[Sherlock Holmes] The Legend of the Nightingale

(God's perspective)

Nightingale suppressed her anger with a mouthful of water.Her mouth is sealed now, no matter how much she protests, others will only think that it is a poor silly child talking nonsense.Theoretically, she could now use this to her advantage to grab her own set of cutlery and drop it precisely on the professor's head without him being able to do anything to a mentally retarded child.But if she couldn't kill him this time, she was going to be in big trouble.

Nightingale quickly calmed down.There are still plans to implement.She drank only water and fruit juice, ignoring the cocktail the professor pushed in front of her, and offered Elena a drink.The serious maid looked at Moriarty hesitantly.

"Drink, Elena. Your kid loves her nanny. She can't lose her with someone from the Academy watching over here."

It is difficult to say whether the professor's endearments made the poor maid shudder.She took Nightingale's glass.The two women, one old and one young, looked at each other at this moment, Elena looked suspicious, Nightingale pretended not to see Moriarty watching her the whole time as if nothing had happened.She took the hint in Moriarty's words.If she blended in with the crowd, the professor's enthusiastic colleagues would catch her as a fool running around.She seemed to hear Moriarty say in a cold voice:

A woman like Elena, at this age, either does not drink at the table, or has the first glass, the second glass, and the third glass and the fourth glass, which are arranged in increasing numbers, but this is a finite number. Sequences are quite limited.

Moriarty was dragged away by his colleagues, clinking glasses one by one, chatting about trivial matters.Elena drank one cup after another, cautiously at first, a little embarrassed, trying to hide that she had been drinking and drinking a lot with various small movements while drinking, and then she simply let go.Nightingale glanced at the clock in the auditorium.It's 10:30pm and she has to act fast.Colonel Moran must have been at the door waiting for her to come out, not necessarily in the carriage.She was Moriarty's crazy niece now, and no one would let her go out by herself.She could only slip through the small door, and Moran must be there.The bells would ring at midnight, the height of all-night revelry in London, when she wasn't even sure whether the patrolmen could hear the bells.

She clenched the cup subconsciously.

"Elena, did you have a story to tell me just now?"

Elena, who was pouring sherry into her mouth, hastily put down her glass.She had forgotten about it, or maybe she didn't expect Nightingale to listen to her story seriously.She looked Nightingale hesitantly, and finally said a little angrily:

"What does this have to do with you? I didn't tell the kids when they asked me."

Nightingale sighed secretly.In this way, the conversation between the two of them will be a bit embarrassing.She snatched the glass from the waiter and refilled Elena herself.

Claus College is not big, but there are dozens of professors and their family members present at the moment. Counting the waiters and other personnel, there are a total of 200 people.Nightingale quickly used a mixture of various alcoholic products (so she might really know how to mix wine, but it is the kind that is specially mixed to suffocate people) to drink Elena up and down, and then dragged her Go outside so no one can stop her.A drunk nanny with a mentally retarded child is still not very reassuring, but when the professors see the young girl anxiously dragging and yelling at the drunk Elena, They all just smiled kindly.

"That girl of yours is having a good time, Professor Moriarty," said a joking professor. "Get some hangover soup for her nanny. She should drink less herself."

"Today is Christmas Eve, let them do whatever they want." Moriarty glanced in that direction, "Where did you just say? Club member benefits?"

Nightingale slowly let Elena sit down against the wall, propped her up to prevent her from falling, and then quickly stood against the wall behind the door.This is the side entrance of the auditorium, according to her memory, the closest to the side with the alarm bell.According to safety regulations, an auditorium of this size will not have only two doors at the front and back.If someone came out suddenly at this time, she would be smashed flat by the heavy door.Colonel Moran was too murderous to appear at the dinner party.Elena is so drunk that she knocks her out with a vase.It's not that Nightingale is so cunning or superb, the reason is this, if you want to see through the skills of an ordinary player without any preparation, you can't just be a little better or better than him, but you must be someone better than him. A master who is at least a notch above.Nightingale was lucky, but Elena was really just a logistics worker, and her vigilance was not good.

There was no movement around, and Nightingale tiptoed out from behind the door.She couldn't go out the back door, maybe Moran was waiting there.She walked down the corridor, counting windows by memory, looking for the one with the alarm bell.

The numbers increased, her heartbeat grew louder, and she began to feel like she couldn't breathe or lift her legs because she was shaking so much.She knew what she was afraid of.It's too easy, it's abnormally easy, Moriarty really didn't take her seriously—it's not that she didn't take her seriously, but she got to know her personality and thinking, including the inexplicable parts of her language .He knows that as long as there is an opportunity in front of her, even if there is an obvious trap, she will stride in with her eyes open, because she would rather make a wrong judgment than fall into permanent regret later, regretting that "in case" it is not a trap , How cowardly I should be.

At this moment, she suddenly felt that she was incredibly stupid.Why can't I control my boiling blood, why can't I be more rational.In the next second, she recalled not very quickly, she still had a bargaining chip in her hand that Moriarty might not have expected.

Arrived.

She shivered and pushed the window open, and almost fell out of it because of too much force.The Christmas Eve air filled the window.She stabilized her mood, pressed the window sill with trembling hands, and flipped up quickly.

"Anjie, is the Christmas banquet not to your liking?"

This calm question made her eyes go dark, her feet were unsteady and she almost stepped on the ground, but she grabbed the window frame above in time.

Not quite out of her plans yet.Nightingale stood on the window sill and looked back.Moriarty stood in the corridor with a goblet in his hand, raised his head slightly, with a calm expression.Colonel Moran came in at some time and stood beside him with a revolver in his hand, looking menacing.

"Let's go, An Jie." The professor raised one hand, palm up, fingertips facing her, with an elegant movement.This reminded Nightingale of a gesture as familiar as an invitation to dance, "Now we go back, nothing will happen, trust me."

Nightingale gripped the upper window frame tightly with her hands.

"Have you heard this, Professor? The Christmas Eve bells probably come earlier."

She turned with a hint of tragedy and reached for the alarm bell.Moran raised his gun and aimed it at her. The bolt clicked, but Moriarty flipped his hand over the colonel's wrist and pressed it down.

"Put the gun away!" the professor whispered.

"She's about to..."

Before Moran finished speaking, the whistle of the alarm bell that almost pierced the eardrums rang through the entire auditorium.Nightingale turned to Moriarty and smiled.The professor stood still, but his face was blue and his hands were shaking a little.Moran strode forward, grabbed Nightingale's shoulder with one hand, and cut down her neck with the other.She slid down the ledge without a sound, and the Colonel caught her.

"What now?" Moran shouted.Moriarty didn't answer, maybe he didn't hear the bell ringing loudly, maybe he didn't bother to pay attention.With the same expression as usual, he walked forward quickly, turned her face away, poured half a glass of red wine in his hand on her face and hair without saying a word, and then threw the glass on the ground casually.If they hadn't been too close to the alarm bell, they would have heard the chaos in the auditorium, the ladies screamed "robbers, there are robbers!", the glassware was smashed on the floor, and the gentlemen were in a panic.But obviously nothing happened.

"Put the gun away. The police will be here in a moment. Miss Nightingale and Elena are both drunk," said the professor sharply. "You came in when you heard the sirens. I don't know what happened. Others Don't say anything."

Moran nodded.At this time, all the people in the auditorium ran out, including the waiters and professors, probably because they were drinking, and they all looked like they were about to fight, but when they came out, they saw Professor Moriarty standing by the window, wielding a handkerchief. An An quietly wiped the wine off her face and clothes for Nightingale who was poured in her arms.Colonel Moran stood aside.

"Professor Moriarty, are you all right?"

"Elena fell at the door, what happened?"

Moriarty brushed Nightingale's brow with his fingers, as if he hadn't heard the alarm bell.The professors thought he hadn't heard, and shouted again.

"Elena's drunk," Moriarty replied loudly. "Molan, if you know how to deal with that alarm, please turn it off. If not, wait for the police to deal with it."

Moran shook his head.

"Professor, didn't a thief come in just now?" A young teacher approached and asked.

"No, I'm sorry, it's my niece," Moriarty replied. "The babysitter was drunk and let her run around by herself, ringing the alarm. Looks like she's had a lot to drink too. Poor The child must have been terrified, and has long known that the maid should not be fully trusted."

"Professor, it's time for your servants to take care of themselves. If the master has such a good temper, they will have to push forward."

"It's not all her fault—wait a minute, gentlemen, I think the police car is coming."

The police carriage stopped at the gate.Two police officers came in to check the situation.It must not be a good sign that the alarm bells went off on Christmas Eve, and the two police officers were not in a good mood. They were more polite to the professors in the college.The fainted girl couldn't see her face, but she had brown hair and beautiful clothes, and it was impossible for them to think of the missing Angela Nightingale anyway.Moriarty apologized desperately, the professors explained nicely, and kindly invited the police officers in for a drink, but they finally refused.After the police car left, everything returned to normal and the professors went back to the auditorium.Moriarty once again apologized for disturbing everyone's interest, and said that since the maid was so drunk and his niece was not in good condition, he'd better go home as soon as possible, and he couldn't party here all night, so he left.

"I said you were going to fuck up, Professor."

Moran pushed Elena and Nightingale into the carriage, climbed into the coachman's seat himself, and turned to Moriarty.

"You'll understand, Moran."

The professor tightened his collar.Nightingale, who was in a coma in the carriage, was pale and his eyes were closed.He looked up at the lights in the auditorium again—the lovely people continued their all-night dinner as if nothing had happened, and tomorrow there will be a few gentlemen who are so drunk that they can't get up all day, and even disappear for a few days.

The professor frowned, showing a thoughtful and heavy smile, and said silently:

"Godrestyemerrygentlemen."

The bell rang.It was Christmas in 1888.

The author has something to say: the idea of ​​design before the end of the semester has been a little forgotten after a month of chaos. . .