"The Widow" Bertha

find her?

What else can I do to find Bertha? Last time when he failed to touch porcelain, Bertha had made it very clear: Thomas can marry whoever he wants, as long as he doesn't cause trouble, Bertha will not interfere at all.

Kitty was a clever girl, and she should understand what Bertha meant by that.

It means that there is no need to use a roundabout policy to come over to force her, or to curry favor with her, it is meaningless.To marry Thomas Thames, go to Thomas himself.

Bao Buqi, just now Thomas ran away suddenly because he saw Katie.

Bertha silently looked at the young girl in front of her. She was dressed in black, and this attire silently announced her intention: "You are here to attend Martha Garrison's funeral."

"Yes."

"Why don't you go in?" asked Bertha.

"Because... Martha and I don't really know each other," she replied. "Just watch it from a distance. It doesn't make sense for other people to know that I'm coming to the funeral."

Katie smiled almost sadly: "She's not Mrs. Raton's girl, at best she lives very close. It's just a relationship like this because they know each other's names."

Under the rain, the girl holding a black umbrella maintained a polite smile, but the sadness in her eyes could hardly be restrained.

She didn't seem to want to lose her composure so that Mrs. Thames would feel that she was extravagantly affected by being sorry for a stranger, so the young girl covered in black veil lowered her head to avoid the other's staring gaze: "But how to say... let's be sad, ma'am. I am the same person as she is, at best I am younger than her."

But the more she avoided, the more Bertha felt that the grief was real.

For whom?Naturally, not for the unfamiliar Martha Garrison, but for herself.There are prostitutes dying on the street today, who knows if it will be their turn tomorrow.

Again, if there is no way out, there is another girl, especially a beautiful and young girl like Katie, who is willing to do this kind of business in Whitechapel.

"Let's get down to business, ma'am," Katie didn't want to play the sympathy card with Bertha, "I'm here to discuss the last deal with you."

well.

If she played the emotional card with Bertha, Bertha would definitely turn around and leave. If it's business, then we can talk about it.

This actually gave Bertha a rare appreciation for Katie.

"What do you want to talk about?" Bertha asked with interest.

"Mrs. Raton doesn't want to agree to your terms," ​​Katie replied, "Now you know, she is a good friend of Lambert Byrne, but she lives in your place, Madam, and she has a backer, so she doesn't want to take risks." .Now it’s delicious and delicious. With the protection of my old lover, why should I be your eyes and ears.”

This is not surprising.

Bertha knew that Mrs. Raton would not agree to her conditions easily-Mrs. Thames wanted the entire brothel to become her "intelligence agency".It sounds beautiful, but it is extremely difficult to do.

After all, the prostitutes under Mrs. Raton's hands are not trained, and Bertha's lip service, the responsibility falls on Mrs. Raton, which is completely thankless business.

"But?" Bertha turned her head to the side. Since Katie came to the door, it proved that there was still room for turning things around.

"But I would."

Katie whispered: "There are other young girls who are willing, and we may be able to avoid Mrs. Raton and do things for you, madam."

At this point, Bertha probably understood.

She pretended to be surprised: "Why? If this matter is exposed and offends your madam, you will still benefit."

Bertha made things difficult on purpose, but Katie smiled instead, her sad expression was finally reduced a bit, revealing her usual shrewdness.

"It's not about you, Mrs. Thames," said Katie, "I heard you never let your boys suffer, so I reckon... you don't let your girls suffer either, do you?" ?”

She is indeed a smart girl.

Bertha curled her lips when she heard the words: "But why do I trust you? Today you can find me behind Madam Raton's back, and tomorrow you can find another backer behind my back."

"Of course, ma'am," Katie didn't hide her motives at all, "but the premise is that I can find a second backer."

After finishing speaking, she smiled again, this time the smile was tainted with imperceptible sadness again: "We just don't want to be the second Martha Garrison."

"I'll get it straight, ma'am. The gangs come and go in Whitechapel, but you're the only one who notices us," Katie continued. "Maybe it's because you're a woman too. Everyone says there's a If you want to come to the Whitechapel area, it’s just a stepping stone for a bigger force. If we don’t catch you in time, how many people who come later will be able to notice the prostitutes in the red light district like you.”

Bertha understood what Katie was thinking.

How could a beautiful and intelligent girl like her be willing to be a prostitute at the bottom of society?If he hadn't thought about himself when he was young, he would have ended up worse than Martha Garrison when he was old and sick.

So she chose Thomas "Pengci" and wanted to marry a promising young man so that she could get away with nothing.When a plan fails, Katie realizes that neither Bertha nor Thomas is good enough to accept calculations, so she chooses to take refuge in Mrs. Thames.

Join if you can't beat it, it's very simple.

As she said, Mrs. Thames would still treat her girls badly.I can't marry Thomas Thames today, and I have secretly passed clues to Bertha for several years. It is somewhat easier for them to put on clothes and go ashore.

It's just that Bertha's boat is not so easy to get on.

"You think well, Katie," she said with emotion. "You can think about your own future, and you know how to pull other girls around your age. You are a smart person."

"Wonderful praise, ma'am."

"But have you considered it?" Bertha curled her lips, with a half-smile, "I have a lot of resources at hand. You are just icing on the cake for me. In fact, you don't have the capital to negotiate terms with me at all? If it wasn't for Laton Madam said in person, is it a bit too much for granted that you sneaked here and asked me to trust you?"

"Of course I wouldn't be that naive."

Faced with Bertha's deliberate opposition, Katie was neither panic nor anxious.

She pinched the handle of the umbrella she was holding, as if shrinking from Bertha's aggression, but Katie held back before matters related to her future.

"I...I know," she took a deep breath, "you don't have to trust me, madam. We want to please you, so instead of talking here, it's better to wait for our actual actions. If we really do it for you in the future I have delivered useful news, how about you consider accepting us again?"

"That depends on your actions."

"Thank you."

Katie smiled, and then said seriously: "Then now, I have a useful clue to tell you."

This... was somewhat beyond Bertha's expectation.

She came here not only to please herself, but also to bring dry goods.It seemed that the girl was determined to go ashore.

Actually Bertha didn't like Katie very much.

As soon as they met, they came here on the basis of calculations, and no one would like it.

But today's words, Katie showed a kind of desire that belongs to the people at the bottom of the society, and she will die to struggle to survive.This made Bertha feel a bit of respect in her heart.

No one is having a good time.

"Say," began Bertha, "I'm listening."

She took a deep breath and made up her mind: "Actually, someone saw Martha on the night of the incident."

Bertha shivered: "Why don't you tell...forget it."

Of course, they would not tell the police that the poor in Whitechapel had a natural resistance to Scotland Yard. For them, government officials worked for decent people, and the poor and the police were almost antagonistic.

Under such conditions of natural lack of trust, even if there are witnesses, they will choose to keep silent.

"Tell me," sighed Bertha, "what did you see?"

"I didn't see much either."

Katie replied in a low voice: "Landa, who lives in the same room as me, went to draw the curtains before going to bed, and then ran back as if frightened. We all thought she saw a mouse or other animals, but didn't take it seriously." Randa didn't say until the next day that she saw Martha being held hostage by something that night—"

"what?"

"She said she didn't see clearly," Katie said, with a somewhat confused look on her face, "it was dark and the size of a human being, but it was on all fours, dragging Martha into the alley. She Say, it might be a man-eating monster."

"..."

monster?

Martha Garrison did die in an alley near Mrs. Latton's residence, and the crime location basically matched, but...

Such eyewitness testimony was completely beyond Bertha's imagination. The autopsy results were very clear that Martha Garrison was killed by an educated male who possessed rich knowledge of anatomy.

Things on all fours, whether they are beasts or ghosts, whether they eat people or not, they will never hold a knife, or even cut their throats with precision.

"Landa can see clearly, are you willing to swear on your testimony?"

Bertha's tone couldn't help but be a little more serious: "I don't intend to intimidate you, Katie, what Landa said is completely different from the clues I have so far. I need her to swear to be responsible for what she said."

"Ma'am, I don't understand what you mean."

"I mean," said Bertha gravely, "if she's not lying, it proves that the case is more complicated than I expected."

Although the original case was horrific, it looked relatively simple on the surface.After the basic autopsy, they had drawn up profile portraits, and what Bertha cared about was nothing more than the connection behind the case.

But the sudden "eyewitness testimony" made the case more complicated and confusing.

Bertha planned to notify Sherlock Holmes who was in charge of the investigation tomorrow, but what she didn't expect was that on the night of Martha Garrison's burial, the situation changed again.

Bertha had fallen asleep in the middle of the night, when there was a quick knock on the door, she opened her eyes and saw that Mycroft had risen.

"It's the postman." The eldest son of the Holmes family touched Bertha's hair lightly, as if to comfort, as if to remind him, "I'll go downstairs first, you take your time."

The postman, who was still in uniform, seemed to come to the door simply for an urgent telegram.Mycroft ushered him in, and Bertha threw on her coat and went down the stairs hastily, her hair uncombed.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"lady."

Mr. Postman, who has always been calm and strives to maintain a low sense of presence, rarely shows traces of fear on his plain face.

"Something... gouged Martha Garrison's grave," he said.