[Sherlock Holmes] The Legend of the Nightingale

(God's perspective)

"What did I say?" Colonel Moran angrily pushed his lunch tray in front of Moriarty.Elena is so drunk that she hasn't woken up yet, and no one in the house can cook except her-in fact, Nightingale can, but Moriarty will never let a person have a big possibility. 24 hours thinking about how to poison their own people to cook.Colonel Moran is familiar with a whole set of survival skills in the wild, and he can also cook food, as long as he can't die from eating it.

"What did you say?" Moriarty indifferently used a knife and fork to deal with the burnt steak on the plate, and did not invite Moran to sit down.The colonel himself sat down across the table.

"I said she was a troublemaker. Not only that, but you allowed her to cause trouble."

"This level of trouble is nothing," said the professor. "Where is she now?"

"In the cell when I first came here."

"Have you given her lunch yet?"

"No."

"I won't use it after wean off food. Send her lunch in later."

Moran shrugged.

"This level of trouble itself should never have arisen. Why did you allow a little sparrow to hop and squawk in front of you?"

"If she makes you look down on her so much, it doesn't hurt to call twice casually. Besides, she is not a sparrow, but a nightingale."

"Since when did you start to appreciate Sherlock Holmes' boring wordplay?"

"It has to be admitted that the second-rate detective still has some redeeming qualities."

Hearing this serious answer, Moran looked uncertainly at Moriarty who was fiddling with a knife and fork with his head down. It was not until the professor looked up at him again that he reluctantly smiled at the mocking words just now.

"Think about it, if you didn't find her in time..."

"Impossible." The professor interrupted him flatly.

"If you talk too intently with those professors..."

"How many times have I said, there is nothing to talk to them about."

"Look, Professor, I just want to prove one thing." Moran changed his tone, "This girl may not be that smart, at least not so smart as to be a problem, but she has one troublesome thing, that is, she never Give up and cause trouble. Even if she comes up with a ghost idea every day, how can you guarantee that you can think of all 360 five ideas in her mind?"

"Actually, I don't quite understand what you want to prove."

With some difficulty the professor pulled the knife out of the steak.After many years of writing at a desk, working with scratch paper in books, and doing calculations with pencils indoors, Moriarty's hands are neither beautiful nor strong, dull in color, full of wrinkles, and neatly trimmed nails, unlike Sherlock Holmes or Colonel Moran That's how the joints are strong.

"I'd say the idea of ​​her ringing the alarm didn't occur to you. In fact, you probably didn't even notice there was an alarm there."

"I saw the alarm from the moment I walked in. I knew she saw it too."

"Of course you can talk about it now." Moran snorted.

"She's not bad," said the professor. "Gathering local materials is a basic skill. If there's anything I didn't expect, it's that she simply abandoned her escape plan and let the police come to find her. Fortunately, we There are preparations."

"If you're referring to Elena and dyeing her hair, it's a joke. You let her escape so easily, you almost let her go."

"It's hard to tell." Moriarty leaned back on the chair, gently put down the knife and fork, and politely and calmly gave up the lunch that was really inedible, "Maybe I let her go on purpose of."

"Anyway, it's not the first time you've made me incomprehensible." Moran frowned, looking fierce.

"You just said that she will not give up causing trouble. It is conceivable that it is impossible not to run away a few times before her will collapses. Only after repeated failures will she give up. If there is no chance to try, it is equivalent to always giving her Hope. Instead of really fighting her wits and courage, it is better to let her simply escape a few times, maybe the game of cat and mouse can be ended sooner.”

"What if those two police officers weren't so easy to fool? What if they insisted on examining this so-called Miss Kurosawa themselves? You can't dye her face too, can you?"

"They won't check. On Christmas Eve, Scotland Yard would like to turn a blind eye to murder. No, but you don't want to go out and kill people on Christmas Eve. It's too rude. After all, the professor at the Claus College They have a good reputation and the police are very reassuring about them."

"I don't know what it's all about—not at all." Moran sighed. "Scotland Yard and Sherlock Holmes are still looking for her, you know. And that Pinkerton American detective is now involved." .He got that Adler woman crazy. Anyway, why don't you let me get rid of Adler too?"

"Not at all gentlemanly." The professor said vaguely. "Scotland Yard believes that Nightingale has left London, and even England. Only Holmes still firmly believes that she is here. He will never find it here alone."

"There are also a bunch of wild children working for him."

"Don't tell me you've gotten to the point where street punks are worried. I'm still counting on you, Colonel Moran." Moriarty said involuntarily with a sarcastic tone.

"Why didn't he come to you? He must have guessed that you kidnapped Nightingale. Even if there is no evidence to give to the police, he should talk to you in private. After all, he knows something about us that he can't prove." thing."

"Do you think I'd admit it if he came?"

Moran hesitated at the question.

"Maybe."

"why."

"Because it marks your declaration of war with him."

Moriarty shook his head slightly and smiled.

"The less information he has, the harder it is to find her. There's a world of difference between him 'thinking' she's with me and me 'acknowledging' she's there, no matter how sure he is — and what's more, he might not be.” .”

"I just want to know what you want to do. If you simply want to kill Holmes, it's not difficult. As long as you give orders, you can grab it. If you want to say what extraordinary talent you saw in this little thing, Then hurry up and stop."

"Sherlock Holmes will be resolved sooner or later," Moriarty unconsciously leaned forward a little, his eyes far away, as if he was not looking at Moran on the opposite side, but at a distant scene, "but it's not as simple as killing him. One A bullet, or a small knife is the life of a person, without exception. Violence to deprive a person of the right to breathe is sometimes necessary, but in all fairness, I have never seen it as something great thing."

Moriarty raised a frail hand, looked carefully at himself, and smiled self-deprecatingly.

"Supposing Holmes and I fought alone, he was quite sure of my life. But does that prove that he has more brains, or strength, than I do?"

Moran shook his head.

"So he wouldn't destroy me by violence, or vice versa. Two geniuses bit each other like lowly beasts, charging each other until one bled the other. It's a waste of money."

"You mean you can't tell the winner?"

"It's not enough to kill him, Moran, I'm going to destroy him."

Moriarty spoke calmly, without a trace of emotion.Moran, who was like a tiger, was a little afraid of Moriarty in this situation, so he didn't answer right away.The professor began to focus all his attention on the tea made by Moran.

"I thought . . . you kept saying he was a second-rate detective." The colonel finally found a topic.

"That's what I said." The professor glanced at him.

"But actually you think he's a genius."

"That's for you not to be too nervous." Moriarty frowned, as if remembering something unpleasant, "Let's put this topic aside."

"There is one more thing worth considering." Moran immediately took up the conversation, "You may not have noticed yesterday, when the people from Scotland Yard came, there were many people gathered outside to watch the fun, the light is not good, I can't be sure, but I suspect There was Rupert Hammond in the crowd."

"Hammond?" Moriarty's eyes instantly returned from illusion to reality, "Do you think he found this place?"

"It's hard to say. On the way back, I looked around carefully. There was no one or a car following us. When we returned to the villa, there was only our own carriage, so I think they haven't discovered this place yet. Because Nightingale Miss made a mess, so I didn't say it at the time."

Moriarty put his finger on his chin unconsciously.Sensing the troublesome breath of the professor's contemplation, and being unable to figure out the details, Moran couldn't help becoming agitated. He knocked hard on the table with his knuckles, making a "dang" sound, but the professor didn't even have any stress response.

"I've said long ago that this traitor should be wiped out," said the colonel, "give me two, and keep him at Chigurh before he does anything—"

The Colonel slammed his knife into the steak on the plate.

The professor glanced up at the knife indifferently.

"Hammond was a good man," he said. "He just wanted to live, and he didn't fail me. You can't kill a man just because he wants a new way of life. He's not a traitor. Only this house Those few people here, and Pollock who are currently outside, I will ask...you understand."

"There's only one way to leave," said Moran grimly.

"But if it is true that he followed Chigurh, as the rumors say, it will be serious, because he has not lived a life of self-discipline as promised. A lie is a betrayal."

Moran's eyes burst out with a terrifying murderous intent.The professor smiled appreciatively at the precision of his responses.

"Chigurh wants your life, and has always wanted it," said the colonel coldly. "It's not easy for us to hide from his eyes and ears for so long."

"And I don't want to part with such a house away from the crowd. But we both know that we can't hide forever."

"I'll deal with Hammond," said Moran. "Without him Chigurh wouldn't have gotten here so soon. But be careful. Scotland Yard, the detectives, and London's second-tier organizations are all after us."

Moriarty glanced at the clock.

"It's 12:30. You have twelve hours. Of course, if it's not enough, then..."

"Enough." Moran stood up, and Moriarty also stood up, but said nothing.Moran packed up the two lunches that had hardly been touched, and went out of the restaurant.Moriarty was still standing at the table.It occurred to him, perhaps for the first time, that they had never considered what the criteria for Moran's departure were, because there hadn't been.

What on earth are you going to do.Moran probably didn't understand his answer, but he did tell the colonel everything he could.Moran would not know why he was so apprehensive about Holmes--what he called a second-rate detective and a genius, the only kind of genius he couldn't get.

The author has something to say: make some trouble for the professor, there is no [-]% failure.