I am creating a esoteric religion in London

Chapter 4 The Murder Case in the Secret Room
As it turns out, detective work isn't as much fun as Watson thought it would be.

A week had passed since he became Miss Holmes' assistant, and after signing the labor contract, Charlotte saw that he had no fixed place to live, so she allocated the spare room upstairs to him as a bedroom.

Watson also brought his luggage here, and incidentally took charge of the security of the Sherlock Holmes Detective Agency.

No. 221B Baker Street was originally a three-story apartment building. It was bought by Miss Charlotte's father, the Duke of Holmes, and transformed into a professional detective firm. The spacious and airy lobby became an office for receiving customers.

The difference from the original book is that Charlotte does not live here. She is actually a wealthy noble daughter who spends most of her time busy with her own affairs, such as chemical experiments, autopsies, sword practice, equestrian training, and gun shooting. ...Daily life is not without abundance.

Therefore, the management of this huge detective agency is fully entrusted to Watson. It sounds like a lot of power, but in fact, it is responsible for doing some miscellaneous work, cleaning, receiving customers and recording needs, sorting out and summarizing the cases in the newspaper... work business Not to mention boring.

Although there are some jobs that come to the door on their own initiative, most of them are richly dressed aristocratic lords/wifes who come to the door in person and entrust your detective agency to help find missing pets, investigate lost property, and find evidence of the madam's lover's infidelity...

It's all trivial matters, although the nobles promised a lot of rewards, it's not so much a job, it's more like some kind of free gift.

Most of these distinguished guests were received by Holmes himself. When Watson was preparing the tea, he did not see any anxious expressions on the faces of the customers.

Charlotte was superficially friendly to these guests, but she immediately restrained her smile after the guests left, and specifically told Watson: There is no need to really investigate such jobs that are obviously paid higher than the market, just be nice to receive them, and pretend to be happy. Record carefully.

There are also some ordinary visitors, such as street vendors in commercial disputes, railway staff who have gone wrong at work, old gentlemen with family discord, fashionable girls who are confused about the future...

They were all introduced by other private detectives. They really encountered some troubles and urgently needed the guidance of fair and intelligent people.

Holmes will first listen to their stories, then analyze the problem, and give appropriate suggestions, in order to charge a small consulting fee.

Watson will basically listen to and write the record file, but he also has a better understanding of the wisdom of this female version of Sherlock Holmes.

Compared with Detective Sherlock in the original book, Miss Charlotte's knowledge scope is obviously wider, perhaps because she was born in a wealthy family, she doesn't need to be distracted by money, but can devote more energy to learning all aspects of knowledge .

Excluding the natural physical gap between men and women, Miss Charlotte may not be able to compare with Detective Sherlock in terms of force, but in terms of rich knowledge, the Sherlock Holmes that Watson knew may have won.

Since Watson joined the Sherlock Holmes detective agency, he has hardly stepped out of the door except during breaks, and he is only engaged in clerical work.

After a long time, he couldn't help but feel a little bored.

However, Watson is quite patient, and he also knows that Holmes in reality cannot be like a pupil of the Grim Reaper, and there are various murders in the surrounding area every three days or so.

He is also happy to be idle... Every day, he just sits in the hall and flips through old books bought from street stalls, enriching his knowledge and gradually calming down his restless heart.

From time to time, at the invitation of Little Stanford, we get together to drink two jugs of wine, and our days are very leisurely.

In all honesty, Stanford Jr. is indeed a good friend. Although he came from a rich family, he has no airs in receiving people and treats people. He often treats people with delicious food and wine. The social network and anecdotes of his class really gave Watson a lot of help in integrating into London.

The leisurely daily life lasted for nearly a month, and Watson's leg and foot problems still did not improve, but the peaceful life began to have ripples.

It all started with that hand letter.

It was rare for Holmes to be free that day. She had just finished the experimental work upstairs and was sitting with Watson in the reception hall sipping black tea.

After a month of getting along, the two have become acquainted enough to start a joke.

During the conversation, Charlotte suddenly walked to the window. She pointed out the window and said, "Watson, guess who is that man?"

This is a small game for the two of them in their spare time, judging the identity of passers-by by observing their words and expressions.

Watson heard the sound and came to the window, following Charlotte's ink-stained fingers.

Across the street was a robust, plainly dressed man with a thick beard, the look Watson had seen many in the army.

The man walked slowly with his head held high, his sharp eyes fixed on the house numbers of each house, and he counted from house to house. He held a large blue envelope in his right hand. Although he was not wearing a uniform, he was obviously a messenger.

Watson also noticed a tattoo of a blue sea anchor on the back of the hand holding the letter, which seemed to be the symbol of some kind of sailor.

He only took one look, and immediately came to a conclusion, "This is a naval officer who has just been discharged from the army, with a military-style beard on his face, sailor tattoos on the back of his hand, and his leader with his head held high. All appearances can prove it.”

"And I boldly guess that he is most likely looking for our Sherlock Holmes detective agency."

As soon as the words were finished, the person outside the window looked at the room suddenly, and ran over in stride.

Dong dong dong, there was a rapid and heavy knock on the door immediately.

Charlotte applauded: "Beautiful, what a precise reasoning!"

Watson smiled, got up and opened the door for the visitor.

The visitor asked in a thick and low voice: "Good day, is Miss Holmes here? I have a letter from her."

The female detective came over, "I am Charlotte Holmes."

The man seemed to be confirming Holmes' appearance, nodded, and took out an envelope from his pocket, "Miss Holmes, this is your letter. Is there any reply?"

After being denied by Charlotte, the man stuffed the letter into Charlotte's hand. He put his heels together, stood at attention, raised his hands in salute, and hurried to the next place.

Sherlock sat back on the sofa, opened the letters and browsed through them, with an excited expression on his face, like a child who got a new toy.

She threw the letter over, "Watson, look at this, a bizarre case has arrived."

Watson took the letter and looked at it——

"Dear Miss Charlotte Holmes:
Last night, a strange murder occurred at 3 Garden Street, Lauriston.

The place where the crime occurred was an empty house that had been abandoned for a long time. At around three o'clock in the morning, the surrounding policemen heard a scream from inside the house. Knowing that the house had been unoccupied for a long time, the patrolmen suspected something was wrong, so they went to check.

The doors and windows of this long-abandoned house were all locked, and there was no light leaking inside. The patrolman forced the door lock to enter, and saw a middle-aged man's body lying in the hall full of books.

The deceased was a well-dressed gentleman with clean and tidy clothes. He had not been robbed and had no identification materials on him.

There was no sign of a fight at the scene of the crime, and there were no injuries on the body. The cause of death is unknown.

Why did the deceased enter the empty house, and how did the murderer commit the crime... We were puzzled and deeply felt the difficulty of this case.

Please come here before twelve o'clock, I will always be waiting on the spot.Everything at the murder scene will remain as it is until we hear back from you.

If it is not possible to come in person, I will also inform you of the follow-up details.If you are enlightened, it will be very grateful.

Sincerely, Tobias Grayson"

Watson secretly said: "The murder case in the secret room..."

(End of this chapter)