[Sherlock Holmes] The Rose and the Thorn

After scouting the situation in the house, Holmes bid farewell to Ms. Stoner for the time being.

Due to the fact that she is currently disguised as a man, and considering that she is Holmes' assistant, Claire held back and did not continue to pester her.It wasn't until they were on the way to the hotel that she said with a little displeasure:

"Sir, when we came out with you, you didn't seem to mention spending the night..."

"Well, I think this trip should bring you good inspiration for your writing." Holmes said lightly, helping his hat.

"But..." Claire swallowed the second half of the sentence, she thought maybe things were not as bad as she imagined.So she calmed herself down for a while, and the detective, thinking she accepted the explanation, began to discuss the case with her:

"Honestly, it's a nasty case," he said. "Did you notice that knotted rope? And that safe."

"Yes, sir." Claire nodded, "but I can't see any problem from that." She temporarily forgot the unhappiness in her heart, and after she finished speaking, Holmes raised his eyebrows:

"Well...you didn't see it?" He turned to look at Claire, "They and that little hole form a perfect mechanism."

"...Is that so?" Claire tilted her head. She was also wearing a hat. Under the wide brim, her expression of thought was not inferior to Holmes' concentration. The baboons and the cheetahs I kept." Claire raised her head for Holmes' opinion after speaking.

"No, no, no, that's just a cover, Claire." Holmes said, "You should infer the truth more from the conditions on the spot. Of course you should pay attention to the extra conditions, but sometimes, they can also become things that disturb your judgment." The detective walked with her in the field of thorns, and they tried to avoid those plants as much as possible, and walked towards the wide ridge road.

Claire didn't speak. So far, she is still not used to him calling her name.This strange feeling haunted her all the time, making her panic for a while every time she heard this name.She felt that she should try to get used to this feeling.So she adjusted her mentality before continuing:

"But I... still can't seem to find the key point..." Claire finished with a little apology, but Holmes glanced at her with a smug smile:

"You'll understand tonight," he said, turning his head again. "Speaking of which, your pistol may really be useful tonight."

"Hey?"

"Tonight's adventure is absolutely dangerous."

Clare was dubious, and at the end of the conversation, Claire saw the hotel that Holmes had booked in advance.It's a good hotel, but what Claire noticed was that Holmes only booked one room:

"No... er, I mean no need to order two?" She even asked suggestively when she and Holmes stood at the front desk.

"It's okay for guests, our rooms have two beds, which can accommodate two people." The shop owner was completely unaware of her unspeakable suffering, and introduced enthusiastically.

Claire didn't know how to refute.On the one hand, she was wearing men's clothes and had no reason to refute, on the other hand, it seemed a bit strange to refute in front of the shop owner.So she had no choice but to hold back her opinion with depression, but she stood silently behind her and looked at Holmes with contempt in her eyes.

"Are you sure there is only one room?" The shop owner may have noticed her gaze, and when he asked Holmes for his opinion, his tone was not confident at all.

"Just one room." The detective was not impetuous. After saying this, he paid the money and walked towards the room.

"Mr. Detective, you didn't forget my disguise..." Claire, who was following behind him, finally opened the conversation after leaving the front desk.

"Yeah, but Claire, when you didn't treat me as a man, I also didn't treat you as a woman." He suddenly stopped and looked at the woman beside him expressionlessly. The type of remarks made Claire unable to react for a while:

"That's...Mrs. Barker..."

"Ah, yes. So from my point of view, the second half of the sentence is also valid, right? Relatively speaking."

"You say I don't look like a woman? I'm already married!" Claire argued, and the waiter who came from the distance in the corridor glanced at them, and Claire silenced her voice.

"It's as innocent and childish as if it's never been married." After Holmes finished speaking, he finally turned the lock on the door in front of him. Claire followed into the room, and finally raised the decibel after closing the door:

"You... what did you say?"

"I don't even see the relationship between the small hole in the house, the knotted rope and the safe, isn't it stupid enough?" When Holmes said this, there was still some absurdity in his eyes, but Claire was slightly taken aback .

She thought that this guy would use Hudson to stab herself, but she didn't expect him to say something irrelevant. Inexplicably, Claire felt a little comforted.But she was never willing to give up the cheapness of her mouth:

"Normal people can't see it, right? Otherwise, how could Miss Stoner, who lives with her stepfather every day, not discover the mystery?"

"So your head is just as mediocre as theirs, Clare." Holmes said, pointing to his own temple, which seemed even more exasperating.

"You..." Claire almost spat out blood, but she didn't want Holmes to succeed too early, so she cleverly changed the subject, "I don't want to argue with you on this point, but sir, although I pretend to be you assistant, but after all we are different between men and women, so there is something wrong with staying in the same room, right?"

"So what are you worried about?"

"..." Claire expressed helplessness at his ignorance, "Isn't this... an obvious thing?"

Holmes just shrugged his shoulders at her, and then turned to look at the window of the room.

"Sir, I am a married woman, and we stay together..." She wanted to argue further, but Holmes had already turned his attention to other matters.He focused on pointing in a certain direction outside the window, and then interrupted the woman:

"Can you see the house there?"

Only then did Claire stop her questioning, and after poking her head out to see the buildings in the distance, her attention was finally attracted to that house:

"Where Ms. Stoner lives?"

"Well, her candles will be brightly lit in that house across the bramble country after dark," explained Holmes.

Claire looked down at the thorn field between their hotel and the villa.The dangerous feeling made her swallow involuntarily.

"Then when can we go there again?" Claire asked in a low voice.

"After nine, I suppose," said Holmes, and sat down in a chair by the window.

"What about dinner?"

"I have already made a reservation, and the hotel staff will deliver it." Holmes said, "If possible, Claire, you should really make good use of your leisure time from now until evening." He turned his head to look at the woman not far away, said with a smile.

"..." Claire bent down, looked at Holmes on the chair for a moment, and then seemed to recall the unhappiness before, she straightened up quickly, and looked at him with a stern look, "You have been here since the beginning. Just changing the subject, sir?" Clare folded her hands on her chest and frowned slightly.

"Well, is there?" Holmes raised his eyes. He leaned back in his chair with his usual air of conceit.

Claire took a deep breath, she didn't think it was very interesting to entangle this issue, she either accepted this arrangement, or found another way, such as re-booking a suite or something.

But thinking about spending money, Claire felt a little bit reluctant.In short, I didn't see him as a man, and since he didn't see himself as a woman, things shouldn't get out of hand.

"Well, since that's the case, it's better to take a break!" After all, it was predictable that Claire would be exhausted due to the bumps on the carriage and the brainstorming of such a bizarre case.She is of course different from Holmes, she is not like this man, whose daily occupation requires him to have endurance, but she is just a somewhat unhappy married woman, her health will only worsen, and her physical strength will be weaker due to lack of exercise. a lot.

So she walked towards one of the beds as she spoke, and sat sideways on the bed.

Then there was a tug-of-war between them. For a long time, the room was surrounded by twilight and silence.It was not until much later that Claire raised her eyes:

"Sir, when I think about it now, it's really impossible for me to break up with Oswald." Perhaps for Claire, it is natural to like to take risks, but she will enter Holmes's life of solving crimes so readily, It's actually kind of weird:

"..." Holmes propped his chin, his eyes looked out of the window, his face was painted a light orange by the setting sun, in fact, he also understood Claire's situation very well in his heart, "he will be arrested sooner or later, when he When you lose your reputation, maybe you can get a chance to break up with him." He was a little vague, but they all understood that in the British Empire, unless the spouse died, a woman must obtain a man's consent before divorcing him.

Closing her eyes, Claire took a deep breath, knowing that it would be a bad idea for her to bring up the subject, but she also knew that as soon as the world was quiet, all of Oswald would be on her mind.It made her miserable and confused.

"Claire, you seem to be using these stimulating things to help you forget everything about Hudson." After a while, Holmes' voice broke the silence.

"...Maybe." Claire covered her cheek with one hand, and she faced her knees, looking very disappointed.

"I don't care what you think, but Claire, it's like you're torturing yourself with my case."

"Could it be, sir, do you feel guilty?" Claire raised her head teasingly, only to realize that Holmes had already turned her eyes away from the window leisurely.Claire didn't know whether he was escaping or not, but the woman knew that his awkward words meant caring.

"You came here voluntarily, why should I feel guilty?" Holmes shrugged and said this with a smile.

There was silence between them for a while, and the sunlight outside the window passed over Claire's face, as if it could illuminate her entire face.The lashes on Holmes' eyelids seemed to have been coated with gold powder, and a flicker would drop a flake of it.

"Holmes, do you understand what 'severe pain' means? Being betrayed by the person I trusted most, not only that, but also knowing that he is a terrible person in character, I even feel sad and angry for believing in him .”

Holmes turned his head, and Claire saw that half of his body was golden, while the other half was cut into shadow.It makes him look deep and lonely:

"I haven't been through it, but I've seen many, worse than this, Claire."

"..." Claire pursed her lips, and it wasn't long before she leaned on the bed with a smile, and then said mockingly, "Yeah, I should have expected it earlier."

"I hate discussing emotional matters. It makes people seem irrational and even affects thinking. But Claire, I still want to tell you that no matter who encounters this kind of thing, it will not be indifferent. So your behavior is not surprising , and what you have to do is how can you shorten the blow and the shadow on your soul." Holmes put forward his own thoughts, and Claire finally turned his eyes away:

"I am very grateful that you are willing to chat with me for so long, sir. If it was Watson, maybe I would not say this sentence of gratitude, but if you are willing to discuss relationship issues with me for so long, I still have to express Thank you." Claire said this sincerely, and she smiled at him with her lips pursed.

"Maybe your situation is special, Claire. If someone else said it, maybe I really don't want to hear more about his emotional disputes. But madam, since you are my landlord, I think I have to give Yours." Holmes joked, "But don't doubt me, I really didn't persuade you to break up with Hudson just to keep this apartment."

"Hehehe..." Claire chuckled, "Mr. Holmes, I don't have the strength to defend Oswald anymore. Ever since that threatening letter appeared, I have..." She covered the matter with her hands. Face, "Let's put it this way, sir, I haven't told you before, but now that I think about it, it's really suspicious."

Holmes looked at her, and the woman continued:

"Actually, Oswald has never allowed anyone to enter his study." She said, "I agreed with this from the very beginning. He is a top student in the law department and has many books on law. His I have never been in the study room, but I know that the bookcases extending from the ceiling to the floor are full of thick books."

"..." Holmes stared at her in silence.

"But he didn't allow me to touch any of them. I thought it was his job, so I never took it to heart." Claire said, "He has his own secrets. In fact, I have some too. It's a secret he doesn't know at all. I thought it was just a reciprocal condition, but I didn't expect that maybe I gave him an opportunity to take advantage of it, and it was irresponsible to myself..."

"When you see the germination, you should find a way to figure it out. It is not a good thing to let it go." After Holmes finished speaking, the corners of his mouth finally curled up. "But Claire, don't think about him anymore. If you can, you should take care of him." Take a break. I think a stable mentality will also be a good condition for tonight's event."

The woman nodded, and when she relaxed her whole body, she finally closed her eyes.

The author has something to say: Like the title of the chapter, this chapter is really a heart-to-heart chapter!

Then I tried to draw a set of postcards before cp13 because I wanted to die. The update here will be a little slower, about three to four updates a week (in fact, it is updated four times a week now), but I will guarantee not to abandon the pit, Hope you guys can continue to support =33333=

alo threw a mine

Thank you Bawang Ticket~