203 – Danger (1)
“So, our old maid Watson didn’t do what she was told to do.”
“That… Well… Didn’t… Sorry… ….”
Before gathering her people, Holmes asked Watson if she had completed her mission properly, and Watson, feeling guilty about her conscience, tried to hide the truth.
However, the person named Jane Watson was the same on the outside and the inside, except for the eccentricity of danger, destruction, and excessive gambling. In short, in Holmes’s opinion, she was a simple creature who could know everything by just looking at her.
Holmes realized that Watson had been preoccupied with idle talk, as she was a simpler being than the simplest life form on earth, and Watson was forced to look at her floor, avoiding the gaze of her furtive friend.
In her uncomfortable silence, Watson broke the silence herself to point out the part of Holmes’ statement that she needed to correct.
“That… and me… me… “I’m not an old maid!”
“…… Watson, I understand that, unlike me, who is a celibate, you would also be interested in the meaningless institution of marriage. Even if it’s not right away, I know very well that there aren’t any men around to begin with. “Even if you deny that you are an old maid now, it is a lie because you are certain that you will be in the future within a few years, Watson.”
“I… There are no men! Uh…… Uh. But when I go to places like proms, I definitely get a lot of attention…”
“There may be some idiots who only care about your appearance, but even those people will run away because they are caught up in stupid prejudice when they hear that you are a witch, and even those who have overcome that prejudice will waste their money or your eccentric activities as a suicidal person. If they see your obvious gambling lifestyle, they will run away on their own. Wake up, Watson. “I am a voluntary celibacy, but you are a compulsory celibacy.”
From noble mtl dot com
“Wait a minute, if you look at personality alone, Holmes, you are the more problematic one!”
Watson, who could not stand his friend’s taunts that felt like they were hitting him to the bone, resisted, but to Holmes, who considered marriage or dating to be irrational and foolish unless it was someone he was compatible with from the beginning, it was no different from a dog barking in an alley. .
Above all, as if Watson really pitied himself, he could not bear the gaze of his friend who looked down at him with a warm gaze instead of his usual cold gaze.
“Ah… no! Me… I can too…… Woah… If you want! That… Yes, this is what happened……. Friend… It doesn’t matter if you’re a criminal, I don’t know anything… Professor Moriarty… Hey? Somehow… Wow!”
Watson almost screamed as he stuttered to the point where he had no idea what he was saying. Suddenly, someone’s long, white index finger, which felt soft but threatening at that moment, covered his mouth.
He couldn’t help but be surprised. However, he felt intimidated by the cold voice in his ear.
“A voice… Don’t raise your voice, Jane H. Watson. “People are coming.”
“… Uh… Uh oh. Ah… okay. Move your finger away, it looks like it’s going to sting. Thanks, phew. I… Holmes? Angry… “Isn’t it?”
“Watson doesn’t do such irrational things just because he said something stupid. “Who would get angry when they see something obvious?”
“Why is it natural for me to say stupid things? Like… Holmes? “Don’t ignore me!”
However, their conversation had to be interrupted when people entered the room where Mr. Douglas was murdered.
In fact, the number of people who participated in the process of uncovering the truth was not very large. There were only Holmes, Watson, Inspector MacDonald, the first officer in charge of the scene, and Douglas’ wife, who was known to be dead, and her friend.
In the first place, revealing the truth wasn’t something like a circus show that gathered people together in London, so there wasn’t much of a surprise. Above all, because there had to be as few eyes as possible, Watson was able to see that his friend Holmes was running the show very seriously.
Calmly, Holmes began to explain to Inspector Macdonald and his associates the truth of the case and how he had made inferences and discovered relevant evidence.
A method of hiding the criminal’s clothes, etc. From the eyes of servants and maids by using a suspicious body and a dumbbell that had disappeared from the place where the body was found. And finally, the secret place he found.
At first, Mrs. Douglas and her friend, who helped her, tried to hide the truth by denying it, but their resistance ended in vain when Mr. Douglas, who had been quietly listening to Chai from her secret place, emerged.
As a recorder in this strange scene, Watson observed John Douglas in order to later record it. He followed Holmes around and was able to clumsily follow the methods he had learned by sight, and he could see that John Douglas was a sturdy middle-aged man in his fifties.
Of course, it was a fact that anyone could see with their own eyes, and in fact, even if they clumsily followed Holmes’s method, they could not make inferences like Holmes, so they could not know any more information.
Fortunately, Watson did not tell Holmes this fact, and since the facts about Mr. Douglas were not important in the first place, he was not subject to any scolding.
John Douglas, as if trying to gain sympathy, acknowledged that Holmes’s reasoning was true and began to tell the story of his own miserable past.
“Once again, this is a confession full of anachronistic romanticism.”
“Holmes!”
Holding this, Holmes sighed and took out a cigarette, and Watson had no choice but to pay attention to those around him.
Watson himself began to listen with interest to Mr. John Douglas’ confession of the past connected with this case, but he could see out of the corner of his eye that his friend did not.
Instead, his friend Holmes seemed to be puffing on his pipe and thinking about how to solve his future problems and this new difficult problem.
John Douglas’ confession itself was a story about a bizarre incident in old America, like Mr. Jefferson Hope’s confession regarding the Scarlet Study a few months earlier.
An early adventure as an agent of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, using a disguised identity to apprehend a vigilante.
And in the process, he gains the trust of his enemies, joins the vigilante group, and secretly acts as a double agent, a dangerous gamble.
Finally, a romantic story about falling in love with a beautiful woman in a remote village ‘tormented’ by vigilantes.
Holmes sarcastically said next to him, “Everyone tends to embellish their own stories,” But Watson, who loved popular novels, couldn’t help but twinkle in his eyes.
“I…” He then retired and went into business, but soon realized that the survivors had begun to pursue us. There have been many dangers over the past dozen years. In the process, I lost my first love, but since there was no chase for several years, I thought I had completely escaped their pursuit by coming to England.”
“But the vigilante chasing you finally entered your room a few days ago, and after a struggle, the attacker probably died.”
When Holmes opened his mouth for the first time, as if concluding the story, and spoke to Douglas, the man nodded with a stern expression.
“That’s right. Actually… Now that things were like this, I was planning to fake my death and escape their pursuit. The plan was to hide in a secret location for a while, and when things quiet down, change your identity and move to a place like Australia. Of course, I was planning to formally ‘remarry’ my wife who had already moved to Korea, but now it’s going to be difficult.”
Then Inspector McDonald spoke on behalf of the police.
“I don’t understand, Mr. Douglas. Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask Scotland Yard for help? Rather, this behavior… “It will be questioned in court.”
“It is a difficult case to convince the jury that it was self-defense in the first place, Inspector McDonald. “I’m not saying Mr. Douglas lied, but he’s picky and feels like he’s a bit lacking in persuading fools who think they’re smart.”
“Mr. Holmes?”
But instead of answering right away, Holmes winked at Inspector MacDonald, and as a superior, the Inspector ordered the other policeman to step outside for a moment. The police looked at the two people in turn for a moment, as if they were puzzled, but in an organization like the military, rank was absolute.
When only those involved were left in the room, Inspector McDonald looked at Holmes as if asking for an explanation.
“Mr. And Mrs. Douglas… It seems like you still don’t understand the seriousness of the situation. From what I heard, you must have been a pretty good agent, but your successful life on the run for several years came to an unexpected end… “Isn’t it strange?”
Watson looked at Douglas’ complexion in response to Holmes’ remarks. At his meaningful remark, Douglas instantly flashed a sharp look in his eyes that resembled Holmes’s. Clearly, Holmes’ assessment of him may have been accurate.
“I don’t know…” “But it means you had the help of another criminal or similar person you knew.”
“I heard that this is why it’s easier to talk to someone with a bit of intelligence. Plus, there’s a high chance that you don’t like the fact that you’re alive. You understand this much, right? “If you want to live, you have to run away as quickly as possible.”
“Mr. Holmes?”
Even Inspector McDonald was surprised by the sudden remark and had no choice but to ask back.
However, at about the same time, Fred Forlock was coming down on a train with a destination near Burleston Manor in Suss*x.
