[Sherlock Holmes] The Legend of the Nightingale

(Nightingale's Diary)

It was not until I returned to Colonel Haight's villa that I fully recovered.There was no one in the drawing-room, and Watson and the colonel had gone for a walk.I went into Holmes' room and saw him standing at the window looking out.I knew he was thinking, so I quietly came in and sat on the edge of the desk without speaking.

"Do you like the witch's gadgets?" He said suddenly, already noticing the movement behind him.

"Not very interesting."

Holmes turned and leaned on the window-sill. "I don't think you're really going to watch the excitement."

of course not.I expected that he would have such a hand.I repeated the conversation in the shop and with the two country gentlemen on the way back, and Holmes pondered for a moment.

"I saw the records of the murder of Jack Osborne at the police station."

"They actually showed you?"

Holmes rubbed his temples helplessly. "I've got Lestrade's letter of introduction on me. Well, it's not quite the rule. I only asked to see one thing, a photograph of the fingerprints on Jack's neck. That's how they concluded the murderer was a woman, and nothing else." There is nothing to say. They found traces left by the murderer by the river, proving that the body was carried to the river and thrown in the river, but it was very vague."

"It would have been easier for you if you hadn't seen the scene with your own eyes." I sighed.

"Maybe. Then there was the situation of the villagers that day. Among the three squires, Stevenson was away from the local area because of business discussions, and he came back the next day. He had an alibi. We checked the previous records. These disappearances happened. He wasn't there when he was there. Morrie and Gray were in the village."

"You're targeting Gray too?" I blurted out.Holmes looked at me with a half-smile.

"What I'm telling you now are phenomena. To draw conclusions, we need evidence. With the news you just brought, I probably have an idea."

I don't know what language to use to express my feeling of wanting to hit someone at this moment.

"Can you slow down? I don't understand at all."

"You should understand that you are stuck at a certain point," said Holmes lightly. "It is all right, you still have time to think. Now it is only necessary to combine all the clues we have. Gray goes out at night occasionally. The missing have all gone to witchcraft shops. No one knows how Gray and Mrs. Cunningham are related. Your conversation with them on the way back. The clues left by Jack's case."

"Holmes, has Watson told you frankly that in fact, every time he says these words, he is the only one who understands them, and the listeners are baffled."

"Then there's nothing you can do," said Holmes helplessly. "Think about it yourself. It would be meaningless to remind you further. I'll think about how to find evidence."

So Holmes and I remained silent all evening, thinking of our own ways.Watson and the Colonel were very embarrassed at the dinner table, not knowing whether it was better to speak or not to speak.After supper was finally over, Holmes and I sat in the living room in a daze.When the clock pointed to eleven o'clock, Watson gave the death order and had to go to sleep, and the thought marathon came to an end.

Watson was shocked when I appeared at the breakfast table the next morning.

"Nightingale, you haven't slept all night, have you?"

"Almost." I looked at the full-length mirror on the door of a certain room, and I almost couldn't recognize myself.His face was haggard, with heavy dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was disheveled.I ran my hands through my hair.

"But it's not in vain. Thinking things through."

"Say," said Holmes as if giving an order.

"First of all, Mrs. Cunningham's store is a complete front in this case." I sat down at the table. As far as the matter is concerned, since it can be proved that the missing person went to her store and came out safely, it cannot be said to have anything to do with her. If she came out from the store to follow the victim, she would be discovered by the townspeople. It was also conceived that maybe she was partnering with someone to commit the crime, but later denied this idea, because there is no need for her to exist. The perpetrator can choose to attack the customers who come out of her store. She did not ask anyone to come to her The shops are all those people go by themselves. It is very possible for a child to be kidnapped while walking alone on the mountain road.”

"That's not bad," said the colonel. "We were jumping to conclusions a bit."

"The strongest evidence at the scene that we can use now is the fingerprints on Little Jack's neck. Many people have seen it, and the police station has also taken photos. It is a pair of relatively slender hands, so they concluded that the murderer was a woman. But this conclusion Not reliable. In the country, a peasant woman who does a lot of rough work also has a pair of strong man-like hands. Correspondingly, a pampered man who holds a pen instead of a hoe will also have a pair of woman-like hands. This is why Holmes is currently Target three country gentlemen—three college graduates who trade for a living and never work."

"My God!" exclaimed Watson. "It's incredible."

With a silent gesture, Holmes straightened up from the back of his chair.I took a sliver of approval from it.

"But if I exclude these three people, I'm not so sure. At present, I can only say that Gray's mysterious behavior at night makes me very suspicious. Because Mrs. Cunningham does not admit that he went to her, maybe he It’s time to do something else.”

"We don't care what he does, we just want to see if it has anything to do with the case." The corners of Holmes' mouth slightly raised, "I have checked, and although he often goes out at night, during the time of these disappearances, he sometimes went out. , sometimes at home."

"He admitted this strange behavior to the police?"

"Correct."

"Didn't go out..." I muttered to myself, "If he didn't go out, and the police have already checked it, then he wouldn't be him. If we rule it out like this, then only... wait, didn't go out?"

I got stuck on this word for a long time, and there was silence at the dinner table.A thought flows like electricity and my heart starts beating wildly.After thinking about all the ins and outs again, I raised my head and met Holmes with excited and suspicious eyes.

"I almost get it. But proof is needed."

"What? Who is it?" said the colonel anxiously, but he should have realized from our conversation just now that the culprit would be someone he did not want to believe would commit a crime.

"I can't draw conclusions now." My hands trembled a little under the excitement, and I couldn't help clenching my fists. "But if my guess is correct, he has now found his next victim. We need to get this over with before it happens again. But I don't know how."

"So far, our guesses are the same," said Holmes with that enigmatic smile of his. "Very well, Nightingale, you are on the right track. Don't worry about the rest, for I have found the next one." Victim. And, barring accidents, things will progress within 24 hours."

"Who is it?" Watson always asked such questions. "Time is precious. Whoever it is, we should take measures to protect his safety."

"You don't have to worry about that." Holmes lowered his eyes, concealing a little satisfaction.Every time Watson was anxious to death, he would laugh like this. "Nightingale and I are enough."

"So I was fired?"

"This depends on the specific situation."

"Anyway," I interrupted the two of them, "I'll go to sleep after breakfast, and wake me up whenever I need help, otherwise I won't be able to do anything within 24 hours in my current state .”

I slept until the afternoon and didn't wake up.No one else was at home at this time except Holmes.Even in the Colonel's drawing room we went through the whole project in as low a voice as possible.

"Basically there are no doubts. As long as you don't panic when the time comes."

"That's not enough."

"Not surprised at all."

"I know, pretend to be a bit."

"Also, be careful."

"When you come up with this kind of plan, you have neglected safety."

Holmes gave me a slightly annoyed look. "Nightingale, you're showing that you don't trust me."

"No. I have always trusted you absolutely. If one day you become a magician, I will lie in a box and let you saw it with a saw or tie it to a target and let you perform blindfolded darts."

Hearing my words, Holmes was annoyed and amused, and did not answer directly for a while, but there was a familiar confident light in his eyes.He snapped his fingers, jumped up from the sofa, turned around like he was on a stage, then leaned over and stretched out a hand to me in a standard dance-inviting motion.

"Nightingale, you are truly a genius. I can't wait to see the good show tonight."

I didn't immediately respond to his gesture. "Genius is exempt. I can't guarantee that there will be no mistakes."

"That's okay. In a few hours, everything will be clear." He said, repeating the movement of reaching out.I suddenly felt that my love for playing was revived, as if I was back when Constance was the age.I put my hand on his palm, and Holmes lifted me up from the sofa with a wave of his hand, dragged me around on the living room floor a few times in a ballroom dance routine, and then - let go.

I just knocked out Watson who had just opened the door and walked in.

"Hey, Holmes, what are you mad about?" Watson said angrily, holding me up. "I wonder if you're trying to solve a case or to be funny?"

"It's nothing." The detective in the room straightened the hem of his clothes seriously, "It's just that I just came to a conclusion."

"As far as you are concerned, there is nothing strange about it," said Watson.

The author has something to say: It will be revealed next time~ It’s still the same sentence, if some readers have already guessed it, it’s a spoiler.

The miscellaneous club work of the past two days has finally come to an end, and I can study hard (not).

Today, I happened to see that some authors were discussing the tragedy that the male second is easy to be liked by readers and ignored by the male first. I suddenly remembered this thing about myself. Wouldn’t I inadvertently write Watson as more attractive than Foer? I feel that Watson often steals the show...