Mary's Nineteenth Century

At 04:30 in the afternoon, the heavy rain on the sea finally stopped and the sky cleared completely.

Sunset is only an hour away.

Mary wants to go out to investigate carefully, and the remaining sunshine time for her today is running out.Fortunately, the captain prepared equipment such as oxygen inhalation device, water suit, and fixed anti-skid chains in advance.

The water level at the bottom of the boat is not that deep, only five or six meters, but in the afterglow of the setting sun, you can only vaguely see the strand of hair wrapped around the bottom of the boat.

It was a mess, all tangled into a dead knot.

As the sailor said before, it is impossible to determine whether the traces of entanglement are man-made, but it is also impossible to determine whether the entangled hair is caused by natural ocean currents.

There were no strange handprints around the bottom of the boat.

A little further upstream, the semi-metal ring suspected to be bumped by Fanny's head after falling into the sea was mottled with rust.Because of the seawater wash in the boat's path, there's no way to be sure if it's ever been stained with blood.

Is the search outside the cabin going to return in vain?

Mary couldn't find anything underwater, but found a very fine scratch when she surfaced.

It's not accurate to say it's a scratch, it's more like a strangle mark left by some kind of sharp thin line.

It appeared on the outer walls of the cabin, leaving long, intermittent streaks--very new for sure.

This location is a bit interesting.

Mary looked up from the bottom and found that the end of the thin mark was the staircase window from the second floor to the third floor.Before, she shot at the south staircase window, but the end of this trace was near the north staircase window.

At this time, someone happened to be looking at the north window.

Under the setting sun, Mycroft leaned out half of his body, smiled faintly and waved downward.No need to ask, this is a new discovery, hurry up and tell me on board.

The next moment, less than two seconds before and after.

Mycroft heard the footsteps behind him, quickly faded his smile, and switched to a slightly frowning expression.

This scene changed too quickly.

Mary hung outside the cabin, had a vague guess, and understood it very cooperatively.

In the next second, she also adjusted her facial expression, as if she was worried because she didn't find any clues, and boarded the boat again.

Take off the oxygen helmet first, and show the appearance of failure without reservation.

Walking from the deck back to the third floor to change new clothes, I walked with heavy steps all the way, with my head slightly lowered.

"How about it?"

Captain Bolton happened to be on the second floor, "Oh! Mr. Minton, look at you, do you mean..."

"Hey! No new leads."

Mary's tone was frustrated and helpless, "Perhaps, this is really caused by evil spirits."

The captain didn't like to hear about evil spirits, but he didn't attack those who helped investigate at this time. "You have worked hard, hurry up and change into clean clothes, and dinner will be served in an hour. There is always food to eat."

Mary replied weakly, "Okay, then eat whatever you want, I'll go to the room first."

After speaking, Mary continued to go upstairs.

But before taking the next step, she looked towards the stairs at the other end of the corridor, where a tall figure seemed to flash towards the lower deck.

This figure, is it him?

With doubts, Mary quickly changed her clothes and was about to knock on the door of Mrs. Roman's room opposite.

The door opened without knocking.

"Come in."

Mycroft lowered his voice, and the two of them quickly entered the room and sat down next to each other at the coffee table.It is inevitable that the walls have ears, and they still maintain whispers that can only be heard by each other.

"I just found out that there are some kind of hook marks on the stairs on the north side. It's very new."

Mycroft was talking about the window of the staircase where he had just stood.

Mary: "There are traces of claws, and there are thin and sharp rope scratches on the outside of the hull."

Ropes and claws always appear in pairs, which are necessary props for entering through windows.

"I guess you may have just seen a vague and suspicious figure on the stairs."

Mycroft continued, "Just as I stood by the window with claw marks for a while, I met Theon who was about to go downstairs."

Theon, the wealthy businessman who refused to cooperate with the inspected house before, was the first man in the afternoon to shout that he had to read the script clearly.

That's what happened 10 minutes ago.

The reason why Mycroft just switched expressions by the window was to leave a confusing impression on Theon—the case has not progressed so far.

What about the facts?

Of course there are gains.

Mycroft was a little helpless, "Mr. Minton, you may not know that Captain Bolton has an important thing that he didn't tell us earlier. Well, maybe he didn't think it was important until after you just entered the water , I carefully asked him for more information about the passengers."

"Please let me guess."

Mary didn't listen to the answer directly, but speculated boldly based on the scratches on the string outside the cabin, "You mean to say that Theon is engaged in the whale business, to be precise, it is related to the whale's baleen business."

Whale fishing was a very popular industry in the first five to sixty years of the nineteenth century, mainly using whale oil for lighting.However, with the rapid increase in oil extraction in the past decade, the traditional whaling industry has rapidly declined at an avalanche-like speed.

Whale oil was replaced by oil, and the whaling industry, which is still alive today, is maintained by the sale of commodities such as whalebone.

Baleen can be used as umbrella ribs and as a frame for shapewear.Because of its natural properties, it has unique toughness - meaning it can be used to make special ropes.

Mycroft nodded, "Congratulations, you guessed right. Theon is a whale merchant, and he has transformed from traditional whale oil to whale baleen trading. According to what Captain Bolton knows, Theon's economic situation is not very good. "

Traces of rope and claws were now found, suggesting that a person might have sneaked into the water.

As a whale trader, Theon has a strong physique and is likely to have participated in the hunting of whales.

His water and underwater binding techniques were absolutely superb, and it's not hard to see why he might have had baleen cords to give him easier access to large flakes of fish scales - like the ones found in Miss Fanny's corpse socks.

Now it is known that Theon has some financial situation, so assuming that he killed Miss Fanny to obtain the key to the safe, why bother to hang the body on the bottom of the boat, why not just let the body disappear into the sea and destroy the body?And put fish scales in Miss Fanny's socks?

Fanny's strange death happened last night. Why did Theon take the lead in creating a conflict this afternoon and asked to read the mermaid revenge script?Shouldn't the person who hung the corpse at the bottom of the boat already know the content of the script?

In this way, the logic of the whole event cannot be smooth.

Inside, both of them were lost in thought.

It's getting darker, will there be a second victim tonight?

I am afraid that except for the murderer, no one wants to see the bloody murder happen again.

Miss Fanny, the American pastor Vincent, the wealthy whale businessman Theon, and the evil mermaid script, all of them are like a mess of yarn.Because I can't find the thread, I can't figure out the logic.

"Well, maybe we should think outside the box."

After thinking about it, Mary said, "Who stipulates that there is only one murderer in a murder case."

Is it a cooperative killing?

No, it doesn't look like the pastor is familiar with the rich businessman at the moment.

Mycroft understood immediately. "It's the praying mantis that catches the cicada, and the oriole follows. No, that's not a good analogy, because the oriole is not after the cicada's property."

Mary nodded slowly, "Although I don't know what his purpose is, what he wants is a script, or it must be an original paper script."

If Bentley was here, he might have been stunned. Where did this come from?Why did people suddenly appear with cicadas, praying mantises, and orioles? This is the original script again?

In fact, it is not difficult to understand.

First, Fanny has a secret lover, and the two are secretly dating.Fanny fell into the sea, and her lover took the key to the safe.

There was one witness to the murder.

Witnesses used ropes, turned over the windows to avoid people's eyes and ears, tied the body to the bottom of the boat in a strange posture, and put fish scales in Fanny's socks.

Why did the witnesses play tricks, just to create a conflict.If there is no conflict, how can we read the original draft, revised draft, and finalized script of the script in a legitimate way.

Mary was puzzled, "Forgive my blindness, I also read the scripts, but I couldn't see what secrets they have?"

"Assuming that Theon is good at climbing, he overheard the plot of the mermaid's revenge beforehand. There is only one difference between the written script and the verbal retelling."

Mycroft keenly noticed the difference, "In addition to the plot, the musical also has music, and the manuscript has a score."

Unless you are very professional, after listening to a musical, it is easy to retell the plot, but it is almost impossible to recite the score without missing one syllable.

After Mycroft finished speaking, he was also a little uncertain.

"Going around in a big circle, just to get the score? I have seen those scores today, and they are not at the level of Beethoven or Chopin's reincarnation."

So, is it necessary?

It sounds ridiculous to go to such lengths just for the score.

The room was silent again.

The two sat side by side, and their postures were very consistent at this time.You look at me, I look at you, unable to guess what secrets are hidden in the score.

"However, I don't think the direction of reasoning is wrong."

Mycroft stretched out his left hand and pointed to the next door, "Don't forget, there is an old gentleman in the first class, that is a composer. Although it is not a special thing to travel with a composer, this profession now seems to be It’s quite special. The similarities will never coincidentally collide.”

Mary had a bad premonition, "According to our current inference, the witness deliberately handled the corpse in a strange way. Is there a possibility that he was making two-handed preparations, on the one hand, he could see the mermaids of the troupe?" The script, on the one hand, also completely creates fear."

The Mermaid's Revenge plot leaked, and few people on board could say with 100% certainty that they didn't believe in the massacre of evil spirits.When the fear is gradually spreading, if the killing comes again, it can be disguised as an evil spirit.

"I guess according to general logic, the composer always has some accompanying scores, right?"

Mary glanced at the next room, "Could the old gentleman's score be targeted too?"

This is the unanswered question.

Just as the two still feel that the goal is to seize the score is very weird.Could it be said that the wealth code is hidden in the score, which can help people get rich overnight?

no.

The two of them were sure that at least in the troupe's score they watched in the afternoon, there was no hidden treasure secret.

'Ring bell—'

At this moment, the dinner bell on the cruise ship rang.

"No matter what, there is no more detailed evidence at present. What we need to do is to keep a close eye on Theon inadvertently. How to do it, you can ask the captain for advice, and try to catch him in one fell swoop when he commits the crime. Now, let's go to the restaurant first. "

Mary breathed a sigh of relief and stood up. "That's right, we're going to continue to perform the 'depressed state with no clues', so we should have a piece of cake after dinner to relieve our mood."

Speaking of this, Mary thought of meeting an old woman in front of a candy store on a rainy day in London, and she suddenly looked at the people around her. "Mrs. Roman, would you like a little dessert? It's evening, don't eat too sweet, lemon cake is good."

Mycroft: ...

Don't mention sweets now, we still have a chance to be temporary good partners, Mrs. Roman doesn't like sweets!

"thanks for your invitation."

Mycroft smiled mildly almost instantly, "But there's no need, I'm not interested in sweets."

Mary: Really?