The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 5 Research on Scarlet Characters (4)
"Leave it at the American Exchange, Riverside Road, for my own collection. Both letters are from Guyon Shipping Company, informing the addressee of the date of sailing from Liverpool, so that the unfortunate fellow is on his way back to New York." ’” Grayson said.

"Have you ever investigated the man Stangerson?" asked Holmes again.

"Sir, I investigated immediately." Gregson said, "I have sent the advertisements to various newspapers for publication, and I have also sent people to the American Exchange to inquire, but the people who inquired have not returned yet. .”

"Have you contacted Cleveland?" asked Holmes again.

"We sent the telegram this morning," Grayson replied.

"How did you ask?" Holmes seemed to have many questions.

"We just explained the situation of this matter in detail and told them that we hope they can tell us any helpful information." Grayson replied hastily.

"Have you not mentioned the crucial point?" asked Holmes.

"I asked if there was a Stangerson."

"No other question? Is there not a crucial question in the whole case? Can't you send another telegram?" Holmes pressed.

Grayson said angrily, "I said all I had to say in the telegram."

Holmes smiled to himself, and was about to say something when Lestrade arrived, rubbing his hands triumphantly.Gregson was in the front room when we talked inside.

"Mr. Grayson," he said, "I have just discovered something very important. If I hadn't examined the walls very carefully, I would have missed it." The little man spoke with a twinkle in his eyes, obviously He prided himself on discovering more than his peers.

"Come here," he called, as he hurried back to the front room.Since the body had been carried away, the air in the house seemed to be a lot fresher. "Okay, please stand there!"

He struck a match on his boot and held it up against the wall.

"Look at that!" he said triumphantly.

As I said before, the paper on the wall has peeled off in many places.And at this corner, where a large piece of flower paper has peeled off, a rough yellow powder wall is exposed.On this undecorated wall, there is a word scrawled in blood:

Rache (RACHE).

"What do you think of that word?" exclaimed the detective, as triumphantly as a circus owner boasting of his tricks. "The word is ignored because it is in the darkest corner of the house, where no one can see it." Didn't think to come here to see it. It was written by the murderer dipped in the blood of the dead or his own. Look, there are traces of blood running down the wall! From this, it can be seen that in any case this is by no means a suicide. Why did you choose this corner to write? I can tell you, look at the candle on the fireplace, it was lit at the time. If it was lit, then this corner is the brightest place instead of the darkest place."

Grayson said contemptuously, "But, you just discovered the handwriting, so what's the point?"

"Doesn't make sense? That means the writer was going to write a woman's name 'Rachel'. But something interrupted him, so he or she didn't have time to finish. You mark my words, When the case is all cleared up, you will be able to find out that a woman named Rachel has something to do with the case. Now laugh at me all you want. Mr. Holmes, you may be very bright and capable, but after all, Ginger is still old hot."

My companion burst out laughing at his words, which irritated the little man.Holmes said: "I'm really sorry. You were indeed the first among the three of us to discover this handwriting. The credit should naturally go to you. And as you said, this handwriting was written by another person in the tragedy last night. I also Haven't had time to inspect the room, but with your permission I would like to do so now."

As he spoke, he quickly produced a tape measure and a large round magnifying glass from his pocket.He took these two tools and walked up and down the room silently.Sometimes he stood still in a certain place, sometimes he knelt down, and once he was lying on the ground.He was so engrossed in his inspection that he seemed to ignore us.He grunted, now exclaimed, now sighed, sometimes whistled, and sometimes whispered hopefully and encouraged.As I watched him from the sidelines, I couldn't help but think of well-trained purebred hounds who just run around in the jungle, barking loudly, and don't stop until they sniff out their prey.Holmes checked for twenty minutes, carefully measuring the distances between the traces.I can't see these traces at all.He also occasionally, inexplicably, measures the walls with a tape measure.Then, very carefully, he picked up a pinch of gray dust from a spot on the floor, and put it in an envelope.Next he examined the blood writing on the wall with a magnifying glass, examining each letter very carefully.Satisfied at last, he pocketed the tape measure and magnifying glass.

He smiled and said: "Some people say that 'genius' is the ability to endure hardships and endure hardships without end. This definition is very inappropriate. But it is quite appropriate in detective work."

Grayson and Lestrade looked at the private companion with great curiosity and somewhat contemptuous expressions.They have not yet grasped a fact, which I have gradually understood now - that even the slightest movement of Holmes has a practical and definite purpose.

They both asked in unison: "Sir, what do you think?"

My partner said: "If I really want to help you, I will take away the opportunity of the two of you to make a contribution to this case. Your current work is going well, and it is inconvenient for others to intervene in it." His words were full of sarcasm mean.He went on to say, "If you can tell me the progress of the investigation at any time, I will try my best to assist you. Now I need to talk to the police who first found the body. You can give his name, address tell me?"

Lestrade looked at his notepad and replied: "His name is John Luans, but he is off work now. You can find him at 46 Audley Court, Kennington Gardens Road."

Holmes took note of the address.

He said to me, "Come on, doctor, let's go to him. I'll tell you something that will help you solve this case." He turned to the two detectives and continued: "This is a murder case." The murderer was a man, more than six feet tall, of middle age. His feet were a little small for his stature. He wore rough leather square-toed boots and smoked Indian cigars. He was with the victim. Came in a four-wheeled carriage. The carriage was drawn by a horse with three old hooves and a new one on the right front. The murderer's face was probably red, and his right hand The nails are very long. These are just a few signs, but they may help you two solve the case."

Lestrade and Grayson looked at each other with suspicion on their smiling faces.

Lestrade asked: "If the man was killed, how was he murdered?"

"Poisoned," replied Holmes simply, and strode out. "And one more thing, Lestrade," he said, turning back when he reached the door, "the word 'lache' means revenge in German, so don't waste any more time looking for that 'Ray' Miss Cheil' gone."

After saying these "farewell words", Holmes turned and left, and the remaining two stood there dumbfounded.

Narrative of the Four Cops Luans

It was one o'clock in the afternoon when we left 3 Lauriston Gardens.Holmes took me to a nearby telegraph office to send a long telegram.He then called a cab, and bade the driver take us to the address Lestrade had given us.

"Nothing is so important," said Holmes, "as direct evidence. In fact, I have already made up my mind about the case, but we must get to the bottom of it."

I said, "Holmes, you really baffle me. You may not be as sure of the details as you have just said, are you?"

"I'm absolutely right," he answered. "Once I got there, I saw two tracks of wagon wheels beside the curb. As it was sunny all week before it rained last night, I left The carriage which left this mark must have been there at night. In addition, the marks of horseshoes can be seen. One of the hoof marks is much clearer than the other three, which shows that the iron shoe is newly replaced. Arrived there after the rain, and, according to Grayson, there was no traffic all morning, so the carriage must have stopped there last night. The two of them were sent to the vacant room."

"That sounds simple enough," I said, "but how did you figure out the height of one of them?"

Holmes replied: "Nine out of ten times a person's height can be known from the length of his steps. Although the calculation method is very simple, it is of no use if I teach you step by step now. I am outside the house." The distance between the person's steps was measured on the clay and the dust in the house. Then I found a way to check whether my calculations were correct. But when a mortal writes on a wall, it is natural to write on the line of sight Relatively. The writing on the wall is now exactly six feet off the ground, so it's child's play to figure out his height."

"And his age?" I asked again.

"A man would never be an old man if he could easily cover a distance of four and a half feet at a single step. There was a wide puddle in the path in the little garden, and he evidently stepped across it. From the footprints, the patent leather boots go around, and the square-toed boots go over it. There is nothing mysterious about this, I just put some observations and inferences from my article Is there anything you don't understand?" Holmes turned to me and asked.

"What about fingernail length and Indian cigars?" I continued.

"The writing on the wall was written by a man with his index finger dipped in blood. I looked at it with a magnifying glass and saw that some of the plaster had been scraped off the man's writing. If the man's nails had been manicured, it would never have looked like this .I also collected some loose ash from the floor, very dark and flaky, only Indian cigar ash is like that. I once specialized in cigar ash. In fact, I also wrote a feature on it As for the papers. It is no exaggeration to say that no matter what brand of cigar or cigarette ash I have, I can recognize it just by looking at it. The Tradders are different," said Holmes triumphantly.

"Then how did that red face judge?" I asked again.

"Well, that is a wilder conjecture, but I am sure I am correct. As the case stands, you may not ask me that question for the time being," said Holmes.

I touched my forehead with my hand and said, "I'm really a little dizzy. The more I think about it, the more mysterious I feel. For example, if there are really two people, then how did these two people get into the empty house? Send them Who was the coachman? And how can one force another to take poison? Where did the blood come from? Since the case was not murder, what was the murderer's purpose? The woman's ring Where did it come from? Most importantly, why did the murderer write 'revenge' on the wall in German before he fled? Honestly, I really don't know how to connect these clues one by one."

My companion smiled approvingly.

He said: "You summed up the suspicious points in the case very concisely and well. Although I have an idea of ​​the main plot, there are still many places that are not clear. As for the blood that Lestrade found The word, is just a trap, trying to imply that it was done by some socialist party or secret group, in an attempt to lead the police astray. It was not actually written by a German. If you look carefully, you can see the letter A It was written after German. Since real Germans often use Latin script, it can be said with certainty that it was not written by a German, but by an unsophisticated imitator. It seems a little superfluous for him to do this. It is nothing more than a trick to mislead the investigation. Doctor, I don't want to tell you more about this case. You know that once the magician has explained his tricks, he If I tell you too much about my method of work, you will come to the conclusion that Holmes is nothing more than a very ordinary man."

I replied, "I definitely won't. Sleuthing has to be developed into an exact science sooner or later, and you have almost established it by now."

My companion blushed with joy when he heard this, and saw the sincerity with which I spoke.I had long since discovered that when he was complimented on his detective exploits he cheered up as much as any girl hears compliments on her beauty.

He said: "I'll tell you one more thing. The man in the patent leather boots and the man in the square-toed boots came in the same car, and they seemed to be very friendly. They probably walked down the garden path together with their arms around their shoulders." After they entered the room, they were still walking around the room. Or rather, the one in the patent leather boots was standing still, while the one in the square-toed boots kept moving around the room. I was watching I could see this when I saw the dust on the floor. I also saw that the man in the square boots was getting more and more agitated as he walked, which was evident in his stride. He talked as he walked, Finally he went berserk and the tragedy happened. Now that I've told you everything I know, all that's left is speculation and conjecture. Fortunately, we've got a good base to start working on. We have to hurry Time, because I have to go to the Aller concert this afternoon, and listen to the music of Norman Neruda."

While we were talking, the car went on and on through dark avenues and dreary alleys, until it came to the mouth of one of the dirtiest and most desolate.The coachman stopped the car suddenly. "That's Audley Court," he said, pointing to a narrow alley between the painted black brick walls. "Find me here when you come back."

Audley Court was not an elegant place.We walked through a narrow alley and came to a square compound.The ground in the yard is paved with stone slabs, surrounded by some dirty and simple houses.We made our way through groups of filthy children, through rows of faded clothing, and finally came to Number 46. Nailed to the door of number 46 is a small brass plaque with the words "Luans" engraved on it.We went up to ask and found out that the policeman was sleeping, so we went into a small living room in front and waited for him to come out.

The police came out quickly.He was a little upset because we interrupted his dream, and said, "I've already reported it to the bureau."

Holmes took out a half-pound coin from his coat pocket, and played it in his hands pretendingly."We want you to repeat it yourself from beginning to end," he said.

The policeman fixed his eyes on the little gold coin and replied, "I am willing to tell the truth as far as I know."

"Then let me hear what happened. You may tell what you like," said Holmes, smiling.

Luan Si sat down on the horsehair sofa, and he frowned, as if he was determined not to miss anything in his narration.

He said: "I'll start at the beginning, then. My shift is from ten o'clock in the evening to six o'clock in the morning. There was a fight in White Hart Street at eleven o'clock in the evening, and otherwise I patrolled the The area was very calm. About one o'clock in the morning the next morning, it started to rain. At this time I met Harry Mochi, who was patrolling the Holland Woods area. We were standing in Henry chatting at the corner of Etta Street. Soon, around two o'clock or a little after two, I thought it was time to take a look around and see if Brixton Road was quiet. It was muddy And remote, there are no people on the road, only one or two carriages pass by me. I strolled slowly, thinking how beautiful it would be to drink a cup of hot wine. At this moment, I suddenly saw There were lights flickering in the windows of that house. I know two houses in Lauriston Gardens that are vacant, and the last occupant of one of them died of typhoid, but the landlady still won't fix the gutters. So When I saw a light in that window, I was so startled that I suspected something was wrong. When I got to the door—"

"You just stop, turn around and go back to the gate of the little garden," put in my companion suddenly, "why did you do that?"

Luans jumped up in fright. His face was full of astonishment, and he stared at Holmes with wide eyes.

(End of this chapter)