[Zhongying] Rebirth meets a wizard

Dear Lydia:

I am sorry to reply to your letter now. I am very busy mentally and physically these days. To review the case you inquired about, I need to sort out what happened at that time. This took me a lot of time. I hope you will not would blame me for the delay.

As for me and Mary, I think we will be all right, and I shall visit you at Longbourn some day.

Of course, letters can express myself, but I feel that emotional matters still need face-to-face communication, so I didn't try to write to Mary again.

If I want to win back her heart, of course I want to.

I think I need to have a face-to-face conversation with her, which is also the sincerity I should have.

Regarding your other question, I will describe the process of Sherlock's case-solving process, hoping to clear up your doubts.

The moment the murder at the duke's ball was discovered, Sherlock was about to leave the duke's house, and he was detained by the butler of the duke's house.

The butler replaced his master——Duke Opno commissioned Sherlock to take over the case and find out the real culprit.

Sherlock accepted, so I was able to see the best-preserved crime scene before Scotland Yard arrived, and I was also called out of bed by Sherlock to find someone to go to the scene to check the cause of death.

The deceased was Baroness Bernal, who died in embarrassment in the garden of the Duke's house. She was stabbed in the chest and was fatally shot.

My guess and Sherlock's time of death are consistent, the time of death was half an hour to an hour before we examined the body.

In other words, shortly after the incident, the death of the baroness was discovered and the scene was protected.

The servants of the Duke's house were very capable and tight-lipped. When something like this happened, the people on the dance floor were still dancing. The only difference was the sealed garden and the Scotland Yard police detectives who entered through the back door.

When I checked the cause of death of the deceased, Sherlock was also observing the situation at the scene, but he saw a lot and checked a lot, but he didn't express his opinion.

According to my observation at that time, the garden was the first scene of the crime, and the cause of death was also clear.

What's more special is that the well-dressed baroness was evenly sprinkled with orange juice, whether it was her hair, her face with makeup, or her skirt, there were traces of orange juice.

In this regard, Inspector Lestrade, who had just arrived, also made some comments. He believed that the juice was probably sprinkled by the murderer after the death of the baroness, so the traces of the juice were intact and there were no traces of being wiped.

Sherlock, however, refuted him.

Speaking of it, Sherlock doesn't like to tell his own findings, but he likes to refute others, especially Inspector Lestrade and Inspector Grayson of Scotland Yard, who are the main targets of Sherlock's irony.

Fortunately, they can be said to be friends, and perhaps this is why Sherlock is so straightforward.

Sherlock's original words are: "Wrong! Lestrade, you are wrong again! If you know these aristocratic ladies in London, you will know that their faces are all covered with thick makeup and orange juice traces. Integrity does not mean that the glass of orange juice was poured on at the end. It is more likely that this lady dare not wipe her face, for fear of ruining her makeup. She is not cooking, and a murderer who kills with a knife will not do anything unnecessary , take the juice with you and pour it on at the end!"

I don’t know if you can imagine the way Sherlock danced while mocking and sarcasm

"According to what you're saying, this young lady came here to visit the garden after being splashed with fruit juice all over her face?"

Inspector Lestrade is not completely incompetent, he quickly found out Sherlock's loopholes.

"Actually, it is impossible for this lady to come here to visit the garden. If you pay attention to the layout of the Duke's Mansion, you can easily find that the dance floor here is in the middle of the garden. Arrive at the residence of the Duke's house faster. As the baroness, she can go there and ask the servants to prepare her grooming utensils to restore her embarrassing image. What an obvious fact, but I need to explain it from the beginning. How sad!"

That's right, this is Sherlock who was eloquent during the investigation. I admire myself for remembering his complete long sentences at that time.

As for Inspector Lestrade and the detectives he brought, you can imagine their faces.

The dance was still in progress at the time, but the notice of the early end had already begun to spread, and people began to leave the dance one after another.

Given that this was a ball held by the Duke's family, the people who came to the ball were either rich or noble. Even if they knew that the murderer was probably still at the ball, Scotland Yard could not, or would not dare to take action to prevent the people who attended the ball from leaving.

Lydia, I heard Sherlock talk about what happened to you at the Viscount's ball last year. That way of leaving people for questioning is only aimed at people who Scotland Yard thinks are easy to bully!

I have to say that the longer I stay in London, the more desperate I am for the differences between people. Some nobles are really unpleasant.

The father of the deceased, Baron Bernal, came soon. He had a very bad temper and reprimanded the detectives of Scotland Yard. Even Sherlock was almost questioned.

Fortunately, the butler of the Duke's house stopped all this.

If you were on the scene, you only had to look at the faces of the Scotland Yard detectives to see how distressed they were by the pressure of the Baron and the Duke on a case that needed to be solved quickly and that could not be lost.

"Lucky Grayson, why am I the one on duty today!"

These were Inspector Lestrade's annoyed words.

And the other detectives obviously had similar thoughts, bemoaning their own unluckiness, but they dared not speak out.

After the Baron left, except for Sherlock's expression remained unchanged, everyone's expression was not very good. It seemed that work was just something Sherlock liked, while the police detectives suffered from it.

The detectives, Sherlock and I worked all night, questioning the servants of the Duke's house that night one by one.

A large-scale ball was held, and all the servants were very busy that night. Fortunately, the baroness was a famous beauty, and there were quite a few people who paid attention to her.

In trying to make sense of all of the Baroness's movements that night, a statement by a valet caught everyone's attention.

I think Lydia you know which valet I'm talking about, because he said you were there when he last saw the Baroness.

I remember that when I heard your name, Sherlock's demeanor changed, and he suddenly became very focused.

According to the male waiter, he was called over by you. At that time, the baroness poured red wine on you, and the baroness who was holding an empty wine glass had juice on her head and face for some reason, looking very embarrassed.

Under the inspector's questioning, he was sure that the juice was orange juice.

At the same time, he also emphasized your innocence, saying that you did not hold a cup in your hand.

After hearing that you were leaving and asking him to explain the situation to the hostess, due to his limited status, he had no choice but to report to the housekeeper, who immediately took him to the door to see you off.

Although the male waiter said that you don't have time to go to the garden, you can imagine the expressions of the police detectives who were forced to work all night when they heard these words.

Their expressions were like hounds who smelled the smell of meat and bones, excited.

Then they go straight to the butler in Sherlock's quips and ask him about your whereabouts.

Of course, they were disappointed in the end. The butler has a deep memory of you, and he was sure that you had left the ball at the time of the supposed incident.

Can you imagine their dissatisfaction?

After repeated questioning, they had to give up the possibility of listing you as the first suspect.

But Inspector Lestrade still ordered someone to investigate you, because you are likely to be the last person to see the living Baroness, and you also had a conflict with her.

Sherlock was angry about it, I rarely saw him like that, it wasn't the contempt that most often showed on Sherlock's face, it was genuine anger.

I don't know if it was because you were involved, and Inspector Lestrade also mentioned that he had seen you last year, and Sherlock's face darkened when it was visible to the naked eye.

The next step is to repeat the question mechanically, asking the servants one by one mechanically.

I never knew that a ball needs so many people, and we are busy until dawn just for the questioning.

After dawn, I had a hasty breakfast at the Duke's house, and some of the detectives went back to Scotland Yard, while Sherlock and I went to Baron Bernal's house with some of the detectives.

There was no harvest at the Baron's house, but the police detective who squeezed the carriage together and left said that he slipped his tongue. Inspector Lestrade is not going back to Scotland Yard, but is going to visit you.

Almost at the same time, Sherlock stopped the carriage and rushed down from the carriage. I think he is looking for you.

right?

Then I asked Sherlock again, but he didn't want to say more.

Lydia, you don't know, I've never seen Sherlock run that fast.

When I went back to 221b Baker Street and had lunch, I saw Sherlock came back with the food basket you gave him.

He didn't eat, which is really not a good habit, but he insisted on fasting when investigating the case.

After changing and freshening up, Sherlock went out again.

And I was so sleepy that I slept until evening, when Sherlock had returned, and was still circling in the living room muttering something.

"Sherlock, is there anything you can gain?"

I took a sandwich from the food basket you prepared and asked Sherlock as I ate it.

By the way, the sandwiches are delicious, and Mrs. Hudson prefers the small cakes.

"There should be a woman, obviously there should be! Now we can only expand the scope and investigate one by one."

Sherlock didn't answer me, I think he was muttering to himself.

Then he sat down and started listing names, I admire Sherlock's ability to remember.

We listened to the stories of the servants all night, the lady who had contact with the baroness at the ball, such fragmentary recounts, and Sherlock summed them up on a piece of paper.

In the chronological order of what the servants said, one name after another, your name is the second last name, and the last name is a question mark.

When we questioned the servants, the gentleman who had contact with the baroness was also questioned, but Sherlock only listed the lady's name, so I asked him.

"Sherlock, I remember you said that most of the violent attacks and killing people with knives are male crimes, and the names you list now are all female."

"Lydia said that there was another woman beside the baroness at that time, which is actually quite logical."

Sherlock was still working on his list, but he somehow answered me.

I think what he meant was that it was impossible for the lady bathed in fruit juice to let the man accompany her to change clothes, and it was impossible for the man to know her embarrassing situation at that time.

If you don't know, then how come the murderer committed the crime in the garden so coincidentally.

This list took Sherlock a long time to eliminate suspects.

In fact, it went smoothly at the beginning, but after most people were eliminated, Sherlock's progress slowed down.

At the same time, Scotland Yard's focus is still on men. They are investigating the men who had contact with the Baroness that night.

They have recorded the interviews of the night, so the list is long and accurate.

The official person in charge of this case is Inspector Lestrade, who often came to Sherlock because he could not find the murderer and under pressure from both parties.

Although Sherlock didn't intend to entertain him, and often just let him sit there and watch Sherlock busy, the detective still came here often.

Regarding the issue of Sherlock's attention to female murderers, he is very open-minded, and feels that it is more efficient for the two sides to start from different aspects.

Although I don't see where Scotland Yard's efficiency lies.

Two days after the ball, Sherlock's Baker Street squad brought him a lot of news.

And on his list, there are only 5 people left who are not crossed.

Just when I thought he would continue to eliminate the list of suspects, he changed tactics.

The families, emotions, and wealth of these five women have all become the focus of Sherlock's investigation.

At this time, a name was circled by Sherlock, Miss Elsa Hardy.

At the beginning, I didn't know why Sherlock suspected this lady. It wasn't until I finally solved the mystery that I understood the mystery and admired Sherlock even more.

In order not to spoil the final suspense, but also as a reminder, Lydia, whether the surname of Miss Elsa Hardy sounds familiar to you, I think you should have heard it last year.

I have to say that you have been involved in this case from the beginning to the end, and you were even suspected of being the murderer at one point.

Lydia, I don't know if I should lament your bad luck.

..............................

Seeing this, Lydia's curiosity has been completely aroused by John.

From what John revealed now, Lydia always felt that the truth was only a piece of paper away from her, but she couldn't grasp the key point.

At this moment, John had just finished writing this page of letter paper, and John picked up another one, and Lydia put down the previous one, intending to continue reading.

Speaking of which, Lydia was already in Longbourne when John's reply was received.

It was also unfortunate that Lydia had just left when John's reply was delivered to Lydia's London residence.

So the letter went through a lot of twists and turns, and when it reached Lydia, it was a bit late.

At this time, Mrs. Smith had already left after sending Lydia.

It was now evening, and Lydia was alone in her room sorting letters.

Just as Lydia was about to continue reading John's letter revealing the case, Mrs. Bennet came, and she knocked on the door and came in.

Mrs. Bennet came to ask Lydia to go downstairs to have dinner. Lydia always felt that she had lost a lot of weight when she came back this time, so Mrs. Bennet was particularly concerned about her diet recently.

Facing her mother, Lydia obediently put down the letter, thinking, maybe it's not too late to read it before going to bed.

Because of reading John's reply, Lydia couldn't help looking at Mary frequently at the dinner table. After she lost John's news, she neither asked her nor was she haggard like Jane at that time, and she was still the same.

It was as if John had never appeared in her life. Mary's indifference made Lydia a little unbelievable. She had seen the sweet appearance of Mary and John when they got along.

Lydia suddenly felt that she needed to learn from Mary, and this attitude of indifference to love was what she desperately needed now.

I don't know how John and Mary would feel if they knew about Lydia's thoughts...