Sherlock Holmes

"She died from being penetrated through the chest. The murder weapon was the big iron nail. The murderer nailed her directly to the door. Her lungs and stomach were punctured. Her death was very painful." Gregson said, pointing to the nail in the chest of the deceased. : “Then the murderer nailed her hands and feet to the door, but the door was too narrow, so one side of the limb was nailed directly to the wall.

It's such an obvious situation

Oh, I think it should be emphasized that the door of this room is still locked, and the key is hung around the neck of the deceased. There are no windows in the entire room. Of course, in such an old building, there cannot be any secret passages or the like. , the only way in and out of the room is this door. "

Gregson's description of the murder scene was not like Hopkins's. He just briefly mentioned the most critical points, and then started weakly:

"So, how did the murderer get out after he finished all this?"

Sherlock did not answer the question. He just walked towards the body, then raised his drooping arm and looked carefully at the big hole penetrated by the nail in his hand:

"Rather than how the murderer got out, what I care more about is, if the deceased was nailed to the other side of the door, how did you get in?"

"Kicked him away." Gregson said simply and directly: "At that time, in order to find the deceased, we tracked down the building and caught a few homeless people in the building. We asked if there were any homeless people in the building these days. Did something unusual happen?

The homeless people said that something was wrong with the innermost room on the seventh floor. There was a big nail sticking out of the door.

However, the people living here are all the poorest people in the city, as well as a large number of drug addicts who have some brain problems due to taking hallucinogens, so there is a big nail on the door, maybe someone is high. It happened in a daze, but the people in this building never paid attention to it.

Then, I came over with a group of people. When there was no response when I knocked on the door, of course I kicked the door open. "

Sherlock nodded, he really appreciated this almost unreasonable style of handling cases.

"So, you only saw this body after you kicked the door open, right?"

"." Gregson frowned, not quite understanding the meaning of Sherlock's words, but still nodded.

He thought this was nonsense, because there was no one here who could see through walls. Of course, he saw the body after opening the door. Besides, as long as the murder occurred indoors, it was not always after opening the door. Can we see the body?

After seeing the other party's affirmative nod, Sherlock seemed satisfied, then turned his head and shook the door a few times.

In fact, this is a very old wooden door. It is estimated that the age can be traced back to before the second demonic invasion. Moreover, after more than 30 years of decay, as well as the long-term fog and moisture erosion in the city of London, the upper and lower edges of the wooden door have become There was a slight retraction, resulting in a gap of a few millimeters between the door frame and the door frame. Fortunately, the position of the door lock has not changed with the years, which means that the door still has the ability to unlock the door only with the key. Lock the door from the outside】This function.

But the key was hung on the chest of the deceased, and the deceased was nailed behind the door panel. In other words, this was not only a secret room, but also a double secret room. Unless the murderer could crush himself into a meatloaf less than half a centimeter wide and get through Enter through the crack in the door, otherwise, no one can get in, and no one can get out.

It was dark, and in the small courtyard of the villa where Nightingale was staying, and in the temporary barracks, Hopkins felt increasingly anxious.

The body of the stage actor had been found, but he did not go to see it, because compared to these people, Miss Nightingale's safety was the most important, and he had to guard it here.

After midnight, the day is over.

In two days, Nightingale would face the impending murder. No one knew what form her murder would take, let alone how to avoid it.

A sealed room won't work.

It's not okay to hide somewhere where no one knows.

In fact, Hopkins had previously thought about recruiting a group of third-level combat contractors from the Adjudication Division to surround Nightingale. This way, people would not be murdered.

But then I thought about whether this method of protection was providing convenience to the Ripper in disguise. If he got into these contractors, he would be able to kill Miss Nightingale with just one hand. , wouldn’t he become a sinner through the ages?

The more I thought about it, the more annoyed and anxious I became. I subconsciously wanted to pick up the coffee at hand and take a sip, but I found that the coffee cup was already empty.

She was about to call Natasha to pour herself another glass.

The curtain of the barracks was lifted, and Sherlock, Watson, and Gregson walked into the temporary office one after another.

"You went quite quickly." He said with some confusion.

"The room is very small, just like a coffin. I'll leave the evidence collection to the people below, and we'll be back." Gregson tiredly let himself sink into the sofa, and then threw a folder onto the sofa. On the desk: "Inside are the photos of the scene that were taken just now. If you feel that you are not exhausted so quickly, you can take a look and help you think about how the murderer disappeared out of thin air after killing people."

Hopkins picked up the file bag on the table, pulled out the photos inside, and looked at them one by one. The search personnel of these Royal Investigation Team are quite professional. There are even small notes with notes on each photo. Even without going to the scene of the crime, they can roughly piece together the situation where the crime occurred.

Of course, after looking at it for a while, he threw the photo on the table in frustration and leaned back in his chair. It could be seen that the previous case had brought his energy to a point where he was about to collapse. On the edge, he simply couldn't bear to study this new case again.

at this time

"Hey, I suddenly thought of something." Sherlock turned his head without warning, looked at Hopkins and asked: "I remember you said a few days ago that once, the Inquisition escorted someone on the list. A man who was about to be murdered appeared and took a steam train to transport him to a safer place. At that time, you were sitting opposite his seat.

But during the process, you passed a lake and your eyes were dazzled by the light reflected by the setting sun.

In less than half a second when you subconsciously closed your eyes and opened them again, the person in front of you had his throat cut. "

Hopkins didn't know why Sherlock suddenly asked this question, but he still nodded and responded: "Yes, right in front of me, the murder was completed in an instant."

"I still remember that you said there were six other heavily armed soldiers in the carriage at that time."

"Yes, although everyone thinks that the Ripper will not sneak in quietly on a high-speed train, some people are still arranged to watch on the carriages, and even in the two carriages before and after, there are Some deacons from the Judgment Department are standing guard, so if the murderer does show up, they will be caught in time."

Sherlock listened to these narratives that he had already heard on the first day he came here, and slowly lit a cigarette: "Maybe I forgot, but you seem to have never said, where were you planning to bring this dead man from?" Where to transport it?"

"Well, it was transported from downtown London to a military base more than 300 kilometers outside the city. I wonder if you still remember that when you participated in the Darwin resuscitation experiment, the results were displayed at that place."

"Oh, so that's where it is. The safety factor there is indeed higher than that of London." Sherlock muttered to himself, then threw the cigarette butt to the ground and stamped it out: "So, you have Didn’t find a very strange problem.”

This understatement of the question made several other people in the office startled: "What's the problem?"

Several people asked almost in unison.

"That's it. The Ripper, his killing habits seem to be changing all the time."