Shadow of great britain

Wells Hotel second floor.

The room at the crime scene was crowded with people, all of whom were tourists living here.

On Arthur's orders, all travelers were detained at the hotel until the investigation of the crime scene was completed.

The police officers who arrived here in advance had already completed the interrogation of everyone. When Arthur arrived, they just submitted the investigation records in their hands to their superiors.

"Sir, this is the information collected so far, please take a look."

Arthur took the information and did not check it immediately. Instead, he glanced at the layout of the room.

This is a relatively narrow irregular house with simple furnishings, including a bed barely big enough for two people to lie down on, a bedside table for storing miscellaneous items, and an extinguished gas lamp placed on the cabinet.

Directly opposite the door is a wooden sun window with black curtains, and under the window is an iron can about two inches high.

The two deceased were lying on the bed, their faces covered with white cloth, and there were still some yellow and white vomit on the washed white sheets and pillowcases.

Arthur sniffed gently with his nose, and there was indeed a faint smell of gas remaining in the room.

Arthur opened the information in his hand and asked while flipping through it: "Have you checked the body of the deceased?"

The patrolman nodded and said: "After inspection, the deceased did not have any wounds on his body, and there were no signs of a fight at the scene. Therefore, we initially judge that he did not die from a violent crime.

And there is indeed a smell of gas at the site. You may not feel it clearly now, but when we first arrived, the house was full of that smell. It took a long time to open the window to dissipate the smell.

Sir, I think the case is almost closed. It was an accident involving a gas leak. There is nothing left to investigate. "

As soon as the patrol officer finished speaking, the passengers standing outside the door also asked: "That's right! Please close the case quickly. We have been locked up here for more than two hours. Everyone has their own things to do." Woolen cloth!"

The sturdy middle-aged man standing next to the patrolman also said with a smile: "Yes, the guests have things to do, and I have to open the door for business! Mr. Police Officer, you may not know that the rent on Central Street is not It’s cheap, and my monthly profit is only a few days’ worth of rent. If I miss one day of business, I’ll have to pay for it this month.”

Arthur raised his head and looked at the middle-aged man: "So, you are the hotel owner, Mr. Wells?"

The middle-aged man took off his hat and put it on his chest, nodded and bowed: "Nice to meet you, Inspector Hastings."

Arthur closed the information book and asked, "How do you know I am a police inspector and not a sergeant?"

"Uh..." Wells paused, then pointed to Arthur's epaulette and said, "You have stars hanging on them. I remember that the police chiefs all have three V's. That's how I saw it."

"Oh, really?" Arthur returned the information book to the patrolman on the side: "I thought you heard about it from my colleagues, but I didn't expect that you actually know how to recognize Scotland Yard's epaulettes. What's the matter? Have you ever worked at Scotland Yard before?"

"Uh..." Wells's smile froze, but he quickly waved his hand and denied, "No, no, no, I haven't worked at Scotland Yard, but I have a nephew who used to stay there, and I got it from him. I heard it there.”

When Arthur heard this, he didn't continue to ask. He just stared at Wells, then walked into the room and lifted the white cloth covering the face of the deceased.

The face of the deceased was covered with pale makeup, and under the pale skin, it could be seen that her face was slightly purple and blue.

Arthur frowned and thought for a while, and he suddenly remembered some knowledge about chemical gases that they had privately exchanged after Faraday's lecture that day.

He stretched out two fingers to pry open the deceased's closed mouth, put his nose up and sniffed, and found a faint sweet smell in the deceased's mouth.

When the onlookers onlookers saw this situation, they couldn't help but wonder: "What is this for?"

"Mr. Police Officer, hurry up, we are all in a hurry."

But where the tourists didn't notice, the hotel owner Wells opened his eyes slightly in fear.

But Arthur ignored them and walked straight to the hotel owner Wells.

"Mr. Wells, you said in your testimony that the deceased died from a gas leak?"

Arthur's body was blocked between the window and Wells. The room was filled with sunlight, but when he came to Wells, all he saw were shadows.

Wells' Adam's apple twitched slightly. He swallowed and nodded slowly: "Yes, I think they may have died from a gas leak."

"Why do you think so?"

When Wells heard this, his eyes slowly widened, and he suddenly said angrily: "Isn't this a matter on the table! A person died, and there was a smell of gas in the house. What else could be the reason besides a gas leak?

Officer, do you know how to investigate the case? If you don't, then find someone else who can! There are so many police officers at Scotland Yard, can't you find one who can do it?

You might as well call the old police chief here. He does a great job. Young people like you should learn from him! "

"Old Sheriff? You mean Willocks?" Arthur suddenly smiled: "What kind of case did he handle?"

Wells spat angrily: "What to do! You are a policeman, and you still ask me how to handle the case? Damn it! Efficient, fast, and not delaying business, this kind of police officer is what we poor citizens want. needs!"

After saying this, he did not forget to shout to the passengers behind him: "Do you think what I said is true?"

Agares, who had been watching the play from the window, couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh when he saw this scene. His tongue almost touched the ground.

The red devil ridiculed: "This idiot! He almost wrote the words 'I killed the person' on his face. He got angry when his little trick was exposed. I can't think of anything other than 'incompetent'." An adjective to describe him."

The onlookers were also baffled by Wells's unreasonable rage.

Someone tried to smooth things over and said, "Mr. Police Officer, that's about it. You see, Mr. Wells has lost his temper."

"It's just an ordinary accident, nothing to investigate."

When Arthur saw this scene, he didn't say much, but calmly said to the police officer beside him: "Bring Wells, the hotel owner, back to the police station."

Several police officers were stunned at first, but at the critical moment, Tom and Tony reacted quickly. They rushed forward and pushed Wells to the ground one from the left and the other from the right.

Wells waved his arms angrily on the ground. He put his foot three inches below Tony's navel and struggled to get up and escape.

Tony was in pain for a moment, and rolled to the side along the floor while holding his belly. As he rolled, he cursed: "Damn it! What are you doing standing still? Press him down quickly. Damn it! I'm not married yet..."

The other police officers also reacted at this time. Four or five people swarmed up and suppressed Wells like a stack of robbers.

Wells roared with red eyes: "Why do you arrest me? I didn't kill anyone!"

Arthur knelt down and asked, "Did I say you killed someone?"

"I..." As soon as Arthur said this, the curse words that came to Wells' mouth were suddenly blocked in his throat.

The passengers were shocked on the spot by the sudden scene in front of them. They didn't know why the situation that was peaceful one second suddenly became like this.

"Police officer, can you explain to us what happened?"

Arthur said, pointing to the two dead men lying on the bed.

“As far as I know, if the deceased died of gas poisoning, there should be a strong foul smell remaining in her mouth.

But just now, not only did I not smell the foul smell from the deceased's mouth, but I smelled a slightly sweet breath.

Moreover, the deceased's face did not have the cherry-red spots consistent with gas poisoning, but turned slightly blue and purple. Not only did this not look like gas poisoning, but it looked like he died of suffocation.

Therefore, I plan to invite Mr. Wells back to the police station for further investigation. But I don't know why Mr. Wells suddenly got angry, and I wonder about it. "

At this point, Arthur turned his head to Wells: "I have explained everything I need to explain. Can you now explain to me the reason for your anger?"

When the passengers heard this, they also fell silent one by one. They looked at Wells with suspicion, and whispers came and went.

"Oh my God! So this could be a murder?"

"The hotel owner killed two prostitutes?"

"I..." Wells' lips trembled, his mind was in a mess, and his whole body was trembling: "I, I thought you wanted to arrest me, Mr. Officer, this is all a misunderstanding."

Arthur shrugged: "I also hope that this is all a misunderstanding. Before everything comes to light, I also tend to think that you are innocent. Therefore, in order to find out the truth, please cooperate as much as possible."

He held out his hand to Wells.

Wells forced an ugly smile, and before he could hold Arthur's hand, he heard Arthur's voice ringing again.

"Send someone immediately to the London Gas Lighting and Coke Company in Westminster. The gas canister placed by the window has their label on it. Go and find out when it was delivered.

In addition, immediately send people to nearby stores to inquire and ask if they are selling nitrous oxide. If they sell it, ask for their ledger to see if anyone has purchased it in large quantities recently.

By the way, it also has another name, "laughing gas". The taste of this stuff is slightly sweet. If you take it too much, it will have a strong anesthetic effect, and the symptoms will be the same as those of the victim.

I deduced that the victim probably drank too much of this substance, causing him to lose consciousness, and was finally suffocated to death with a pillow on the bed.

You were too careless when you investigated the scene. Two people lived in a room, but there was only one pillow in the room. Why wasn't this kind of thing written down in the investigation records?

besides……"

The more Wells listened, the more he felt chilled all over. His lips and teeth were trembling. He lost all strength and collapsed on the ground like mud.

Arthur glanced at him and asked with a smile: "Mr. Wells, don't worry, I still don't know why the criminal wanted to kill. Do you know anything about this? Nitrous oxide is not cheap, and Lost a can of gas.

By the way, you mentioned Willocks just now. You said he had come to investigate before. Did a similar case happen in this hotel before? "