I hope those two can find out the cause of father's death as soon as possible."

Bivis nodded in agreement, and then looked at Julia provocatively, "Mrs. Angus, you haven't expressed your opinion yet, are you afraid of being found out?"

Julia only felt that her foot hurt because she was hit by the stone she lifted.If I knew it earlier, I would not have invited Mr. F for the sake of the crowd.

"I'm not afraid of anything."

On the surface, Julia readily agreed, and even made a point, "Mr. Fermat, please borrow a few attendants. Before the truth of Orr's death is found out, some people should not be given the opportunity to destroy the clues and evidence. "

As soon as this remark came out, there was almost another conflict.

It could only be reconciled by Fermat, who proposed that the brothers and Julia live in his house temporarily, so that the detectives could investigate the Angus mansion quietly.

At this time, the two detectives were not waiting in the corridor foolishly.

As soon as Kelsey and Sherlock stepped into the Angus mansion, they keenly discovered that the three current owners of the Angus family did not welcome them.

The two don't care about being popular.

The important thing is that if the original sea trip was interrupted, they must find out the culprit who sabotaged the plan.

Before being allowed to examine Orr's body and the death scene, he walked around the rest of the mansion.

The Angus mansion is not very big, there is only one main building, and the master and servant live scattered among the four floors.But it is small and not small, a small river flows in the southwest.

The creek connects with Venice and its intricate network of waterways, and people take gondolas down this river to reach the Angus mansion.

The gate of the mansion is straddling the creek.

On one side of the creek is the main building, passing a wooden bridge, and on the other side is the grove of Angus's family.There are some fruit trees and flowers planted in the grove, and further outside is the wall.

"A lot of people came here to chat last night."

Sherlock was surveying the grove, and there were many fresh tracks in the dirt.

During the masquerade last night, some people like to go round and round on the dance floor, and some people like to have a tryst in the woods, and they left footprints.

This is not wrong, but it brings great interference to the identification of footprints.

"Whether the other guests came to the woods or not, Al and Julia were in the Ballroom last night until the party was over."

Kelsey asked the servant Johnny, the housekeeper, and the other waiter who served tea and water, and got a general idea of ​​the masquerade last night.

Bivis and Henry did not attend Julia's birthday party.

In fact, the two brothers have their own residences in Venice. They moved out of their old houses one after another seven or eight years ago, but they moved back one year ago.

The reason was that he objected to his father Orr's remarriage. After the objection failed, he simply went back to the old house.

The reason is clear, in order not to let Orr listen to one side or believe it.The two brothers decided to hang out in front of their father all the time, and not let their father be completely bewitched by their stepmother Julia.

Therefore, this year, there have been minor conflicts in the Angus family.

It was Orr's arrangement that the brothers didn't attend the ball last night. He didn't want his sons to clash at the new wife's birthday party.

At twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, the dance was almost over, and the brothers didn't go home.

At that time, the guests were leaving one after another, and the servants did not hear the dispute between the four masters. Bivis and Henry went back to the room on the third floor first.

Later, there were no abnormal noises from the mansion, but at nearly four o'clock in the morning, because of the sudden death of the owner, Orr, a big quarrel broke out between his sons and his wife.

Then they each looked for helpers, and then it was the scene that Kelsey and Sherlock saw when they entered the mansion.

While talking, the two had come to the edge of the grove.

On the edge of the woods is a wall about four meters high, with a row of sharp iron spikes erected on the upper end, making it difficult for people to climb over the wall and enter from the outside.

There were no suspicious footprints on the wall.

Sherlock's eyes were fixed on a rock.

The rock under the tree is similar in shape and size to the stone bench. Although the surface of the stone is uneven, it can also allow people to sit and rest.

The reason why someone must have been in contact with the rock is because there is half a blood palm print on it.

Sherlock stepped forward to take a closer look, because the surface of the stone was uneven, the bloodstains were not clear, and fingerprint clues could not be extracted.

However, according to its size, it can be judged that it is very likely to come from a man.

This is confirmed by footprints on the side of the rock, a pair of men's leather shoes.The heel of the shoe is pressed against the rock, while the toe is turned outward, indicating that the bleeding man once sat on the rock.

"Two days ago, it rained heavily in Venice, and the blood stain on the rock has not been washed by the rain, which means it is fresh."

Sherlock looked at Kelsey as he spoke, and saw that he had opened the small toolbox.

Kelsey took out the cotton swab and glass test tube and handed it to Sherlock.

At present, the source of the blood is unknown, and it may not necessarily be related to Auer's death, but evidence collection is necessary.

Not only to collect blood samples for evidence, but also to extract leather shoe prints on the edge of the rock.

The two didn't bring a camera on this trip, so Kelsey opened a sketchbook and started drawing.It not only depicts the prints of men's leather shoes, but also the prints of women's shoes beside the prints of men's shoes.

Judging from the orientation of these shoe prints and the distribution of footprints, the pair of men and women came to the rock under the wall together.

"Women's shoes are the same size as Julia."

Kelsey knew it meant nothing.

Julia's shoes were of a medium size, and at least half the women who met in the woods last night were in her shoe size.

Among the tryst guests who came to the grove, not only the shoe sizes were the same, but also the sole patterns were the same.Most of those leather shoes came from the same shoe store.

Sherlock put the blood sample into the toolbox.He followed suspicious male and female shoe prints forward, trying to find where they came from.

In the end, the footprints that appeared on the edge of the rock were broken in the grove. Because they were mixed with other people's footprints, it was difficult to identify them.

Sherlock checked three more times, and when Kelsey traced the shoe print, he shook his head, "No blood was found anywhere else."

It is very likely that the injured hand was slightly injured, and the amount of bleeding was very small.

The two were therefore suspicious.

All the male and female guests at the ball wore gloves, and the blood stains left on the rock clearly belonged to a man who touched the surface of the stone with his left hand.

On what occasion did the man take off his gloves, and how did he get hurt?Was it an accidental scratch in the grove?or something else?

At this time, Fermat quickly walked across the bridge to the grove to find someone, interrupting their speculation.

Fermat succinctly stated the arrangements for Beavis, Henry and Julia, and the three agreed to temporarily leave the old house for three days.During this time, Kelsey and Sherlock are free to investigate at the Angus mansion.

Fermat said bluntly, "I know that time is a little tight, and I will try my best to delay those three who don't understand the reason. I also ask you two to help find out the truth about the cause of my cousin's death. Now, is there anything I can do to help?"

Three days.

There was even a time limit.

In this regard, the two did not express dissatisfaction.

Sherlock said bluntly to Fermat, "Please leave all irrelevant people in the hall, leaving only the relevant people who attended the ball last night. Please wait a while, we will ask them about last night's situation."

As for how long to wait?

Anyway, wait until the preliminary autopsy and investigation of the death scene are completed.

Orr died in the bedroom bathroom, and his body was placed on the bedroom bed.

Four 10 minutes later.

Sherlock checked Orr's body from head to toe, and when he came to the bathroom, he saw Kelsey, who had searched the bedroom, sitting in the wooden bathtub.

—is simulating Orr's death scene.

This wooden tub has a cylindrical shape with small holes underneath for drainage.It is not spacious, but rather high. When a person sits in the barrel, he cannot straighten his legs.

To do this, you need to step on a step stool to step into the bathtub, and the bathtub has a built-in square stool, so Orr can take a bath like sitting on a chair.

"Johnny said he drained the tub first before lifting Al's body out."

Kelsey imitated Orr's sitting posture, touched the inside of the wooden bathtub with both hands, and touched a few scratches on the wooden board.

Immediately asked Sherlock, "Are there sawdust in Orr's nails?"

"Yes." Sherlock compared the material of the wooden tub. "The nail of Al's right index finger is slightly turned out, and the force is too much. The sawdust left between the nails is consistent with the wooden material of the tub."

Does this mean that Orr had struggled before his death?

Kelsey handed the bench in the bucket to Sherlock, vacating the bench so that she could squat down in the tub.After adjusting the angle again, I finally saw the nail scratches on the inside clearly.

The scratches do not constitute letters, but rather an image.

"Looks like an unfinished pentagram?"

Kelsey couldn't be sure, so she said, "Tom, you come in and take a look."

Go in?

Where to go?In the same tub?

Sherlock did not move, but pointed out solemnly, "The tub in front of me is not a bathtub that can only accommodate two people, so I can only ask you to come out first. Jerry, I am sorry that I have disappointed you this time. Complete your shared bathing requirements."

Kelsey looked up suddenly, who asked for a shared bath?

Yes, it's because she didn't express it rigorously enough, it's just a shared bath at most.Please speak clearly and don't miss words!

And she remembered that dear Tom once said that he would not bathe with anyone, so why should he be sorry, would he dare to think about fulfilling the bathing requirement next time?