Mary's Nineteenth Century

At 22:43, the kayak was found returning to the island.

This time it was the owner of Page Island who first noticed something was wrong.While looking out the window, he noticed a black shadow on the sea slowly approaching the shore.At some point, the sea lost the light of the bright moon, and thick clouds covered the sky, making everything on the sea blurry.

What is the black shadow that crosses the sea and approaches the island in the middle of the night?

Is the big ship taking guests away?

No, if it is normal sailing, there should be lighting equipment hanging from the mast.

The black shadow did not emit a ray of light.

"I didn't get close, and I could smell the pungent smell of blood from more than 20 meters away."

The owner of Page Island called the housekeeper to go to the shore together, and then saw the familiar kayak from a distance.There was no one on it, and the smell of blood came with the wind.

Then, a terrible question popped up.

How did the kayak land when there was no one there?Was it pushed by the waves?

Observing the waves, unconsciously, the waves became frenzied.

Roaring with the wind, the stormy waves beat the shore.It is difficult to wash the kayak ashore in this direction of ocean current, not to mention that when the owner of Page Island saw the shadow by the window, it was slowly approaching the island.

The owner of Page Island immediately called for people to start searching, to see if there were any unknown footprints on the shore, and then to see what caused the strong blood on the kayak.

"The attendant found no footprints, but saw fourteen severed arms from the kayak. It's disgusting, ugh—"

The bloody and dazzling scene made the island owner of Page unable to bear the feeling of nausea.

He took a few steps back, unwilling to stay on the shore any longer. "Go and see, the kayak is sitting there, no one has touched it."

Mary and Mycroft came to the side of the kayak.

The entire bottom of the boat was soaked in blood, the amount of bleeding suggested that the brutal act of dismemberment was carried out on the kayak.

"Eight men left with machetes and harpoons this afternoon."

Mary remembered the equipment of Mrs. Barbie and her party. At that time, they carried sharp weapons to deal with sharks and other man-eating animals that might emerge in the sea. "Judging from the incision of the broken arm, it should have been cut by the machete that was taken away this afternoon."

Who would have thought that the life-saving tool that was brought out would eventually become a deadly weapon.

Right now, it is not yet certain that seven people have died.

In the vast ocean, the person with the broken arm was not on the kayak. It is very likely that the body was thrown into the sea, but there may be a chance of being tied to a nearby small island.

"It's a little weird."

Mycroft compared fourteen severed arms.All of them kept their palms, and a knife was cut near the elbow joint of the forearm, but the cutting positions of the arms of the seven people were different by a few centimeters.

"The killer was making sure that all the severed arms were almost the same length, at 0.5 metres."

Why do this?

In addition, eight people left during the day, and now there are seven arms, and the only one who has never appeared is Ferguson.

"One of Mrs. Barbie's male companions, the discoverer of the morning kayak, whose arm is not here."

Mary checked carefully and found that the severed arms were all bare. There was not a single sleeve left, but she remembered the characteristics of those people's hands.

I glanced at the footprints around the kayak, and there was no Ferguson's size.

The location where the kayak ran aground was about two meters from the water.If the kayak is paddled to shore and the rower enters the water, a jerk of the kayak is just enough to bring it ashore.

This is interesting.

The person who found the kayak in the storage room was not among those with a broken arm. There was no trace of the rower on the shore. He may have absconded by swimming.

Where can I escape?

If an adult wants to leave the island by swimming only, and maintains the fastest speed all the time, he will have to swim for at least a day and a night before he can go ashore.

Mary threw the question to Mycroft, "Old Mrs. Fay, do you believe in the existence of ghost ships?"

"Mr. Minton, today I deeply realized a truth."

Mycroft said he was clear-headed, "Werewolves don't exist, and there are no ghost ships. You know, fairy tales are deceiving."

There was a trace of resentment in hearing this.

Mary didn't think that she had played tricks on dear Mr. Holmes, who obviously dared to think too much.

Seriously, no ghost ships, so where are the kayakers?

"Master Page, I think it is necessary to thoroughly investigate the castle."

Mary thought of a possibility, "Ferguson may have sneaked into the castle and hid. Please organize your staff immediately, and don't miss any corners to search. No one knows what will happen next."

First Hudson, then Leo and the others, and then the seven Mrs. Barbie.

In just 24 hours, 11 people were killed on the island, which was too fast.

The owner of Page Island nodded repeatedly. There were only five servants on the island, and there was no time to check out the entire castle.The guests must be organized to act together to prevent the next death from happening.

The news of the severed limbs of the kayak must have been like a super bomb, which made a group of guests who hoped to leave the island ahead of schedule panic even more, but now is not the time to panic.

Only Mary and Mycroft were left on the shore.

The two men took out the severed arms one by one and checked the kayak for other clues, but there was nothing.

No clothing, no food, no personal items of any kind.It's like an abandoned ship, returning to the island with fourteen arms empty.

"The incisions on all the stumps were not neat. The murderer had no relevant dismemberment experience, and he cut off the arm several times."

Mycroft believed that there must be a deep-seated reason, "Seven to one, Ferguson is not strong, and the most likely way to subdue the seven people on board at the same time is to poison them. Since you can kill with poison, why cut off your arm?"

Dismemberment means excessive killing.

What's even more strange is that the kayak was rowed back to the island, except for Ferguson.If he committed the crime, why didn't he just dump the body and drive the kayak as far as possible?

Mary seriously recalled the scene of meeting Ferguson in the restaurant at noon.The man's face was pale and he had been standing behind Mrs. Barbie, almost unable to meet his eyes, because he actively avoided the gaze of others.

"We should ask, is there anyone on the island who has talked with Ferguson? His face is a bit sick, and I don't know if it is a chronic disease or a sequelae of abuse."

By whom?

There is only one answer.

Mrs. Barbie took three male companions to the island. Although she and Colin hit it off last night for a pair of sports, who stipulated that a few more people could not be added?

"Colin brought two ladies to the island, and the two were left behind. Maybe they know something about last night."

Mycroft thought of Ferguson's walking posture on the cruise ship, showing an inconspicuous limp, possibly due to a leg injury.

Find out if Ferguson is injured, or be able to tell if he committed a crime.

There is also a wounded patient on the island. The owner of Page has a bad heart and rests here, and don't forget that the name of the strange castle comes from his attending doctor.

If Ferguson had been a patient treated by the same doctor, he might have had some connection to Castle.

I need to ask if he was lucky to find the kayak in the morning?

Even the castle steward didn't know exactly what was in the huge basement, and the debris left by the previous owner hadn't been completely cleaned up.

Is the kayak package really left behind by the Marquis, or was it stuffed into the basement later?

"You asked if my attending doctor has ever lived here?"

The owner of Page Island was a little surprised, "Yes, Dr. Lai Jude will come to consult me ​​regularly, basically on the 7th or 22nd of every month, and usually stay on the island for three days. Do you suspect that it is him? All these deaths? Why?"

good question.

Mary and Mycroft couldn't give an answer for the time being.

"It's still uncertain at this stage."

Mary did not say that Doctor Jude must have done it, "I just suspected all suspicious objects. Doctors have a deeper understanding of poisons. The hen pearl that poisoned the three old Leo people is not a common poison, and requires a special purchase channel."

"And stuffing the kayak into the basement also requires someone to have been on the island beforehand."

Mycroft guessed, "Master Page, did you tell Dr. Jude about the hosting of the event? Was it his suggestion for the room arrangement?"

The owner of Page Island shook his head, "I mentioned a few words to him, but the specific room arrangement is decided by the housekeeper."

Thinking of something, Page's face darkened.

"You all know that this is not the first time that the castle has received holiday tourists on this island. In the past, Dr. Jude gave good advice, so that different guests can stay satisfied. This situation has been going on for a year and a half."

Page called the castle steward and asked whether the room arrangement this time was related to Jude.

Habit is second nature.

Before I mentioned Jude's name, I didn't think about him at all, because that person was not on the island at all.

Even if the housekeeper recalled it now, he didn't think that Jude had manipulated his plan for the guest room arrangement. "I do take some advice, but in the end Dr. Jude is just giving advice."

"Two questions."

Mary only asked, "Did Jude mention that it would be better for book fans to live next to the author? Also, did he delay leaving the island this time, and read the detailed list of participants in the holiday activities."

"Forehead……"

These questions stopped the castle steward from asking.

Jude was supposed to leave on the 24th, but this time he left on the evening of the 27th.

On the morning of the 27th, the vacation list was sent to the castle. During tea time, the steward and Jude read the list together while chatting.

The steward had to admit, "Yes, Dr. Jude glanced at the list, and he also said that "Big Red Riding Hood" and "Little Bad Wolf" live closer together, which seems to be a good idea. "

As long as the owner of Page Island is not stupid, he will find something is wrong when he hears this.Jude may have discovered the loose parts of the water tank in the room of the Big Red Riding Hood.

He couldn't help gnashing his teeth. "He's so damn good! Did Jude treat my place as a slaughterhouse and set up a killing plan in advance?"

However, there are still some problems.

The island owner of Page couldn't figure it out, "If Ferguson was instructed by Jude, how to explain the sleeping pills for the three dead bodies of old Leo?"

Mycroft asked back, "Who stipulates that only one person can be instigated?"

The red-haired steward who went to the island with Leo's grandchildren had ink marks on his fingers before he died.

The food in Leo's guest room is prepared by the steward, and betrayal is most likely to occur between people who think they are close.

"Oh, God!"

The owner of Page Island suddenly stood up, "If there is one, there will be two, three, four, that is to say, among these people alive in the castle, there may be another or several murderers lurking?"

Mary nodded, "Congratulations, you got the answer right. I think controlling water and food is also a top priority."

The castle steward said from the side, "The kitchen and the well have been on duty all night. It should be good news. I haven't heard of any abnormalities."

Mary also believes that there will be no indiscriminate poisoning for the time being.The chain of deaths on the island did not adopt the simplest and most brutal method of murder. These murders conveyed a special meaning.

"Master Page, how much do you know about Dr. Jude? You said that you went to Germany two years ago. Where is Dr. Jude from?"

When asked about his doctor in charge, the owner of Page realized belatedly that he couldn't tell much about the situation.

"Jude is an Austrian. We met on the German-Austrian border two years ago. After that, he took over my treatment."

Le Jude, 51, works in a small hospital in Austria-Hungary.

Page knocked on the door of the small clinic while hiding from the rain on a heavy rainy day.

"Jude's medical skills are good in my opinion, but the clinic he works in is unknown. I have been in contact with him for less than two years, and from the beginning I thought he was a doctor who was easy to win people's favor."

The owner of Page Island recalled, "I also asked Jude, why didn't he go to a big hospital because of his ability? But Jude said that he was used to a leisurely life. I thought it was because everyone had their own ambitions."

The question is, what kind of "aspiration"?

Private clinics have more free time than busy hospitals.

From an objective point of view, no matter what kind of time management master, you must have a certain amount of leisure.And the more complicated the layout, the more energy it consumes.

Is Dr. Jude the manipulator behind the scenes?

On the island, is there an undiscovered accomplice in the murder lurking among the remaining survivors?

At this point, the island owner of Page remembered something he hadn't noticed before.

"By the way, Mr. Minton, Jude let me see the newspaper that you once captured the Black Crow serial killer. In fact, I am not interested in murder cases. When I was chatting with Jude about the Deo news, I accidentally learned about them. A murderous case."

Mary was pretty sure she didn't know Jude.Asking about the appearance of the owner of Page Island can further confirm that he has never had face-to-face contact with Jude.

Everything is back to the initial point, why create a series of murders?

So far, the three waves of victims have been killed in different ways. What exactly does the murderer want to do behind the scenes?

Can't sleep tonight.

In the past 24 hours, 11 people have been killed.

With the approaching hurricane, it is uncertain whether external ships will be able to return to the island on time.The looming death threat shrouded the castle, casting a shadow of panic all over the place.

Even so, face it positively.

A room-by-room search determined whether the eighth person on the kayak had sneaked back to the island to hide.

Mary carried the kayak and fourteen broken arms to the first floor of the castle.

Just now she asked about Colin's female partner, and the other party admitted frankly that last night was actually a multiplayer sport with seven people in the same room.

Mrs. Barbie has a special hobby. She likes to watch men being abused.The emaciated Ferguson was the target of abuse, with many old scars on his back.

That would explain Ferguson's motivation for getting rid of Mrs. Barbie, but why chop off the arms of the others in the kayak?

Did Ferguson make a deal with a guy?Not proficient at all, but still have to dismember someone's arm, and take the risk of kayaking back to the island.

Mary looked at 14 0.5-meter arms in a row, and this kayak was 4 meters long and 0.75 meters wide.

Is there some kind of correlation between these numbers?What kind of criminal psychology does the arrangement of such a strange scene of dismemberment reveal about the murderer?

Is there something special about this kayak?But the instruction manual was turned out of the trash can, and there was no special mark on it.

Cut the outer skin of the kayak and try to find if there is something special hidden between the kayak frame and the outer skin.

However, nothing in particular was found.

Beneath the outer skin, there is only the original skeleton of the kayak.The skeleton is roughly structured in the shape of a "mesh", with two vertical bars and four horizontal bars.

The distance between the four crossbars is 1 meter, which is evenly distributed.

At this moment, Mary looked at the skeletal structure of the kayak, and then at the severed limb, feeling that this scene was somehow familiar.

On the fifth floor, the library is brightly lit.

Mycroft bypassed the religious bookshelf.

If you only saw the appearance of the death event before, it was not intended to express some religious significance, what would it express?

Assuming that Jude is behind the scenes, he mentioned Mr. Minton's old Berlin case to the owner of Page Island, and also mentioned the accommodation arrangement of Little Bad Wolf and Big Red Riding Hood to the housekeeper, so is it possible that the motive for the murder is related to Mr. Minton?

In this way, the clues should not be in religious books, but hidden in mathematics books.

Because those who pay attention to Mr. Minton must know that this man is like a shooting star in the mathematics world.It is gorgeous but it is a pity that it has not continued to study mathematics.

Well, the math collection here is amazing!

Mycroft looked up and looked at the three neat rows of large bookshelves, which contained a collection of mathematics books in multiple languages.There are one-seventh of them that he has never seen outside.

On the bookshelf on the left, there is a copy of "Zhushu".

This is a treatise on mathematics from the East, written by Zu Chongzhi, an outstanding mathematician during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

"Zishu" is said to have been lost in the Northern Song Dynasty.I did not expect to see the manuscript 700 years later, on a small island in the North Sea on the side of Europe.

Mycroft doubled.It is a pity that he is not good at the profound and obscure ancient Chinese, so he has no way of determining the authenticity of the books.

However, it can be confirmed that this "Body Art" has signs of being tampered with.Compared with other books in the same row, it has obviously been extracted.

What is the intrinsic relationship between the lost treatise on oriental mathematics, the mastermind behind the scenes, and the three murders?

Mycroft thanked himself for his superb memory, which brought to mind all of Mr. Minton's mathematical treatises and treatises.

Suddenly, a spiritual light flashed.Although he regrets that he doesn't know the whole picture of "Zhushu", he knows all the contents of "Bible".

Dear Mr. Minton's graduation thesis, by coincidence, is related to a small sentence in the Bible.

'Clang clang clang——'

The clock struck twelve.

On July 7th, midnight arrived.

Wendy's search team made a discovery, "Look, there is blood here. My God! There is a secret passage in the basement?"