Miss Watson of the Sherlock Holmes

Ursula trotted all the way with her skirt lifted, and after taking a look at the elevator that stopped on the top floor, she decisively entered the stairwell.Because the stairwell was empty, she completely abandoned the elegant posture that a lady of this era should maintain when climbing up the steps, and climbed up the metal steps step by step. Just as she was about to exit, she paused and squinted. Look up to the shadow leading to the exit.

There, stood a man.

"who is it?"

Ursula straightened her skirt and raised her head nervously to ask.

The figure stood against the light and stood in the thick shadows.

This is unscientific and impossible.thought Ursula, looking warily into the unnatural darkness.During the day, in the stairwell with electric lights, there is no way such a large pool of shadows will appear out of thin air at the door.After all, she could clearly see that the small round windows on both sides of the gate were so bright.

"Hello, Miss Watson? Ah, it should be you, sure, ah! I have wanted to see you for a long time."

The man in the dark said so, with a buzzing sound, as if it came from something.

Seeing the door behind him, Ursula took a deep breath and rushed up.

"What's the situation?" Dr. Watson walked into the office with many instrument boxes hanging on the wall with a calm tone.

"The witness said that after taking a sip of coffee, the first mate suddenly grabbed his neck, looked very painful, and then fell to the ground." Eric pretended to glance behind Dr. Watson inadvertently. The tall brown-haired man dressed as a footman.

"Coffee?" Dr. Watson has been a little sensitive to everything he drinks in the past two days. After all, he was almost bitten by a ruby ​​in front of him.

"Let me see." He put on his gloves, picked up the coffee cup, and slightly flapped the rim with his hand.

"There is no peculiar smell." Dr. Watson frowned, and then he carefully opened the mouth of the deceased who was half lying on the ground, and looked inside.

"what."

He turned and dug out a pair of tweezers from the medicine chest and dug it into the dead man's throat.

when!

There was a soft sound that was definitely not the sound of metal touching human soft tissue.

Dr. Watson was a little surprised: "There is something in his throat."

A few minutes later, a blood-red jewel fell into the tray of the coffee cup with a bang.

"This scene seems familiar." Dr. Watson frowned, and he couldn't help but look at his quick-moving butler.

"Even the same size." Little Holmes looked closely at the gem. "So the cause of death was choking on a foreign object?"

"Such a big gem..." The young detective thought for a while, touched the wall of the coffee cup, and turned to ask the young assistant of the chief mate who was looking sad.

"Mate Howard has a habit of drinking cold coffee?"

"Yes, yes." The assistant replied. "And he's used to drinking it in a few sips after it's cooled. He doesn't like to drink hot things, even if it's tea, he drinks it after cooling down."

"It seems that the person who placed the gems should at least be familiar with some of the living habits of the first mate," said Holmes.

"Who brought this cup of coffee." He continued to question the assistant who was so excited that his face was flushed.

"...It's me. But I'm really not the murderer! Sir." The young sailor shouted excitedly. "Mr. Howard is my teacher, how could I harm him!"

"Don't get excited, young man," Dr. Watson reassured. "We're just asking, and we don't doubt what you mean."

"Even if you have doubts, you should. George, please cooperate with Dr. Watson. He is a professional." The captain came in with a few people, and they arrived a little late.

"I have already reported the case. The ship will dock at 9 o'clock tonight, and the local police will board the ship to take over the case. Fortunately, we haven't left the mainland yet."

Eric paid attention to his expression, very sad, but restrained with grace, for a professional captain, there is no problem.He first introduced the ship doctor to Dr. Watson, and then asked: "Dr. Watson, have you checked Howard's... body? I know you are an expert, so... what do you think? He was murdered Is it?"

Hearing this sentence, the two Holmes exchanged glances cryptically. The other party was very careful and solemn about the words used by the deceased, and he knew Dr. Watson's identity as a frequent participant in the case, but before that, the other party did not show that As far as he knew about it, he hadn't talked about similar topics at all.

This is quite suspicious.Of course, maybe the captain was extremely restrained and polite by nature, and he didn't like to ask others questions.But now that this ship is obviously full of various mysteries, his behavior is a bit strange.

Especially among the people who attended the dinner that day, there was a more prominent name than Dr. Watson, the recorder—Eric Holmes. Compared with the author, readers obviously paid more attention to the characters.

When Sherlock Holmes and Watson appear at the same time, the captain who knows Dr. Watson is so indifferent, it is too lack of curiosity.In particular, the young Mr. Holmes fell in love with Miss Watson at first sight, which can be regarded as the excitement of the ordinary journey.

"Mr. Captain, have you seen my uncle's work?" A girl's voice sounded from the door.

Ursula walked in very elegantly, completely ignoring the shouts from the sailors behind: "Miss, you can't go in."

"Miss Watson?" the captain asked in surprise. "Maybe it's not suitable for ladies here..."

"If you are worried that I will faint suddenly, then there is no need. I am not the kind of 'lady' who wears smelling salts every day." At this point, she winked at the innermost Eric Eye.

Eric raised his eyebrows when he saw her flamboyant and lively appearance.

At any rate, Ursula managed to squeeze her way into the small office at last.

"This is already the second ruby." Dr. Watson mused. "Over there, is the first gemstone still there?"

"Yes." The captain nodded. "It's staying in my safe."

"It's a wonder," said Dr. Watson. "There are actually two rubies of this quality, and both of them are used in coffee."

"So this must be murder. Isn't it? And the murderer is the owner of the gem that we have been unable to find." A gentleman following the captain raised his voice.He is one of the shareholders of the cruise ship. He happened to come to inspect the work this time. He originally planned to disembark tonight.

"Murder is certain, but we cannot easily judge who the murderer is." Eric said flatly.

"Mr. Holmes? Why are you here? Wait a minute..." The aristocratic shareholder only now noticed that besides the lady who insisted on joining in the fun, there was also a young passenger present.Looking at the corpse on the ground, he suddenly thought of something and frowned. "So I think I've heard that name before. Are you the detective? No, the wrong age. Relative?"

"You guessed it right, I am the nephew of Mr. Holmes, and I am also a detective now." Eric leaned slightly. "There are still 5 hours before landing. Please allow me to participate in this case. Due to occupational diseases, I am happy to help find the murderer."

"Are you a detective too?" The shareholder looked at this too young Mr. Detective with somewhat uncertain eyes.

"If you are concerned about my age and experience, Dr. Watson should be able to reassure you," said the young detective. "He and my uncle have been partners for many years and have solved many cases together. They are Scotland Yard's indispensable off-site assistance."

"Ah, doctor? That's right, doctor! You are the detective partner." Mr. Shareholder suddenly realized that he knew something about Mr. Holmes' deeds.

"I think so!"

The shrewd Mr. Shareholder pondered for a while, then turned his head and said to the captain. "Let these gentlemen try! For us, if we can find the murderer before docking, it is definitely a good thing! From my point of view, first of all, we don't have to let the police block the port. You know this You can’t afford to delay your trip! If you stay for one more day, you will lose a lot of money! From the perspective of passengers, they are definitely not happy to be treated as suspicious people and have to be questioned again and again. This situation has a great impact on our reputation have a great impact."

"But it's the same if Dr. Watson and Mr. Holmes come to check? Don't they need to ask the passengers?" the captain said hesitantly.

"Then you need to keep it secret." Eric interjected. "Before the police come, please keep the fact that we started investigating the case a secret. Because of the riot just now, it is estimated that the whole ship knows that the accident happened to the first mate, and they are talking about it. And we mixed in with other people There is nothing strange about talking about the case, you know, this kind of unsuspecting small talk is sometimes easier to find clues than deliberate cross-examination."

Mr. Shareholder nodded, obviously he thought it was feasible, and then he looked at the actual person in charge of the cruise. "I agree, what do you think? If it's a confidential investigation, even if they don't succeed, we have nothing to lose, just stop and let the police investigate one by one. This is the worst case scenario."

"I have no position to object." The captain couldn't bear to glance at his first mate's body. At this moment, he finally couldn't control his sadness, and covered his face and said with sobs. "Please, Dr. Watson, Mr. Holmes. Howard and I have been friends for more than ten years. I really want to avenge him."

"That's a deal. If you can succeed, I will also prepare a generous reward." Mr. Shareholder patted the captain's shoulder to comfort him, then turned to Eric and said.

"Thank you for your trust." Little Holmes smiled and shook hands with the other party.

"What are we doing now?"

After everyone dispersed and the scene was properly sealed off, Ursula took the young detective's arm and approached curiously. "Are you going to chat with those passengers? There are so many people on board, how do you judge who is the suspect. And, how do you know if the murderer is one of the few people who were there just now?"

"You think they're suspicious too?" Eric slowed down and distanced himself from Dr. Watson and Mr. "Manservant" who were striding ahead.

"Of course! Isn't it more suspicious than strangers and people who deal with him every day?" Ursula laughed.

"Well, what you said makes sense." Little Holmes also smiled. At the corner, he stopped, lowered his head, and stroked the girl's cheek with both hands.

Under the slightly shy expression of the other party, he sniffed lightly: "There is no smell."

"Huh? What's the smell? Perfume? I'm useless today." The girl froze for a moment, then smiled charmingly. "If you like it, I will use it tomorrow."

"It's not perfume~ Darling, it's the smell of mints." His hand slowly slid to the black-haired girl's neck, and suddenly exerted force.

"Tell me, where is Ursula?"