Sherlock Holmes.

Chapter 143 The Last Greeting (5)
"No one told me that when we came in, we saw a group photo of three people on the table. One of them was you, and the other two looked a bit like you. Don't worry, they must be your sister."

"Yes. They are my sisters, Maria and Sarah."

Holmes said unhurriedly: "The group photo I have in front of me was taken by your sister in Liverpool, right? The man who took the photo with her, judging from his skin color and clothing, was a seaman on a sea vessel, right? They were at that time Are you not married yet?"

"Yes, it's all right. It's unexpected why you can say so accurately."

Holmes smiled and said: "You are doing too much, miss. This is my profession."

"You're quite right about the photo they took when they weren't married, but they were married shortly after. My sister married the Mr. Brown in the photo, who was working on the South American airlines. For the better After getting married, Brown took the initiative to apply to be transferred back to the Liverpool-London route so that he could go home often. I think he loves her too much."

Holmes asked: "Are you working on the 'Conqueror'?"

"Probably not! Last time I think I heard him talk about working on the May Day. Brown saw me once too, and he was fine and didn't drink.

"But somehow, he drank, and drank a lot, and was often drunk and drunk. After that, they had a hard time. It didn't matter if they just didn't hang out with me at first. But then Arguing with Sarah, I don't know what they are arguing about? You see, now, my other sister, Maria, doesn't see her letter. Maria doesn't write to Sarah and me, and we lose contact. Don't know Brown How are you and Maria now?"

After saying these words, Miss Cushing let out a long sigh.It seemed that this topic had a special feeling for her.Like many people who live alone, she spoke very restrained and a little shy at the beginning, but she became very talkative after a while.So we chatted smoothly.

She told us all about the brother-in-law who was a waiter on the ship, and we listened carefully. Later, she talked about the various eccentricities of those students in the medical school. After a long talk, she finally gave their detailed addresses and names gave us.All the while we listened attentively, and Holmes occasionally asked a few questions.

"Why doesn't your sister Sara live with you? You are both unmarried, so there is no inconvenience!"

"If you know Sarah's temper, you'll understand why we don't live together. When I first came to Martin Eden Street, I tried to live with her, but after more than two months we had to separate. Neither did I. Talking bad things behind her back, I really can't stand her meddling."

"You mean—Sarah had a quarrel with that relative in Liverpool?"

"Yes, they hit it off very well at first, and they were even very affectionate for a while. Sarah went to them to get closer to them and get along better. But then, somehow, Brown and Sarah had a falling out and came back Not a good word to say, and when it comes to him, Sara says he likes to drink, and cheats people in every way, and nothing else. I guess afterward, Brown must have known that she was nosy, So the two quarreled, and it was so embarrassing. Maybe that's why it happened."

Holmes stood up, nodded politely, and said, "Miss Cushing, it is very kind of you to tell me this! You said that your sister Sarah lived in Warrington New Street, did you? We have been bothering you for so long. I'm sorry. Thank you very much for taking your time on something that has little to do with you. Goodbye."

When we came to the high street, a carriage was approaching, and Holmes stopped it.

"How far is it from Warrington New Street?" asked Holmes.

"Not far, just over half a mile."

"Well, Watson, get into the car. Although the case is simple, I still need to know certain details, and knowing these details will solve the case. Please stop at the door of the telegraph office, coachman."

Holmes sent a brief telegram at the telegraph office, and then climbed into the carriage, leaned back in the seat, and shielded himself from the sun with his hat.When we arrived at Warrington New Street, Sarah's residence, we looked up and found that the structure of this house was basically the same as that of the previous one. Holmes asked the coachman to wait for a while, saying that he would come out soon.We went to knock on the door, but before I raised my hand to knock, the door opened, and a young gentleman came out, dressed in black and wearing a new hat, not tall, with a deadpan expression.

"Sir, is Miss Cushing in?" asked Holmes.

The man said seriously: "She is here, but she cannot see visitors. She has brain disease. I have just diagnosed her, and no one can see her. Sir, I'm sorry!"

"When did Miss get sick?"

"Yesterday. If you want to see her, come back in ten days." After the doctor finished speaking, he ignored everyone and left.

"Okay, okay, if you don't see it, you won't see it." Sherlock Holmes was even happier when he heard this.

I didn't understand anything at this time: "Maybe she can't provide you with clues."

"I never intended to hear from her in the first place. It is enough to know that she is ill, I know all about it. Come, here we go! Watson, let us have lunch. Take us to a restaurant, Coachman. Let's have a good lunch and see Mr Lethrider."

We ate at a restaurant.Holmes told me nothing about the case at dinner.He doesn't talk about anything but the violin.

He told me how he had gone to such lengths to acquire a Stradivarius violin.He said the violin was worth at least 500 guineas, but he bought it from a Jew for 45 shillings.Then, he talked about the famous Italian violin to the Italian violinist Paganini in the [-]th and [-]th centuries.We drank red wine and told anecdotes about the violinist.

We ate for more than an hour, and the night was approaching, the hot sun was sliding towards the west mountain, and the sky was full of sunset glow, what a gorgeous picture.

In such a beautiful evening, we came to the police station by car, and saw Sheriff Lesred waiting for us smiling at the door from a distance. "Your telegram, Mr. Holmes," he said, handing it.

"Call back!" Holmes glanced at the telegram before crumpling it into a ball and putting it in his pocket.

My friend said: "This matches my guess!"

"What did you find out?"

"I've found out everything, including every detail of the case."

"What? No way!" Sergeant Lesred opened his eyes wide and opened his mouth wide, and asked in surprise, "Aren't you kidding me?"

"Just don't joke with me," said Holmes gravely. "The case is astonishing in its simplicity."

"Who is the criminal?"

After hearing this, Holmes took the business card in his hand, wrote a few words on the back, and handed it to Lethred.

"Here is the criminal," said Holmes. "Don't worry. I don't think he will be caught until tomorrow night at the earliest, when his steamer will be here."

"Thank you very much, sir."

"Sheriff, if anyone mentions this case, you must not say that I have participated in the case. I want to solve very difficult cases. Watson, let us go!"

We walked back to our lodgings.After supper, Holmes and I sat on the sofa, smoking a cigar, and chatting about the events of the day.

"This case is actually very simple. It is similar to the 'Trace of Scarlet Letters' cases we have been in contact with. My detection method is the same as those, inferring the cause from the result. I have already written to Lesred to let After he caught the criminal, he asked the criminal to tell the detailed process."

"Can he catch the criminal?"

"Yes. Don't look at his poor reasoning ability, but he is very good at catching criminals. Once he knows what he is going to do, he will work hard like a pug loyal to his master. So don't worry, he can catch criminals smoothly. That is why, despite his lack of talent, he still holds a high position in Police Scotland."

"So you're done with the case?"

"In general. I know from a great deal of evidence who was the perpetrator of this heinous event, and though I do not know exactly who the victims are, this does not affect my inference at all. You have your own opinion, Watson. ?"

"I think Miss Cushing's brother-in-law, Jim Brown, the waiter on the Liverpool sea liner, is the object of your suspicion?"

"Is it just suspicion."

"According to Miss Cushing, we only know a few details, how can we be sure who is the criminal?"

"I don't think so, Watson. I will now tell you my course of deduction. You must know that we entered the case with little confidence at the outset. As we know nothing about the case, it is usually to our advantage." Yes, so that you can speculate freely without any emotion, Watson, can you?

"So we went to Martin Eden Cross, and we knew that Miss Cushing was a sweet, sweet woman. From the look on her face, she would not hide from us. When I was talking to her, I saw a picture of the three sisters, and I thought it was The box was sent to one of the other two.

"But I immediately dismissed this idea, because it may or may not be true, and it is only a guess. Later, we went to the garden and looked at the box, and there were other things, Watson, you have not forgotten? "

I said, "I remember very well that you smelled that rope."

"At that time, I studied the rope carefully. It is a kind of rope used by sailmakers on sea ships, and I smelled a smell of sea water. You remember that the knot was tied very delicately, and most people would definitely not tie that kind of rope. Knot, that is the way sailors usually tie knots.

"The ear box was sent from the port, and the man in the box had earrings in his ears, and there are more earrings in sailors than in land.

"Therefore, I think that the man in this case must be found among the seamen of the ship.

"We took a closer look at the kraft paper outside the package. It says Miss S Cushing received. This package is addressed to the eldest of the three sisters. Her abbreviated name is like this, but the abbreviated names of the other two sisters may also be like this. .

"In this case, I feel we have to reopen the investigation. It was not addressed to the boss, so I would like to see Miss Sarah and ask for clarification.

"At this point I said to Miss Cushing, do you remember, this may be a misunderstanding, but I stopped immediately."

I said, "I remember it very clearly."

"I happened to see something that surprised and delighted me. I saw Miss Cushing's ear in profile, which gave me a clue.

"You're a doctor, and you know better than I do that there's not much difference between the parts of the body and the ears. People's ears are different. You must have read what I wrote last year in the Journal of Anthropology about Short essay on this.

"I carefully observed the two ears in the box, and I carefully identified the anatomical characteristics of the two ears. I memorized them.

"When I saw Miss Cushing's ear later, I was very surprised because her ear was very similar to the ear of the woman in the box. The outline of the ear was basically the same, the curvature was similar, and the loop-shaped line in the ear was very similar. .From the outside, the two ears seem to come from the same person.

"At that time, I immediately understood that Ms. Cushing was related to the victim by blood and was a very close relative, so I told her about her sisters, and it happened that Cushing told us something without hiding anything.

"First of all, about her sister Sarah. The two lived together not long ago, and they just separated for a short time. Therefore, this parcel is for her sister, not her. At this point, I also understand many.

"Later, we learned that the man in the photo was a steward on a sea ship and married her other sister. In addition, it was Sarah who had a relationship with the seaman. And, Sarah and them got along very well at first, but later Because she was too nosy, she had to separate after a quarrel.

"They hadn't been in touch with each other for several months, and the seaman didn't know that Sarah had moved away. So, after he finished his business, he sent it to Miss S. Cushing's old address.

"Basically we all know now. Jim Brown was a waiter. He was a drinker, emotional, impulsive, and reckless. In order to take care of his wife, he gave up his high-paying job and was transferred to this line as a small seaman.

"I deduce that his wife, Maria, was murdered. And another man, let's say he was also a waiter, was killed along with it. That's their two ears.

"Why did the sailor kill? For what purpose? Probably out of jealousy. But what we shall settle next is: Why did the criminal send his ear to Miss Sarah Cousin? Perhaps to cause her heartache. Because She lived with and quarreled with Mr. and Mrs. Brown, which caused this tragedy. Otherwise, how could she be ill when we were going to see Miss Sarah?
"If the case is Brown's, then it must be proved that he sent the package. The May Day route, I investigated, stopped in Dublin and Tefoss, Belfast and so on. Then, he may be in The first dock goes ashore to send packages.

"There is another possibility: that the Browns were killed, but I don't think that's possible. If a lovelorn lover or mistress killed them, the man's ears would be Brown's. If so, why did the killers have to put Send the evidence to Miss Cushing? That's impossible.

"To prove my theory, I sent a telegram to my friend Lilga in the Liverpool Police. Tell him to ask if Maria is at home, and if Mr. Brown has left on the May Day.

"Afterwards, we went to visit Miss Sarah. The reason I was in a hurry was to see how similar her ears were to her sister's ears. If they were the same, my deduction must be correct. It was Maria's ear.

"Besides, I want to ask her some other questions. She may give us important news, but I don't expect her to say much. Even if she knows, she won't tell us."

I asked, "Why do you say that?"

"Because the day before we arrived, people knew all about the case, and she must have known about it, and she knew better who the package was sent to. If she wanted to help with the case, she would have called the police a long time ago, and she would not be silent.

"Besides, she was ill when we went, and it was evidence, not coincidence, that she was ill when the package was delivered. The package hit her too hard, and she suffered from brain disease. To find out The case can be known from her, but she is ill, and it will be clear only when she recovers.

"Even if she doesn't help, we can find out, and by the time we get to the police station, a telegram from my friend Lilga has arrived.

"The telegram said that Mrs. Brown had been gone for more than three days, probably to the south to visit relatives. At the steamship office, he had made sure that Mr. Brown had left on the 'May Day' and said that the ship would arrive in Thames. The port. As soon as he gets there, he'll meet Mr Lethride waiting for him, and we'll know all about it when he catches him."

We're done talking.

A few days later, Sherlock Holmes received a large packet of letters, including a letter from Lethred and a stack of typed papers.Holmes said to me: "You see, you are right! Lethreid has him. I read his letter."

Dear Holmes:
According to the original plan, I visited the May Day ship at about five or six o'clock yesterday afternoon.After investigation, it was found that the ship belonged to three shipping companies of Liverpool, London and Dublin, and there was really a crew member named Jim Brown on board.But for some reason, he behaved strangely during this voyage, so the captain had to let him stop work to rest.

I came here and found him tall, wiry, clean-shaven with a slightly sunburned face.As soon as I entered the cabin, I saw him sitting on the wooden box, propping his head with his hands, his body was shaking constantly, obviously restless.

He knew my reason for coming, so he jumped up. I thought he was going to resist, so I blew the siren quickly, and the two marine policemen guarding the corner rushed over, but he didn't resist, and was just caught without a fight.We took him back to the police station with his case.I thought there was something in the box, but when I opened it, there was only a big sharp knife that most sailors have.

In the interrogation room, before our interrogation, he told it all, our stenographer took it all down, typed three copies, and gave one to you.

In fact, this case is not as complicated as we imagined, it is very simple.Thank you for your help in this case.

Enter your friend Grace Reid
"It's really simple. But when we first met him, he didn't think so. Let's see Jim Brown's account. They record it thus:

I said, say it all, I must say it all.Even if you beat me and shot me, no matter how you deal with me, I have to say it.

I must say that after I did that, whether I was asleep or awake, his and her faces kept dangling in front of me, and I didn't want to close my eyes for a moment, I was almost tortured into a psychopath up.

I have often seen her face, so frightened, so pale and beautiful, like a little lamb.Sometimes I saw his dark face, with angry eyebrows knit together.When she saw my murderous face, it must be different from my usual loving face, otherwise she wouldn't be so scared.This result is all caused by Sarah.I'm not doing this to exonerate myself.It is because of her, otherwise, Maria and I are still very good.

She's a devil, a devil who destroys other people's homes.I know I'm going to be crazy when I'm drinking.But in any case, Maria can forgive me, she is so gentle and considerate, and we are very happy together, as if the body and the shadow are together forever.

Just because Sarah Cousins ​​loves me and I only love my wife Maria and not her at all.Sarah knew that I would rather see the mud on Maria's path than her body and soul, and she became particularly vicious.

Although the three of them are sisters, their personalities are completely different.The eldest is honest, the second is a devil, and the third is like an angel.Maria was 29 years old when we got married, and we lived happily ever after.I thought all the women in Liverpool were inferior to my wife.I love Maria so much, she is so beautiful, gentle, thoughtful, virtuous.

As a courtesy, we had Sarah, who was 33 years old, come and stay for a week.Unexpectedly, she lived there for more than a month with the cheek to become a long-term guest of our house.We were just starting a new life, and I saved some money and quit drinking.OMG!I didn't expect it to turn out like this, it's incredible.

(End of this chapter)