188 – Five Orange Seeds (3)
In response to Holmes’ question to him, Watson unconsciously rolled his eyes and looked alternately between his friend and Inspector McDonald.
However, there was no answer to the question. His friend Holmes was just looking at Watson himself as if urging him to answer, and Inspector Macdonald, who was also pondering Holmes’ question, only looked at Watson as if he couldn’t find the answer.
After thinking for a few seconds, Watson hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Now… Just a moment more! Wealth… “I’m sure you’ll remember it!”
Actually, it was a lie. It was an initial I had never heard of. I couldn’t even guess whether it was a person, an organization, or something else.
It was clear that the fact that the letter K was repeated three times had something significant. However, these were initials that Watson had never heard of in his short life.
Ordinarily, I might have simply answered that I did not know. He couldn’t necessarily see what he didn’t know as a bad thing. However, the opponent was Holmes, who liked to pick on Watson, and Watson also knew this very well.
He thought that if he confessed the truth, they would laugh at him, so he tried to delay it even a little.
However, Holmes opened his mouth again, as if to correct Watson’s rare misunderstanding.
“Don’t worry, Watson. Because I’m not the type of person to make fun of something that I have no choice but to know. “If Watson had heard of it in the first place, he would have been surprised.”
“That… okay? That… Right, after all?”
“Ha, Watson. However, the attitude of welcoming ignorance is also not good.”
“… Excuse me, I’ve never heard of it before, Mr. Holmes. It must have something to do with these orange seeds, but what on earth is the KKK?”
Inspector MacDonald carefully asked Holmes, who added a word as if he felt sorry for Watson’s overly fond attitude.
Holmes, who enjoys the situation whenever he has the opportunity to show off his common sense in front of students who ask him to learn, shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth.
Watson had the impression that this was similar to his professor.
“KKK. AKA, the Q Klux Clan. From what I’ve heard, it is said that this strange name was deliberately chosen to resemble the sound of a gunshot, but in fact, it is not so strange that not only Watson but also Inspector Macdonald and you do not know. We are all citizens of Her Majesty’s Great Britain, and we are often ignorant of things outside of Europe. More than anything… “This stupid group was forcibly disbanded in the United States, its home base, as far as I remember.”
“America…. “It’s about Yankees.”
Watson was able to nod his head when told that it was an American organization.
She thought of herself as an ordinary British lady, although many people may not agree with Watson.
Not long ago, she considered volunteering as a military doctor and sending troops abroad, but basically, like most British people, she was only interested in England itself.
To be honest, I wasn’t very interested in countries across the Atlantic even though they spoke the same language. A place like France across the sea might have been psychologically closer.
The place better suited to ladies’ interests, such as perfume and clothes, was mainland Europe, not some distant, strange country.
‘If you think about it, it seems like it’s often associated with the United States.’
Watson concentrated on Holmes’s subsequent explanation, recalling the case of Mr. Jefferson Hope, which Holmes had recently called the Scarlet Study.
The criminal at that time was also connected to a suspicious pseudo-religion in the United States in the past, and when an American organization with a strange name appeared again, I was convinced that America was a strange place.
“Was it about 10 years ago, when those American friends started a civil war? Watching the gang fight over the emancipation of slaves, many of us British people laughed at us for fighting over something truly barbaric.”
“Um… …. Yeah, it was probably something like that.”
The news of the civil war that ended a few years ago in the United States was treated as nothing more than gossip in newspaper articles because it was something that happened literally across the ocean to the British people. Watson also nodded, remembering what happened then.
“The KKK is a kind of vigilante group that was born in the southern United States after the war was lost. It’s a secret society. From what I heard, they were people who dreamed of reviving the anachronistic form of slavery or worked to protect the interests of the defeated South, but since they were close to criminals, I was personally interested and gathered information about them. “It is convenient to pay attention to such organizations at any time when dealing with crime.”
“It is indeed Mr. Holmes! Such thoroughness! So, you concluded that it was related to that suspicious organization!”
“… “The word ‘conclusive’ is dangerous, Inspector MacDonald, and it means one of possibilities.”
“Of course! You are careful, sir. My… “I still have a long way to go!”
No matter how he spoke, Inspector Macdonald’s eyes twinkled too much like a follower, and Holmes spoke with his eyes closed, as if feeling burdened.
“Because it was a vigilante group and a secret society in a defeated area, and the nature of the group was impure, as I recall, the U.S. Government stepped in and forcibly disbanded it a few years ago. However, it is common for new secret societies to use bizarre methods to appear as if they exist. From what I remember, their trick was to send an odd number of orange seeds like this as a warning and a sign to those who wanted to deal with them.”
“… So, is there any possibility that it is a copycat? “If they are already disbanded and in the southern United States, isn’t it strange that they are doing something like this in England?”
“As I said, we still started without knowing anything, so we can’t determine anything. However, it’s not that strange, Inspector Macdonald. Usually, when a secret society is dissolved by the government, internal helpers are needed, and those who survive want to punish such traitors at all costs. Well, that doesn’t mean the victim is immediately involved. Therefore… First, we have to go to the site. Watson.”
“I’ll prepare.”
Now that he had become accustomed to it as a normal routine, Watson got up and started getting ready to leave at a word from Holmes.
Meanwhile, Holmes also lightly put on his coat, took out his cane, and went out first, followed by Watson and Inspector Macdonald.
I grabbed a carriage and went to a bridge over the Thames where an accident presumed to be a crime took place. Inside the carriage, I could occasionally hear Inspector Macdonald chattering and Holmes answering half-heartedly.
Watson quietly ignored Holmes, who was in trouble, and watched Thames getting closer, secretly anticipating how he would become involved with a suspicious organization in the United States and what a potentially dangerous adventure it might be.
Under the bridge, it was a sparsely populated place.
“Indeed, this is a good place to disguise an accident.”
Holmes glanced around and opened his mouth.
Even to Watson, it was a truly deserted place. It was hard to find beggars, and all that was visible were two middle-aged men watching them nearby and smoking cigarettes.
“Above all, we need to go a little deeper to the place where the body was found, that is, the place where the police officer on patrol went after hearing the screams for help. “Be careful of the bad smell. It’s close to a sewer, so it’s a perfect place for accidents.”
“Thanks to that, the foolish superiors would have concluded that it was an accident.”
Inspector McDonald had to smile bitterly as he guided the grumbling Holmes.
Watson thought that Holmes’ grumbling more than usual was due to the bad smell. All three men and women had to cover their noses because of the stench of the Thames.
As Lieutenant McDonald warned, it was a place where you could easily drown if you slipped, and it was literally a place where an accident could happen.
However, no matter how much I looked, I could not find anything that could be used as evidence. It rained once during that time, and it was always a place with moving water.
Holmes also shook his head, seemingly coming to the same conclusion.
“… “It seems like a waste of time.”
“… “Would you like to see more just in case, Mr. Holmes?”
“Let’s stay for 20 more minutes.”
It was a tedious wait, and from Watson’s perspective, Holmes was just standing there like a fisherman observing the current. Even after 20 minutes, no one was willing to talk to Holmes, and after 10 more minutes, Holmes finally shook his head and spoke.
“Let’s go back.”
In order to focus more on the investigation of the dead person, Holmes tried to move towards the carriage again.
When they came back up the hill and were about to pass under the bridge, Watson realized for a moment that his friend’s eyes were focused on one side.
There, the two men I saw when I came down this way were in similar positions, smoking cigarettes and talking to each other.
“… “Why are you doing this, sir?”
When Holmes suddenly stopped walking, Inspector McDonald cautiously asked in a whisper. Because he instinctively realized that he shouldn’t be heard by anyone.
“… They’re Americans. And strangely… Are you going to stay here forever?”
“… “Are you American?”
“First of all… Don’t take the carriage, keep walking. “Watson, let’s go for a walk, okay?”
Then, Holmes calmly started walking in the opposite direction, and Watson, who was very nervous, hurriedly followed behind Holmes.
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They were walking in silence for a while, as if nothing had happened.
But Watson could not miss the tension.
“Watson, don’t turn around and act calmly. They’re following you, so don’t let them notice and run away. Understand?”
Because I couldn’t control my heart pounding while listening to my calm friend.
