My years as a menswear boss

One hit kills.These were the words that popped up in Jiqiu's mind when he saw Dennis Field's body.

The Viscount, who was usually highly respected, folded his hands on his chest and lay quietly on the wooden planks in the cellar.

The weather had started to turn cold, and the corpse was not very decayed. Without the hideous wound on his neck, the noble lord would have fallen asleep.

"It doesn't look like he's been dead for three days." Watson put on his gloves and began to check. He squeezed his mouth open and found that there was no foreign matter inside. He opened his eyelids, his pupils dilated and dilated, and he pressed his shoulders and legs. "There are no corpse spots on the face, and it is still pale due to excessive blood loss. Has anyone hired an embalmer for Mr. Field?"

"That's the weirdness of this case. It was like this when Mr. Field was found. And there was no blood splatter on the bed sheet, only a little stain on the place where it was in contact with the body." Grayson frowned. Can kill a fly.

Jiqiu stepped forward and compared the size of the wound with his hands. One finger is longer and two fingers are wider. Unlike an axe, the wound caused by an axe cannot be so narrow, nor is it a knife or dagger. The fatal wound in front of him is obviously wider than these two. a lot.

'What kind of weapon would it take to inflict such a wound? '

"Mr. Grayson, what is a sharp weapon?" Jiqiu asked the question in his mind.

Soon a guard came up with the evidence she was curious about, a bloody bow and arrow. "Mr. Field was cut...killed by a bow and arrow?"

"Yes, you are really smart, little Mr. Gary." Grayson's attitude towards the child who had not yet reached his chest was perfunctory, but it was because of Sherlock Holmes' face.

Watson didn't care so much, and directly took the murder weapon in his hand and pointed it at Field's neck, "It's exactly the same."

"The murder weapon was found in the housekeeper Margery Leslie's room, but it was at his nephew's house in Portsmouth from the day before to the day after the day of the crime." Gleason was a little depressed in the face of the progress of the case with no clue about the murderer.

"I think it's time for us to meet the witness." Holmes, who had been silent all this time, finally stepped out of the shadows.

"Gentlemen, I have served Field Manor for 30 years. I have to say that the master is a very generous gentleman. He has always been very generous and never deducted people's wages. There is nothing wrong with it except being a bit weird. It's really sad." Ma, the fat cook of Field Manor

Ki Les wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

"Mrs. Leslie, where were you at three o'clock in the morning on September No. 12?" Holmes interrupted the cook's pitiful cry.

"I'm in my bedroom, sir." The cook was suddenly interrupted and subconsciously replied.

"Who can prove it for you?"

"Sophia, she is the maid of Field Manor. That night we were discussing the next day's dinner together. We chatted for a long time, Sophia didn't dare to go back alone, so she fell asleep with me."

Mrs. Leslie's voice was hoarse, and there was still the breathless blush from crying.

"Mr. Holmes, I have something to ask Mrs. Leslie." Jiqiu raised her small head and looked at Holmes eagerly, with the words "I want to ask too" written all over her face.

After getting permission, she took a step closer to the fat cook, "Mrs. Leslie, why doesn't Sophia dare to go back to the room alone at night. Is there anything in this manor that scares her?"

"No, she is even more timid than a mouse. She is the most timid person I have ever seen in my life for almost 50 years. Even a bee flying by will make my mind uneasy." Mrs. Leslie quickly gave answer.

'Is it really?It always feels like memorizing lines. '

After getting the answers he needed, Jiqiu left the living room which was used as an inquiry room.A bunch of guards came and went in and out of the estate, and she watched for a while.

"Mr. Holmes wants a piece of information about Mr. Field's life." Jiqiu patted his face, and walked up to the man who was giving orders to another yellow-skinned guard with a serious expression.The effect of the fox pretending to be the tiger's prestige is very good, and a stack of manuscript paper for the record is quickly obtained.

Jiqiu held the manuscript paper with one hand, and slid the other hand over it. The handwriting of Scotland Yard's early recorders was scrawled, and some were even abbreviated. She struggled to read, trying not to miss a word.

Going through the life of this noble lord, the young man lost his wife and left behind a daughter who died of illness ten years ago, lost his daughter in middle age, and lost his life in his old age.

People in England in the nineteenth century still believed in these ethereal things, otherwise there would be no tragic witch hunts in history.

So when Mrs. Leslie said that Sophia was afraid of going back to the room alone at night, her first reaction was that someone had an accident in this manor. Unfortunately, Miss Field died of illness in this manor.

It stands to reason that unlike later generations who use cremation now, people should have died in every manor. Why is Sophia so frightened?

Harmful?

The questioning of Mrs. Leslie in the living room was coming to an end, and Ji Qiu quietly returned behind the crowd, as if she had never left just now.

"Let's talk to the maid." Holmes tapped the ground lightly with his cane.

"She's in a bad state, and you may not be able to ask anything useful."

Grayson shrugged. He had already tried it with his colleagues. Whenever the case was mentioned, the nervous girl let out a high-pitched scream and spit out some vague words.

Jiqiu followed them to Sophia, and she felt that it was a euphemism for Grayson to say that he was in a bad state.

The girl in front of her was obviously just 20 years old, she should have been youthful and beautiful, but she was curled up on the bed, her face was pale, haggard, depressed, showing a look of panic, she met her eyes, and the other party was like a frightened bird dodged.

"You needn't be afraid." Holmes sat down on the chair by the bed and poured her a glass of whiskey which had just overflowed. "Drink it and you'll feel better."

Holmes has different attitudes towards different witnesses. When questioning a witness like Sophia, he has a calm face and firm eyes, just like a priest holding a "Bible".

After a while, Sophia stretched out her hand tremblingly from under the quilt, took the glass of wine, and drank it down in one gulp.There was a hint of rosiness on his pale face.

"Sophia, when did you come to Field Manor?" Holmes asked a very common question.

"...About three years ago... sir." Sophia replied tremblingly.

"Who introduced you?"

"It's my aunt."

"You don't have a London accent."

"I'm from Devonshire, sir."

Holmes asked a lot of trivial matters, and when Jiqiu thought he was ready to ask the key points, Holmes stood up and said goodbye to Sophia.

"Holmes, you have asked a lot, and I don't understand how this will help us?" Watson was also listening at a loss.

"How can there be no help, my dear Watson, think again. Sometimes the details are the key to solving the case."

Holmes smiled with satisfaction, straightened his hat with his hand and left the door of Sophia's bedroom, leaving Watson and Grayson looking at each other.

Jiqiu's mind became more and more chaotic. She tried her best to keep up with Mr. Detective's train of thought, but her brain was weak and she was about to be paralyzed.

Dennis Field is quiet, in order to recuperate, there are very few servants in the whole manor, only one caretaker

At home, a manservant, a maid, a gardener, and a secretary who helped take care of the work were sent to France on a business trip one month before Mr. Field's death.

As soon as the butler returned to Leatherhead, he was taken away by Scotland Yard for interrogation, and the gardener and the servant who had just entered the door were left in the manor without questioning.

Jiqiu thinks that the murderer should be someone from the Field Manor. In such a large manor, it is still very easy to forge testimony.

Holmes was one step ahead of her and found the gardener next to the flowerbed.Field's gardener is an old man in his 60s, with gray hair, a strong body, standing very straight, even more energetic than some middle-aged alcoholics.

"Dear sir, Henry Wood is happy to serve you, as long as I know something, I will definitely say it."

The gardener held a pair of large shears in his hand, and there were still some broken branches and leaves on it, apparently stopping his work.

Jiqiu noticed with sharp eyes that Henry Wood had a tattoo of an anchor on his right hand. He was a sailor before and had served in the military, but his eyes were not commanding. He should have no military rank during his service, at most he was a second-class soldier.

"When did you come to Field Park?" Holmes looked with interest at the peacock-trimmed bushes.

"Nine years ago, sir. I was dying of starvation, and Lord Field took pity on me and let me work at Field Park."

Old Henry was a little nervous by the stern question, so he quickly added, "It is impossible for me to attack the master, he gave me a second life!"

"Don't be too nervous, it's just a routine inquiry." Holmes patted his arm reassuringly. "Then who do you think is the most suspect in this manor?"

Old Henry looked around nervously, and Jiqiu subconsciously moved his body into the bushes full of hydrangeas.

It is not difficult to hide a thin person in a blooming flowerbed. Old Henry did not notice her, and lowered his voice to Holmes, "There are... ghosts in this manor."

Jiqiu, who firmly believes in materialism, is not interested in this kind of magic stick. She originally thought that the old gardener could know some clues.

"Oh? That's an interesting statement." Holmes turned his back to Jiqiu, and she couldn't see Mr. Detective's expression clearly.

But she guessed that Mr. Holmes must have used that kind of sincere look, and anyone can be tricked out.

Sure enough, Old Henry seemed to be encouraged, "My lord has a child, a very beautiful and intelligent lady. But one morning, the maid found that Miss Field was not breathing, and there was still a child beside the pillow.

Leave a nursery rhyme... In the middle of the night at Field Manor, the sound of a girl crying can always be heard. Leslie once said that it was like the dead Miss Field. "

Jiqiu's mind is messed up, why is it a nursery rhyme, is it also a robin?

"What is that nursery rhyme?" asked Holmes.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes. I really don't know that. Miss Field had been dead for a year when I came.

These things are heard from some servants.It's just that the master was furious when he found out, and drove the servants away.Now only Leslie knew a little more. "Old Henry licked his chapped lips.

"Thank you, Mr. Wood. You have provided a very important clue." Holmes took off his hat and nodded to him.

"You are too kind, sir."

After Holmes left, old Henry also left the garden.Jiqiu sat up, her legs felt a little numb.

"How's that sound, Gary?"

"Uh, it is indeed a very important clue." Ji Qiu heard Holmes' characteristic deep and magnetic voice behind him, and his face burned with embarrassment.

Ignoring his sore and numb legs, he quickly stood up and followed Mr. Holmes with his head down like a little quail. Suddenly, he thought of something, and ran to his right hand, "Mr. Holmes, let's go find Mrs. Leslie now!"

"From now on, you can stand beside me without hiding." Holmes stroked the cane in his hand, and looked down at the child who had not yet reached his chest.

"Oh, thank you sir!" Jiqiu touched her burning ears embarrassingly.

'Clues are finally moving'