Chapter 156

After the twisted scratches were turned clockwise for 170 degrees and the width was reduced by 70% and the height by 10%, two letters with unknown meaning were obtained. After the female detective translated them, a brief message could be obtained.

"Next place."

Charlotte Holmes looked at the translation floating in her mind and suddenly felt a little amused. Even though she always kept her emotions to herself, the corners of her mouth were slightly curved upwards at this moment.

Douglas and X211, who used the alias Alvett, stood next to the female detective. One of them was to fulfill the duties of an assistant, and the other was to learn from the great detective.

They were not ordinary people. They had sharp observation skills and naturally noticed the scratches under the stove, but they did not find any useful clues at the first time. They just thought it was the victim's last words destroyed by the murderer.

But until they found that the female detective looked at the scratches and showed a fleeting faint smile, they began to doubt themselves - could there be clues to the murderer hidden behind these random scratches?

The two turned their attention to the scratch, but after looking left and right and thinking hard, they could not find any useful clues.

The scratch was strong and balanced, and it was impossible to tell whether the knife was left-handed or right-handed. Moreover, the original letters were covered by the scratches, and the original appearance could not be seen at all. Even if they tried to guess the letters with similar shapes, they could not get any results.

Obviously, the cunning murderer first smeared and modified the original will of the deceased several times before carving the scratch, so that the original intention of the deceased was completely covered up!

Douglas and Alvette looked at each other, and they saw the same confusion in the eyes of the stranger in front of them - Can't you see it? Yes, I can't see it either.

The female detective who got the answer she wanted stood up. She ignored the two young men who were already in a brainstorming and walked straight out the door.

The logistics officer and detective assistant of the Anti-Suppression Bureau immediately followed behind, leaving only the detective of Scotland Yard alone.

Douglas actually wanted to ask the female detective what clues she had found. But his inner pride and self-esteem did not allow him to admit defeat in the detective field, even though he knew that the other party's detective ability was far better than his own. But if he just waited for the results of others' investigations instead of thinking about it himself, his sensitive brain would sooner or later become rusty.

He decided to stay at the scene first and deduce the clues that the female detective had deduced in an instant.

Miss Charlotte had already left in her carriage, and Douglas could finally take out his pipe, light the tobacco in the bowl, take a deep breath and let the spicy smoke circulate in his lungs and then exhale. Perhaps the effect of nicotine made him slightly more excited.

The smoke from the mouth blinded the detective's eyes. He couldn't help but squint his eyes slightly, and saw that the seemingly chaotic scratches seemed to have begun to change their appearance. The horizontal, vertical and horizontal strokes fell into the blurred vision... It was like the scribbling of a drunkard, or the sketch of a child when he first went to school, drawing Arabic numbers into pictographic patterns.

Those were sharp elephant ears, a big goose that was about to spread its wings and fly, and a small snake swimming!

"3, 2, 5? What does this mean? Is it a crime warning left by the murderer?"

Douglas thought hard and couldn't figure it out. He racked his brains but couldn't deduce the answer - at this moment he deeply felt the scarcity of his knowledge. Sure enough, he was still too ignorant and really needed to read more books to enrich his knowledge.

"Well, forget it. I'd better go back and read this week's London Illustrated News. The illustrations there are vivid and vivid, and they are the most suitable source of knowledge for me at the moment!"

………………

Charlotte Holmes has already gone to the scene of the second case according to the information in the daily report of the Anti-Suppression Bureau - the Burton Port two blocks away.

This is actually a private port belonging to Ottavio Burton, and it is not open to the public at all. Even Scotland Yard does not know that a murder occurred here last night. The deceased is Jack, who has a high status in the Burton Brothers Gang.

At this time, the iron gates in and out of the port area are tightly locked. Several guards with bulging waists and guns are on guard beside the door, looking at every passerby who intends to approach with fierce eyes, and their eyes are just like a group of hungry jackals staring at the tender little white rabbits. It seems that as long as the strangers dare to approach the port, they will immediately open their bloody mouths and show their sharp claws, so that the intruders can see with their own eyes how their brains are stuffed into their intestines!

Therefore, the female detective did not approach rashly - after all, according to the information from the intelligence group of the Anti-Suppression Bureau, the cases that occurred here last night were all committed by the murderer using a sniper rifle at the port.

She did not need to enter the port area directly, but only needed to conduct a brief investigation at the surrounding high points.

So the female detective began to investigate from the distant buildings one by one, and when she came to the rooftop of the fourth slum apartment building, she finally found a trace of suspicious traces on the edge of the rooftop railing wall.

There was a blizzard last night, and at this moment there was a thin layer of unmelted snow on the rooftop.

But Charlotte had just been to other buildings in the area, and she could tell at a glance that the snow here was less flat than in other places. It looked like someone had been there when the snowflakes fell. has occurred here, preventing the normal accumulation of snowflakes.

And the most important thing is that she found faint traces of iron ropes on the wall of the rooftop stairwell. It was obvious that someone had recently tied the iron ropes here and quickly dropped from the rooftop to the ground by rappelling... This is indeed Very much like Watson's style.

The female detective got closer and carefully observed the wall of the stairwell. There was a long gray-black mark on the dark red masonry surface, which was the mark left by metal scratches.

Charlotte kept circling around the outside of the stairwell, and then stopped at the corner. She stared intently at the gray and black horizontal mark in front of her eyes, and shouted to Alvitt without looking back: " lamp."

This Anti-Suppression Bureau officer, who has been working as a detective assistant for three months, is already very familiar with Miss Holmes's style and carries many necessary small items with him. When he heard the female detective's question, he quickly picked up the items he carried with him. He took out a small lantern from his backpack, lit it, and delivered it to the other party.

Charlotte took the lantern and pointed the bright yellow light at the wall in front of her. She saw that inside this obvious gray-black mark, there were also extremely inconspicuous tiny scratches hidden inside. Those were three random graffiti. Such confusing symbols, but after her translation, she was able to come up with the following explanation.

"Sunday, Holborn, old drunkard."

Charlotte smiled silently as she looked at the message that only she and Watson could understand.