Detective Bennet [Comprehensive novel]

Lestrade couldn't say no, he could only accept the investigation task.Since Carter went to the suburbs for the holidays, he had an idea to find Watson as his partner.The two visited Woolf's mistresses together, and some embarrassing questions were asked with a companion.

Elsewhere, two detectives go to the scene of Woolf's death.

The streets and alleys around the demolition house were originally messy, but now gravel and garbage are everywhere, and it is impossible to obtain effective footprints.Most of the occupants of the houses have left, making it difficult to find witnesses.

After an afternoon of investigation, no one saw Woolf going in and out of the demolition house.

It was not limited to the day when the incident occurred on Friday, and no one had noticed Woolf's whereabouts a few months before.

Go back to the house where the death happened.

Sherlock inspected carefully and determined that there was no other sign of forced entry except for Mead kicking through the gate.There is now no evidence that Woolf was accompanied by a second person on the night of her death.

However, geese pass by to take pictures, and people pass by to leave traces.

After some careful identification, an object that was incompatible with the entire house was found above the garbage dump.

It was a lady's stocking made of silk.Black, probably new, with holes in the sock.

Silk stockings, expensive socks that only a few people would buy.

Because it is extremely expensive but difficult to take care of, it is not durable at all, and it will be damaged if you don't pay attention.

The socks in front of me are damaged due to lack of color, and they may be mistaken for cheap products.

In fact, such a pair of new products can be sold for more than any piece of furniture here.

Sherlock leaned closer and sniffed carefully, but couldn't find the residue of women's perfume, but there was a mixture of tobacco and alcohol.The smell was exactly the same as the lingering smell on Woolf's clothes.

"That's it."

Sherlock walked to the wall where the writing was written and motioned Kelsey to take a look at the socks. "Although the smell is very weak, it is enough to show that it was kept by Woolf."

Kelsey looked carefully at the hole in the sock, and it was hard to tell what had caused it to wear out.

Given Woolf's unusual hobbies, perhaps he broke the sock while he was having sex.

These are difficult to verify, but the known common sense is that women's socks are now regarded as intimate clothing and are very private items, and men generally never carry them with them.

"Very well, at the scene of Woolf's death, it was found that he was carrying underwear of the opposite sex. This makes him more in line with the characteristics of dying from sexual asphyxiation."

Kelsey was not so relaxed. She pointed to the words on the wall that Woolf had scratched with her fingernails.

"When a person is dying, it is difficult to disguise his handwriting. It is necessary to look up Woolf's past writing records and determine the unfinished letter from his writing habits."

After the letters 'GN' on the wall, there is a scratch that is obviously exhausted.It is in the shape of an "l", maybe the letters I, P, K, etc.

Sherlock also looked at the letters on the wall. What did Woolf most want to express when he was dying?

"Most of them are unwilling to leave messages before death. Since it was not a homicide, nor was it a deliberate suicide, Woolf probably wrote who guided him to complete the complicated binding, and that person made him die unluckily."

Kelsey agrees, but the difficulty lies in locating the unidentified mentor.

"It was probably the mentor who handed the outer wrapping paper bag with Norton's fingerprints to Woolf. It is no coincidence that a discarded briefcase was picked up by a stranger and it happened to appear at the scene of the death. I have an ominous premonition..."

"Jerry."

Sherlock interrupted Kelsey at the right time, "We haven't searched Woolf's house yet, maybe we will find clues there."

Kelsey: I just want to be honest.

Sherlock: I'm afraid your words will come true.

Both showed standard smiles.

It is dark today, and I will go to Woolf's house tomorrow to find out if there are other key clues.

The next day, just after eight o'clock in the morning.

Adler sent the information about the special rope on time.

According to her friend the grocer, she picked up second-hand goods from the fixed stall in Old Franklin at the Rose Flea Market outside London last January, including unusually strong rope.

Old Franklin is very talkative and likes to tell stories to people. If he has time, he is happy to chat about the origin of each item.

With this clue, Sherlock drove to the suburbs to find the old Franklin who loved to tell stories.Hopefully that stall owner's story is detailed enough to trace back to who the source of the rope came from.

Kelsey came to Woolf's house.

Woolf, who was not close, once left a will, which designated two distant relatives to inherit the estate.

At present, the designated heirs of the estate are not interested.

Because of Woolf's early consumption behavior, his account balance is only [-] pounds, and he still owes several luxury and haute couture stores' unpaid bills, and the sum of arrears far exceeds the balance.

These financial concerns had little effect on Kelsey's search of Woolf's home.

She encountered no obstacles other than having a lawyer present to prevent damage to valuables.

However, Woolf deserves the reputation of being unlearned and idle.

He left no written records of any value at all.There is no accounting, no notes, and it is impossible to have insights.

You can only ask the housekeepers and maids who have worked here for four or five years, who their masters have come into contact with and where they have visited.

Kelsey searched the entire house, and referred to the statements of the housekeeper and others. The information obtained was consistent with Norton's previous investigation, and there was nothing special about it.It is known that the origins of Woolf's hounds and friends can be checked. At present, there is no mysterious binding method guide.

"Are these things given to Woolf by other people?"

Kelsey found another way, and unless the mysterious guide had no material exchange with Woolf, there would always be one or two traces left.Without a written record, perhaps a real gift would have been left behind.

In Woolf's house, there is a large cabinet specially used to store gifts.

"Yes." The housekeeper had a general understanding of the gift-giving situation, and he talked about who gave each gift in detail.But there are five pieces of unknown origin, which Woolf brought home in person. "Mr Woolf stated that there was no need to prepare a gift in return, and he did not say who gave it."

Kelsey looks at the gift of unknown origin.

The five gifts were wine, three bottles of Scotch whiskey common in London, and two bottles, one green and one red.

This is rare in London.

The spa wine in a green glass bottle comes from the Bohemian region.

Since the last century, Karlovy Vary's hot spring water has become famous for curing diseases, and the hot spring wine made from hot spring water is also famous. It is a local specialty similar to herbal wine.

The gerlag in the red bottle comes from Sweden.

This is a special local Christmas drink made of wine, sugar, and spices.It is usually served warm in winter, and it is also served with ginger biscuits.

Kelsey did not forget that the King of Bohemia was about to recover the photo in Adler's hand, and asked the butler, "When did these two bottles of wine arrive?"

"It was last Christmas Eve."

The butler must have remembered the time correctly, he has relevant records.

"Didn't Woolf say anything about it?"

Kelsey wanted to be able to say, "Anything. Even his comments about the wine."

The butler shook his head, "Mr. Woolf put the wine away without saying a word, but I know he doesn't like herbal wine and rum. Those who know him well know this."

This is true.

Kelsey checked Woolf's wine cabinet, and there was not a bottle of medicated wine and rum bought by Woolf out of his own pocket.

The two bottles of wine, one red and one green, didn't even open the bottle caps, which also shows from the side that Woolf doesn't like these two gifts.

Sending local specialty wine, isn’t it British as a gift?Or is it returning from a trip abroad?

Did he know Woolf's preferences?Was he not close enough to Woolf, or simply didn't care whether to give gifts to make people happy?

Are these questions relevant to Woolf's death?

Twilight and dusk.

Kelsey returned to Baker Street with doubts, Sherlock returned from the outskirts of the city first, and Watson, who was captured by Lestrade to accompany him, also returned.

"This is the result of the visit by the Inspector and Watson."

Sherlock said that he had just finished watching, "Wulf has always liked being tied up, and as time went by, it tended to get worse. Last fall, Dani offered to leave Woolf because she felt scared."

"Woolf's desire to be restrained deepened, and he began to pursue the feeling of suffocation by the neck, which is terrifying."

Kelsey looked at the records, and Diane couldn't bear Woolf's abnormal demands and left, and Woolf had a blank period after that.

At the beginning of this year, although Woolf pursued Edith on the bright side, it was all to delay the compensation for the house payment, but in fact, he had contacts with prostitutes secretly.

The prostitute mentioned that Woolf had paid a large sum of money, but she had no real relationship with her, and only asked her to adjust and pay attention to whether the rope buckle of the choke was safe.

"The state of restraint that required the assistance of others only lasted for one and a half months. At the beginning of March, Woolf no longer asked his mistress for help."

From this, Sherlock speculated, "Wulf learned complex self-binding techniques from October last year to January this year. At first, he was not proficient enough, and then went to the abandoned house alone to tie himself up."

Kelsey saw the last statement.

It was from a lover Woolf was dating before his death. The woman mentioned that the two dated for two weeks, but Woolf did not ask for any overnight stay.

"There was a four-month gap in Woolf's love history, and he met a mysterious mentor."

Kelsey thought of two bottles of specialty wine from other countries and told Sherlock about the discovery. "The wine was delivered before Christmas last year, and the time coincided with the time when Woolf learned to bind."

At present, the contact time between Woolf and the mysterious guide can be basically determined.

However, there are too few traces left by the mysterious guide, and it is impossible to narrow down the search scope with only two bottles of specialty wine.

Sherlock asked, "How is the continuation of the writing on the wall? Can you find out what the third unfinished letter is?"

"Yes, I have some speculations. Although Woolf does not have any habit of writing notes, his writing habits can still be determined from some social invitations he left behind."

Kelsey called out two letters, "Most likely P or D. Then the writing on the wall would be 'GND' or 'GNP'.I asked the steward, and none of Woolf's friends had an initials associated with it. "

Sherlock recalled that Woolf's haunt and his mistresses, neither address nor name, had anything to do with it.

At this time, just as Kelsey's unfinished premonition yesterday, it was difficult to find the mysterious person behind the scenes in this case.

Inside the house, there was a moment of silence.

Kelsey simply changed the subject, "Tom, did you find the junk dealer who told the story? The rope was custom-made by a military instructor in London. What is it?"

"That could be called valuable news."

Sherlock found old Franklin without any trouble, "The stall owner has a good memory, and the rope came from a Spanish businessman who was sentenced to death."

In the winter of the previous year, a Spanish businessman was arrested for torture and homicide.

After that, his property in London was sold by his wife, and a batch of goods flowed into the second-hand second-hand market.

"Old Franklin paid attention to the origin of all the goods, even if the things that flowed into his hands were not necessarily valuable. This habit made him ask the Spanish merchant's wife about the origin of the unusually strong rope."

Sherlock thanked the old Franklin for his habit, "The merchant's wife doesn't know much, except that her husband has mentioned that the rope is ordered from London.

From a military instructor in his 50s named JM.The Spanish businessman bought the rope three years ago, and JM said that the stock was running out.Now, here comes the point—"

Sherlock paused and said, "At that time, the Spanish businessman went to the London training ground where JM was located in order to confirm the reliability of JM's identity. Although he never entered, he saw JM wearing a uniform in and out of the training ground."

what does this mean?

Three years ago, JM did exist in a military training ground somewhere in London.

JM, once appeared as the abbreviation of Professor Jeffrey Moses.

This Professor M is very suspicious. From Paris to New York, wherever there is a big case, there is him, but he has died of illness in the United States.

Kelsey doesn't believe that the real Professor M died.

That's a golden cicada's method of getting rid of its shell. M, who is most likely the leader of an underground criminal group, is still alive in Europe.

Today, the JM abbreviation appears again.

The list of military training is all recorded.

Although the Spanish businessman has been executed, it is impossible to tell the specific appearance of JM, but it is known that JM's approximate age and working years, and based on this abbreviated name, it is possible to find out the suspicious corresponding person.

Sherlock cheered up when he thought of this, "Today, I won't be at home for dinner. Now go to my brother who knows almost everything. Mycroft can provide the list of personnel in various military training grounds in London three years ago."

I hope this time I can successfully find out JM's real body.

"Please wait."

Kelsey stopped Sherlock who was about to go out. She was so busy that she almost forgot that she would fetch a colorfully wrapped carton from the shelf

Kelsey handed out a homemade Easter gift, "Even though Easter was past yesterday, your brother shouldn't mind the chocolate bunnies being a day late for Easter. Wish Mr. Mycroft a Happy Easter for me and thank him for his The exhaustion of investigating lists of military training grounds."

Sherlock: Believe me, those lists will not be too much trouble for Mycroft.

"Okay, I'll hand it over."

Sherlock didn't say much, and of course he didn't mind passing on the holiday gifts.

Regarding Easter gifts, he has never forgotten the plaster eggs that have not yet been written. After these busy days, he will definitely send late eggs to dear Jerry.

At the moment, Sherlock did not leave immediately, and smiled at Kelsey, without speaking but staring at her with anticipation.

So, the two looked at each other.

Sherlock only hinted with his eyes, "Jerry, don't I have a sweet chocolate bunny? Don't hide it, I understand you. Since you have made it yourself, Mycroft's share must be incidental."

Kelsey pretended not to understand, and only made a blank expression.

Sherlock waited a while, only for Kyle to play dumb.

He blinked, "Oh no, dear Jerry, you wouldn't be so wicked, would you? Don't you want to appreciate the grievance I couldn't ask for?"

Kelsey raised an eyebrow with a smile, "Tom, what do you think?"