[Comprehensive Classics] Detective Mary

A thin and strong palm covered Mary's mouth and nose, and Sherlock Holmes' voice came from above her: "Hold your breath!"

Mary did so almost immediately, and then she saw a dark figure rush out of the room.

The situation was urgent, and Holmes was the only man in the narrow alley.Even if the detective's ability is superb, it is impossible to take into account the safety of the two young girls in an instant. He can only grab Mary nearby and drag her back.

"First, first sir?!"

"Don't breathe," snapped Holmes, "and don't talk!"

He pulled Mary, and the petite girl fell directly into Holmes' arms, avoiding the rushing shadow.The burly and muscular figure rushed directly at the red-haired Irish girl, but fortunately she reacted in time and jumped away.

Everything happened so quickly that the red-haired girl didn't see the black shadow coming out until she stabilized her figure.

"Henry?!" the redhead screamed.

what?

This is Henry Deckard, the worker they were looking for?

Mary's head froze, she was still covered by Mr. Holmes' mouth and nose, and the man's palm was firmly pressed on her cheek, blocking all the choking gas.

It was not until she was dragged away from the room that Mr. Holmes let go.

Mary finally had a chance to look up.

Her gaze collided with Henry Deckard's, and the madness and terror in his eyes really startled Mary.The worker who broke out of the room circled around and let out a strange cry.

"EYES!!! LOTS OF EYES!! LOTS OF EYES - Don't look at me! Don't look at me!!"

The shrill voice echoed and circled in the alley, hardly like a human voice.Such a treacherous scene made Mary feel chills—what's the matter?what did he seeIt seemed that what stood in front of Henry Deck was not three humans, but some monster!

"what happened?"

Two screams in succession finally attracted the attention of other Irish workers.Several youths followed, and when their footsteps sounded, Henry Deck shrank a little, and then bent down.

Mr. Holmes reacted almost immediately: "He wants to run, stop him!"

When the detective's voice fell, Henry Deckard rushed towards the crowd like crazy.

The strong Irish workers who gathered nearby heard Holmes' order and hurriedly pushed Henry Deck to the ground.The young man who questioned Mary earlier couldn't help but ask, "What's going on, sir?"

Holmes made no answer, but moved away from Mary.

He strode up to the red-haired girl. "Have you been attacked, miss?"

The Irish girl waved her hand: "No, I'm just a little... dizzy."

Holmes frowned.

"Please tie up Henry Deckard," he turned his head to look at the Irish workers, "take this young lady to a ventilated and spacious place for an hour."

Mary reacted.

"The gas in the room is poisonous, isn't it," she said hastily. "Has Henry Deckard been poisoned?"

"Yes."

Holmes took out the handkerchief from his pocket and covered his mouth and nose: "Wait a moment."

As he spoke, he turned around and walked straight towards the room Henry Deckard broke out of.

He was not afraid of inhaling the pungent gas. The detective moved very quickly. He quickly walked into the room and opened all the windows and doors.

After ventilation, the pungent smell disappeared quickly, and the detective stayed in the room for a while, as if checking the situation at the scene.A short time later, he emerged from the interior with a tray of burning ashes.

"I've smelled it since I entered the alley," declared Mr. Holmes. "It's the devil's heel."

"Ah... devil's heel?"

Mary froze for a moment, then realized what it was.

Not because of how rich her chemical knowledge is, but this "devil's heel", which is a fictional chemical substance in Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes".After humans inhale the burning gas of the "devil's heel", they will have strong and realistic hallucinations.In the case of "Devil's Feet" in the original book, this kind of poison was used to harm people.

Sherlock Holmes is well versed in chemistry and pharmacology. Fortunately, he reacted in time, otherwise they would all be attacked by the crazy Henry Deckard.

Several Irish workers tied up Henry Deckard and helped the red-haired girl leave the alley.For a time, only Holmes and Mary were left in the narrow space.

The detective carefully removed a bag from his coat and filled it with powder.Then his sharp eyes turned on Mary: "Are you not feeling well?"

Mary: "Huh? No."

Holmes looked suspicious.

Mr. Detective observed Mary quietly, and after confirming that she was conscious and her eyes were bright, he nodded, restraining his scrutiny.

"It was an emergency," he said. "It was a matter of sheer necessity."

Mary: "..."

It's okay not to mention it, but when Mary mentions it, she feels her cheeks become hot immediately.

It happened so quickly that now it was over, and all the details were still etched in Mary's mind--especially Mr. Holmes's actions.

He held Mary's shoulders with one hand and covered her face with the other.Mary was almost caught in the arms of the thin and tall gentleman, with the back of her head resting on the detective's chest.

The faint smell of tobacco, the smell of chemical reagents, and the cooler, less perceptible breath that belonged to the detective himself overwhelmed Mary at that moment.Until now, that smell seemed to linger at the tip of her nose, moistening her lungs.

God, it's so close, so close.

It is also fortunate that Mary is a girl who traveled from the 21st century, otherwise, if she was directly grabbed into the arms of an adult man—or someone she admired, she would have to be frightened to faint.

"No, nothing, nothing!"

Mary blushed, she shook her head: "I have to thank you for your prompt response, sir."

Holmes looked at her silently and frowned slightly: "Are you sure you're all right?"

"…………"

Help, didn't the detective really do it on purpose!This is how she should answer.

Mary stretched out her hands and rubbed her face, and tried her best to hold her expression: "It's really okay, thank you for saving me, let's, let's hurry up and see how Henry Deckard is doing, his companion should also be anxious gone."

Fortunately, Sherlock Holmes did not expose Mary's attempt to change the subject. He just looked at Mary deeply for a moment, as if thinking about something, and finally began to expose the subject.

"Let's go," he said.

When they returned to the meeting place of the Irish workers, they had helped the red-haired girl to the door to rest.

As for Henry Deckard, the workers found a rope and tied him up in another room with an open window. His hands and feet were bound, and a cloth was stuffed around his mouth. He kept struggling and shouting desperately in place.

He is still yelling "eyes" and "don't come here" vaguely, even knowing that he has been poisoned by a chemical agent, it is inevitable to make people tremble - if the devil's heel can make people hallucinate, then this hallucination is too long , Too logical.

"What's the matter, sir?"

The red-haired girl just inhaled a little bit of harmful gas, she sat in front of the door and took a breath before recovering: "Henry was fine when he came in, why did he go crazy for no reason?"

"Don't worry," Holmes explained calmly. "Henry Deckard is just in a hallucination. He will return to normal after the effects of the chemical gas pass."

"Is it really a hallucination," whispered the Irish worker, "couldn't it be some kind of witchcraft or curse?"

Holmes snorted upon hearing this.

Obviously, the detective could not tolerate such stupid words polluting his ears: "It is not the Middle Ages, sir! You work day and night in front of the machine, and you should be the first to feel the power of science."

"Yes," the young man couldn't help mocking, "the power of science has tied us to those machines for the capitalists to exploit."

"The detective has no other intentions," Mary hastily smoothed things over. "He just hopes that everyone will not panic. Everything can be explained by chemical knowledge, and it is definitely not caused by ghosts and gods. The gas inhaled by Henry Deck comes from a gas called The devil's... the potion of the devil's heel."

"Devil's heel?"

"To be precise, it is a medicinal herb from Africa," the detective explained. "The gas produced after burning can cause people to have strong and realistic hallucinations. It was Henry Deckard who saw the hallucinations that made him frightened and went mad."

After hearing Holmes' firm explanation, everyone was relieved.

"That's strange," the red-haired girl couldn't help muttering. "Who wants to kill Henry Deckard? Could it be that the supervisor of the Hamp Factory is not enough to fire him, but he needs to die?"

Mary: "..."

Hearing this, Mary's heart sank suddenly.

Yeah, who wants to kill a worker?

It should not be someone from the Hamp Factory. The girl named Mary who has the same name as herself has already said that the Hamp Factory dismissed him on the grounds that "Henry Deckard stole things", which almost prevented Henry from living in London. All possibilities—the most indispensable thing in a huge city is labor.No factory would hire a worker suspected of stealing.

It was enough to drive him out of London, why bother if he was to die?Taking advantage of the night, just find someone to throw him into the Thames River. No one will care about the life or death of an Irish worker.

unless……

Mary looked up suddenly.

"Sir," she began, "don't you think it's a coincidence that we got here on the front foot and Henry Deckard was hit on the back foot?"

This behavior is actually the same as Captain Carter instigating Jr. Jeffrey to steal Mr. Bingley's property and the contract—compared with what he wants, the intention of destroying the corpse and cutting off the clues is more obvious.

The most important thing is that if this is the case, the person who poisoned will know that they are here in advance.

——In other words, the man behind the scenes knew that Sherlock Holmes was investigating this matter!

Mary can figure this out, and Sherlock Holmes himself may have realized the key point long ago.

He saw that Mary was staring at him without blinking. The thin gentleman nodded indistinctly: "I see."

After speaking, the detective evoked an excited smile: "Now, things have finally become much more interesting."

Mary: "Who do you think it could be?"

Just as she was trying to continue asking, there was a broken groan and groan in the room.

The worker in charge of taking care of Henry Deckard hurried out with a look of surprise on his face: "Henry is awake!"

The author has something to say: Mary: This is roughly equivalent to a hug, rounded up is... hehehehehehehe.

The devil's heel comes from the original book "The Devil's Feet" by Sherlock Holmes, and it should be the original plant of Conan Doyle.For specific medicinal effects and functions, I have some secondary settings and magic changes.

The hallucinations seen by the witnesses in this chapter are the foreshadowing of the second case. As for what the second case is about, let’s look at the authors mentioned at the beginning of the copy. The style of painting is completely different from other authors. The two cases are related! 【Crazy Hint.jpg】