"The Widow" Bertha

Early the next morning, Pall Mall.

Bertha awoke because she felt someone ruffling her hair. She opened her eyes, half-sane, and the face of Mycroft Holmes fell into view.

She was half nestled between his arms, and the man's palm was buried in her thick long hair. When she met Bertha's sleepy eyes, Mycroft said, "It's still early, and you can rest for a while."

Long before the two had an actual relationship, Bertha sensed that Mycroft had a preference for her hair.Now men finally got their chance.

"If you hadn't touched my hair," Bertha replied vaguely.

Poking Bertha out of her rest usually didn't work out very well, but Mycroft would probably be an exception.

The man laughed.

He lowered his head and rubbed his cheek against Bertha's temples. The stubble that had grown overnight made contact with his skin a little itchy, but Bertha still didn't want to wake up.

I have to say that the bed in the master bedroom is different from the bed in the guest room.

When Bertha lived in Pall Mall Street, she had never found the bed so comfortable.

Of course, she also admitted that the most important difference was that there was a humanoid heater lying beside her.

Bertha yawned a little, determined to indulge herself, and thrust her head into Mycroft's arms, letting him caress her hair intermittently.

"You don't work?" asked Bertha.

"Today is Sunday," Mycroft held her back, "I need a rest too."

"Okay."

Upon hearing this, Bertha was even more reluctant to get up: "I want to sleep well."

Unfortunately, her lazy plan was soon broken.

There was a knock on the bedroom door, and the butler's voice came from outside the door: "Sir, there are visitors."

Mycroft paused delicately, and then pushed back Bertha who had raised her head before getting up.

"It's not an outsider," he said, "you just need to go on sleeping."

Waiting outside the flat were Sherlock Holmes and Thomas Thames.

The two young men waited outside the door for a while, and then Mycroft's butler opened the door: "Gentlemen, please come in."

Thomas showed a bit of hesitation: "No problem?"

Holmes raised his eyebrows: "It is you who are looking for Mrs. Thames."

But who knew that you took me to the vicinity of Whitehall without saying a word!Thomas groaned inwardly.

Mrs. Thames didn't come home all night last night. Thomas ran to South Bank Street, only to hear Miss Jane Eyre say that she had gone out.In view of the fact that the Italians had been eyeing him lately, Thomas couldn't help feeling worried, so he ran to Holmes' residence and asked him if he had seen his wife.

Unexpectedly, Holmes turned his head and thought for a while, then went out and called a carriage, and took him directly to the door of Mycroft Holmes' house.

Although Bertha has never shy away from her relationship with this gentleman, Thomas still has a subtle sense of embarrassment about breaking into his sister's private life.

However, when he reluctantly followed Holmes into the apartment, he was not the one who started to feel embarrassed.

The butler sent them to the entrance: "Mr. Mycroft is waiting in the study, please go ahead, gentlemen."

Thomas followed Holmes up the stairs. Seeing that Sherlock Holmes' expression became more and more strange, the thin and sharp young detective strode forward, and directly twisted the doorknob of the study——

When he caught sight of Mycroft sitting in the middle of the study, he closed the door again with a bang.

Thomas:? ? ?

"Holmes?"

He was inexplicable: "Are you okay?"

Sherlock Holmes rubbed his forehead: "I want to clean up my memory."

Thomas: "Huh?"

Holmes: "My brother spent the night with your sister."

Thomas' expression was even more strange: "So?"

He immediately understood: this guy came to this conclusion by relying on his frightening reasoning level and seeing countless details in the apartment that should be discovered and should not be discovered.

But the point is, what else can a woman do if she stays at a man's house overnight without sleep, playing chess? !

"I said, Mr. Detective," Thomas joked, "you're so old, aren't you?"

"of course."

Holmes sneered, and shot back: "If you don't see it, the result is just the result."

Thomas: "..."

Well, he understood that the memory he wanted to delete did not refer to the result, but the process Holmes deduced.

After thinking about it, Holmes probably watched the scene.As for how the drastic process can leave traces all over the apartment... Cough cough cough.

"Then tell me after clearing your memory," Thomas suppressed a smile, "Mr. Mycroft is still waiting for us in the study."

Sherlock Holmes heaved a sigh of impatient relief.

After the two people finished chatting outside, they opened the door again, and they were still greeted by Mycroft's polite gesture: "Shirley, Mr. Thames, good morning."

Rao's friendly tone made Thomas a little uncomfortable—every time he saw Mycroft before, he was dressed in suits and leather shoes, carrying a cane, and fully armed.Mycroft, who was sitting behind the desk, was only wearing a shirt, even the top button was unbuttoned, and he was completely at home.

Especially when Holmes just said that, he couldn't help thinking about "what traces did Mr. Mycroft have that made Sherlock react so strongly"——

OK, stop.

Thomas responded in a timely manner and stopped his running thoughts: "I'm here to see Mrs. Thames, sir."

Mycroft has already picked up what Thomas said: "Have you made any progress in investigating the underground sewer?"

Thomas: "Yes."

Just when Mycroft was about to say something, the door of the study was opened again.

Bertha, like Sherlock Holmes, walked in without knocking.She has changed into the dress she usually wears outside, but her thick long hair has not been tied up yet.

Holmes turned his head to look at Bertha, and immediately froze in place: "Damn it!"

Thomas: "...do you need to clear your memory again?"

Even Thomas could see the radiance of the lady's face!

Bertha glanced puzzledly at the two young men with uncomfortable hands and feet, completely ignoring their emotions.

She looked at Mycroft.Looking at each other, without further words, the man has already answered: "The underground waterway."

"it is good."

Bertha nodded: "Why you, Thomas?"

Thomas dutifully replied, "Sikes is standing watch with the Irishman."

Bertha thought for a while, and she was really worried: "I'll go there myself."

Mycroft nodded: "Be careful."

The Jamaican girl stepped forward, walked around the large desk, and leaned in front of Mycroft to kiss him on the cheek: "You too—Thomas, come with me."

She entered the door blatantly, and then took her brother out of the study blatantly, leaving the Holmes brothers facing each other indoors.

Mycroft flipped through the files on the table, tilted his head and asked in concern, "Have you finished deleting?"

Sherlock: "You shut up."

***

Because she was going out, Bertha put yesterday's trousers under her skirt before she left, so as to facilitate her activities.

She tied her hair in a bun and was already working when she stepped out of the apartment. She said to the two young people expressionlessly, "Tell me, what's going on? What's in the sewer?"

However, Thomas still couldn't bear to look directly at him: "Ma'am, where did you... get your change of clothes?"

Bertha: "..."

She lived in Pall Mall before!Of course, the change of clothes has been kept in the guest room and not taken away.

It was Sherlock Holmes who finally answered Bertha.

The young detective finally settled the details that should not have been deduced, and resumed his usual indifferent appearance: "The Irishman found more animal carcasses in the underground waterway, as well as symbols of the Truth Society."

Bertha immediately followed her train of thought: "Do they have a laboratory in the underground sewer?"

Holmes: "I prefer places where animals are kept in captivity."

Bertha: "Take me to see."

The three stopped talking and went straight to the textile factory.

No matter how many disgusting things the Italians did to Bertha, at least Marco Esposito ordered Mr. Hamp to open the door to investigate the case for Mrs. Thames.

When Bertha came, Sikes and the Irishman were squatting near the entrance to the sewer, idly scratching the bottle.

"lady?!"

Seeing that Bertha also came, Sykes showed a surprised look: "Are you going into the sewer too?"

Bertha: "Everyone is here, lead the way."

Before crossing, Bertha had the experience of climbing down the sewer once, and she really didn't want to think about that bad feeling too much.But the corridor-style sewers in the UK are much brighter than her experience, the only constant is the overwhelming stench and disgusting damp.

The ground on the underground river bank is sticky, and the black mud sticks to the soles of the feet and cannot be rubbed off.At first, Bertha was still holding the skirt carefully, but later she simply tied the skirt above her knees and strode forward without caring about her image.

Anyway, the trouser legs are dirty, and nothing can be seen when the skirt is put on.

"Here."

The Irishman limped in front of him and finally stopped.

They stopped at a fork on the river bank, and the front lit up, which should be an open river section.Bertha followed, squeezing into the narrower passage.

After walking less than ten meters, the eyes suddenly opened up.

——As Sherlock Holmes said, what appeared before Bertha was indeed a place where animals were kept in captivity.

If the animal carcasses discovered before only confused Bertha, the scene in front of her also shocked her.

The animals kept in the "indoor" have all died. Under the mysterious symbols all over the semicircular dome, they seem to have walked into an animal cemetery in ancient times.