Detective Bennet [Comprehensive novel]

Julian finally let Watson go, satisfied with some K&S detective stories, and he turned back into a burly and serious sheriff.

"Zapata Ashby, is the process of his death clear?"

Julian turned his attention back to the murder investigation, "Last night between one and two o'clock in the morning, a tall man stole into Zapata's house, beheaded and killed the person. Then the murderer walked to the veterinary clinic with the head. hang the head from the pagoda tree."

Characteristics of the murderer: A man taller than Zapata, with leather shoe prints at the scene, size [-].

Wear a dark trench coat and a gentleman hat. (According to the eyewitness's description of his back)

Julian made the above conclusion, and then found the violation.

"Huh? At one o'clock at night, Zapata who lives alone will open the door to a strange man? Even Zapata is also a man, but the other party is taller than him. Could it be that he is not vigilant at all?"

The police inspected the small building in Zapata.

The door is equipped with an anti-theft metal chain buckle, and the lock buckle has no signs of damage.Also, there was no sign of the windows being tampered with.

Not only was the house undamaged, there were no self-defense wounds on the body, let alone other traumatic injuries.

The murder scene restored by the footprints and bloodstains in the living room is a bit weird.

Zapata seemed to be lying on the ground actively, defenseless, and his head was chopped off by a knife.

--oh!Correct me, it wasn't a slash.

It can be seen from the wound on the head that it was chopped three to four times.

The blame lies in the fact that Zapata's neck cut was not a post-mortem wound.

When a person faces being beheaded in a waking state, as long as his head is not chopped off with a knife, he will more or less subconsciously resist, but Zapata does not.

Sherlock inspected the body to make sure Zapata showed no signs of binding. "The victim did not resist the beheading, and was probably killed in a coma. Zapata should have taken sedative drugs before his death, and relevant toxicology blood tests must be done."

In this way, acquaintances are more likely to commit crimes.

The murderer came to Zapata's house early, drugged him, and beheaded him until one o'clock at night.

Julian felt strange again, "Neighbors and colleagues say that Zapata is a loner, and it is impossible for him to keep an unfamiliar man at home until one o'clock at night. So who is the murderer in Zapata?"

"It is impossible for neighbors and colleagues to stare at Zapata 24 hours a day. If he deliberately conceals it, he can always avoid the eyes of outsiders."

The reason why Kelsey said this was that he found a trace in the bedroom.

Moving to the bedroom, after the police completed the on-site survey, they restored it to its original appearance.

I saw that the bed was very tidy.

The quilt was stacked with edges and corners, and the sheets were so flat that there was no wrinkle.

Kelsey asked Sergeant Julian, "Did you find any similarities and differences in the living room, study room, bedroom, and bathroom?"

"Except for the study, other places are neat and clean."

Julian has sent someone to find the domestic helper who comes to the house regularly, hoping to find out if there are any regular customers in Zapata's house that are not known to outsiders.

"Afterwards, ask the domestic helper what day they came to the door. Maybe the Zapata house was cleaned yesterday, and the study room was not within the scope of the cleaning."

Julian recalled the situation after entering Zapata's house. The door of the study was locked from the outside.

"Yes, Zapata probably doesn't like other people setting foot in the study, so it's logical not to let the domestic helper clean it."

"If I remember correctly, Zapata's neighbors said that the domestic workers in this area are all men."

Kelsey walked to the end of the bed and lifted the quilt. Between the dark brown bed boards, there was a long reddish-brown curly hair that was easily overlooked.

"The hair was about 75 centimeters long, or 2.46 feet, which is not the usual male hair length."

Sherlock quickly compared the characters in the veterinary clinic in his mind, "No one in the clinic where Zapata works has auburn hair, let alone a lady with auburn curly hair."

Julian said uncertainly, "It seems that the neighbors around don't have such hair color?"

Kelsey confirmed, "As of now, I haven't seen long curly reddish-brown hair in the neighborhood."

Zapata is alone, how can there be a woman's long hair in the crevice at the end of the bed in his bedroom?

"Three, I know a woman who is related to Zapata. She is a woman with auburn hair."

Watson finally found the correct sense of presence at the crime scene, not answering the weird questions of book fans, but discovering clues related to the murder.

"In the morning, I went to the ranch where Zapata is in charge of the livestock. The hostess of the house, Yvonne Brown, has auburn hair."

Watson has never met Yvonne in person. The lady rarely goes to the ranch, and the steward always reports to the mansion.Because auburn hair is rare, he listened curiously to a few gossips of the ranch employees.

The gossip started from the color of ox tail hair to the color of human hair, and inadvertently mentioned that the hair color of the hostess is reddish brown and reddish, and it is also naturally curly.

"This hair is also reddish brown and reddish, and it is still naturally curly."

Watson lifted the bed board carefully, and took out this long hair of unknown origin. "Maybe, we should verify that it's similar to Yvonne Brown's hair."

Sherlock looked at Watson approvingly, "Congratulations, you have upgraded your auditory skills for finding clues, and gossip will bring you extra surprises."

A veterinarian who treats livestock and the hostess of a ranch, according to common sense, there will not be much intersection between the two.

However, the sheets were as clean as freshly changed sheets, and a long female hair stuck at the end of the bed made one wonder about the possible reasons for Pata's murder.

I'm going to Brown's house for verification.

**

May [-], twelve o'clock at noon.

The Brown mansion did not see the host and hostess of the Brown family.

The waiter said that the man, Booker Brown, rarely came home from Monday to Friday.The hostess, Yvonne Brown, left home at dawn at six o'clock this morning and has not returned.

When asked where the Browns went, the waiter only said he didn't know.

But he said that Yvonne did not let the driver drive, nor did she let the maid accompany her, and she went out alone.

This is obviously not in line with the living habits of ordinary ladies.

Kelsey thought about Yvonne's whereabouts, and asked a question, "May I ask, does Mr. Brown have a mistress outside? He is not at home five days out of seven."

The waiter looked embarrassed immediately.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know the relationship between Mr. and Madam."

The waiter refused to answer directly, "Please come back at another time. If there is something urgent, this is the address of Mr. Brown's company. You can go there to find an assistant to make an appointment."

Although I didn't get a positive answer, the attitude of the waiter showed everything.

The Brown couple, the relationship between this middle-aged couple is not good.

The hostess lived almost alone in the Brown House, and to make an appointment to meet the hostess did not directly leave a message to the servant of the residence, but had to go to the company to make an appointment to meet.

Kelsey asked a few more questions, such as whether the ranch's veterinarian had visited the Brown mansion, and whether Yvonne had the habit of going out alone in the past three months.

The waiter gave all negative answers.

The hostess, Yvonne, rarely goes out, neither manages the ranch affairs nor is keen on hosting dance parties.

Therefore, the stewards and all the employees of the ranch will not come to the mansion, and Yvonne never went out alone before.

The waiter refused to disclose more details about the lives of the hostess and hostess.

This visit can only stop here temporarily.

Before leaving, Sherlock asked, "What is Mr. Brown's shoe size ten?"

The waiter nodded knowingly, "Yes, is there any problem?"

On the side, Julian kept a straight face, but roared in his heart:

"This is a big problem! It is suspected that your mistress's hair appeared on the victim's bed, and your male master's shoe size is the same as the shoe size left by the murderer at the scene!

What does this mean?It means that Zapata may be Yvonne's lover and was hacked to death by her husband. "

Sherlock only bowed his head to the waiter and said nothing about his opinion on the ten-foot shoe print.

The four left Brown's house and had a brief lunch.

Julian scratched his head, "What should I do next? Go directly to Brown's company?"

"Investigate separately. Ask the sheriff to go to the company and find Brown."

Sherlock suggested, "Mr. Bennet and I try to find out about Yvonne's background."

This trip to Derby is to track down Conrad.

Even though Old Bennet didn't bother Darcy to help, Darcy still gave two famous letters of recommendation after questioning.

The Darcy family has a high prestige in Derbyshire. People he knows may not know the real life of the miners, but they must know something about the Brown family, who are also rich.

Now, the two detectives decided to gossip about some rich people.

Watson: Hey, is there a division of labor?Are you missing me?

Kelsey immediately smiled at Watson, with a look of "I trust you very much", as if Watson had already learned the true story of detectives.

"Mr. Watson, please go with Sergeant Julian. In case you meet Brown in the company, the two of you can observe him together to draw a more comprehensive conclusion."

Sherlock also encouraged Watson, "Just as you got the news about Yvonne's auburn hair, I believe you will also find unusual new discoveries here."

Watson: Am I already this good?

It seems to be true, I have actually noticed the hair color of different people unintentionally.

Two by two.

Watson got into Julian's carriage, sat sideways, and met the familiar light in the sheriff's eyes.not good!Just now he actually lost his memory temporarily, forgetting that Julian is a passionate book fan.

Julian: Have fun! (jumping) Can continue to discuss with the original author about his favorite combination of angels and detectives.

Watson: Very good! (sorrowful) He has good reason to suspect that Kelsey and Sherlock are tactically avoiding Sergeant Julian.

Leaving Watson's pleasant little annoyance aside, the two detectives visited well-informed acquaintances of Darcy's and learned three gossips about the Browns.

First, Yvonne is a native of Derby, but her birth is very ordinary, and the way she married into the Brown family 22 years ago seems disgraceful.

At that time, Yvonne was the governess of the Brown family, responsible for Booker Brown's younger sister (married to France).

Brown was 20 years old at the time. It is said that he was seduced by his sister's governess and married Yvonne, who was not from the same family, despite his parents' objections.

This also caused Yvonne to be discriminated against in the circle of ladies, and later she became less fond of socializing.

However, no matter how persistent the feelings you want to pursue, they are no match for the erosion of time.

Since about ten years ago, the outside world has heard that Brown has a lover.They change in one or two years, but they have the same identity, they are all young governesses.

Earlier this year, Brown had a new seventh lover.

Diane Diamond was not like any other woman in the past.

She originally had a fiancé, but she disliked that the pastor's fiancé was not rich enough, so she abandoned him to follow Brown.

These news were not top secret, and became gossip material in the same circle.

For example, ridiculing Brown's concept of choosing a spouse, he is "long-lasting" enough, and has always liked young and beautiful governesses.

More than 20 years ago, Brown fell in love with Yvonne, who was teaching her younger sister.

Later, Brown set his sights on other people's tutors, and pursued the fancy target.

Because of his special preferences in pursuing women, everyone thinks that Booker Brown will inevitably play cards out of common sense.

This also involves the third gossip.It is said that rich people have all sorts of strange preferences. Hunting in the mountains and catching fish in the river are called close to nature, but Brown likes to chop wood.

That's right.

Brown likes to chop wood with an axe, which is said to relieve stressful emotions.

"Jerry, what do you think now?"

Sherlock looked at Kelsey. The two had finished their visit and were heading to the Derby Police Station.

The recent gossip from the Brown family seems to have made progress in the case, but it has also brought in other contradictions and doubts.

Sherlock assumed that Brown, who was good at using an ax, killed Zapat. "What is Brown's motive for the murder? Killing his lover to save his husband's face?"

Don't say it's for love.Brown has feelings for his wife, and can he change seven mistresses?

"According to this logic, Brown only allowed him to raise other women outside, but he did not allow his wife to have other men outside, so he hacked Zapata to death?"

Sherlock shook his head slightly as he said, "It's always a little unreasonable. Even if Brown wants to kill Zapata, he doesn't have to chop off his head and hang it on a tree to increase the risk of being discovered."

Kelsey also felt that some things did not make sense, "From the scene of Zapata's dismemberment, how could Zapata be in a coma without resistance. Even if he was drugged, how could he let Brown appear at home? , but not guarding against the other party at all?"

One side is illogical logic.

The flip side is pointing to Booker Brown's murderer characterization.

Sherlock had an ominous premonition, "The fingerprints on the axe, the murder weapon, might just match Booker Brown..."

"Tom!"

Kelsey interrupted Sherlock's golden prophecy in time, "Want coffee? We can go to the police station for a drink and wait for news from Watson and Julian."

Watson and Julian did not find Brown in the company. The boss is not in charge of the company's specific project operations and is usually only in the company in the morning.

Fortunately, I got an address where Brown can be contacted.Brown usually lives at the home of his mistress Diane from Monday to Friday.

The carriage went to Diane's house again.

Watson was thinking of splitting up with the first two detectives, their assistants could already be on their own, and they could make unique new discoveries by themselves.However, the Brown company and his party did not have any special new gains.

"Call-"

The driver suddenly stopped the carriage, and the intersection ahead was cordoned off.

"what's the situation?"

Julian jumped out of the carriage and saw his colleagues from the serious crime team at the blocked intersection, "What happened here? Someone was killed?"

"Yes, a murder case. It wasn't long after you called the police in the morning. After nine o'clock, someone found the murdered woman's body here."

Detective Q did not say in detail, "The body was sent away, and now we are continuing to investigate the scene, and we don't know how many clues we can find."

Looking at the expressions of his colleagues, Julian realized that it had been six hours since the report time in the morning, so he probably hadn't gained anything yet.

He only asked one more comforting question, "Has the identity of the deceased been confirmed? As long as it is not anonymous, we can start the investigation from her interpersonal network, so we won't be at a loss."

"Basically confirmed. There is a box of business cards in the handbag next to the corpse, which is standard equipment for married rich women, including the business cards of her husband and himself."

Detective Q said in a low voice, "The business cards are Booker Brown and Yvonne Brown. They are the Brown family who trade beef and mutton. Have you heard of it? The deceased is Mrs. Brown."

Watson's eyes widened in surprise. What did he hear?

This relationship is a bit confusing. Yvonne, who is currently suspected of having an affair with Zapata, that Mrs. Brown died near Brown's mistress' house?

Dead people seem to be getting used to it.

Watson still couldn't help shouting in his heart:

"My God! Is Mr. Holmes a prophet? He just said that I will make extraordinary new discoveries during this trip."

Yvonne's death was extraordinary enough!