Detective Bennet [Comprehensive novel]

The lights are flickering, and the light and shadow are misty.

Under such a dark night, how dare Kelsey be ungentlemanly?

She added fuel to the fire by saying feel free to speculate, and she probably would.

Facing Kelsey, who was within reach, Sherlock grabbed her mischievous hand first, preventing her from touching her bow tie.

"Please allow me to help you control your hand for a while."

Sherlock said in a high-sounding voice, "Jerry, if I let you go on, I'm afraid you will be unable to unbutton my collar. Obviously, this kind of action is not suitable for such a simple tent."

"What? Let you guess boldly, that's how you guessed? Who wants to unbutton you!"

Kelsey looked sideways at Sherlock with feigned anger. As expected of her dear Mr. Holmes, this man really dared to think.

"Why stare at me? Didn't you let me guess?"

Sherlock seemed innocent, "Based on the existing facts, I speculated logically, and drew an inference about what the ungentleman Jerry might do next. Oh! I made a mistake in my estimation. It turns out that you haven't arrived yet. So far. Hey..."

It was a sigh full of regret.

Sherlock didn't wait for Kelsey to retort, and immediately said, "Well, I have to be conservative. You dare not unbutton my clothes, you must dare to kiss me goodnight."

After guessing, Sherlock waited for a response calmly.

Although what Kelsey admitted tonight was not a gentleman, it was not that he could not be called a gentleman due to gender difference when he asked the question, but things developed very well afterwards.

"Yes, I dare."

Kelsey withdrew his hand from Sherlock's.

Standing up, she walked into the single bedroom with a copper kettle filled with boiling water.

Then he lifted the curtain and came out, filled the copper basin with some cold water and brought it into the bedroom.

Sherlock was left alone by the fire, watching as Kelsey went in and out as if nothing had happened.So what after 'dare'?no yet?

5 minutes passed.

After Kelsey prepared the toiletries, it seemed that nothing had happened just now, and she was about to implement a healthy routine of going to bed and getting up early.Before entering the bedroom again, she patted her forehead and turned around, as if finally remembering the forgotten Sherlock.

"It's getting late, why are you still sitting there stupidly, what are you waiting for?"

Kelsey asked puzzled, "Before, you claimed to be a standard gentleman. Therefore, no matter how ungentleman I dare to be, out of respect for you, I will think carefully not to offend you too much. Isn't that right?"

it does not matter!There is no need to calculate so clearly!

Sherlock experienced the feeling of lifting a rock to hit himself in the foot, but if he didn't lift the rock just now, he wouldn't be able to elicit the following words.

"Yes, you are always right."

Sherlock reluctantly admitted.In fact, the circus camp is not a good place for anything to happen, but he is still a little bit lost.

Yes, definitely only a little lost.

Sherlock is very clear that the purpose of coming here is to investigate the case, how could he use public affairs for personal gain.

"It's fine if you agree, then rest early,"

Kelsey went into the bedroom without looking back.

The next moment, the door curtain was lifted from the inside again.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I forgot to say good night to Mr. Vasilyski."

Kelsey sticks out half of her body, and the so-called Mr. Vasilyski is the name of Sherlock's role this time.

Immediately, she pressed the middle and index fingers of her right hand together to her lips, and naturally blew a two-finger kiss to Sherlock.

"Mr. Vasilyski, a goodnight kiss to you. Sweet dreams—"

The curtain swayed slightly.

There was no one behind the curtain.

Sherlock subconsciously stretched out his hand to touch his forehead, as if he could feel the temperature left by the kiss in the air, and unconsciously lowered his eyebrows and smiled slightly.

After a while, he restrained his smile.Walking to the door of the bedroom, through the fluffy curtain, said to Kelsey inside, "Dear Mrs. Vasilyski, I wish you sweet dreams too."

Good dream, but a little difficult.

The two of them were in the enemy's camp, and they couldn't fall asleep, and they had to be prepared for emergencies at any time.

Simply the first night was safe and sound.

It was late in the winter, but the horn sounded at six o'clock in the morning in the circus camp, and breakfast would be served at seven o'clock.

Then there is two hours of free time, and the camp handymen will also clean the tents.At nine o'clock, the morning training and rehearsal started on time.

After Kelsey got up, he stretched his body a little, and the bed made of straw piles was painful.Even if there is a quilt, it will not provide much relief.

The undercover career still continues.

I changed my clothes again, put on the wig at the head of the bed, and could only take a picture with the small mirror in the luggage, and there was no full-length mirror in the tent.

"I'll ask for a mirror later."

Kelsey thought of Alisa's theory of the magic mirror, "Alisa's crazy talk mentioned the magic mirror. She said that it was the magic mirror that made her escape from the woods. The mirror can't speak, but the guard who guards the mirror people can."

Sherlock nodded, this is a scouting direction, and he is going to go around the tent area where the original knife-throwing performer lives.Unlike extras, other members of the circus often live in a large tent with more than a dozen people.

"Merton, the magician who tested me yesterday, lives in the same room as Steve, the throwing knife operator who left. I hope to find out the real reason why Steve left the circus today."

After breakfast, we split up.

A full length mirror is required in the tent.

For such a reasonable little thing, Andre asked Kelsey to ask Dick the Clown who looked after the mirror directly.

Although Dick was only performing in the afternoon, he had already done his clown makeup.

The thick and exaggerated oil paint on his face can almost cover all his ordinary human emotions under the mask.

"Here, the full-length mirror, wipe it yourself."

Quickly, Dick pulled out a full-length folding mirror and placed it in front of Kelsey, not wanting to say anything more.

The mirror had some stains and looked like it hadn't been used in a while.

Kelsey did not leave immediately, but checked the frame on the spot.At the bottom of the back of the mirror, there is a small piece of yellowed label "Joker-David".

Taking advantage of Dick's few minutes to take the mirror, she quickly observed the tent where the mirror was stored.

The conspicuous places are distorting mirrors for the audience to enjoy. All the distorting mirrors have been wiped very clean, and the bottom of the back of them is also labeled "Joker-Dick".

Comparing the two, Kelsey determined that the sticker on the back of the mirrors indicated who was currently in charge of cleaning the mirrors.Thinking back to the food list, the whole circus didn't have a clown named David.

"Who is David?"

Kelsey asked bluntly, "Before, was David looking after the circus mirror?"

For a moment, Dick looked terrified.

I just took the mirror out of the inventory in a hurry, and I never thought that I got a mirror with the label not removed.

"David is gone."

Dick resisted the urge to take back the mirror and change another side, pretending not to care, but couldn't help repeating nervously, "Yes, last spring, he stopped being in the circus."

How could Kelsey fail to notice the difference in Dick's expression? It seemed that there was something wrong with David, who was also a clown.

"I see that Head Andre has managed the Moon Bay Circus well. Can David change jobs to other better circuses?"

This sounded like a compliment to Andre, but it made Dick's emotions even more tense.

"I, I don't know either."

Dick found a reason, "Maybe he's not a clown anymore. The circus doesn't have a stable life. Maybe he's a docker."

"Is that so..."

Kelsey contacts Alisa's disappearance at the same time that David the Clown left the circus.She wanted to ask a few more questions, but Dick ordered the eviction first.

Dick picked up the rag, "David and I don't know each other well. If you have nothing else to do, take the mirror and leave. I have to clean the mirror."

The fun mirror is clean enough and doesn't need to be wiped at all.

Dick ignored Kelsey and went straight to his work.

"Okay, I'll go first."

Kelsey knew that too much was too late, so she didn't stare at Dick to get to the bottom of it.

Currently, four members of the circus are known to have left.

Last spring, David the Clown left for unknown reasons.

This fall, throwing knife actor Anna was injured, and her partner Stephen accompanied her to a Chicago hospital.

This fall, another werewolf whose existence was never acknowledged disappeared from the circus.

When it comes to the departure of these four, the clown Dick, the head Andre, and the catering staff are all hiding their true emotions.

The Moon Bay Circus is getting suspicious.

Even if all members of the camp are silent, it does not mean that there are no other channels to verify some situations.

The circus is a relatively closed place.Whenever there is a disturbance in the camp, all members will hear the news to some extent, so the members must keep secrets from each other.

However, relative closure is not absolute closure.

There are two performances every day, and the actors and the audience are bound to have some contact.

For example, the clown greets the audience, or the audience gives gifts to their favorite actors.

Tsarist Russian Flying Swordsmen became popular overnight in Chicago.

It is very normal for the audience to want to send flowers by hand, and the knife throwing combination is often more popular on the throwing side.

On the second day of the performance, Kelsey received flowers from the audience.

In the evening show, there was also a spectator who came to the backstage to present flowers face to face, which is nothing to be surprised about.At the same time, there were also magicians and animal trainers who were stuck in the middle and were given flowers.

It ends at ten o'clock in the evening.

Merton returned to the tent with several large bouquets of flowers, and greeted Sherlock before leaving.

"Vassilysky, would you like me to give you a bunch?"

Merton said familiarly, "Although the audience gave flowers to your women, they were all flowers sent by the men, and some people even came to the backstage to send flowers, but don't be sullen. The circus will leave when the show is over. , and then there will be no interaction with the local audience. It should be yours, and no one can take it away.”

Sherlock originally had a normal face, and the Russian flying swordsman he played is not a stingy man.

What's more, the person who presented flowers face to face was another disguised detective Edwards.Tonight, take this opportunity to secretly send a message to exchange information.

However, Sherlock had to show displeasure at Merton's inappropriate and self-indulgent remarks. "I know, thank you for your concern. You don't need to send me flowers."

"Well, I won't force you to accept it."

Merton didn't say any more about it, "If you are unhappy, you can come to me and have a chat at any time."

chat?What else can we talk about?

Sherlock knew that Merton would confuse him when asked the crucial point.

Just as I went to Merton's tent during the day, I didn't find any traces of the former throwing knife actor Stephen.

Stephen's bunk was tidied up, and everyone said they were not familiar with him, including Merton, who also knew nothing about it.

It seems that among the members of the Moon Bay Circus, there is no close relationship between one person and another, not even superficial closeness.

Even if we talk about the circus in terms of the workplace, the atmosphere here is weird enough.

Merton left first.

But Sherlock had to do all the tricks, and he returned to the tent with Kelsey with a cold face.

After entering the tent, the two closed the tent door.

Kelsey chuckled lightly, and stuffed the note in her hand to Sherlock: "Sorry, the detective agency doesn't have female assistants, and if we can't find a suitable person to send you flowers, we won't be able to create momentum for you.

And asking a man to send flowers to another man may seem strange to outsiders, so don't make it difficult for Edwards to dress up as a woman. "

"These things are nothing to be concerned about."

Sherlock opened the note first, and Edwards only wrote "Nothing happened" in the first contact, which showed that other circuses were normal.

It's fine if there are no exceptions.

Sherlock threw the note into the stove and burned it, and his tone was a bit relaxed, "It's really strange to send flowers between men. Edwards is very busy, we can't make things difficult for him, and I don't want others to send flowers at all."

Speaking of this, Sherlock changed the topic again, "However, there are always exceptions to everything, my dear Mr. Bennet, my only exception is you.

The orange rose you sent, the rose petal with a smiling face painted by you, is kept in my notebook.Do you have an impression of this? "

A few years ago, Kelsey bought an orange rose and gave it to Sherlock after the musical singer's poisoning of the golden rose.Afterwards, the two gambled on who would play the role of professor or student based on whether the number of rose petals was odd or even.

Kelsey won the status of professor, and the petal of the smiling face was the proof of her success, and she showed the evidence to Sherlock in a grand manner.

"Of course, I won't forget anything about being with you."

Kelsey nodded with a smile, "I became Professor Joe Smith, and you became my student. I am very happy about this, just like the smiling faces painted on the petals."

This kind of small contest in the past seems to be all fun now.

Sherlock felt slightly regretful, "Unfortunately, I can't give you flowers in return right now. Perhaps, only new clues can make you happier."

What new clue?

Although no clues were found in the tent of the ex-knife thrower, there was a little discovery in the animal training area.

Sherlock took out a small paper packet from his pocket, and inside was a bloody silver-inlaid tooth.

"Injuries from throwing knife practice are the norm."

Sherlock pointed to the teeth, "I heard from the side that Anna, who had her ears cut off, also suffered from oral injuries, while the rest of the circus has no missing teeth. Who do you think this tooth belongs to?"