Mary's Nineteenth Century

At five o'clock in the morning on July 7, the sun rose from the east on the small island in the North Sea.

Outside the window, birds are singing; inside the house, people are still sleeping.

A lot of things happened last night, the death of Hubbard and the thrilling incident of the "Big Red Riding Hood" toilet water tank falling, made everyone in the castle exhausted.

07: 30.

Mycroft woke up. Unlike the speculated that living in Mr. Minton's room might be too emotional to fall asleep, this night's sleep was perfect, and he didn't even have a dream.

After washing up, I came to the living room.

Hearing the faint sound of running water from the master bedroom, it seemed that Mr. Minton had also gotten up.

Mycroft was thinking of a good morning greeting when his eyes were drawn to the vase in the living room.

Habits became natural, and I began to pay attention to the surrounding environment early in the morning, and found that there was an extra thing in the living room that was not there last night.

It's a small brown vial.

There are nine small pills in an unlabeled, ordinary household dispenser bottle.

Who left the pill bottle?

From falling asleep to waking up, more than six hours, there should be no third person in this room, but would Mr. Minton make a small mistake of accidentally leaving the medicine bottle outside?

After hesitating for a moment, Mycroft opened the medicine bottle.

It is clear that the pills inside are white without any special smell, and the raw materials for making medicine cannot be identified just by the nose.

At this time, the door of the master bedroom was pulled open from the inside.

Mary greeted naturally, "Good morning, I hope the castle is peaceful today. Let's go downstairs to have breakfast together?"

"Good morning."

Mycroft, however, was not at all disturbed, and pointed nonchalantly at the bottle. "Is this yours? Is it unwell?"

"Oh, it's mine. I was so busy yesterday that I forgot to put it away."

Mary also looked nonchalant, "What can I do, it's just seasickness medicine."

Are you seasick?Why don't you say dizzy hot air balloon?

Mycroft's doubts deepened, the lie was too obvious.From leaving a medicine bottle to making false excuses, it is completely different from Mr. Minton's usual tight-knit style.

The abnormal is the demon.There is only one possibility, Mr. Minton deliberately gave clues, so that he had to jump into the trap of guessing.

Mary took the medicine bottle as if nothing happened, and put it in the bedroom luggage bag as if casually.

"Let's go to the restaurant. After breakfast, I want to check the castle carefully. I can start with the library, what do you think?"

"Compared to the old castle, I want to check you from the outside to the inside."

Mycroft was thankful that reason still occupied the high ground of his brain, and he didn't speak out directly what was in his heart.The series of 'accidents' last night was to hurry up and find out whether there was a mastermind lurking in the castle.

"Go to the library first, and then to the storage room. Maybe there are some equipment that can communicate with the outside world."

After Mycroft finished speaking, he took a deep look at Mr. Minton, and finally said nothing more.It's not good to be too rational.Prioritize clearly, and when you restrain yourself, you don't have to hold back yourself.

Mary thought she was very gentle, so she didn't add fuel to the fire and provoke Mycroft again.A person like her is indeed a well-deserved angel alive.

Mycroft: To tell you the truth, sometimes Mr. Minton's face is so—— big.

At 8:11 am, there were no other customers in the restaurant.

Mary and Mycroft had almost finished their breakfast.The two got up on time and didn't get to sleep in once.

"Mr. Minton, you are here."

The call of the castle steward sounded at the door of the restaurant, panting, as if he had just run a [-]-meter race.

No, something happened again!

Mary and Mycroft glanced at each other, the coffee cup was almost empty, why did the death call come again?

As expected, I only heard from the castle steward that something happened to the red-haired old Leo grandson.

"Last night, the old Mr. Leo ordered breakfast service. Just now the maid knocked on the door and there was no response. In the room, the three people including the accompanying steward also did not answer."

The housekeeper's tone trembled slightly, "I took the spare key, but the door was locked from the inside, someone kicked the door."

and then?

Then there was a dead silence in the suite.

On the beds of two master bedrooms and a servant room, the old Leo's grandson and the old steward each lived in a room, but they never woke up again.

The three deceased were lying on their backs, and there were no obvious wounds or bloodstains on their surfaces.

But his eyes widened, his limbs struggled and curled up, and he stared straight at the ceiling.It was like fighting the devil in a nightmare and losing, but finally fell down with nothing to rest.

If you observe carefully, you can see that the pupils of the corpse are obviously dilated, accompanied by blood in the stool.Blood stains mixed with excrement stained the sheets, and there was a foul stench.

Mycroft opened the mouth of the youngest deceased, and found that little Leo's mouth was slightly decayed, and this symptom was not obvious on the steward and old Leo.

Unlike Hubbard, who seemed to die suddenly while smiling, the three deceased had obvious poisoning reactions.

"God! There really is a death curse here!"

Shipley was a few steps slower and came to the death scene in his pajamas.He didn't dare to get close, and he retched while holding his nose.

"If it's a curse, it should be an unexplained death."

Mary pointed to the distorted corpse, "Obviously they felt pain before they died. Didn't you hear strange noises on the third floor last night?"

Old Leo's grandson's room is at the end of the corridor.Because guests check in according to different room types, there is no occupant on the opposite side or next door to this suite.

The nearest resident was Shipley, but he shook his head in embarrassment.

"I didn't hear anything. The sound insulation here is not bad, maybe I missed it."

Was it an overhearing?

Mary remembered that the old Leo and the others didn't go to the auditorium for dinner yesterday, they ate dinner alone in the guest room.

According to the current state of the corpses, it is very likely that sleeping pills and poisons were taken at the same time, causing the three people to die of poisoning while unconscious.

"Mr. Minton, look at it."

Mycroft picked up a stuffed animal from under Leo's bed, a cartoon monkey with red eyes and a long tail.

"Old Leo is a writer of children's stories. This monkey fits well with the protagonist of his "Little Monkey Fishing for the Moon". However, its eyes..."

What happened to the stuffed monkey's eyes?

Both Shipley and the butler of the castle looked puzzled.

The eye color of the monkey in the toy is different from that in reality, it is red.

The eyes of this toy are not made of glass, which is often used by dolls, nor are they stones, but like the seeds of some natural plants.

"It's kind of like a big variety of red beans?"

The castle steward was not sure, "But the monkey's eyeballs are oval, and there is a small end on it that is black."

"This is a chicken mother bead."

Mary noticed that both red eyeballs had tiny scratches that tore through the outer testa of the henball.

"Chicken pearl and red bean are similar in appearance, but they are not the same plant. The most notable difference is that the former is highly poisonous, and can be poisoned if eaten or inhaled."

To what extent can it be highly toxic?

One can kill an adult.

"It is worth noting that if the shell of the hen bead is intact, there is almost no contact with the toxin in the leaf cells. Just touching the intact hen bead will not be poisoned."

Mary pointed to the eyeballs of this stuffed monkey, "but the eyeballs of the monkey toy were cut, exposing the highly poisonous seed parts. If you touched the poisonous powder with your fingers, rub your eyes and nose when you are unconscious. The toxin is ingested, and it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to be poisoned."

When the poison occurs, there will be symptoms such as diarrhea and blood in the stool, dilated pupils, difficulty breathing, and even heart failure.Its symptoms partly match those of the corpses of the old Leo and the others.

So, was this an inadvertent mistake by the monkey doll maker?

Mycroft doesn't think so, "Henna bead is not a European plant, it is native to Indonesia and suitable for growing in tropical areas. It is not cheap to get one in the UK. This stuffed toy is very new, as if it has just been disassembled." Feng, maybe the old Leo and the others were deliberately poisoned at this time."

Not only is it not cheap, except for those who specialize in poisoning, who would buy chicken mother pearls?

Indeed, red beans are considered one of the symbols of love in the far east, expressing lovesickness, and exotic red bean bracelets can also be seen in Europe.

However, sea red beans are mostly used to make bracelets, which are bright red and shiny all over.Whether it is from an ornamental or safety point of view, it is much more suitable than chicken mother beads.

"Occasionally, there are wrong plant seeds. Wearing a hen hen bracelet unknowingly approached a death trap."

Mary seemed to be serious about science, "In a sense, it interprets the fatal and dangerous side of love. Old Mrs. Fay, are you right?"

What could Mycroft say, as an old lady wearing a "big red hat", he could only persuade with a gentle smile and the tone of someone who had experienced it.

"You're still young, and it's good to be brave enough to try. The more charming you are, the more dangerous you are. Although there is a dangerous side, you also feel charming."

"cough!"

Shipley coughed lightly.

be careful!This is at the scene of a death, why did you start a relationship consultation meeting, can you be more serious?

Mary was not guilty and offered suggestions.

"Mr. Shipley, are you okay? Four people have died now, and the situation is extremely dire. It is especially important to remain calm at this time. Perhaps, you can recite some love poems to divert your fear."

That's it!

Shipley suddenly realized, and he explained why Mr. Ton wanted to talk about love with Big Red Riding Hood. It turned out to be well-intentioned, in order to alleviate the shadow of death.

It has to be said that the deaths of the three old Leo cast a terrifying shadow over the castle.

Whether it is taking sleeping pills or being poisoned, it all shows that there is a murderous demon in human skin on the island.

Who is the murderer?What does s/he want to do?How many more people will die?

These are unknowns.

At this moment, Shipley couldn't even fully trust Minton and the Red Riding Hood who were investigating the scene and doing the autopsy.

The two of them are well aware of toxicology, so they have the technology to kill people.Of course, this cannot be used as evidence, and it is impossible for other guests to know the toxicity of chicken mother beads.

Like Barbie and Colin, rich people have enough money to buy poison.

Having money can't be used as evidence, because the motive for killing is not enough, and maybe one of the guests has a grudge against Leo's family?

A mess of guesses filled Shipley's mind.

Not only him, but after the guests woke up one after another, the news of the three being poisoned was like a bolt from the blue, which stunned the guests.

At this stage, it is still difficult to determine the murderer who poisoned the three old Leo.

The poison of the chicken mother beads was on the monkey toy, and no packaging bag was found in the room. The new doll may have been brought from outside the island.

As for who took the sleeping pills?The tableware for yesterday's dinner had been cleaned, and the kitchen servants said that old Leo's grandparents' meals were cooked by their steward.

At that time, the rest of the guests were eating in the auditorium, and the servants on the island were also eating in the room on the first floor, theoretically there was no chance to take sleeping pills.

Afterwards, because of Hubbard's death, people gathered in the auditorium to wait for the news.

The old Leo and the others were in the guest room, saying that they didn't want the child to face death.No one knows what they came into contact with during this process.

Anyway, no one alive now admits it.

What is certain is that after the midnight water tank drop accident, the butler and servants of the castle went to the guest room to check the equipment at the request of old Leo.

After all the checks were done at 01:30 in the morning, the old Leo and the three were still alive and did not show any discomfort.

There was no food left in Old Leo's suite, and even the water glasses and kettles were empty.

There were no signs of fighting in the room, and the locks and windows showed no signs of damage. It looked like another poisoned murder in a secret room.

Mycroft inspected the three bodies carefully. There were no wounds on their bodies, but there was a smear of black under the nails of the red-haired steward's right hand, which was the printing ink of newspapers or books.

Leo's grandchildren did not have the same ink marks on their hands, but the books and periodicals on the bookshelves were neatly arranged.Even if it has been flipped through, it has been returned to its original position.

The steward's hand is stained with ink, is it because he is the person who arranges the books and periodicals?

In the castle, most of the guests don't care about such seemingly insignificant issues.

After learning the news of the death of the old Leo and the other three, after a brief silence, the crowd burst into screams and roars.

"Curse! There must be some kind of death curse!"

"Go back! You must go back! There is a murderous demon here."

"Quick, hurry to the storage room. It doesn't matter if you make a bamboo raft or a kayak, whatever you say, try to leave."

Panic spread rapidly.

People rushed into the underground storage room to find the hope of outlying islands. Mary and Mycroft chose the library instead of joining in the fun.

From the "Bible" that Hubbard read before his death to the ink marks on the body of the red-haired steward, perhaps some clues should be found in the book.

"There is a piece of news. On the cruise ship, Wendy mentioned the new name of the castle—the Temple on the Hill Castle, a name that has nothing to do with the terrain or the building itself."

Mycroft said, "I asked the castle steward yesterday, and he said that a friend of the owner of Page named it after seeing the library. It is said that it will bring good luck to the island."

Why bring this up?

Because four people died on the island, it doesn't look like a lucky one.

Mary couldn't help being curious, "Which friend? Did the housekeeper reveal his identity? Which book did he get the inspiration from?"

"It's Page's attending doctor. Page suffers from heart disease, and living on an island can be regarded as a rest. But he likes to be lively, so he will open the castle and rent out some rooms."

Mycroft repeated what the butler said, but how reliable are these words?That's up for debate. "As for which book the doctor read, the owner of Page Island doesn't know."

While talking, the two climbed up the stairs.

The library is on the fifth floor, and the bedroom of the owner of Page Island is located at both ends of the fifth floor.

It's not locked here, but people who come to the island for vacation don't seem to have much interest in reading, and the housekeeper said that there are almost no guests.

Pushing open the door and entering, a unique smell of books permeates the tip of the nose.

I saw three-meter-high bookshelves neatly arranged, a total of [-] bookshelves, this place is like a small library.

On the west side, there are long tables and wooden chairs near the window.

Read while blowing the sea breeze.

Tired, looking out the window.The blue sea and clear sky are in front of you, and the sound of waves hitting the beach can be heard from time to time.

"If there are no deaths, this place can be called the surprise of the island holiday."

Mycroft looked at the huge collection of books, "Now it's not so wonderful to find clues from tens of thousands of books."

Mary first went to the bookshelf of religion and occultism. Since Hubbard read the Bible before his death, there might be some clues in the religious books. "It's not too bad. I will cooperate with you to find clues. The two of you will not be too boring."

The two did not chat.

Each took a stack of books and periodicals and began to quickly flip through them.

It may seem like looking for a needle in a haystack, but it is not.

Hubbard drowned smiling in the bath, reading the Bible with disinterest before dying.

The steward of Leo's family was suspected of being poisoned by hen pearls under the action of sleeping pills, and there were ink marks on his fingers.

The strange name of the castle is inspired by one or several books in the library.

Now it is necessary to connect the fragmentary clues in series and find out their inner connection.

The collection of books is vast, and time passes slowly.

After reading for two hours, you might as well take a break in your busy schedule.

As soon as he was free, Mycroft inevitably thought of the small brown medicine bottle he saw this morning. This time, what is the answer that Mr. Minton asked him to guess?

The contact bottle appeared last night.

Last night, Mr. Minton asked him specifically, and made him admit the real identity of the Big Red Hood himself.Then he said that in the fairy tale, the wolf would eat the red hat.

Drugs, real identity.

The wolf eats the red hat.

Suddenly, a bizarre idea popped up.

Mycroft glanced at Mr. Minton in disbelief, as if to confirm if there was something extra about this man.

Some guesses are so bizarre that they dare not even tell them.After a few strokes, a note was handed out.

Mary raised her eyes and glanced over, no matter how hard it was to maintain her usual poise, her expression gradually cracked.

On the note, Mycroft's handwriting was flourishing.

"Mr. Minton, I know that you deliberately put out the medicine bottle, and wanted me to discover the truth that you deliberately concealed before.Please allow me to guess rudely, you must have found the destroyed werewolf transformation pill and turned into a real little gray wolf, right?If so, I would still like to be your big red hat. 』

Mary: Even if the two of you almost encountered a vampire and heard about the legendary transformation drug, but Mycroft Holmes, do you dare to have a bigger brain?