158 – Barney, Vampire (5)
Death was a part of life. That was the life of those who lived here under Her Majesty Queen Victoria.
So thought Jane Watson. It was not a philosophical thought or literary metaphor. I meant it literally.
Death, numerous deaths, were always with us until death ended life. It has been like that since birth.
Everyone had at least one or two dead people in their family during their lifetime. Of course, it was not meant as an obvious syllogism such as all humans die, Socrates is human, therefore Socrates dies.
Just as all old people eventually die, naturally all family members in the house were destined to become dead. But that death has been with me since childhood.
Jane Watson, herself, had two dead siblings: her brother Henry, now deceased, and herself, her only daughter. Since the brothers and sisters died before Watson was born and before he could even speak properly, there was actually no great attachment or sense of family.
It was a time when everyone lived like that.
Didn’t she once, perhaps even now, have a younger sister who died in childhood named Jane Moriarty, the same name as Watson herself, Professor James Moriarty, whom she still couldn’t fully let go of?
At the time, I imagined that maybe the professor was getting closer to seeing me as my dead sister.
However, looking back, it was clear that in the end, the villain had made a sound that was not even in his mind in order to play with his mind.
I don’t know about Holmes. She never asked if she had any brothers or sisters who died when she was young. There was no problem because most of the people were dead so that such questions did not need to be asked among friends.
And this familiar death was widespread in society beyond the home. Of course, those who have grown to a certain degree and those who live in fortunate circumstances have been fortunate enough to enjoy a little more time given to them.
But there were many more who were not like that, at least in London.
There was no need to mention those who died in factory accidents. There were many more unknown people dying on the streets, and many of those unrelated people were eventually taken to the anatomy room where Watson even placed her body.
Crime, if not accident or hunger, sometimes took the lives of such people.
Although his friend Holmes often disparages them by excessively calling them incompetent, Watson also could not deny the incompetence of Scotland Yard, which was in charge of the city’s security.
Now, as evidenced by serial novels in third-rate magazines, newspapers and magazine articles covering numerous ghost stories, crime is so widespread and natural among Londoners that it has reached the point of sublimating it into entertainment.
Of course, the officers had to have their own excuses, no, realistic reasons. Their numbers were limited to deal with the numerous crimes on the streets and the numerous infectious diseases ranging from petty pickpocketing to murder, and London was like a huge criminal kingdom.
Someone being stabbed to death in a back alley, or being found murdered after a drunken fight, was not even newsworthy.
Therefore, while Watson was with Holmes, he often unconsciously thought that he was familiar with such deaths.
No, probably everyone was like that.
A child died. No, he was murdered. People thought it was a common murder case and paid little attention.
Unfortunately, no one paid much attention to the boy who died after slitting his throat with something ordinary and sharp.
To begin with, he was an unknown orphan who was spread out on the streets. Even if one died one day, a new one would be thrown away, like a woman selling her body on the street, or someone who couldn’t overcome poverty to fill the void.
The place where the child was murdered, a cafe near a bridge overlooking the Thames.
The officer grumbled and wiped away the blood stains on the floor, so there wasn’t even a trace, but Watson stared straight at that spot and carefully observed his silent friend.
Two days have passed since the child died.
An agent from the so-called Baker Street Special Forces reported finding the residence of a presumed vampire, and another child reported the death of a friend.
Watson could not properly remember what happened after that. In the face of something unexpected and shocking, her brain was vaguely refusing to fully remember it.
It is clear that she heard the news at Mrs. Hudson’s home. Watson was horrified at first, and he probably ended up getting angry at Holmes.
He wasn’t the only one to blame for Holmes, but perhaps he too was cowardly trying to run away from the guilt of putting his child in harm’s way.
It was the same with Mrs. Hudson. However, he could not take out his anger on Holmes’ reaction in such a cowardly manner.
Frankly, Watson had to admit that he had been slightly misunderstanding his friend. Because I could see the very human guilt on the face of my friend who seemed to not shed blood or tears in the face of any death.
We went to the place where the child was, who was to be treated as an unrelated person, and in the end, we were able to spend our own money to build a simple, but simple, tomb for the church that does funeral and charity work.
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But for two days, neither Holmes nor Watson could do anything. Was it mourning for a child who lost his life because of the dangerous work they ordered him to do?
That’s not true.
Watson blamed himself.
And then Holmes slowly opened his mouth again.
“I am a terrible person, Watson.”
“Holmes.”
“It’s okay, because it was an objective conclusion. Something like “I didn’t expect it” Would be an excuse. Since the task was to track down a murderer who committed terrible things in the first place, could it be said that there was no possibility of something like this happening? I’m not so stupid that I don’t know that, Watson. Just…… “I just ignored it for my own greed.”
“… Yes… No, we… I can’t say it’s not a mistake, but……. Still, the killer is there. Therefore… “We have to catch him.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
My friend was silent for a moment. And he spoke again calmly, as if he was in pain.
“But… The Baker Street Commandos will also have to be left out of this matter. No… …. It would be better to have him do something else. “I guess so, Watson?”
Watson could not answer. He probably felt similar to Holmes.
Just like street children and gangsters, the children ’employed’ by Holmes were originally people who lived together among themselves.
From the children’s perspective, it was as if their own family had been murdered. There was sadness, but there must also have been fear. Even if it was only the life of a fly, even children who had resigned themselves to the fact that it would not be strange to die at any time did not have no fear of death.
However, Watson could see the anxiety on the children’s faces even during his family’s funeral.
They were worried that Holmes might no longer look for them because of this incident. For the children, the work Miss Holmes gave them was an income they did not want to give up.
“At this point, I don’t know if I am a person who is different from Mr. Moriarty.”
Watson was afraid for a moment.
Because it was such a calm reaction. If it were an ordinary person, it might have been different. But faced with her friend’s unfamiliar reaction, her fear could not help but take precedence.
However, she soon realized that it was a useless worry.
“So we have to move to prove it. Right, Watson? Are you going to be together?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, let’s interrogate the vampire first. Of course, since it is a private sanction, you have to be careful not to get caught.”
“If I go to jail, it would be nice to have a room. “Holmes, you won’t be an inconvenience to anyone but me.”
“You’re arrogant about Watson.”
Holmes reacted bluntly to Watson’s joke, which was not a joke.
But Watson was able to smile. Because at least she could tell from her friend’s behavior that she had perked up.
After two days, the chase began again.
Although she didn’t show it, Watson thought her friend’s mood had changed a little.
She felt like a person who was being chased by something out of nervousness. That’s what she did as she watched her friend literally raid the abode of a potentially dangerous vampire to threaten and interrogate her.
That kind of friend felt closer to a villain than a detective or investigative advisor that Holmes usually talked about.
Of course, this was not a point that Watson, who was actively helping to help, perhaps to relieve his own guilt, could point out.
Jane Watson cooperated with Sherlock Holmes and continued her interrogation of vampires. The garlic and cross she took with her just in case, as well as the holy water and stake she received from a Catholic she knew, were very effective. It was not difficult to prepare because it was a world where self-defense tools to confront and exorcise vampires were sold in order to alleviate the fears of people in this era who believed that vampires had completely disappeared in the first place.
