The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 142 Uncanny Valley (4)
"Mr. MacDonald, this is a curious case!" White Mason repeated. "The journalists will be on the wind. I hope before they intervene in the case and make a mess of it." Just finish the work. I have not had a case of this kind hitherto. If my surmise is correct, Mr. Holmes, there will be something which will interest you. And you, Dr. Watson, and I'm sure your professional eye will give us useful advice. You'll be taken to the Westville Arms Hotel in a moment. That's the only place we have, but I've heard the accommodations there are good and clean. The servants will take your luggage, gentlemen, will you follow me?"

The Sussex detective was lively and very kind.About 10 minutes later, we came to the residence.Another 10 minutes later, we were sitting in the hotel lounge talking about the case.I have given a detailed account of the circumstances of this case in the last chapter.MacDonald took notes from time to time.Holmes sat listening attentively, occasionally with surprise and heartfelt admiration, like a botanist admiring a rare flower.

"Strange, this is very strange! I can't think of a more bizarre case," said Holmes, after hearing the case.

"I expected you to say that, Mr. Holmes." White Mason said excitedly. "We are in time in Sussex. I have just seen the scene of the crime between three and four o'clock in the morning." I told you all about it, and that's what I got when I took over from Inspector Wilson. Good God, I've tried so hard to get here, and it's all in vain, because that's all I can know. Inspector Wilson I have already checked out all the circumstances, I just checked it again, studied it carefully, and added a few points of my own opinion."

"What have you investigated?" asked Holmes eagerly.

"Well, I examined the hammer first, with Dr. Wood assisting me. There was no sign of any violence committed on the hammer. I thought Mr. Douglas had used it in self-defense, so maybe before the hammer hit the ground. There will be traces of the murderer, but there's nothing there."

"Of course it doesn't prove anything," said Inspector MacDonald, "because there are many cases where the murderer used a hammer to kill, but there was no trace left on it."

"True. That doesn't prove that the hammer wasn't used. But it would help us if it left some marks. But it didn't. I checked the gun later and it was a large lead A shotgun. As Sergeant Wilson said, the triggers of the two guns are tied together, and when the rear trigger is pulled, both barrels fire simultaneously. Whoever modified the gun to do so must have been determined not to give his opponent any chance of escape. The truncated gun was less than two feet long and could easily be concealed in a coat. The full name of the relevant manufacturer had been sawn off from the gun, and between the barrels There are only three letters 'PEN' left in the groove."

"That capital 'P' is in swash, and the other two letters 'E' and 'N' are in smaller letters?" asked Holmes.

"Exactly."

"Pennsylvania Small Arms Manufacturing Company, a well-known American arms manufacturer," said Holmes.

White Mason looked at my friend intently, like a small country medical practitioner looks at a specialist from Harley Street, whose word can solve a problem that puzzles him.

"Mr. Holmes, this is too important. You are right. Strange, so strange! Do you remember the names of all the munitions manufacturers in the world?"

Holmes waved his hand, but did not take up the subject.

"This gun is clearly an American musket," continued White Mason, "and I seem to have read in a book that this sawn musket was used in some parts of America. Even disregarding the barrel I think so too, and there are signs that the man who sneaked into the manor and killed the owner was an American."

Macdonald shook his head and said, "My brother, you are thinking too far. So far we have not found any evidence that outsiders have ever visited this manor."

"The open window, the blood on the sill, the odd card, the footprints left by the boots, and this musket!"

"These are all pre-arranged. Mr. Douglas is an American, or has lived in the United States for a long time, and Mr. Barker is the same. There is no need to find another American to do these things."

"That butler Ames..."

"So what about him? Is he reliable?"

"He's been with Sir Charles Chandos for ten years and is completely reliable. He's been here when Douglas bought the estate five years ago, and he's never seen a gun like this on the estate. "

"The reason why this gun was modified like this is to facilitate concealment. In this way, any box can hide it. Can he swear that there is no such gun in the manor?"

"But, anyway, he never did."

Macdonald shook his naturally stubborn Scotch head and said: "I'm still not sure if anyone else has been in the room. I beg you to think about it—his Aberdeen accent whenever he's about to fall short. It's thicker--a man came in with a gun and did a series of strange things. If you jump to conclusions like that, what's the effect? ​​My God, man, it's unbelievable! It's counterintuitive. Mr. Holmes, Our views have diverged, what do you think of this matter? Please make a judgment based on our words."

"Then, Mr. MacDonald, please give me your opinion," said Holmes, in a tone of fairness.

"Assuming the murderer did exist, it was never the intent of theft. That ring and that card show that it was clearly a premeditated murder, perhaps out of some personal vendetta. Come to think of it, someone sneaked into the manor with the intention of murdering In consideration of how to escape afterwards, he also knew what kind of weapon to choose, because the manor was surrounded by moats, and it was very difficult to escape. Normally, he should choose the weapon with the smallest sound in the world. In this way, It was only after the fact that he could have run out the window quickly, waded across the moat, and bought enough time to escape. This is completely reasonable. Yet he went to such lengths to modify a weapon with such powerful firepower, knowing that Once the gunshots sounded, everyone in the manor could rush to the scene of the accident as quickly as possible, and he might be discovered before he crossed the moat? What the hell! Mr. Holmes, do you think this is possible?"

"Well, you have a point," replied my friend thoughtfully. "It does require ample proof. Mr. White Mason, did you immediately look across the moat for The trace left by that person after he landed?"

"Mr. Holmes, we have not found it. It is hard to leave any trace because of the stony shore."

"Didn't you see any water marks or footprints?"

"Not really."

"Mr. White Mason, why don't we set out for the estate at once? There may be some little clues to be found, and we shall be inspired by them."

"Mr. Holmes, I was going to do this, but before that, I think I should let you understand the situation first. I think, if there is something that offends you..." White Mason looked at his colleague, There was some hesitation in his eyes.

"Mr. Holmes and I have worked together," said Inspector MacDonald. "He has always been aboveboard."

Holmes replied with a smile: "As far as I understand this business personally, I am involved in handling cases to achieve justice on the one hand, and to assist the police in their investigations on the other. If I do not cooperate with the police, it is because they do not." Inform me that I have no intention of taking advantage of them. In the meantime, Mr. White Mason, I have the right to have my own way of thinking about the case and to report back to you as I see fit. , I mean from the beginning, not just at a certain stage."

"I am convinced that it is our honor to have you here to take part in the case. We will tell you everything we know about the case," said White Mason sincerely. "Dr. Watson, please come with me. If you have the opportunity , we would all like to be featured in your book."

We walked along quaint country streets lined with neatly manicured elms.There is a pair of stone pillars in the distance, mottled and discolored due to age, and covered with moss.The upper part of the stone pillar has lost its original shape. In the past, it was a symbol of Birlstone - two stone lions standing on their hind legs.Go straight along the winding driveway, rows of oak trees against the verdant lawn, what a charming pastoral scenery!This can only be seen in the English countryside.Then there was a bend, and a Jacobean house came into view, with its long, low old brick walls, faded to a dun-coloured brown.There is an old-fashioned garden in front of the house, lined with manicured yew trees.When we came to the manor, we saw the wooden suspension bridge and the wide moat. The river glistened like mercury in the winter sun and flowed quietly.

The ancient manor has a history of more than 300 years. It has witnessed the vicissitudes of life here, the joys and sorrows, and the scenes of the owners of the manor in gorgeous clothes, wine, dancing and carnival... Strangely, due to its long history, people can vaguely feel The ominous omen refracted from that old house!Under the weird and abrupt roof and the jagged and mottled gable, it seems that there is a terrible conspiracy hidden.When I saw under those gloomy windows, the water of the moat constantly washing the foot of the dark brown old house, I couldn't help but think to myself: there is no better place for such a tragedy to be staged than here.

"Here it is, the window to the right of the drawbridge," said White Mason, "still open as we found it last night."

"This window is so narrow, it's really not easy to get a person through it."

"That man is evidently not fat, Mr. Holmes, as we all have seen it, without your telling me. But a figure like yours and mine can quite squeeze through."

Holmes walked to the edge of the moat, looked across, then at the projecting stone bank and the edge of the lawn behind it.

"I have examined this place carefully, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason, "but there is nothing here, not a trace of any person who has gone ashore. But must he have left any trace?"

"You're right. Must he leave any traces? Has the river always been this muddy?"

"It's usually like this. The river flows down from the upper reaches, mixed with a lot of silt."

"How deep is the river?"

"It's about two feet deep near the shore and about three feet in the middle."

"Then, what we can be sure of is that the man could not have drowned while wading through the moat."

"Yes, even children can easily wade through."

We stepped off the drawbridge to be greeted by a surly, scrawny man named Ames the butler.The poor old man was pale and trembling with fright.The tall rural police officer Wilson was still at the scene, looking dignified and depressed.The doctor has left.

"Officer Wilson, is there anything new?" White Mason asked.

"No, sir."

"Then, please go back to rest first, you have worked hard enough. If there is anything that needs your assistance, we will send someone to invite you. It is best for the housekeeper to wait outside the door and let him inform Mr. Cecil Barker Douglas, Mrs. Douglas, and the housekeeper, we shall now speak to them face to face. Now, gentlemen, allow me to give my opinion first, and then you will arrive at your own opinions."

I was very impressed with this township specialist.With a firm grasp on evidence and facts, he is level-headed, clear-headed, and possesses a wealth of common sense.Based on these alone, he can also make a career in this line of work.Holmes listened intently to his account of the case, without any of the impatience which official narrators so often display.

"Our first concern is: is this a suicide or a homicide? Is it not, gentlemen? If it is a suicide, then it is conceivable that this man first took off his wedding ring, and then came here in his pajamas, behind the curtains. Put mud marks in the corner to make it look like someone had been waiting for him, and then he opened the window and got the blood on the..."

"We would never have thought of it that way," MacDonald said.

"So I want to say that this is definitely not a suicide. Then, it must be a homicide. What we need to determine now is whether the murderer was originally in the manor, or did he come from outside the manor?"

"Okay, let's hear what you have to say."

"These two possibilities cannot exist at the same time, but it is quite difficult to determine one of the two. Let us first assume that someone or some people inside the manor committed the crime. When all is quiet and people are getting ready for bed when they brought Douglas here, and made it public by committing crimes with the loudest and strangest weapon in the world, which no one had ever seen on the estate. Doesn't sound so reasonable, does it?"

"Yeah, that's unlikely."

"Well, and since those present say that Ames and all were on the scene within less than a minute of hearing the gunshot, although Mr. Cecil Barker said he was the first One arrived. But in such a short time, could the murderer still make footprints in the corner, open the window, leave blood on the window sill, and take the wedding ring from the dead man's hand? It's impossible !"

"Your analysis is very reasonable, and I agree with you," said Holmes.

"So we're back to the second possibility we just said: that the murderer came from outside the manor. While we still have many puzzles to solve, it's at least plausible anyway. The man was between 04:30 and [-]:[-] between the time after dusk and the raising of the drawbridge. Since there were visitors and the doors were open, he encountered no hindrance. He was either a common burglar, or It was a personal grudge with Mr. Douglas. Since Douglas lived in the United States for a long time, and this gun seems to be a weapon made in the United States, the most likely situation is revenge out of personal grievances .for he was the first to see the room, and slipped in, and hid himself behind the curtains, and waited till after eleven o'clock at night, when Mr. Douglas entered. If there was any conversation, it was brief, for Mrs Douglas said her husband had only been away from her for a few minutes before the shots rang out."

"That candle also bears witness to that," said Holmes.

"It is true that the candle is new, with not half an inch burnt off. Mr. Douglas was not attacked until he had come in and put the candle on the table, otherwise it would have fallen off when he fell." On the ground. That is to say, when he entered this room, the murderer did not strike immediately. When Mr. Barker entered, the candle was still burning, and it was the oil lamp he had lit."

"That's pretty clear."

"Well, now we can take these clues and imagine the situation. Mr. Douglas came in and put down the candle. The man came out from behind the curtain with this musket in his hand and asked him for a wedding ring--God knows what." Why, but it must have been like this at the time, and Mr. Douglas had to give him the ring. Then I don’t know whether it was because the man was cold-blooded or Mr. Douglas resisted desperately. In short, the man shot and beat him like this. In the process , Mr. Douglas may have picked up the hammer, we found it on the carpet. Afterwards, the killer dropped the gun, and maybe this weird card that said 'VV341' - don't know what it stands for What do you think—then jumped out of the window, and escaped through the moat when Mr. Cecil Barker arrived at the house. What do you think, Mr. Holmes?"

"It sounds interesting, but it's just not convincing."

"Man, this is so absurd. Isn't there a more convincing conclusion than this?" cried MacDonald. As the method of committing the crime, running away quietly is the best escape route. Why risk yourself being discovered? However, he chose this musket, how can this be explained? Then you see, Mr. Holmes, since White Mr. Mason's conclusions are not convincing, and it is time for you to speak."

Throughout the long discussion Holmes sat and listened attentively, not to miss any trace of the case.His eyes were so keen, and he stopped at some small clues from time to time.He always frowned and remained silent in thought.

"Mr. Macdonald, I would like to take a closer look. With the facts I have now, I can't draw a convincing conclusion." Then, Holmes went to the corpse and knelt down. "Ah, this wound is really shocking. People are scared! Can you ask the housekeeper to come here?"

"Ames, I hear you have seen that strange mark on Mr. Douglas's forearm many times, a triangle surrounded by a circular brand, have you not?"

"I see it often, sir."

"Have you never heard of the meaning of this brand?"

"Never heard of it, sir."

"The brand was put on with a red-hot iron, and he must have been in great pain. Ames, I just found a small patch of ointment under Mr. Douglas's chin. Did you see it when he was alive?" "

"Yes, sir, he broke it yesterday morning when he shaved."

"Did you often see him scratch his face?"

"It's been a long time, sir."

(End of this chapter)