I am creating a esoteric religion in London

Chapter 6
The deceased was a Caucasian man who looked to be in his thirties, with no beard or hair on his face, fair skin and feminine features, and a greasy haircut in the middle of his head. He was wearing a carefully pressed white shirt and black overalls. Contaminated with a little bit of dust, even the posture is quite natural, as if just sitting on the ground to doze off, and naturally lie down on the back to fall asleep.

But his face was extremely ferocious, his eyes were wide open and protruding, and a ray of solidified blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. There were distorted horror and surprise on his pale and stiff face, as if he had witnessed it at the last moment of his life. He saw something so terrifying that the fear before death was deeply engraved on his body.

There is also a pool of dried radiating blood near the dead man's feet, which appears to have been spit out before he died.

This is not the first time Watson has come into close contact with corpses. He has seen real corpses and seas of blood on Fulstein's battlefield.Compared to the scene in front of me, it was nothing more than pediatrics.

Looking at the slightly bent legs of the deceased, it seemed that he was sitting cross-legged.

A scene suddenly appeared in Watson's mind - in the dark night, the victim was sitting cross-legged in front of the fireplace, maybe he was meditating, maybe he was reading, and suddenly some kind of unspeakable injury or pain hit him Suddenly, he couldn't help spitting out a mouthful of blood, and he didn't even have time to struggle for help, leaving only a desperate scream in the end.

If this is the case... how does it feel a bit like a maddened situation in a martial arts novel, where the deceased lives alone in a secret room to practice magic skills, but accidentally breaks the practice, and suffers internal injuries under the turbulence of Qi and blood. Because there is no one to help, he can only wait for death in silence.

Watson shook his head lightly to expel this incredible thought from his mind. He watched the death of the deceased, with neat clothes and no signs of fighting, as if he had been poisoned to death.

Holmes knelt down next to the corpse, "Have you checked the corpse, are you sure there is no external injury?"

"Absolutely not!"

The two police elites shouted in unison.

Lestrade added cautiously: "At least with the naked eye, no obvious blow marks were found. Although a little blood was found on the belly of the index finger of the deceased, no last words were found."

Not to be outdone, Grace said: "The results of the preliminary examination don't look like poisoning either, at least not conventional toxins."

Holmes nodded slightly, but he didn't seem to trust the two elite detectives.

She put on white gloves to touch the corpse, touched here and there with her slender fingers, and even unbuttoned the white shirt of the deceased to check, without missing any places.

Holmes moved skillfully and swiftly, and completed a series of meticulous and rigorous inspections in a short period of time.She is more of a professional forensic doctor than a detective.

In the end, she sniffed the lips of the deceased as if to make sure. She didn't smell the bitter almond smell of the hydride poison commonly used in modern times, nor any other unusual smells, only a faint smell of blood.

In the end, a dazed and bewildered expression appeared on her face, and she seemed to have gotten nothing.

"Send it to the forensic inspection." Miss Charlotte stood up and said, "Remember to show me the detailed forensic report when the time comes."

A stretcher and stretcher bearers had already been prepared at the scene. Following Grayson's order, two police officers ran in from outside the house carrying a stretcher and moved the body onto the stretcher.

While they were talking, Watson stood silently in the corner, always walking in the blind corner of everyone's sight, making people subconsciously ignore his existence, as if it was just a piece of furniture that was originally placed on the scene .

This can also be regarded as the sequelae left by Watson on the battlefield-always pay attention to concealing his tracks.

He silently compared the body shapes of the six police officers at the scene, including the guard at the gate, all of which corresponded one-to-one with the derived model of footprints he had just guessed, except for the pair of footprints placed at the bottom that did not find the corresponding owner ——This is very likely to be the trace of the murderer.

After seeing Sherlock Holmes standing up with a slight shake of his head, Watson was also a little surprised—is it really not poisoned?Or is it an unpopular toxin that even Sherlock Holmes has never been exposed to?

Seeing that even Sherlock Holmes failed to investigate, he couldn't help but start to wonder - if he was the murderer in this case, how could he create such a scene?

The seemingly uninjured corpse—after the poisoning factor was ruled out, it seemed that the only factor left was sudden cardiac death caused by excessive fright... Unless the murderer also mastered the legendary secret technique from the ancient East, Pressing it can kill a person.

A scene like a secret room - this is relatively easy, maybe there are secret passages or secret doors hidden in the house - a small window in the attic is very suitable, and petite people just pass through; maybe there is a delay closing The small mechanism of the portal, this point was not discovered when entering the door, so let's ignore it for now.

Watson even came up with a bold speculation. Perhaps the scream heard by the patrol last night... was not made by the deceased, but might be a way for the murderer to confuse his sight.

A scene emerged in his mind:
Last night, the deceased was sitting on the floor of the main hall, reading a book by the dim light. Suddenly, in the shadows where the light could not shine, a petite murderer suddenly appeared. The murderer used some unknown method to directly frighten the victim. until death.

Afterwards, the murderer quickly cleaned up the traces of his appearance, ran to the attic quickly, and got out of the small window.

At this time, the murderer saw a patrolman holding a lantern not far away. Out of some kind of idea of ​​showing off, arrogance, or distraction, he/she improvised, and after erasing the traces in the courtyard, he/she hid behind the house and let out a seemingly miserable sound. The cry attracted the patrol to check.

And when the patrolmen broke into the door with great effort, they would only see the victim who was lying on the ground, and under the initial subjective will, they would mistakenly think that the victim had just died.

"However, there is still a doubt here..." Watson touched his chin and thought to himself: "If the patrolman who entered the scene of the crime for the first time... has concealed the facts, or is simply an accomplice/principal criminal If so...then all this conjecture will have to be overthrown and restarted."

Just as the police officers lifted the dead man up, Watson, who was crouching in the corner, keenly noticed that there seemed to be a dark red trace on the floor under the dead body.

Pointing to the pattern of suspected evidence, he shouted: "Look, there seems to be something written on the floor."

Lestrade, who was carrying a pipe, immediately squatted down, cut a match on the sole of his boot, and moved to the floor.

I saw a few blood-red letters scrawled on the rotten wooden floor where the corpse had once covered. It seemed that the deceased wrote with blood on his fingers before he died:
Lantern
"lamp?!"

All eyes turned to the exquisite kerosene lamp in front of the deceased in unison.

Lestrade pondered: "Is this a clue left by the deceased, or a message from the murderer?"

Grayson exclaimed: "Light... the case looks more complicated."

Holmes has already picked up the kerosene lamp and observed it carefully. This kerosene lamp looks very clean, the whole body is transparent, and there is still a lot of fuel left at the bottom.

But she looked left and right, but couldn't find any useful clues...

Why do victims leave 'lights' on before they die?
"Leaving this aside for the time being, please make room for me, I need to check this room carefully."

Miss Charlotte took out a tape measure and a magnifying glass hidden somewhere, and began to walk slowly along the whole room, corners, window sills, corridors, attics... She was walking around, still muttering words, sometimes stopping, sometimes going down. Crouching, sometimes lying down, completely disregarding the image of a lady, but like a lunatic who is fascinated.

But in Watson's eyes, the female detective is more like a vigorous and agile hunting fox jumping briskly in the forest, seemingly playful but actually patiently searching for the prey.

This is the first time he has followed a female detective to handle a case on the spot. He is amazed at how she looks like no one else, just immersed in the world of investigation. Xin Dao is worthy of being a famous detective who will be famous both at home and abroad in the future. What is the matter with such a fanatical work attitude Can't do it.

However, to Watson's surprise, the attic floor was covered with thick dust, and it didn't look like anyone had passed through it at all... Could there be other secret doors?
He and Charlotte checked for half an hour, but found no useful clues at all, and the dignified expressions on their faces became deeper and deeper.

The two official detectives asked anxiously: "Miss Holmes, have you got any results?"

The female detective didn't change her face, "The case is indeed more complicated than I imagined. If possible, I would like to meet the policeman who found the body last night and talk to him."

Seeing this, Grayson and Lestrade glanced at each other, and smiled gloatingly, and they could see the happiness in each other's eyes when they looked at each other.

Compared to Holmes finding useful clues at the scene, they hoped that she found nothing. That would prove that the investigation of the case was in trouble, not because of their lack of ability.

Now it seems that this amateur colleague is not as powerful as in the legend!

"Of course no problem." Grayson happily replied, glancing at the notebook in his hand, "The policeman who found the body, John Lance, is off duty now, and his registered address is 3- Audley Apartment, Kennington Park Road. Number 406."

"Remember to bring me the forensic report."

After saying this, the female detective turned and left, followed by Watson, leaving the two elite detectives in place.

…………

After they left, Lestrade suddenly took the initiative to discuss with his rival: "Grayson, tell me... will this case involve 'those things'?"

He stammered, "How about we..."

Grayson nodded heavily, and agreed: "Even Holmes failed to find any useful clues...I think this case is probably caused by 'those things'!"

"In my opinion, we don't need to wait for the results of the forensic investigation. We would rather kill the wrong person than let him go! Report it to the Anti-Suppression Bureau directly!"

(End of this chapter)