145 – Irene Adler (5)
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Before speaking, Miss Irene Adler calmly took out her cigarette and lit it with her two ladies and two elders in front of her.
It was a kind of provocation. Even Watson could tell. Due to the social atmosphere, it was difficult for women to smoke in public.
Of course, it was a meaningless social restriction to Holmes.
However, the act of her sitting arrogantly in front of someone who was older than her and just burning a cigarette in her finger was clearly a provocation.
Watson instinctively realized that the woman in front of her and Holmes were not compatible. Holmes may have been similar.
Her Miss Adler may have wanted her Holmes to get angry, but what she chose was to calmly take out her own cigarette and light it in the same way.
In an uncomfortable atmosphere where the two women were smoking cigarettes in silence, only Watson sat quietly in his seat. She was afraid that an arrow might come at her.
Adler opened her mouth again, as if she was intrigued by Holmes’ reaction.
“By the way, is she walking around dressed as a man? Because of my job, I often have to play male roles, but no matter how I look at it, I don’t think that’s the case… …. Oh, do you have a taste for women?”
“It’s a matter of efficiency. And if you think it’s cross-dressing just because you’re wearing some pants, then you probably have a vision problem.”
“I know, I just tried it. Who would think of you as a man, just a weird girl wearing pants? Her face is a shame. I think you have a pretty body, but you’re not doing anything…….”
“Hmm!”
However, Watson thought that if she continued like this, the uncomfortable confrontation would continue, so she cleared her throat and had to focus the attention of the two women on her.
From Watson’s perspective, it seemed like the two people had a childlike quality to them and would continue to fight childishly, as if they were fighting each other. Of course, in Miss Adler’s case, she was not yet an adult, but closer to a child.
“I… It’s better if we end this quickly… Wouldn’t it be…… Yo. This? She just came to ask about a person named Sybil Vane…… Yo. This”
Watson unknowingly increased her conversation, but fortunately, the two women soon stopped glaring at each other as if they were tired of each other and each sighed.
It was Irene Adler who spoke again.
“Sybil Vane… …. “I was close with her, she was like my older sister.”
“… We’re finally making sense. “I heard she committed suicide. Do you know why?”
“Holmes!”
Unlike her violent attitude just moments before, Irene Adler was lost in her thoughts, as if she was staring into the distance.
However, the detective who questioned her was overly rational and had a childlike side to her, so she asked back coldly, and Watson was shocked and had to raise his voice.
It seemed to Watson that Holmes was taking into her mind the sarcasm she had heard from Adler just moments ago, as if it were her own child.
At this, Adler glared coldly at Holmes for a moment, but Holmes only raised the corner of her mouth slightly as if laughing at her and remained silent, and it was she who sighed first and lowered her gaze. It was Adler.
“Ha… …. If I fight over someone who’s already dead, it’ll only be difficult for me. The exact reason is… Officially, I don’t know. Because there was no will. Ah, but suicide would still be right.”
“It seems like they know something. “I want you to know that.”
“Anyway… “I still haven’t heard the exact reason why you’re asking about Sybil Vane?”
A brief standoff again.
But this time, Holmes was the first to take the lead.
The detective shrugged her shoulders and opened her mouth as if to tell a light story. However, Watson, who was watching next to her, could feel that such an attitude was an act to force off her nervousness.
“I am trying to avenge Sybil Vane…… I won’t tell the same stupid lie. However, do you know that the first victim of the torso murder case, which is causing an uproar in London these days, was Sybil Vane’s younger brother, James Vane?”
“… I remember hearing it. “I remember meeting Sybil before she died, she was a nice person, but it was a tragedy.”
“Because I think Sybil Vane was involved in that death. The sudden suicide of an actress, and her brother trying to protect her. “It makes a lot of sense theatrically, doesn’t it?”
Adler was silent for a moment, staring at the cigarette burning between his fingers. Then, as if he had decided on something, he put out his cigarette and nodded.
“Someone compared Sybil Vane to Ophelia. In fact, it was when her older sister Sybil began to show off her talent that she played the role of Ophelia in ‘Hamlet.’ But considering her sister’s life, I don’t think it’s entirely wrong.”
“… Sybil Vane also had a lover. No, she is not a lover -“
“It’s a common occurrence. High-ranking people flirt with actors and singers. Because that’s the bottom ecosystem. If you use it cleverly, it might actually not be a bad thing. Living as a pillar, flattered by dreamy women, rising to a higher place, or joining a noble family…… Taking advantage of the royal family’s weaknesses and obtaining a government position……. “It’s hard for people who come into this world to get ahead if they don’t do something like that.”
Watson watched the singer and actor in front of him sigh deeply as if he was lamenting his situation. But at the same time, she felt that the woman in front of her seemed to have the temperament to take the initiative and do something even in such a relationship.
Irene Adler continued her recollections.
“Sister Sybil was not a clever person. She was, as they say, a person who suffered losses because she was good. Actors and singers dreamed of romantic relationships, even though they shouldn’t dream of such things. I also worked next to her as an apprentice under her older sister and was able to see the general picture of the situation. In fact, at the time, she naively believed that her sister would be fine. Opponent too… “She certainly seemed to love her sister with all her heart, and she was single above all else.”
“It seemed like she had suffered a broken heart.”
“I don’t know exactly what happened between the two. However, from the time when Sybil Vane began her ‘love affair’ with that person, singer Sybil Vane gradually disappeared, leaving only the person she fell in love with. And then she even lost that love – and that was the end. That’s all I have to say. “You sure don’t want anything else, do you?”
“Enough. So who is that person?”
Holmes asked calmly. Then Adler hesitated for a moment.
Watson was momentarily puzzled by the fact that the singer, who was proud enough to ridicule someone like Holmes, hesitated, but he was able to understand a little that her opponent was an ‘aristocratic’.
“Grey, Lord Dorian Gray.”
“Interesting.”
Of course, when Holmes heard this, he smiled brightly, like a child who had just received a really fun toy. Looking at Holmes like that, Irene Adler added, perhaps feeling her trust.
“You’re lucky. I already heard that that person is coming to my performance today. “Of course, it’s not to meet me, it’s because he comes with my gang on a regular basis, so don’t misunderstand.”
“I’ll take it as a reference.”
With that, Holmes bowed his head briefly and went out without even looking back, to the point where it felt cold.
Watson, who noticed this, remembered her close sister and followed Irene Adler, who seemed to be lost in thought again, greeting her without saying a word.
But somehow, Watson was able to feel an intuition, not an intuition, that he would meet that singer in person again someday.
Fortunately, Holmes, who went out first, was waiting for Watson himself, and when Watson came out, he started walking again in silence.
Holmes finally broke the silence as Watson quickly followed him from the side.
“What do you think, Watson?”
“Huh? Uh…. “Can I tell you my opinion?”
“Say it, Watson.”
“Um… …. First of all, a person named Sybil Vane… Wouldn’t it be suicide? From the beginning, Holmes, you thought so too. Also… hmm… …. And then the dead James Vane goes to see Lord Dorian Gray for his family’s suicide……. Hmm…… Murdered?”
“I’m not sure about the last one. However, there is a high possibility that there is a strong connection to the disappearance of James Vane before his disappearance. The most important thing would be to find out by examining the body, but unfortunately, permission for that is not available right now. In that sense, tonight…… “You’ll have time to enjoy the show, right, Watson?”
“Uh, well. I do not care!”
That night, with the help of their manager, the two were able to spend time in silence in fairly decent seats, more precisely, seats that overlooked the concert hall.
Holmes pretended to be watching the stage and began looking for something through his opera glasses. Watson was only observing the stage without realizing it, and when Holmes tapped him on the side, he turned his opera glasses to the same place as Holmes, and was able to spot a familiar face.
From noble mtl dot com
Professor James Moriarty was there with some of his companions.
