Baker Street Charterers

At eleven o'clock in the middle of the night, the dense fog in London had gradually dissipated, and the warm westerly wind had blown away the dark clouds. The night was so clear that everyone's faces could be seen clearly, even the small puddles on the ground.Seders, a very polite man, removed a headlight to brighten the road.Holmes got out of the car first, then turned around and stretched out his hand in a gentlemanly manner. This time, Nora learned to be smart, and instead of jumping out of the car early, she put her hand in his palm, stepped on the pedal calmly and walked down.

Holmes didn't wear gloves. Her fingers were cool, but his palm was dry and warm. She couldn't help but cast a second glance.

Yingnuma Villa was built in a square, surrounded by high stone walls, with sharp pieces of anti-theft glass scattered around the top of the wall, and the only entrance was a narrow door with iron splints nailed on it.Sedes stepped forward to knock on the door, and after a while, a rough and impatient voice came from inside, "Who is it?"

"I, McMurdo, who else but me?"

There was a low grunt and complaint from inside, the door was opened backwards, and a short but strong-limbed man was standing inside holding a lantern. He looked at them suspiciously, "Mr. Sedes, who are they? There is no order from the master." I can't let them in."

"Can't?" Sedes frowned, "How is it possible, McMurdo, I told my brother last night that I would bring a few friends here today."

"I'm sorry, sir, but the master has been in the house all day, and I haven't heard any orders from him. You know his rules, you can come in, but your friends can only wait outside for a while, I'm afraid."

Sedes stared at him awkwardly, and raised his voice, "This is outrageous, can't I guarantee them? You didn't see there are two ladies here, don't you let them all wait on the street late at night?" with?"

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Sedders, but they are your friends but not the master's. The master pays me and I will guard them dutifully. I don't know any of these friends of yours." He insisted.

During the stalemate, Holmes suddenly spoke.

"McMurdo?" he said with a smile. "You should remember me. I fought you for three rounds four years ago at Ellison's ring. I was that amateur boxer." Player."

The gatekeeper looked at him carefully, and then showed a look of sudden realization, "God! You—you are Mr. Sherlock Holmes? Oh, how could I have forgotten you, you should have given me a slap on the jaw. A good fist, then I should have recognized you a long time ago. What a pity, what a pity, you are a very talented but not enterprising person, if you continue to practice, then the championship will already belong to you!"

Holmes glanced at Nora, and the look in his eyes clearly said, "You see, you are right, I am knowledgeable and athletic."

Then the eyes turned back again, "Sir, you see, even if I don't want to make progress and achieve nothing, at least I can find a job to support myself-our friends will definitely not let us suffer from the cold outside in the middle of the night, yes McMurdo?"

The gatekeeper immediately said, "Please come in, gentlemen and ladies, I am very sorry, the master's order is very strict, I must know the identities of your friends before I dare to let them in, please forgive me."

McMurdo opened the door, and they all followed him in.A cobbled path meanders through the barren open space and leads directly to a large house with a square shape and ordinary structure.There is a dense bush growing around, and only a corner of the roof is exposed, which looks secluded and quiet.The house was spacious and spacious, so empty that it was slightly gloomy.Even Sedes was a little uneasy, the car lights creaked in his trembling hands, he couldn't help whispering, "Is there something wrong here, I clearly told my brother to come tonight, but his window Why is there no light at all—McMurdo, do you know what happened?"

The gatekeeper shook his head, "I've been here all day, nothing happened."

Holmes pointed to a small window and said, "There is a light there. Who is there?"

"Oh, that's the housekeeper's room, that's Mrs. Burnstone's room. It looks like she's still awake. Wait a moment here, I'll go in and see—"

"Wait!" Nora motioned them to stop.

Mary took Watson's wrist and looked around very nervously.Thaddeus's heartbeat was so fast that even McMurdo could hear him. He looked back at Nora suspiciously, but Nora looked at Holmes. After an exchange of glances, Holmes spoke first.

"I think your brother—"

Before the words were finished, a shrill and terrified woman screamed from the wide and dark house, adding a sense of tension to the whole scene like a horror movie.

Sedders was so frightened that he almost dropped the headlights in his hand, "This is Mrs. Burnstone's voice, God, she is the only woman in the house, what happened?"

After he finished speaking, he hurried to the door and knocked on the door. Not long after, a tall lady shouted excitedly as if seeing a relative, "Oh, Mr. Sedes, it's great that you can come. You are really here. What a coincidence, oh my God, Mr Sedders, it's such a pleasure to meet you!"

"What happened?" Sedders said as he walked in, and before Holmes and the others followed, he ran out in a panic, his face pale as death, terrified, and shouted, "Something happened." Something happened to Bartholomew! Something happened to Bartholomew! It scared the hell out of me! God I can't take it—"

Holmes immediately said, "Go in and have a look."

Mary whispered comfort to the terrified old woman behind, and Holmes and Norah, without delay, took a few strides upstairs and down a long passage.Holmes quietly observed everything around him. The dim lights on both sides cast two extremely long and dark shadows behind him.When he reached the third door, he stopped and knocked on the door loudly, but when he got no answer, he immediately tried to turn the doorknob and push the door hard, but failed.He bent down, leaned over to look in through the keyhole, paused for a few seconds, and immediately stood up, his face heavy as expected.

Nora said immediately, "He...?"

Holmes nodded, "Take a look."

Nora also leaned over to have a look inside, and then took a shallow breath.

"What's going on?" Watson also caught up, took a look inside under Nora's gesture, and turned pale as he wished.

There was only dim moonlight in the room, and a face exactly like Sedes's was staring at the door as if hanging in mid-air.Shiny bald head, red hair, same pale and unhealthy complexion, but the expression is rigid, revealing a terrifying, unnatural, almost grinning expression.

"Oh my God." Watson took a step back, shaking his head at Mary's perplexed face, and said, "We have to open the door, but first we need a key—"

Before she finished speaking, Nora stepped forward very calmly, gathered strength, raised her legs, and then kicked the door open with a very concise and rough movement with a bang.

Watson, "..."

Mary, "..."

Holmes, "...cough."

Watson glanced at the lock on the back of the door. It looked like an extremely tragic death. It was broken in the middle, and the gear parts were scattered all over the place.

"Nora's strength...is really not to be underestimated." Watson said dryly.

Holmes cheered with amazed eyes from the side, and after receiving Norah's slanting gaze, he straightened his face and walked into the room.

The room resembled a chemical laboratory, with two layers of glass bottles with stoppers on the wall facing them, and Bunsen burners, test tubes, and stills on the table.In a corner of the wall, there were many bottles of acid, covered with vines, and one of the bottles seemed to be smashed, and a black, pungent-smelling liquid flowed out.On the other side of the room, on a straggling pile of planks and plaster, a ladder had been poked through the ceiling to allow one person to enter and exit, and a long coil of rope was coiled under the ladder.And the owner of the house, sitting on a chair with armrests by the table, with his head tilted on his left shoulder, and a creepy smile on his face.His face was pale, and he had obviously been dead for a long time, and his limbs were also distorted completely different from normal dead people.In his other hand lay a strange implement--a rough brown wooden stick, bound with coarse twine to a stone like a hammer.Next to it was a torn piece of paper torn from a notepad, with a few words scrawled on it.

Holmes picked it up, glanced at it, and handed it to them. "Take a look."

Under the light of the portable lamp, the words "four signatures" are fully revealed.

Watson was surprised and disturbed, "Oh my god, what is going on here?"

Holmes had already bent over to begin the autopsy, and replied without hesitation, "Murder."

Everyone looked puzzled, and Nora pointed to an indistinct black long thorn in the hair behind the corpse's ear, "Look here, it looks like a thorn."

Watson stepped forward and stretched out his hand, but Nora stopped him, "You can fuck, but be careful, it's poisonous." She pointed to a small black blood stain around the thin wound.

Watson nodded, and carefully pulled out the wooden thorn with his thumb and forefinger. Once the thorn was taken out, the wound was closed, and there were hardly any identifiable traces except for a little blood.This would be a good way to kill invisible.

Watson stared at this thorny thorn, puzzled, "It's so understandable, I don't understand what's going on at all."

Holmes shrugged, stood beside the corpse, and smiled slightly, "On the contrary, Watson, I have already figured out the general context of the matter, and I only need to clarify a few more links before the case can be closed."

Nora was about to say something when their companion, the dead man's brother Ceders, cried out in despair, "Treasure! The treasure has been stolen! They have stolen it all! We took the treasure out of that hole in the ceiling." Yes, I took it for him! I was the last person to see him, and he was alive when I left here last night."

Holmes didn't pay attention to the mood of the person involved, but asked calmly, "What time?"

"Ten o'clock—now that he's dead, the police must suspect me, they'll think so! Oh dear, you don't think so of me, do you? No, certainly not—if it was I'm not going to bring you here too. My God, my God! I'm going crazy—”

Sedes kept walking up and down the room, terrified and terrified.

"Don't worry, Sedes." Watson comforted him gently, "You don't have to be afraid, listen to us, first go to the police station to report the incident, cooperate with them, everything will be fine, we will wait for your return here."

He nodded blankly, but finally heeded the advice and staggered downstairs in the dark.