36. The Goldfish of London 35
"According to the timeline, the first suspicion is that the gentleman who has been in the play too deeply - his real name has not been investigated yet, but from what I asked from Mr. Philip Hawke, I will call him Andy Sharp. I think based on what he had complained about that he had an unruly father, I think Sharp is more likely to be his mother's unmarried surname, Mr. Sharp, who returned to Hawke's house in place of Philip Hawke and offered a paternity test, and the paternity test turned out to be clear. β
"Let's talk about your father."
"According to the available speculation, it was Mr. Sharp who exchanged Mr. Hawke's blood for the blood drawn from him by the family doctor. It's not that hard, given that Mr. Blaine is a horse gambling enthusiast, just bring it up before a certain Marseille starts, and then take advantage of Mr. Blaine's distraction. To be cautious, Mr. Hawke Jr. was still alive until the paternity test results came out. β
"After I got it wrong - and there was always something wrong - that you grew up in a single-parent family with a single mother, I realized that you can't use common sense to interpret your father."
"During this time, Mr. Sharp had to make sure that little Mr. Hawke was alive and that he had to be under his surveillance, and then, according to the testimony given by the housekeeper of the Hawke family, Mr. Sharp did go for a morning run every morning during that time, rain or shine, and often turned back within twenty minutes. As a result, the location where he hid Mr. Hawke Jr. at that time was greatly reduced, within a ten-minute walk radius from Hawke's house, and the location had to be secluded and desolate enough to be found quickly by elimination. β
"You were too calm after coming to the parallel universe, which has something to do with your personality and your own abilities, but there are other reasons."
Hearing this, Erin was finally willing to look up from her desk, she looked at Sherlock lying on the couch, her hands in a tower shape against her chin and her eyes closed, she felt the need to end the "chicken and duck talk" between her and Sherlock, and after thinking about it, she said seriously: "You can add one of these other reasons, I met you." β
Sherlock snapped open his eyes.
"In retrospect, if I hadn't met you first that day, I wouldn't have been on the streets now, and I would have been caught by Mycroft behind the surveillance cameras," Erin really considered the situation, "Well, after some coercion and inducement, Mycroft is more likely to have offered me a 'deed of sale'β"
Before Erin could finish her sentence, Sherlock quickly followed for her: "A deed of sale for a "soft knife killing", and then you'll get Stockholm syndrome." β
Erin, after understanding, became annoyed: "Sherlock! Please, I don't have a father-love complex! β
The two young couples who had just upgraded to boyfriend and girlfriend were immediately silent, and after being silent for a long time, they invariably spoke, and-
Sherlock repeated Irene's words in a strange tone: "Father-lover complex? β
Erin's tone was similarly no better: "Stockholm syndrome? β
The two looked at each other, and Erin glared at her boyfriend, "I think you need to explain it properly." β
Not to be outdone, Sherlock got up from his couch, grabbed a chair and sat across from his desk, and continued to stare at his girlfriend wide-eyed, "Hmph, each other. β
"Why did you come up with this... Outrageous inference? Erin asked Sherlock with her hands flat on her desk, and after a moment's thought, she used the word 'outrageous' to describe it.
Sherlock stared at her closely, "Oh, maybe you should reflect on the admiration you have for that dead fat man of Mycroft, which is obvious to the point where it cannot be ignored. What made him even more unhappy was that after listening to his words, his girlfriend didn't refute it at the first time, but thought about it before saying: "Okay, that's also because Mycroft conforms to the image of the elder I envisioned in my mind, but now it has begun to collapse, and besides, don't you also admit that he is your demon king?" β
Sherlock was incredulous: "I've said so much about Mycroft, you remember this one?" β
Erin pursed the corners of her mouth: "So that's why you're messing with me outside the Scotland stadium for this reason?" β
Sherlock denied with a stinky face: "No. β
Erin stared at her boyfriend, trying to determine if he was telling the truth, but Sherlock's expression was not flawed, she gave up speculation, and hit a straight ball: "What's that?" And what I said my dad wouldn't be happy about me having to do with you in love? But my dad is unhappy, falling in love with me and you is two things that don't have much to do with it, and his unhappiness doesn't affect my liking of you, and I hope to be with you all the time. Are you going to break up with me just because Mycroft is unhappy? β
"How is that possible!" Sherlock denied it categorically, and his momentum suddenly weakened as his girlfriend confessed his mind again, and his face was not so stinky.
Erin's tone softened, "What's the reason for that?" β
"Mrs. Hudson, it's time for you to cook so late!" Sherlock turned to Mrs. Hudson, who had just stood in the doorway, and Mrs. Hudson leaned against the door frame and said in a weak tone, "I thought you two were arguing, but if there's anything wrong, you should say itβ"
Sherlock yelled at the landlady in annoyance, "Mrs. Hudson! β
"I know, I know, can't I go?" Mrs. Hudson, who heard the noise upstairs downstairs and thought that the two of them were arguing and came up to persuade her to fight something, only to hear the "flirting" behind them, suddenly flashed her face, and was yelled at by Sherlock, Mrs. Hudson, who felt that she was really wronged, turned around and went downstairs, muttering: "So you just started dating?" I thought you'd already opened a room, what was that? β
The old house is really not soundproofed, and Mrs. Hudson's muttering is loud enough, which was originally meant to be heard by this young couple who show affection without considering other people's feelings.
Sherlock: "......"
Erin: "...... So, what is it that makes Mrs. Hudson misunderstand me and you...... Finish? She slurred the word in the middle, it was not the first time Mrs. Hudson had mentioned opening a house or something, and she was puzzled at the time, and asked Sherlock, who explained that Mrs. Hudson was confused. Erin didn't think that the reason why Mrs. Hudson would think the way she did it was because she joked with Sherlock and said, 'Will you let me eat you?' This sentence was also heard by Inspector Lestrade, coupled with the problem of sexy handcuffs in the antique shop before, the good inspector also misunderstood, and he told Mrs. Hudson about the gossip, and the misunderstanding was passed on.
Sherlock was reluctant to mention his misunderstanding at the time, and he was obviously very good at talking, and said firmly: "Keep writing your 'guidance report'!" Without giving Erin a chance to continue asking him questions, she returned to his couch from her desk like a big agile cat, and continued to lie down, with an additional request: "You can say it out loud as you did just now, it will help me organize my thoughts." β
After such a large-scale episode, and being diverted by Sherlock, Comrade Xiao Ai seemed to have forgotten what she had been doing before that, and returned her attention to this triple murder case. "Well, according to the timeline, the next thing is the murder of Mr. Blaine."
"Apparently the results of the paternity test given by the professional agency have made a big difference, and at least for nearly five months no one doubted who it wasβ" Sherlock choked, apparently he didn't remember the name Erin had mentioned so quickly, and whether it was true or not, only he knew best.
Comrade Xiao Ai raised his head and glanced at her boyfriend, and kindly added his name: "Andy Sharp." β
"Oh, Mr. Sharp." Sherlock cocked his feet, "I still prefer to call him Mr. Deeper, but for you to understand better, I'll use Mr. Sharp." β
Erin snorted, "Then do I have to thank you?" β
"You should." Sherlock smoothed the upward curve of his mouth and continued, "Now moving on to the family doctor who has lowered the IQ of the family doctor community, after five months of confusion, he finally realizes that the son that his boss has regained is an impostor. Why is it five months, look at the photo that ingested his calendar, you can see that he was not so enthusiastic about his little hobby last month, so it can be seen that he only became rich this month. Also, did he find a job that made money quickly? β
Erin looked at the picture again, and there were still traces on last month's calendar, and she reasoned in a deep voice: "I think he threatened Mr. Sharp not to give him hush money, and he told his employer that he was a fake, so he wanted Albert Hawke to live, which in some way reduced the likelihood that he was an accomplice." β
Sherlock provides additional evidence for his reasoning: "If you notice that the faithful old butler of the Hawke family is related to the unlearned family doctor, you can understand why he became the family doctor of the Hawke family, and why he had the good desire to blackmail Mr. Sharp and fly away." "Well, he's already 'visited' the servants of Hawke's house before.
Erin scrutinized Sherlock's words and asked him, "You mean the old butler is aware?" β
He may not know the truth, but he is definitely aware of the mismatch between his wife's nephews, Mr. Bryan and Mr. Sharp. He wanted to be a good housekeeper and a good husband, so he talked to Mr. Blaine a little, and coincidentally, old Hawk also sensed something, and this series of events was like a domino effect, triggering Mr. Sharp's sensitive nerves, boom-" Sherlock didn't open his eyes, and kept his hands together against his chin, making a particularly dramatic sound.
Erin wasn't writing the case analysis report that Sherlock defined as a 'mentoring report', and she didn't think Inspector Lestrade would see a conversation like this between the two of them appear in the report. "Now, then, we have to find evidence that Mr. Sharp killed Mr. Burn, even though Mr. Sharp, who was the murderer, is dead."
"What a novel way to die by a man who came back from the dead and fell out of the window and died." Sherlock said in a long voice, obviously not a good word.
"Oh, Sherlock, don't be so puffy." Erin brushed her hair unobtrusively, which obviously had no effect, and made her boyfriend even more angry. Sherlock was no longer upright, and deftly flipped his long legs down from the couch, stepped on the wooden coffee table, fiddled with the thumbtacks on the evidence wall, which could be thought of as an upgraded version of the evidence board, and said in a non-chalant manner: "Who said that Mycroft had become worthless in her mind?" β
"So you're going to tell me now why you're having trouble with me?" Erin, who was now recalling their conversation, turned from her chair to look at him, noticing Sherlock's hand fiddling with the thumbtack, paused, and asked tentatively, "Not going to say it?" β
βYep.β Sherlock replied very quickly, and Erin was a little puzzled: "Then when you talked about my dad before, weren't you foreshadowing something?" What made you change your mind? β
Sherlock, who pretended not to hear his girlfriend's interpretation, said, "I think the most important thing for us now is to focus on this triple murder, where we were talking about, oh, it's the one that was defined as a robbery and murder." Didn't you say that the police officer in charge of investigating the case thought that the victim had come back and scared the robber, and the robber panicked and shot the victim? Obviously, this is wrong. It is clear that Mr. Bryan knew the 'robber' and that he had put people into the house. β
"He was the one who put people in the house."
In the second half of the sentence, the two of them spoke in unison, Sherlock turned around, jumped off the wooden coffee table, and squatted on the single sofa next to him very informally, making it difficult for him to make a difficult pose of putting his hands together against his lips, and bowed slightly to his girlfriend: "Tell me about it." β
Erin pulled out two photos from the case file, "There are two cups in the living room, and from the size of the fragments, I think that Mr. Sharp suddenly attacked while they were talking in the living room, and collided with the coffee table, and the cup fell off the coffee table and fell to the ground. This could also explain why, in addition to the gunshot wounds, Mr. Bryan also had scratch marks on his arms. β
"How obvious, but it's such an obvious fact that they can turn a blind eye to it under the noses of Scotland Yard." Sherlock said as he suddenly jumped off the couch and circled around the living room, "Oh, oh, what an obvious thing, his computer. Mr. Bryan's laptop, was his computer stolen? If you're a general robber and go for a burglary, they'll usually choose jewelry, cash, and other small items that are easy to carry with you and won't be noticed. And in this case, his laptop was stolen, and I think the family doctor who wanted to go away made an agreement with the gentleman who was too deep in the play, and he grasped the evidence that he had his handle to sell it to Mr. Sharp at one time, which is very abnormal, isn't it? So Mr. Sharp started with murderous intent and killed Brian by mistake before he could get any evidence of where to put it. He thought the evidence was hidden in the computer, so he took it away! But this may be striking, but what does Scotland Yard say that no suspicious person was found to have brought a computer in and out of that apartment? β
Sherlock was racing his brain, and after analyzing the pile, he asked a question, looked at Erin, paused, and waited for her to answer.
Erin listened intently to Sherlock's analysis to make sure she could keep up with her boyfriend's uncanny thinking: "He physically destroyed the computer and dumped it in Mr. Blaine's apartment building?" Perhaps along with the other loot he 'looted' from Mr. Blaine. β
"Physical destruction?" Sherlock muttered, as if in deep thought, and after half a minute he woke up, strode over to his desk, and kissed his girlfriend the cheek, "Well done, Irene!" β
Erin stared at his beautiful eyes that were full of infinite starlight, and asked a little distractedly, "Is there anything I need to know?" β
Sherlock was obviously very excited, and he leaned over and kissed her a few times before explaining to her: "Don't look at other murders first, just look at this case of using a pacemaker to kill, what kind of person do you think the murderer is?" β
"Very smart, not only did he find the Achilles heel of the pacemaker, but he also had the technology to hack the pacemaker, and if we weren't there, it would have been a perfect accident to disguise the murder as an accident, he's a technocracy-" Erin paused at this point, and continued under the encouraging gaze of her boyfriend, "Do you think Andy Sharp has an accomplice after this murder, an even smarter accomplice." β
"Accomplices? No, no, no, more advanced than that. Think about it, only three days have passed between the killing of Alan Blaine and the killing of Albert Hawke. We had previously deduced that Mr. Hawk had known the accreditation number of Albert Hawke's pacemaker through his family doctor, but thanks to the loyal butler, this possibility was ruled out: Albert Hawk had undergone surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital, and even Mr. Butler did not know the accreditation number of the pacemaker. If our previous assumptions were correct, then this higher gentleman, or whatever else, is truly superb. β
The more Sherlock spoke, the more excited he became, letting go of the hand holding his girlfriend's face, and jumping up in place, excited like a child who had gotten the toy of his dreams, "Great! After jumping, he pulled Comrade Xiao Ai, who was still digesting the new information, up from the chair, "Come on, let's go to the scene of the crime!" β