marvelous rosaline

03

The star river at night on the high seas is vast. Looking up, you can see densely packed stars, and looking forward, you can see the boundless sea.

It was summer, but the sea breeze at night was still blowing slightly chilly.Sebastian Moran gathered the shirt on his body, then turned his head.The girl beside her didn't seem to notice the change in temperature.She was wearing a cotton and linen dress without even a vest. The young girl was full of interest, carrying a thin skirt, and turned her head to look up after walking to the deck.

Even if Sebastian Moran is a fool, he can see that Rosalind Poirot should not be a third-class passenger.

On land, no matter how poor a beggar is, he has the right to walk on the ground with both feet; while at sea, cruise ships use a clear price to classify each passenger.

Rosalind Poirot was tall, almost as tall as an average man.She has a fair complexion and delicate facial features. Her short dark red ear-length hair has been carefully trimmed, with fluffy bangs, and a strand of hair on each side of her hair is slightly raised, and the tips of her hair can cover her high cheekbones.The playful hairstyle accentuated her sharp cheekbones and piercing green eyes.

Sebass says that's just the same as the beautiful modern girls on the Broadway posters.She boarded the Olympic to find fame on Broadway—at least, so Rosalind said at a party with other young men and women.

A young lady who knows nothing about the world.

It's just that this "Miss" turned her head, and her clear eyes looked straight at Sebas, but it was as if a poisonous snake had locked on its prey.

Half a month ago, Sebastian Moran, who stayed in London, finally received an order to leave for the United States, but he didn't understand why the professor allowed him to "smoothly" approach Rosalind Poirot.

It wasn't until he touched her eyes and the phrase "whether it's life or death, what does it matter to me", that Sebastian understood the professor's motivation to some extent.

"Going to A deck?"

Sebastian took the initiative to speak.Rosalin just looked at the A deck above the D deck, which is a place for first-class passengers to take a walk.From a distance of more than ten meters, you can still see several well-dressed girls leaning on the fence and looking out.

Rosalin took out the hairpin she borrowed from her pocket: "We can go to Miss Douglas' bedroom first to see the situation."

The two of them were dressed in rough clothes, which naturally didn't fit into the rich and well-fed upper class. Along the way, Rosalin and Sebastian avoided all the staff and passengers as much as possible, and quietly transferred to B Deck. This is where the First Class Suite is located.

The rustic decoration was replaced by exquisite carved beams and painted columns, and the wooden floor was covered with expensive carpets, which consciously helped them hide the sound of their footsteps.

At the corner of each corridor, under various oil paintings, there are square-sized round tables with fresh flower clusters and emergency perfumes for passengers.

Rosalin picked up a perfume bottle casually, and took a deep breath as if she could finally take a big breath.

Sebastian: "A familiar smell?"

He intended to ridicule Rosalind for not being used to the stench of civilians in the third-class cabin, but he did not expect Rosalind to nod seriously.

"The smell of snow and fur," Rosalin replied earnestly, "is my grandmother's smell."

Sebastian frowned, and he glanced at the perfume bottle, the word "rose" was written on the label.

Rosalin had no intention of explaining her words to Sebastian, they were not so good yet.Standing beside Sebastian, the stench of corpses on his body was like a shadow, and Rosalin also understood that, in fact, Sebastian Moran's hygiene habits were very good, his body was very clean, and he was not in the objective world. Any odor is present.

This is Rosalind Poirot's way of remembering.

Just as the legendary genius has a memory palace of his own, Rosalin has no palace, but a complex and rich kingdom of scents.

Grandpa said that the so-called intuition is that a person's eyes, ears, or nose, or other senses are sharp enough to perceive the details of things one step ahead of the brain, and cannot rationally integrate them and draw logical causes and consequences .This is not a bad thing, on the contrary, it is an unparalleled gift from God, but most people cannot use it reasonably.

In infancy, Rosalin's brain was not yet fully developed, and she was more inclined to rely on smell rather than reason to summarize everything in the world.After she grew up, my grandfather thought that she could make use of this gift.

Under the guidance of several elders, Rosalin's habit of using scent to remember and understand the world has been preserved.

She first met her grandmother in the winter of 1909.

Rosalin was on vacation in Paris, and a sudden case caught her grandfather who had promised to spend Christmas with her, so she could only stay in the hotel alone.The restless Rosalin quietly threw away the nanny and hotel staff who were in charge of taking care of her, and boldly rushed out of the hotel.However, at the first moment when she stepped into the white snow, a powerful big hand grabbed her back.

"Three-year-olds are running around in the streets, but they will be kidnapped by Huazi."

She raised her head and saw a tall, beautiful, graceful and luxurious lady looking at her with a smile.She spoke French with a thick Russian accent, and snow rustled on her fiery red fox fur.The noble lady from the Snow Country said that she was Rosalin's grandmother, and she took Rosalind through an unforgettable Christmas.

At that time, the perfume used by my grandmother had the smell of roses.

Since then, in Rosalin's memory, roses have become the symbol of grandma just like the smell of snow and fur.

Grandma taught Rosalin a lot of tricks that are "unappealable" but quite useful, such as using a hairpin to pick the lock of the cruise suite.

Well, I kind of miss my grandma.

She put down the perfume bottle in her hand: "Let's go."

Sebastian: "Do you have any targets to investigate?"

Rosalin nodded: "Yes."

She didn't expect to catch the murderer as soon as she came up.Rosalin's initial plan was to find out the route on deck B first, and see which passageway a fireman would quietly approach Miss Douglas' suite.

"You participated in World War I," Rosalin said, "were you just a soldier?"

"Is it related to this matter?" Sebastian asked calmly.

No.

It's just that Rosalin feels that Sebastian Moran doesn't look much older than herself.

Numerous details show that he is an experienced veteran, but his age confuses Rosalin: the young man walking beside her looks to be around 23 or 14, if he has really been on the battlefield, then He was probably only [-] at the time.

No matter how brutal the First World War was, it would never be the turn of a 14-year-old boy to go to the battlefield.Not to mention this age, when the great detective Sherlock Holmes confronted Professor Moriarty, his father was probably still a child.

The time is not right.

"Just curious."

Rosalin asked: "Commando?"

Sebastian: "Sniper."

As we all know, Colonel Moran, the confidant of Professor James Moriarty, is a sniper with terrible ability.

Although the "Moland" in front of me is not the same age as Colonel Moran in the original Sherlock Holmes, but the great detective Poirot in the original work has never really had anything to do with Lady Vera, and has a granddaughter, right?

Rosalind: "Then you—"

She also wanted to ask some more questions to further confirm the identity of this "Molan".But Rosalin had just uttered her words, most of which were still in her stomach, when a shrill scream pierced the quiet corridor ahead.

Rosalin and Sebastian both had a meal, and then Sebastian turned his head: "East!"

After finishing speaking, he rushed over with his long legs.

Even if Rosailin chose clothes that were easy to move around as much as possible, she had to lift up the hem of the skirt first and then follow.The two turned the corner, and saw the door of the first-class suite that was supposed to be closed open at a glance.

The windows in the suite were open, and the bitter sea breeze poured in, even blowing onto the corridor.The luxurious and elegant suite of the first-class cabin is covered with grand woolen carpets. At this moment, a slender, well-dressed young girl fell on the floor. She clutched her neck in horror, and her blood seemed to burst. Like a fountain gushing out of the gate.

The splash of bright red blood quickly stained the expensive carpet.

Rosalin's eyes widened slightly, and then she quickly grabbed Sebastian: "He jumped out of the window, you go after him!"

Sebastian: "Chasing what?"

Rosalind: "Chasing the murderer."

Sebastian looked at her in astonishment, but didn't listen to her.Without saying a word, the young man beside him turned around and ran away in the direction opposite to the door.

Rosalind: "Damn it!"

The situation was urgent, and she couldn't care less about Sebastian's actions.Rosalin picked up the hem of her skirt and stepped directly into the room.

She cut her throat with a knife, just as she thought.When she saw the knife held by the knife sharpener, Rosalin guessed what he would do: the knife had no point, and it was more suitable for cutting flesh than stabbing.It's just that the murderer is not a professional killer. The correct way to do it is to cut the victim's throat and let the blood enter the trachea. At that time, it will be difficult for professional medical staff to rescue him when he sees the crime scene.

Fortunately he is not professional.

Rosalin squatted down () and knelt on the ground, holding the young girl's back neck with one hand, raising her head slightly, and pressing her artery near the heart with the other hand.This effectively reduced the flow of blood like a flood, and the young girl on the ground raised her eyes, facing Rosalin's eyes.

Ok……

What should we do at this time?Rosalin desperately recalled the scene when Miss Marple talked with the victim and the victim's family.

"It doesn't matter," she said, "don't worry, when the doctor comes, he has a certain probability to save you—maybe the probability is not high, but it's better than dying directly, isn't it?"

Soon there were urgent footsteps outside the first-class suite.

Rosalin looked up and saw two staff members rushing over with the captain and the doctor.And behind him... Sebastian Moran barely stopped.

Seeing the extremely bloody scene in the room, the doctor stopped breathing and hurried into the door.

"Thank God," he said eagerly, opening the medicine chest, "thank God for saving you, Miss Douglas!"

"God didn't save her."

Rosalin muttered dissatisfiedly: "I saved her."

She looked at Sebastian, and was even more dissatisfied: "You let the murderer go!"

Sebastian said calmly: "I think it is more important to inform the captain and the doctor to save Miss Douglas's life."

The current captain didn't bother to ask why two men and women dressed as civilians were in the first-class suite.He glanced at Miss Douglas who was still receiving emergency treatment with lingering fear, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"This gentleman is right," he nodded solemnly, and then turned to the staff around him, "You, you go to the second-class cabin and invite Mr. Sherlock Holmes over."

Sherlock Holmes?

Rosalin paused her hand and looked at Sebastian Moran almost instinctively.

The famous Sherlock Holmes is also on this ship bound for New York?