"Have you ever checked the maid who cleans the room?" Holmes took out his pipe and loaded it with shredded tobacco.

"Checked, although the maid has been working in the house for two years, the old housekeeper detained her at the first time and searched her body, but no oil paintings were found, and from the time she entered the room to the old housekeeper who came out to find the right door, she had not been to other places in between, so her suspicion in this case can be ruled out." Vial Road.

After a pause, he continued, "Through the relationship of the viscount, I also found two other victims who were patronized by Mr. M. The mansion, and their descriptions are similar to this situation, both of them received letters from Mr. M at the same time as the theft of things, one of them was stolen while on vacation, and the other person was more prominent than Mr. Viscount, and his things were better hidden, but he still lost them, that guy is like a magician, he can get into any secret room, Playing with everyone in the palm of your hand. ”

Holmes was noncommittal, lit a cigarette and took a puff, "One of the greatest thieves I've ever met is a circus gnome who is half the height of a child, and so thin that he can sneak into your house from a chimney and squeeze through a narrow gap by shrinking his bones, but even he can't leave no trace at all." ”

"So I don't know how that guy did it, so I'm here to ask you." Viaal said respectfully.

"Alright," Holmes smiled, "since I've agreed to help you, and I'm interested in the case, I'm sure I'm not going to leave it alone, but for now we'll find you a place to stay in London." ”

The three of them arrived in a carriage in front of an inn, and while Vyal checked in, Holmes stood in the lobby with his pipe in his mouth and watched the passengers come and go.

"Do you think Mr. M will be among them?" Zhang Heng asked.

"Who knows," Sherlock Holmes spat out a smoke ring, and could see that he was in a very good mood right now, "we are really lucky today, Zhang, I came across such an interesting case, I thought early in the morning that Vial would surprise us, hey, this kid really didn't disappoint me." ”

"............" Zhang Heng couldn't laugh or cry a little, the more difficult the case he encountered with Vial, the happier Sherlock Holmes became, this great detective's thinking is really different from ordinary people.

"Do you have a clue about the whereabouts of the oil paintings?" Zhang Heng then asked.

Instead of answering, Holmes asked, "What about you, do you have any ideas?" ”

Along the way, Zhang Heng was also thinking about this case, trying to integrate all the clues together, dragging Vial's blessing, the red-haired detective did a very detailed investigation of the scene, it was simply turning the Viscount's mansion upside down, and it sounded like he was there.

Zhang Heng thought for a while and said, "You said before that all bizarre and unscientific options should be eliminated, and the rest is the truth, no thief can be so good that he can step on the dirt without leaving any traces, bypassing the hound without causing any movement, and I looked at the layout of the house, except for the old housekeeper at the door, the cook didn't sleep that night, and he was busy in the kitchen, he was not far away, and the door of that room was usually locked, so I think the problem was still with the maid who cleaned." ”

Sherlock Holmes looked at Zhang Heng with the eyes of a rare animal in the zoo, and then he let out an exclamation, "My mysterious Oriental traveler friend, no matter how long you've known you, you can always surprise people, don't you?" It's great to know you, although you are still learning from me, in fact, with your ability, you are completely self-reliant, you are much better than my philistine peers outside, and potential newcomers like Vyal are not as good as you, maybe it won't be long before you can become a strong competitor for me, so that the world may not be so boring for me. ”

This evaluation is already very high for Holmes, although he is still suspected of boasting in the end, but he can make the always proud detective say such things, proving that Zhang Heng really impresses him.

Sherlock Holmes continued, "Haha, when I saw that note just now, I immediately thought of the secret room murder case at Fort Coombe, where rumors were circulating everywhere that the victim was killed by a ghost, because all the doors and windows were closed and could not be opened from the outside, and the murder scene inside was very bloody and had a strong sense of revenge, so the locals thought that only ghosts could do it, and even many people in the police believed that ghosts had revenge."

"But like I said, remove those impossible distractions, and the rest will be the correct answer even if it seems incredible on the surface, and it turns out that the victim is the murderer himself, and he killed himself by extreme means, which is a very interesting case, because the victim has always buried a secret in his heart, and that secret has been bothering him for a long time, and he feels guilty for a wrong thing he did when he was young, and this guilt has accompanied him all his life, plus he was in very bad health at that time, has a terminal illness, and is worried that the other party's descendants will come to his wife and daughter to seek revenge, so he uses this means to repay the unjust debt he owed back then.

"This time the situation is also very close, I carefully read Vyall's notes, and ruled out the possibility of outsiders entering, so that there is only one possibility left of the housekeeper, after all, it is much easier to buy a maid with a salary of less than a pound a week, than to sneak into a well-guarded mansion, if I were Mr. M, I would have chosen the same path."

Zhang Heng frowned and said, "The letter on the ground is very easy to explain, it was brought by the maid a long time ago, and it was put there when she was cleaning, and the painting was stolen by her, but the only question I haven't thought about clearly is how she escaped the inspection after that, is that housekeeper also her accomplice?" ”

"You're almost close to the final answer, my friend of the East." Sherlock Holmes blinked his eyes and said excitedly, "I believe that as long as you give you a little more than half a day, you can also think of it, it is not difficult to find the oil painting in this matter, the difficult thing is how to catch that Mr. M, I must admit that as a thief, his imagination and talent are very good, I look at his style, he must also be a cautious and patient person, it is not easy to catch such a guy, but London is our home field, and it is impossible to let him run away." ”