[Shen Xia] Britannia Rose

John tremblingly took out a crumpled letter from his trouser pocket, and Sherlock couldn't wait to take the letter from his hand. He looked at the envelope carefully, and the stamp on it was from the East End of London.Sherlock frowned as he passed the envelope under his nose, then opened the letter, and sure enough, there were five dried-out orange pits inside.

"KKK... Also, put the file on the sundial." Sherlock read out the contents of the envelope.

"I received a call from the postman this morning saying that there was a letter for me... At that time, I had a strong sense of foreboding in my heart. Sure enough, I hurried back to Horsham and saw this death letter in the mailbox. "John said anxiously, "What should I do?!"

"Did you take any measures? Like calling the police?" Isabella asked.

"I called the police! But they thought I was worrying unfoundedly. This is just a harmless prank letter. What's more, my father and brother died unexpectedly, not even murder."

"Listen, John, you must tell them the details," whispered Sherlock, "tell them, as they say, that your father has burned all the papers, and that this paper and the safe Put it all on the sundial, and act fast!"

"But it's past ten o'clock now, and the train to Horsham has stopped running."

"Oh...the earliest bus is at five o'clock tomorrow morning, buy a ticket right away, and you can take that bus back. Pay attention to the people around you, danger may come at any time." Sherlock said.

"now what?"

"Go back to the dormitory, don't go anywhere!"

John Openshaw trotted out of the bar with a pale face. He was so restless that he didn't notice the small black car parked beside the intersection.

The hawk-like eyes of the man in the car kept John Openshaw on until he turned the corner and was out of sight.The man pursed his lips. Mr. Openshaw did not keep the agreement with Sherlock. He was frightened by the five orange cores. The route he took was not the way back to the dormitory.But the man wasn't going to tell the clue.

In the bar, Sherlock was having a heated discussion with Isabella.

"There is no flight certificate, no passport, and the supermarket is on the verge of bankruptcy, but old Mr. Openshaw has time to travel around the world?" Sherlock snorted, "Don't be stupid, he is a liar. The supermarket business is just a lie, I guess he should Working for a secret organization."

"Always on business trips, absent from John's childhood...with a gunshot wound, I agree with you, but why did he move from the US to live in the UK? What do those documents have to do with the KKK who hunted him down?" Isabel La touched his chin, suddenly realized, "Could it be a defection?"

"Yes, defection. Old Mr. Openshaw got some confidential documents from that KKK gang. He fled from the United States to England for some reason. This secret organization is very powerful. There must be more than one of them. Alone It is inconceivable that one man could have killed two men in quick succession by means of which the coroner's jury could have been fooled, for they knew everything."

"There must be people in the government who can respond." Isabella said with certainty.

"The first letter was sent from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the third from the East End. It was only about three weeks from the receipt of the letter to old Mr. Openshaw's death, and John It took three days for my brother to receive the letter and die..." Sherlock put his palms together on his chin, he fell into deep thought, and suddenly shouted dissatisfied for a moment: "Can you turn down the music?! It's so loud that I'm thinking!"

"...Oh, okay." The boss who was watching TV turned off the stereo helplessly. He is not a good tempered man, but he had already received "special care" from Mycroft when Sherlock came to Cambridge University to enroll. "Are.

"It's definitely not a plane... a three-week time difference, what is that? These three places... oh! I see, oh..." Sherlock broke out of his contemplative state suddenly, he said with a smile, "I I should have thought of it earlier, all three places are seaports, and there are obvious sea salt crystals on that letter... They came here by boat, and it took as long as three weeks!"

"It's smuggling." Isabella fully understood.

"Yes! Smuggling!" Sherlock turned around and straightened his collar, and walked out of the bar quickly. Isabella hesitated for a while, and then chased after him.

Sherlock glanced at Isabella who was following, and said: "This further confirms my inference. This organization is not legal, and they cannot reach the UK through normal entry methods. Now, we just need to figure out what is the KKK?" What……"

Sherlock's words stopped abruptly, because he saw a tall man standing in front of the little black car and leaning on a black umbrella.There is no doubt that it is his brother, the head of the MI6 secret service - Mycroft Holmes.

Isabella struggled for a moment, and reluctantly greeted Mycroft under the serious gaze: "Good evening, sir."

"Good evening, Your Highness," Mycroft said calmly, his eyesight was still good in the dark, and he could see the bad smoky makeup on Isabella's face at a glance, "My humble suggestion, this makeup is not very suitable you."

"Your Highness?" Sherlock accurately captured the word, and his eyes glanced back and forth between the two, "Noble? Oh...it's the royal family, Isabella Mountbatten and Windsor, right?"

"It's really hard for you to remember the royal family's surname." Mycroft said mercilessly.

"You two have known each other for a long time, because you are responsible for the safety of the royal family? Wow~" Sherlock teased, "Can't tell, Mycroft, you are still a knight protecting the princess?"

"I'm not a knight," retorted Mycroft.

"You are the devil/big devil!" For the first time, Isabella and Sherlock said in unison.

Now it was Mycroft's turn to lose his temper. He raised his head high and said with the arrogance of a superior, "I didn't come here to quarrel with you."

"Then why? Government officials' post-meal digestion campaign?" Sherlock cast a sarcastic look at Mycroft's stomach, "Be on a diet, my dear brother."

"Don't worry about it," Mycroft turned around, calling Sherlock who ignored him and continued to move forward, "Don't meddle in John Openshaw's affairs."

"Huh?" Sherlock turned around suddenly without warning, and he looked Mycroft up and down, "You? Is the KKK related to you? Don't tell me that you are their umbrella in the UK."

"Of course not." Mycroft lowered his head and crushed the tip of the umbrella, and he denied it.

Isabella enjoyed the daily bickering of the Holmes brothers for a while, and found it very interesting. She even wanted to have another drink. She could choke the big Mr. Holmes who didn’t change his expression even before Mount Tai collapsed. This little Mr. Holmes is really good of!

"Then why don't you let me investigate?" Sherlock pressed.

"This is advice," Mycroft said. Before leaving, he gave Isabella a warning look, "Your Highness, I hope you don't follow my younger brother into various dangerous places, otherwise it will be difficult for you to get along with Her Majesty the Queen." Confession."

"...I will try my best," Isabella smiled stiffly, and she added, "I believe that Mr. Holmes has his own judgment."

"Oh...that name makes me vomit, please just call me Sherlock!"

"..." Mycroft clenched the handle of the little black umbrella in his hand, and he tried his best not to hit Sherlock's cheekbones with the tip of the umbrella.

The author has something to say:

It's the prelude to Maggie's seizure of power