Sherlock Holmes.

Chapter 124 Uncanny Valley (2)
"It did come relatively quickly, but it is still reasonable. Before you were invited, we had already deciphered this note, and we learned something."

"What's the situation?"

"The note said that a Mr. Douglas was in extremity, and said he was a rich gentleman of Birlstone Estates in Birlstone Village, and now that this calamity has come, my only feeling is that It happened so fast."

Macdonald looked puzzled: "Where did you get this?"

So Holmes explained to him the whole process of receiving and deciphering the coded letter.After listening, MacDonald frowned even tighter.

"It is evident that we have been slow to start," said Holmes with some regret, but the expression soon disappeared.

"Mr. Holmes, I have come to invite you and your friends to Birlstone today, but it seems that we can get things done in London, don't you think?" Macdonald rubbed Said with both hands.

"Not as smoothly as you think," said Holmes.

"Mr. Holmes, you know that this is a murder case. Before nightfall, people will make all kinds of speculations, but the result may not be what others imagined. Before the murder, I have already got the news that it will happen. .Porlock has explained everything, then let's find Pollock! Then I will get things done." Macdonald said excitedly.

"How shall we find him, Mr. MacDonald?"

"Pollock is an alias, and the address is on the letter, which is not of much use! By the way, Mr. Holmes, did you not give him a ten-pound note?"

"Yes, I did."

"And how did you give him the money?"

"I mailed it."

"Who is the one who took the money?"

"Sorry, I didn't go to see who took the money."

"Why? This is beyond my expectation. Based on my years of experience, there must be a reason why you didn't go to see who it was. Can you tell me the reason?"

"I assured him when I received his first letter that I would not investigate the situation. Mr. Macdonald, you know what I am."

"Mr. Holmes, judge whether there is another big man behind Pollock?"

"should have."

"Is he Moriarty, then?"

"Yes."

MacDonald smiled unnaturally and said: "If I'm not wrong, this mysterious figure has a high status in the public's mind, but he is not that high in your eyes, and he is not even worth a penny. This is won't escape our eyes."

"Is that so? But I didn't attack him openly! I just think people think him a little high."

"To be honest, I really don't find anything wrong with this man. I have talked to him personally. He is very gentle, affable, and elder. I know very little about celestial bodies and physics. In that conversation, we Talked about the eclipse. After he said it, I seemed to know the secret of it. When I said goodbye to him, he also gave me a book on the subject. Useful. He patted me kindly on the shoulder, with a kind smile on his face, I felt how approachable he was! I still remember that moment vividly.”

"It seems that you are very happy with this visit, otherwise you wouldn't remember it so clearly. Please go on slowly, and it's better to be clear. If I'm not wrong, you must have a knee-to-neck conversation in his study, yes No?" All this again aroused Holmes' great interest.

Macdonald answered briskly, "Yes."

"Is his study well furnished?" asked Holmes.

"Not only is it beautiful, but it is well-arranged, which has amazed me for days."

"Where are you sitting?"

"I'm sitting opposite him, that is, opposite his desk. What does that mean?"

"not bad?"

MacDonald rubbed his hands together again, showing a look of bewilderment.

"At that time, he was facing the sun with his back, but you were facing the sun?" I don't even know what Holmes' intentions are in asking these questions.

"No, because it was night and the lights were shining on me." MacDonald answered Holmes' silly questions seriously.

"Great. Did you notice that there's a painting hanging behind him on the upper left?"

"Yes, yes! I carefully observed that house, and even every corner. There is indeed an oil painting behind him. In the painting, there is a young girl looking forward. Apart from this, there is nothing worth noting. gone."

"It's the work of Jean-Baptiste Grosz."

"Jean-Baptiste Groz? What does this mean?" MacDonald asked incomprehensibly.

"Haven't you heard of that famous painter? His works were well received in the 60s and [-]s of the seventeenth century, and his praise is even more enthusiastic now than before!" Holmes talked enthusiastically.

"Holmes, I really don't understand. What is the relationship between the two?"

"Officer MacDonald, please don't worry, the oil painting of Jean-Baptiste Grosz is very important to us, and I will not talk nonsense out of thin air." Holmes said.

"I admire your way of thinking, but I really don't understand now, what is the mystery in it?"

Macdonald was worrying about this puzzling question, and I was also wondering, but we knew that at this moment, he would not easily say a word.

"Dear Macdonald, Mr. Watson, now I will tell you about the oil painting! The name of this painting is 'Shepherdess', and its price was raised to 120 million francs at an auction. , about £4, don’t you understand now?” Holmes looked up at us.

"The price is relatively high, so...?" MacDonald was still puzzled.

"What do you think his annual salary is? It's only about seven hundred pounds! What does that mean?" Holmes continued.

"You mean, he can't afford this painting at all in his own ability, can't you?" MacDonald got a little sense.

Holmes smiled and said, "Yes."

"There is indeed a problem here, but I still want to hear your opinion."

Seeing Macdonald's eagerness, Holmes showed a look of complacency and satisfaction. He deliberately paused and said, "Mr. Inspector, don't you still have to go to the scene? It's taking so long, it will delay you." action."

"It doesn't matter, just say it, my carriage is fast! It won't take long to get there."

Macdonald raised his question again: "How do you know his room so well? Have you ever seen him?"

"No, I haven't seen it, but it doesn't mean I haven't been to his room."

Macdonald said in surprise, "Have you been there?"

"Yes, isn't that surprising? I've been to him three times. The first two times he wasn't at home. I left before he came back. This time, although a bit abrupt, I checked his home on my own initiative. The result is still very satisfying.”

"You have been there three times, so, what have you gained this time?"

"You still don't understand me. The result I said is satisfactory. It's just that I got nothing. Let's ignore it for now. Let's talk about the painting! This alone can show that Professor Moriarty is very happy." He has money, and his annual salary is only about seven hundred pounds, so where does his money come from? Don't you think there is something wrong with it?"

"Generally speaking, there must be a problem here."

"Based on my own reasoning, this matter has already begun."

"I get it, I get it, Moriarty's income isn't normal."

"Very well, we only found one clue, and this clue contains everything we want to know. This sudden discovery is very important to us."

"Your imagination is rich, no, it should be said that your reasoning is rigorous and admirable. But, can we still clarify the matter? For example, how did he get the money?"

"That's a question that should be investigated, but have you ever heard of Jonas Held?"

"I seem to have seen it in a detective novel, but I have always disliked the detectives in that novel. They just happened to solve a case. They don't have the ability to solve the case. I especially hate their mysterious taste. "

"Hey! My friend, you really should read some books and gain some knowledge, or you will be laughed at. Jonas Held is not the detective in the novel, he is a very clever thief , born in the middle of the last century."

"Mr. Holmes, why do you mention this man?"

"He's an important person."

"Okay, let's talk about your opinion."

"The development of everything will have a shadow of history. Take Professor Moriarty for example! He is similar to Jonas Held. Jonas Held is the leader of the criminal group. The general leader has quite strong management ability, and is smart and cunning. He can get up to about 15.00% of the tribute from every London criminal gang. Tell me how powerful this person is! Don’t you want to listen to Moriarty Interesting news?"

"I'm more than willing to listen."

"Moriarty is the mastermind behind this tragedy. A criminal gang organized by him is heinous. Colonel Sebastian Moran is the front stage conductor of this gang. He and Moriarty Too smart for them to be prosecuted. Sebastian gets paid handsomely from Moriarty."

"Really? How much is that?"

"The annual salary is about [-] pounds. I found out about this by chance, but if you think about it, the annual salary of a prime minister is not so much. From this, think about how much illegal income Moriarty will have. What kind of job does he do? I also investigated some of his checks. These checks are used to pay daily expenses, but he draws them from six banks. Do people have doubts?"

"Doubt is doubt. What is your conclusion?"

"It's obvious. He didn't want people to know his income, so he opened a lot of accounts. It is likely that most of his money is deposited abroad at Deutsche Bank, or Levana Bank. As for the Moriarty thing, I have already done it. I have more evidence, and I will tell you when I have time."

Although MacDonald was fascinated by what he heard, he still had important things to do. It didn't take long for him to get out of the shadow of Moriarty's affairs and start working on his current case.

"Let's take a look at this case again! Now we know that Moriarty has a lot to do with this case. This is the information Pollock provided us. Look, what else we haven't deduced?"

"Okay! Let's look at the motive of the crime first? This is a very troublesome case. In my opinion, the motive is nothing more than two aspects. One is that the criminal gang under Moriarty's management is very disciplined. Strictly, even if you make a small mistake, you will be decapitated. It may be that Douglas betrayed Moriarty and was known by his accomplices and leaders, so he must have only a dead end. Moriarty's method, It’s nothing more than killing a chicken to show the monkey.”

"That's a good idea, but what about the other one?"

"The other is a very common one, that is, Moriarty issued an order to conduct 'routine business'. By the way, is there any trace of looting at the scene of the crime?"

"I don't know that either."

"If there are traces of robbery, this kind of thinking is very realistic. Moriarty has to achieve his goal, or he has received bribes from others. In short, this is a possibility. If we want to know the truth, we must go to Bury Stone, Moriarty is too smart to leave us a clue."

"It seems that we have to go to Birlstone. Time is very urgent now. You two, pack up quickly! Let's act quickly!" Macdonald said loudly.

"Very well, Mr. MacDonald, and I will give you the details in the car!" Holmes immediately went to change his clothes, which surprised me to a degree.

Mr. Holmes was a real man, and MacDonald only raised it a little in the car, but he kept looking very excited.A detective cannot but be excited about the case just happened, not to mention the famous Mr. Holmes, as long as we see his face, we can understand everything.Whenever Macdonald mentions a place that excites him, he fumbles around in the car for a while like a child who has lost his mind.Nothing had happened for more than a month, and for him, it was undoubtedly a waste of life.He likes to immerse himself in those messy cases every day.

Holmes was thinking again, and now he was like a statue.

In previous cases, Holmes always knew about it earlier than those police officers.But this time it was Officer Macdonald who got the news first because he had a deep friendship with White Mason.Early in the morning, White Mason delivered the report to Macdonald by means of the milk train, which read as follows:

Dear Mr. Macdonald:
I have written this letter to you especially, and another official document has been sent to the police station.Before you come here, let me know which bus to take so that I can pick you up.If I have something to do, I will send someone to pick you up.Let me remind you that this is an extraordinary case, and the sooner the better, it would be the best if Holmes could be brought in, as this case suits his taste.If the dead man hadn't been there, the whole case seemed to have been settled satisfactorily, and indeed, there was something odd about the case.

"We are going to Sussacos, and your friend seems to be more intelligent, which will help us a lot," said Holmes.

MacDonald replied, "Of course, he's smart and very capable."

"Okay! Let me tell you something more useful."

"We'll know everything when we meet my friend."

Holmes asked again: "Mr. Douglas and his murder, how do you know this?"

"Didn't you read what White Mason wrote? There was another official report sent to the police station. It read: Mr. John Douglas was shot and wounded in the head yesterday. It was around 12 o'clock at night. After verification, this is a murder case, but the suspect has not been arrested. I have told everything I know, Mr. Holmes, and tell me your opinion!"

"Now, I can only conjecture. What's the use of this? Our task now is to find out how the murderer and the victim are inextricably linked." The death of the owner

Now to describe what happened before our arrival at the scene of the crime, which we learned later.Only in this way can I make the reader understand the characters and the strange backgrounds that determine their fate.

Let's talk about the environment here first. Birlstone is located in the northernmost part of Susakos. This small village is not very big, but the environment is very good. Over the past few years, it has attracted many foreign tourists, and even some people have moved their homes. over here.With the increase of the population, the rapid development in all aspects, gradually developing towards urbanization, Birlstone is no longer as quiet as before.

Birlstone is located in the jungle area at the edge of the Weald Forest, and to the north is a hilly area. The extension of the Weald Forest to the north is blocked by the hills, and basically ends at Birlstone.Birlstone is the center of the surrounding farm district, and the nearest small town is Tombridge Wools, located to the east of Birlstone and surrounded by the vast Kentish Borderlands.

About half a mile from the village, there is an old park, famous for its tall beech trees, which is the old Birlstone Hall.

Part of Birlstone Manor was built in the era of the First Crusade, which was given to Hugo de Campus by the King of England.At that time, a small castle-like building was built in the center of the manor. Unfortunately, a fire broke out here in 1543, and the castle was destroyed by fire.During the Jacobean period, these ruins were rebuilt, and until now the manor house still retains the characteristics of the seventeenth century architecture, the most prominent is the gable and the small diamond-shaped glass windows.

In addition, it has two moats, the outer river has been dried up and turned into a vegetable garden, and the inner river is still a small trickle, the inner river is not deep, and its width is about 40 feet.Inland rivers are running water, and people don't hate it even though it is not clear.The height from the river surface to the windows on the ground floor of the manor building is only more than one foot. From this, it can be seen that the old masters of the manor are extremely brave.

To get in and out of the manor, you have to pass the drawbridge, the chains on which have rusted over time.However, after repairing by the owner, it can now work normally. The owner of the manor puts down the suspension bridge every day when the sun rises, and lifts it up again when night falls.In this way, the customs of the old feudal era were restored. At night, the manor became an isolated island-this fact was directly related to the case that was about to stir up the whole of England.

If Douglas hadn't chosen it, it might have been left in ruins because no one lived there for many years.

Douglas is about 50 years old, with a square face, a small beard, very sharp eyes, and a slender body that does not appear thin, but is particularly flexible.He was very energetic, like a young man.He often laughs and has a very cheerful personality.All in all, he doesn't look like a mediocre guy.

Douglas is charitable, he often donates to many welfare causes, and often attends large parties held by welfare institutions.His beautiful voice is deeply loved by everyone, and he is also brave and witty, not afraid of danger. At hunting gatherings, he wins every time with bravery and perseverance.Once there was an accident here. The pastor's house suddenly caught fire.But he rushed in from the crowd and rescued some important belongings.

All in all, he has a good reputation here.

(End of this chapter)