Detective Bennet [Comprehensive novel]

"Miss Nicole, where did you see the stars last night, do you remember when you saw them?"

Kelsey asked bluntly, "Why do you think it's bad to see the stars, that would make your father a star too?"

No stars last night, what did Nicole see?

In addition, throughout the year, there may be many days when Ni looks up at the starry sky.Why would she associate the stars with her father's death?

"The woods, I see the stars in the woods from the window."

Nicole said bluntly, "Last night, there was a lot of noise at home. After the adults left, I still couldn't sleep. I sat by the window and waited for the stars. I don't know how long, there will be stars in the woods."

Thinking of the second question, Nicole tightly grasped the corners of her clothes with both hands, and kept shaking her head, "The stars are not good. Good children will not touch the stars if they stay indoors."

Hearing this, Kelsey probably understood.

Nicole said that the stars are not the same before and after. The stars in the sky are not scary, but they are completely different in the woods.

What kind of stars can a wood have?

In the dark night, a clump of fire in the forest was blown out by the wind.From a distance, it might be another kind of star that Nicole thinks.

To verify the guess, Kelsey made a gesture of striking a match to Sherlock at the stairs.

"Miss Nicole, can you come out and recognize the stars? I'll go ahead, it won't hurt you."

Kelsey stretched out her hand to Nicole who was half-covering the door, waiting patiently for a response from the timid and childish, hoping that Nicole would go to the corridor to confirm.

The corridor of Angus's house is horizontal L-shaped.

There was also no sunlight for a period of time during the day, and a dark shadow formed.

Sherlock also thought of what the so-called stars in the woods were, and quickly closed the curtains on the corridor.

The corner of the dim corridor immediately turned into darkness.In the darkest corner, he took out his matchbox.

"Father said Nicole couldn't go out alone."

Nicole said and grabbed Kelsey by the corner of her clothes, "It's fine if someone takes it with you, but you can't leave the house unless you have father's permission."

Kelsey didn't correct Nicole's actions.

It was watching Nicole step out of the room cautiously, and she unconsciously glanced at both sides of the corridor every time she took a step. This curious look undoubtedly showed that she rarely went out.

'Cha-'

The match was lit.

"what!"

When Nicole caught a glimpse of the fire in the dark corner, she immediately hid behind Kelsey, squatted down and did not dare to move again. "Stars, they are stars. I don't like these kinds of stars."

Sherlock put out the match and drew the curtains again.

The corner of the corridor is no longer dark and dark.Now, it is also confirmed that after the dance last night, some people went to the grove across the river.

Who, go to the woods without sleep in the middle of the night?

Orr woke up in the morning and went to the river, and did it have something to do with going to the grove?

Obviously, Nicole couldn't answer these two questions.

Kelsey turned to ask Nicole something more, but Nicole scuttled back into the room like a frightened rabbit.

Not closed.

Nicole half-hid and half-hid behind the door, poking her head out and said to Kelsey, "I'm not going out anymore, don't look at the stars anymore."

"Okay, don't go out."

Kelsey slowed down her tone, walked towards Nicole unhurriedly, and smiled gently at her, "It's fine for Nicole to stay in the room. At night, aren't there any stars in Nicole's room?"

Why does the firelight in the dark bring disgust and panic to Nicole?Lights are always on at night, aren't they?

"The stars in the house are different, and the house is safe."

Nicole took it for granted, "The outside is not good, it is a bad star."

Both are candle lights, what is the difference between them?

Kelsey questioned patiently, trying to find clues from Nicole's confused thinking.

There is always a reason for an abnormal emotion. Even Nicole, who is mentally retarded, also has reasons for her behavior habits.

Nicole couldn't tell the difference, couldn't tell when she hated the lights outside, she tried hard but couldn't figure it out.

"what--"

Nicole hugged her head, shook it vigorously, and finally looked at Kelsey helplessly. "I don't know, I can't remember, I just don't want to see that kind of star."

"It's okay, if we can't remember it, we won't think about it."

Kelsey patted the back of Nicole's hand, gave her a moment to breathe slowly, and turned to other topics. "Who else do you like besides your father? I'll call someone, okay?"

"I can't call now."

Nicole's attention was diverted, "Gina will not come back until the green bird crows. Every year, she will go home for Christmas. I will wait for her here obediently, soon, the green bird will crow soon."

Gina should be the one who takes care of Nicole.

A green bird chirping may symbolize a certain point in time.

Kelsey followed Nicole's words to talk about her favorite Gina, and then figured out that it was Orr's dead wife who used to be a maid.

Gina has a close relationship with her owner.After the owner died of illness, she took over the important task of taking care of the owner's little daughter, and she was the only person Nicole was close to in the Angus family.

"And Julia?"

Kelsey brought the topic to Nicole's stepmother, "A year ago, your father remarried with Julia. Do you and Gina like Julia? Or do you hate Julia?"

"Neither like nor dislike. I don't see her, Julia."

Nicole replied indifferently, and then said abruptly, "Julia is a prince, so I don't want to play with princes."

prince?

Kelsey is confused, Julia is female, why does Nicole call her prince? "Nicole, what kind of prince are you talking about?"

"Of course a prince in a fairy tale."

Nicole looked at Kelsey with a look of 'are you stupid?', "Fairy Tale Book, you know?"

Fairytale books, of course Kelsey knew.

She humbly asked for advice, "Oh, which fairy tale is it? Julia can be the prince in it?"

Nicole wrinkled her nose and thought for a long time, "I can't remember, I don't remember. It's a prince anyway, and I won't play with that prince."

Kelsey then asked other questions.

Knowing that Nicole never got along with her two brothers, she hated them more than Julia did, but the reasons for this have been forgotten.

Not long after, Nicole became impatient and refused to answer any more questions, and closed the door directly to indicate that she was going to see Yun.

Kelsey knew she couldn't get more clues from Nicole, who had flaws in her thinking and memory.

Regarding Nicole’s mention of the lights in the woods in the middle of the night last night, her disgust and fear of the lights outside the house, and her belief that Julia is a prince, these are all mysteries that need to be further guessed.

Perhaps, the correct answer can reveal the truth of Orr's death.

Sherlock didn't stay on the third floor. Since he made Nicole scared, he couldn't find any more breakthroughs in Nicole, so he went to investigate those people on the second floor first.

The second floor.

Some of the guests last night were Julia and the Angus brothers who did not give each other good looks.

When people saw Sherlock, they couldn't wait to know the results of the survey.

The auditorium was in chaos for a while, and they asked questions here and there, hoping to hear the truth immediately in the next second.

"Please be quiet!"

Sherlock said sternly, "Please forgive me, solving a case is not a treat for dinner. Although it is almost lunch time, unfortunately, I cannot provide you with today's lunch story - Mr. Al Angus how it died."

Not only can't provide lunch stories, but they have to ask one by one what happened between them and Orr.

Fortunately, Father Faria and Dantès were present, and the two took the lead in cooperating with the investigation, and the noisy atmosphere in the auditorium soon eased down.

In fact, the question itself is not tricky.

Was it to ask last night if the guests noticed anything unusual about Orr, what topics did they talk about, or did they find any suspicious clues?

Based on what the guests said, Orr and Julia ate and drank the same food and wine as the guests.

Until the end of the show, none of the guests felt unwell, and no one noticed that Orr was abnormal.

Although Orr drank too much, he didn't get drunk and talk nonsense, and he kept a clear mind in front of people.

Some people have been to the grove for trysts, indicating that they have never encountered suspicious situations, and no one has been seen or heard of being injured in the conflict.

Then I asked the servants to confirm that no one asked for the wound medicine last night.

And after the ball was over and the door was locked, there was no abnormal sound from the whole Angus house.

However, Sherlock noticed that the servants were sleepy after a busy day of banquets, and they didn't notice that Orr got up and left the main building in the early morning.There were no earth-shattering noises last night, but it is not certain that there were no slight footsteps.

In other words, Orr may not have been the only one who left the room, but it is no longer possible to infer from the footprints left on the ground.Because Julia, Bivis, and Henry each asked for help this morning, they had the servants clean the mansion to welcome guests.

"Where were you after the dance last night?"

Sherlock finally found Julia, "When will I see Mr. Angus again?"

"I was very tired last night, so I went to sleep when I went back to my room."

Julia replied without thinking, her eyes were red again, "I knew this kind of thing would happen, I slept with Al last night. I wouldn't wait for Johnny to knock on the door and say that Al is bad, even he I haven't seen the last side of my life."

Sherlock paid close attention to the changes in Julia's expression, "Mr. Angus's room has a bottle of belladonna eye drops, who is using it?"

"I'm using it." Julia was puzzled, "What's wrong?"

Sherlock: "Has Mr. Angus used it? I mean, he's romantic by nature. Would he be interested in what you use and just try it out?"

Julia shook her head uncertainly, "No?"

"Yes or no?"

Sherlock looked serious, "Belladonna eye drops can make people's eyes look shiny. Yesterday was your birthday party. Did Mr. Angus use eye drops specially to make him look energetic?"

Julia pursed her lips, but couldn't remember what happened yesterday.

"Maybe it was possible for Al to do that. Sorry, I was too busy yesterday to notice the details. Could this have anything to do with Al's death?"

Sherlock remained calm, "It's just a routine inquiry."

Although the Angus mansion destroyed a lot of evidence due to the quarrel between the three owners and Gela's helpers, it was not all bad. No one had carefully understood the condition of Orr's body, and no one had stepped into Orr's bedroom again. .

Right now, Sherlock said it was a routine inquiry, but he had already obtained a definite answer from Father Faria. He was sure that Orr did not use eye drops before the end of the ball.

That is, Aurer does not appear mydriasis phenomenon.

It is difficult for others to observe carefully enough to determine the pupil size of another person's eyes.

At the masquerade last night, most people only showed a pair of eyes.Father Faria was habitually careful, so he naturally noticed the state of Orr's eyes.

In contrast, Julia, as Orr's wife, really doesn't care enough about her husband's situation.

Not only Julia, Bivis and Henry didn't pay much attention to their father.

The brothers went back to their room directly after returning home last night. They said that they only woke up when Johnny went to knock on the door, and they didn't talk to Orr at all last night.

When asked about Nicole, the brothers were in a bad mood.

In a few words, they simply mentioned that their mother was pregnant with their third child 17 years ago.

At that time, the first Mrs. Angus was 37 and gave birth at an advanced age.After giving birth to Nicole, she died within a year.

Nicole was born with mental retardation, and the entire Angus family only regarded her as an invisible person, and played down the existence of a Miss Angus to the outside world.

"If Nicole hadn't been born, my mother wouldn't have died early."

In the end, Henry concluded in this way, and Bivis nodded in agreement.Obviously, the two brothers' dislike for their sister was beyond words.

"Okay, I have no other questions for now."

Sherlock first watched the Angus brothers leave.Immediately, he took away the three teacups that the two brothers and Julia had just used through the glove.

**

Room.

Angus House, the temporary residence of the two detectives.

Sherlock and Kelsey exchanged the findings just now.

During the conversation, the two had already extracted three teacups and Orr's fingerprints, and they were about to carry out the next step of comparison.

Sherlock took out the fingerprint sample taken from the eyedrop bottle again, "Jerry, do you think any of those three will be hit?"

Julia, Beavis, and Henry all said they didn't notice Al's eyes, but dilation was always artificial.

Servants clean Orr's room with gloves every day, which includes wiping down bottles and jars.

The outside of the eyedrop bottle was wiped yesterday morning, and the fingerprints left will only be those of the person who caused Orr to dilate his pupils.

And who left fingerprints on the eyedrop bottle?

"Fingerprints are existing, and the result will be known after comparison. This question is easy to solve."

Kelsey pointed out those questions that were not easy to solve, "Why is Nicole afraid of the lights outside the house? Why is she called Prince Julia? Which fairy tale prince does she not like?"