In his office at Scotland Yard, Arthur leaned back in his chair and twisted a long dark brown hair in his hands, stretching it inch by inch and showing it in the sunlight.

While the hair may look unremarkable, it represents a key piece of evidence for Scotland Yard.

On Arthur's desk is an academic paper he ordered Sergeant Charles Field, head of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Service, to draft.

This long article is full of examples of arguments, but it can be summed up only to illustrate the conclusion that human hair grows about one centimeter per month, so it is possible to chemically analyze the physical condition of the victim according to the different parts of the hair that were removed, and find out at what time they actually ingested a large amount of toxins.

Here, the most appropriate validation experiment is to combine the conclusions of this paper with the Marsh test arsenic method, which has just been discovered by James Marsh, a chemical engineer at the Woolwich Arsenal.

Yesterday's verification experiment by the Criminal Investigation Department showed that although arsenic was present in every part of the hair, it was surprising that the arsenic mirror phenomenon was most pronounced near the root.

After discovering the anomaly, Arthur also asked Scotland Yard to hire a doctor from St. Mary's Hospital to assist in the second professional post-mortem work.

However, this seemingly reasonable request almost provoked the thunderous wrath of the judges.

If it is put in a few hundred years, the anger of the judges must have no basis or reason, and the autopsy should be handed over to a professional doctor, which seems to be justified. However, in the eyes of the judges, this was tantamount to a provocation to the entire British judiciary, for almost all of the coroners appointed by the courts in Britain from south to north and east to west were lawyers.

Post-mortems have been the job of lawyers for centuries, and judges consider the examination of bodies to be a legal issue, not a medical one. Letting the doctor do this is simply overstepping.

If you weren't an authentic British, or hadn't lived in a Christian society for a while, you wouldn't have been able to figure out what the logic of the judges' thinking was.

But it is easy to understand if we start from the very beginning of the British Tribunal. On the island of Britain, the inhabitants were usually divided into parishes, so it was only natural that the first courts here were the various religious courts.

The powers and responsibilities of the so-called Inquisition were not limited to its literal meaning, and the burning of infidels was only one of its duties, and this duty was usually not often performed, because the infidels were not so easy to find, after all, they did not grow in greenhouses, and when the season came, the harvest was abundant.

For the most part, the Inquisition was similar to the Yamen in ancient China, and parishioners would come to the Inquisition to fight lawsuits whenever they had problems, such as brothers' separations, contract disputes, stealing chickens and dogs, and neighborly fights.

It is precisely because of this that in the past, the justices of Britain and even all Christian countries in Europe were almost without exception required to be clergy.

In the early days, the productive forces were relatively backward, and in the dioceses in various places, except for the clergy, there were peasants, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc., and it was not possible to find a profession such as a professional doctor in ten miles and eight villages, and the clergy who studied all kinds of theological knowledge and natural science knowledge all day long naturally became the top intellectuals in the locality.

According to Christian tradition, the clergy usually learn some healing trades, and most of the parishioners usually come to the clergy for help when they are sick. Therefore, as a judge of the Inquisition, the clergy naturally took on the role of coroner.

Things are still going to work out to this point.

But the bad is the worst, during the reign of Henry VIII, the king divorced several times in a row because he could not have children, and finally the Pope of Rome resolutely refused to approve his divorce application because he saw that his divorce was too excessive.

As a result, Henry VIII was furious and set up his own mountain, ordered the Church of England to be separated from the Holy See directly, made the Anglican Church its own speaker, and began to strike a dead hand against the Catholic forces in the country, breaking up and reorganizing various courts.

Judges were no longer the exclusive preserve of clergy, and over time, it became a social consensus that judges should be appointed by professional lawyers.

The problem, however, is that the lawyer has not only taken away the position of judge of the clergy, but has also taken along with the duties that had previously belonged to the clergy, such as coroner.

This has led to the strange situation that most of the coroners in various courts are lawyers.

Not surprisingly, in this Harrison Councillor's case, the coroner appointed by the Westminster Magistrate's Court was also a lawyer.

Although Arthur's suggestion that a doctor's post-mortem should be valid, the law provides that an autopsy report that is not submitted by a court-appointed coroner cannot be used as evidence in court.

What's even more fucking up is that the judge of the Westminster Magistrate's Court is still George Norton, and it's basically impossible to get him to let go of his mouth here.

Arthur reasonably guesses that Bernie Harrison is so fearless for this reason.

Therefore, if Harrison just does not withdraw the lawsuit, then Scotland Yard wants to completely hammer Bernie Harrison from the chain of evidence, there is basically only one way to go.

If Sir Peel and the Tories do not come to an agreement, and Bernie Harrison is adamant about his resignation, Scotland Yard will have to take the case to the House of Lords.

This is because the House of Lords, as the Supreme Court of Appeal of Britain, is the only place where it has the power to try members. Arthur could only go to the House of Lords with all the materials and the transcripts he had just obtained from the Thames Society for the Rescue of the Drowned, and give them a live speech and scientific experiment in front of the lords.

It is then up to the lords to decide whether or not to appoint a professional doctor as coroner to submit a reasonable and legal post-mortem report.

Although the post-mortem report still cannot say that the person was killed by Congressman Bernie Harrison, it can at least show that the victim maid is definitely not drowned, and if Bernie Harrison's identity as a perfume merchant, even if he can escape the verdict, he is estimated to be isolated from politics in this life.

And in this way, the Tory Party will certainly be attacked by public opinion, after all, Bernie Harrison is their man, and this is something that Sir Peele, who is committed to bridging the divisions within the party, does not want to see.

Thinking of this, Arthur couldn't help but rub his face, he thought about it for a long time, and finally rang the bell in the office.

Tom pushed the door in and asked, "Arthur, what's the matter?" ”

Arthur tucked his hair in the papers on the table, then put them in a brown paper bag and handed them to Tom: "Go to Sir Peel's mansion and give him these things, and hopefully they will help Sir Peel convince Harrison to retreat." If Congressman Harrison had been a smart man, he would have known that that alone would have allowed him to get none of the things he wanted. ”

Tom nodded incomprehensibly, took the brown paper bag, saluted Arthur, and walked out the door.

The Red Devil held the sugar jar in his arms on the couch in his office, and while throwing the candy cube into his mouth, he asked, "Arthur, I can't see it, you still miss the old love." Peel will thank you for that. If the Tory Party is to survive in the future, it will be indispensable to do so today. ”

Arthur took a sip from his teacup, "Agares, I'm not thinking about old love. The Tories are split, what's in it for the big guys? Only a strong opposition party can put the most pressure on the ruling party, because it is usually the opposition party that has the most conscience, and the dominance of one party is not a good thing in most cases. ”

Hearing this, Agareth raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Oh? Is it? Don't you have a little bit of insignificant, personal care? ”

"Agares, what do you think? I'm just a humble communion. ”

Speaking of this, Arthur took a sip of tea and continued: "Of course, if the Tories MPs of the opposition party are willing not to set too much resistance on the police equipment update bill when the parliament convenes next month, we at Scotland Yard will certainly be very happy to see it." You know, boys always like to get a little fresh toy, and I look at that Colt revolver. Well...... Maybe I should persuade that American guy to set up a factory in London in two days, his family seems to be quite rich, and it is not a problem to put on a production line first. Well...... By the way, we have to solve the patent problem first, American nationality is not always convenient in Britain, maybe I should persuade him to become a British citizen, our own things, we can use it at ease. ”

Arthur said this, and suddenly found that Agareth's red eyes were staring at him, and the smile on the corner of the red devil's mouth made people look like they had an indescribable disgust.

Arthur coughed lightly and re-emphasized: "Of course, you understand, the purchase of the Colt revolver is not a matter of personal preference, and Scotland Yard will fully respect the decision of the council. ”

Agares nodded repeatedly, rubbing his hands and smirking: "Yes, yes, that's right, Scotland Yard is just responding to the appeal of the general public." After all, you can't treat every operation as if it were the Battle of Waterloo at Regency Crescent, and you're not the British Army. ”

When Arthur heard this, he remembered that he seemed to have forgotten something, he suddenly stood up and was about to go out, but halfway through, he suddenly turned his head and grabbed a bottle of cocoa powder native to Central and South America that he bought from the store on Jermyn Street and put it in his pocket, Arthur looked at the trademark on the tin can and said to himself: "This cocoa powder Alexander likes to drink it, but I just don't know whether it is his French genes that play a role, or it evokes the memories of the old grandmother in his body." ”

……

There is an area in the cell of Scotland Yard that is clearly different from the other single rooms.

There are two skylights on the red brick wall, and there are two beds on the not too big bed, which are clean and tidy like just bought quilts, and there is a simple dresser next to the bed, which makes other prisoners feel unbelievable, this dresser is like a girl's special place, full of all kinds of bottles and cans of pomade, cologne and other things, and even extravagantly equipped with a mirror.

But this is not a novelty for the prisoners, the most covetous thing is that the cell is also stuffed with a small dining table, not only that, every day when eating, everyone is black bread with potatoes, but only that person is served by four dishes and one soup.

But none of the prisoners was jealous of this treatment.

Everyone speculated that the four-eyed boy locked up in there must not be a few days to live, and the person who will go to the gallows in a few days, what is he jealous of what he is doing?

And just two days ago, there was one more person who made everyone greedy but not jealous.

Next door to Four-Eyed Boy moved in a sturdy young man, and the treatment of the two was basically the same.

Perhaps it was because of the sympathy of 'high-end technical talents', or the sympathy peculiar to death row inmates, who would often chat through a window that could only fit half of their faces.

"Mr. Wheatstone, I remember you saying that you were a researcher of natural philosophy, specializing in acoustics?"

"Actually, I have also dabbled in electromagnetism, but for some reasons that cannot be explained, I can't disclose too much about my scientific research results. But I can tell you about the acoustics, do you know the gramophone? All the phonographs in London are my products. ”

"You're the inventor of the gramophone?" Louis Bonaparte exclaimed: "O my God! Are the British crazy? Why would they put such a brilliant person as you in prison? ”

Wheatstone's eyes were like snow, he lit the cigar on the table, leaned against the wall of the cell and let out a long puff of smoke: "That's a long story. ”

When Louis Bonaparte heard this, he slipped a bottle of gin from this morning, which had just been delivered to him, along the window fence: "You have a story, I have wine, let's have a good talk." By the way, do you still have cigars there? Get me one too? ”

When Wheatstone heard this, he grabbed a handful directly from the cigar box next to him and stuffed it: "Smoke, smoke hard, anyway, he said it, my consumption here is recorded in his account, you don't need to be polite to me." ”

Louis Bonaparte took a bite of the cigar and spit it on the ground, then took a sip on the fire, only to feel that the whole person was in good spirits: "By the way, who is he you just talking about?" ”

"Who else could it be?"

Wheatstone spoke: "That well-known scoundrel gentleman from all walks of life in London, the head of the street ruffians, the head of the Scotland Yard, the one who can draw his sword and fight the rivers and oceans, the one who oppresses the good citizens, the great pianist who plays beautiful music in concerts, and the shameless man who eavesdrops on the eaves of the boudoir, Lord Bruham, the tall foot of Lord Bruham, the star of the police world of the Duke of Mont Wellington, the owner of the police number MPS6-001, and the sickly confinement and protective Superintendent Arthur Hastings. ”

"Hiss......" Louis Bonaparte took a puff on his cigar: "So you were also brought in by him?" ”

When Wheatstone heard this, he raised his finger and pushed his gold-wire glasses: "Also? How did you get in? ”

Louis Bonaparte held a cigar in his hand and said with a look of amazement: "I...... I guess I offended him, right? When I was interrogated that day, I seemed to go along with others, calling him an English bald man who had not yet given up. ”

"Oh......" Wheatstone nodded slightly, "And you came in because you were against Arthur Hastings?" ”

"Sort of. How did you get in? ”

"I'm supporting Arthur Hastings."

"I'm not like you both."

"Huh? What do you do? ”

"I'm Arthur Hastings."

Arthur, who was leaning against the wall between the two cells, clasped his hands around his back, exerted a slight force, and the whole person bounced at once.

He stood in the middle of two cells, each with only half of his face visible.

Arthur raised his eyebrows and asked, "I'm relieved to see the two gentlemen chatting so happily, I thought I would lock you up with some psychological problems." Now it seems that my worries are a bit unnecessary. ”

Wheatstone saw Arthur appear, and hurried to the door, banging on the cell door, shouting at Arthur through the small window of the door, "Arthur, it's been a few days, you should let me out, right?" ”

Seeing him like this, Arthur just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Charles, you have no conscience to say that." Do you know how much effort the bureau has put into making you feel at ease? ”

Wheatstone questioned, "How much effort?" Can the living environment here be compared to the Regency Crescent? ”

Arthur said helplessly: "Of course we can't move your house here, but in order to make your life comfortable, we specially invited your neighbor over." ”

Wheatstone was puzzled: "Neighbor? ”

Arthur nodded slightly, he pointed to Louis Bonaparte and said, "You don't know yet, do you?" This Monsieur Louis Bonaparte should live next door to you in the future, and the bureau knows that you have a psychological disorder in social interaction, so didn't you invite him to make you acquainted with him? Charles, you have to understand that there is a lot of pressure on the Scotland pitch up and down for you. ”

(End of chapter)