Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Sherlock had already been mentally prepared for the differential treatment from the tavern owner.

In fact, except for a few copper Nats, he didn't bring any gold galleons or silver coins in his wallet today.

He took out the bag of money that Watson had given him for safekeeping.

Watson was once addicted to gambling. In order to get rid of his gambling addiction, he gave his money to his friend Sherlock for a long time to manage.

"Then, let's start with four glasses of Pontero brandy," Sherlock said, taking out three crown coins, plus a few florins as a tip.

Wizards do not have a tipping culture, but now they have to pay extra because they are spending money in Muggle areas outside.

The reason why he tipped with silver florins instead of shillings and pennies was mainly because he was worried that the tavern owner would spit in the brandy he was given.

After collecting the money, the tavern owner opened a new bottle of Pontero brandy in front of several men, and then poured each of them another glass. At the same time, he did not forget to pour a glass of butterbeer for Bourne.

With the drink in his throat and his face red, several men obviously started talking.

Gregson put his index and middle fingers together into a bunch, passed them over the hairline's dangerous forehead, and said: "If possible, I would like to hear you talk about that person. If you need any help, just ask Find me, I'm familiar with this neighborhood."

He was very interested in Spring-Heeled Jack. Of course, more accurately, he was more interested in catching Spring-Heeled Jack.

Compared to this young man, Old John silently lit another hand-rolled cigarette, puffing away habitually while looking sideways at a group of people playing cards, wondering what he was thinking.

Dr. Watson glanced at Sherlock, who raised his glass to him, drank the remaining brandy in one gulp, and then ordered a second round of gin.

"...We really need some help." Dr. Watson said: "We have investigated several cases related to Spring-Heeled Jack, and we have some guesses about his movement patterns."

As he spoke, he took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, on which he drew a sketch with a pencil.

Bourne leaned over and took a look, and found that the appearance of this "person" was inexplicably familiar.

"Narrak," he suddenly thought of the goblin's name.

A long nose, pointed ears, a half-headed head, and hands that were exaggeratedly large compared to his body shape - especially, the ten fingers on his hands seemed to have been broken by a huge external force. Bend in the opposite direction...

In addition to using some "freehand" techniques to cover up the overall outline to make him look more human, this sketch only has a direct mark on the top of the "person's" head that this is a "goblin".

"You already know what Spring-Heeled Jack looks like?"

Gregson's eyes widened in surprise.

“This man is also very ugly.

If he really looked like this, how could he hide in peacetime? Who wouldn't take a second look at him?
It should be easy to find. "

It must be admitted that despite his lack of experience, Gregson still has some brains.

He saw the problem right away.

The wizards present and Dr. Watson knew the answer to the question: for Muggles, goblins are indeed a legendary humanoid, and their unique appearance cannot be hidden in the crowd; but for wizards, Walking into Diagon Alley from the back door of the Leaky Cauldron, you don't even have to go to Gringotts. You can meet several goblins on the street who have just finished get off work or are going to work every day.

Moreover, goblins have their own way of survival.

Although Narrak had been excommunicated by the goblin elders - having his fingers broken off - he could no longer find a job among his kind.

However, even if they knew where Narlak was hiding, they would never tell wizards about this easily unless the Ministry of Magic came forward.

However, the fact is that the current Ministry of Magic has no interest in capturing Narlak.

Because the goblin's crimes were against Muggles, he had not broken a single magical law.

Narlak was smart in this way.

He found a bug in the many operating laws of magical society, and strictly restrained his greed, only using the bug to do bad things.

It would be very difficult to deal with such a cross-field criminal, let alone catch him, and even find the right direction of investigation by relying solely on Scotland Yard's Muggle detectives and today's criminal investigation methods.

Moreover, due to the majesty of the Statute of Secrecy, Sherlock and the others could not reveal these truths to Muggles like Gregson.

He could only forcefully change the topic and lead the "logical chain" to the "result chain".

He raised his glass to Gregson and said: "This is indeed still a mystery, but it does not affect our ability to catch the thief because we have confirmed the guy's criminal behavior pattern.

He was a very skilled craftsman who personally modified and made a large number of safes of excellent quality.

However, this guy obviously has evil intentions. He was probably not prepared to make a living by this serious craft from the beginning.

He should have sold the safes he made and hoarded on the market at once, and sold them at very low prices. Some wealthy people bought them into their homes to protect their property.

With the first step in mind, the 'Spring Heeled' Jack started his second step of action——

He apparently had a way of identifying who purchased the safes and where they were located.

Then, he secretly 'visited' the homes of those wealthy people in the middle of the night.

He may have specific means, but he was able to easily open the safes made by him.

If the safe was not big, he would steal it together with its contents as a 'deception' to confuse the detectives investigating the case.

After succeeding in this second step, he will proceed to the third step of his criminal activities——

Among the stolen things, gold, silver and currency will be kept in his hands for his daily expenses or directly as savings.

As for valuables that are easy to trace, such as jewelry, antiques and paper contract documents, he will resell them and find someone to sell them.

He is smart and cautious.

Therefore, he does not have a fixed channel for selling stolen goods, nor does he sell a large amount of stolen goods at once. His habit is to sell some things here and there.

Moreover, Spring-Heeled Jack also deliberately spread some rumors, letting many people who specialize in selling stolen goods know several places where he often appears.

Every time he went out to sell stolen goods, he would randomly pick one of several locations, and then conduct small-scale transactions with any dealer he met.

Once the money and goods are cleared, Spring Heeled Jack will not delay and will disappear in the corner of the street immediately..."

Sherlock is very talented in telling stories, and he can outline a vivid story in just a few sentences.

Byrne was eating the specialty British food provided by the pub owner - fried eggs and sandwiches with peanut butter and cured ham.

Although I had heard Narlak's "family history" before, it was actually quite interesting to hear it again from the still-living Sherlock. The second brush also has its own fun.

Gregson, who heard this story for the first time, was obviously more interested in what Sherlock was telling.

He even asked another question while listening, like a kid in class.

"Please forgive my rude interruption.

I'm really confused. It would be unwise for Spring Heeled Jack to do this. Hasn't he ever encountered a black man eating a black man?
Those stolen goods dealers weren't gentlemen, so didn't they try to appear as robbers?

Even if 'Spring-Heeled' Jack is clever, he can easily handle the robbery. But always facing such a threat, his efficiency in selling stolen goods will definitely be very low. How long will it take for him to completely dispose of all the stolen property? "

Dr. Watson: "You ask a good question, but unfortunately, the answer to this question is another mystery in Spring-Heeled Jack.

Maybe he used force to completely scare all the dealers in selling stolen goods, or maybe he used some kind of technique to conclude the deal. Anyway, he definitely had a way to avoid being robbed during the transaction.

In fact, part of the reason I'm pretending to be him today is to figure this out.

But unfortunately, we failed.

Sherlock and I had been freezing on this street for several hours, and surprisingly not even a stolen goods dealer showed up here.

This is actually very unreasonable.

People in the stolen goods business have various sources of information. Even if there are no one of them in Charing Cross Street tonight, we have been here for several hours. Even if we take a carriage from West London, it will be enough time. Wealthy.

Therefore, we have reason to believe that our costumes are revealing.

Those guys who sell stolen goods should have a certain verification mode when dealing with Spring-Heeled Jack.

Moreover, it is probably because of the existence of this unknown verification mode that the security of both parties is guaranteed, allowing them to continue trading with each other for such a long time. "

"In that case, you said you wanted to ask me for help. Do you have any other investigation plans?" After thinking for a moment, Gregson asked another question.

And he inadvertently used "I" instead of "we", indicating that he had subconsciously excluded Old John from the two detectives' help.

However, Sherlock and Watson actually didn't mind that much, and they made a decision after looking at each other tacitly.

"Plan B is definitely never in short supply." Sherlock said.

"Although we can't find the stolen goods dealers who traded with Spring-Heeled Jack, this business is like a stream flowing into a big river. Nine out of ten stolen goods dealers from the single-handed gang will resell what they get. To peers with wider connections than them.

And their peers will most likely repeat such things.

Over and over again, after layers of changing hands, at least half of the stolen goods will eventually end up in the same channel.

So just like the problem faced by Spring Heeled Jack - maybe even more serious than Jack's problem, because that channel is certainly not just the source of the stolen goods - there are so many things coming together, let alone in one place in London. Well, it's just that it's not easy to take action in the whole of Britain.

At this time, the only solution was to transport things to the colonies for sale. It is far away from the Queen's sight, and apart from collecting taxes and making money, most of the governors of the colonies will not be distracted by 'trivial matters' such as public security and maintaining the law.

The local wealthy people in each colony not only had sufficient purchasing power, but also had sufficient purchasing demand.

Not to mention jewelry and antiques that can be collected, contract documents that are difficult to sell in the UK are very attractive to them.

Because many of them have a strong desire to move to Britain, especially London.

What we need help with is to help us find...even an introduction. We want to know who are the local people who have the ability to transfer large amounts of stolen goods to the colony. It is best to narrow down the scope.

Once we find the 'final channel', we won't have to blindly cast the net like we do today, and we can easily find the stolen goods dealers who are running single gangs, and we can..."

"Tuk-tuk-tuk-"

Just as Sherlock and Gregson were chatting animatedly, his words were interrupted by the sound of fingers tapping the wooden board of the bar.

Old John threw the cigarette butt to the ground and stamped it out, sat on a round stool, leaned his neck and back against the bar, and covered his face with the hat he took off.

After finishing this move smoothly, his finger pointed in one direction without leaving any trace.

At this time, Sherlock and the others, who had just been having a heated exchange and had not noticed their surroundings, noticed that several people were wearing tattered tweed jackets, sleeveless shirts, caps, and dirty blue scarves. Bar patrons were surrounding the bar on their side from different directions.

They had just gathered to play cards, but after hearing a few words from Sherlock, Watson and Gregson's conversation, they stood up silently, first pretended to be strolling and dispersed, and then quietly gathered around.

The man's face was marked by red webs of broken capillaries, evidence of a taste for alcohol, as well as bulbous rosacea, also evidence of years of drunkenness.

Their brown skin and sparse curly hair peeking out from the edge of their hats make it obvious that they are Indians.

"Be careful with folding knives. These people are all sailors, and they may be carrying knives that are convenient for picking through knotted cables."

Sherlock warned carefully.

In addition to what everyone else noticed, he also saw some details about these people:
They all walked with their arms splayed out, a posture better suited to maintaining balance on a rocking deck;
Although they were wearing shoes, these people were not wearing socks, and the skin from the ankle down was even darker than the color above - this is because sailors usually do not wear shoes on the deck, and their feet are always exposed to ultraviolet rays;

Sailors on long voyages can usually only rely on rum and beer to replenish water, so they can also meet the physical characteristics caused by drinking all year round.

Graysenger took off the baton hanging from his waist and gave a false wave at several Indian sailors who were surrounding him.

"Go away! Don't cause trouble for yourself."

The Indian sailors who were called to break up the operation were stunned for a moment, then simply stopped pretending and gathered together again, but did not leave.

They all looked at Gregson with "malicious intent".

"I don't like your attitude very much," Gregson scolded: "You guys should really pay attention to your words and deeds.

Didn't you learn anything while you were at sea?

The white man gives orders, and you obey his orders, and you should show him respect. "

Not to mention those people, even Bourne who was listening to this said secretly in his heart: a typical Angsa look.

Among them, an Indian sailor, who was the tallest and seemed to have darker skin than his companions, showed a smile that was half amused and half contemptuous.

"Oh, we did learn how to follow orders," he replied with a thick subcontinental accent. "We heard so much that it made us sick."

He raised his hand to his nose. "We will not listen to any more orders."

"The bosun's whip taught us respect," interposed another, his two upper front teeth set in gold, "and the first mate's fist, and the other man's boots. The Indian sailor was the dog on the ship. The captain was like Sell ​​us from ship to ship like barrels of rum. So, we know how the white people have treated us. Now we have to do the same to them, and that's fair enough—" (Chapter over)