It was already dusk when the four-wheeled carriage arrived at the place where the female body was recovered.
Gregson left two men there to look after the body. They covered the poor child with a blanket from the boatman so that she would not be exposed to the eyes of the idle people around her. There was not much they could do now. That's all.
The three of them got out of the carriage, and Gregson noticed that a reporter-looking guy had arrived in the crowd, playing with a large camera.
"These guys are like fleas that you can't get rid of." Gregson muttered, looking unhappy. However, there are no clues in this case so far. Maybe he can try to ask the newspaper to find the victim. family members, so he walked over to the reporter.
Holmes on the other side did not rush to lift the blanket. Instead, he chatted with the policeman who found the body, then wandered around for a while, and then walked slowly to the body.
Zhang Heng was already covering his nose and checking silently.
The smell of the Thames River is not very good. Before the 19th century, the river water here was clear and there were swarms of fish and shrimps. However, with the expansion of cities after the Industrial Revolution, a large number of factories were built along the river, and industrial wastewater and domestic sewage continued to flow. The influx has caused the environment on the Thames to deteriorate dramatically. Coupled with the garbage floating on the water, it has become a veritable stinking ditch.
However, the government is obviously aware of the problems. It has built an interceptive underground sewage system and a sewer parallel to the Thames River, trying to transfer urban pollution to the downstream as much as possible. It must be admitted that this method has indeed achieved some results. effect.
Zhang Heng looked at it for a while. Like Gregson, what he could see from the corpse was very limited.
Holmes is right, and his observation skills are also very good, but in the subsequent reasoning process, he needs to have enough knowledge to support him. In addition to Zhang Heng not having the same case library in his mind as Holmes, the biggest problem is that he has no knowledge of Victoria. At that time, knowledge of this city was limited to books and movies, or one or two BBC documentaries.
As a layman, this knowledge may be enough, but if you want to use this knowledge to solve the case, it is obviously not enough.
For example, Holmes can tell the brand and origin of cigarettes a person smokes through his clothes or the ash on the ground. Zhang Heng may also be able to notice these details that ordinary people cannot notice, but he has no idea that there are such things in this era. Naturally, the next step of reasoning cannot be completed as to what brand of cigarettes it is.
Zhang Heng realized that it was not an easy task for him to complete the main mission. The most disadvantageous thing about the competition between him and Holmes was that he was in the other's era. On the surface, this round of copies did not It was so dangerous before, but the actual difficulty was the most difficult he had ever experienced in a dungeon.
Fortunately, he has enough time to meet the challenge.
Holmes squatted on the ground and carefully inspected the body. During this period, he took out a magnifying glass and inspected the woman's palms and hair, even the nails. At this moment, he no longer looked as lazy as before. , looked like a well-trained hunting dog. In the end, his whole body was almost attached to the corpse, face to face with the female corpse, his eyes moved all the way down, and finally paused for a moment on the latter's neck. .
After that, he stood up again, patted the dust on his clothes, and asked Zhang Heng, "What did you see?"
"Well, it should be murder. The victim is a female. She is 15 to 16 years old. She seems to be a little weak. She may have a disease. The cause of death is not drowning because she suffered a heavy blow to the head. In addition..." Zhang Heng paused. , "The victim was likely to have been assaulted before his death."
"Not bad." Holmes smiled, "You are not a forensic doctor. It is not easy to see so many things. Take your time."
As he was talking, Gregson on the other side finally finished dealing with the reporter. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead, then came over and said, "We've already negotiated. That's a reporter from the "Echo". Let him wait. Come and take a picture and post it on the front page, so that if the child’s family sees it, they will come to the police station to find us. By the way, how are you doing here?”
"I don't know the child's name yet," Holmes said leisurely.
Gregson's emotions were a bit complicated. Hearing this, he seemed to be disappointed but also vaguely happy. He said, "Ah, there is nothing I can do about it. In fact, I have done everything I could do before, but after all, the victim didn't even have his clothes on." There are none left, it’s too difficult to find clues, it seems we have to wait for the letter from the newspaper.”
"That's not necessary." Holmes looked amused, lit his pipe, and took a deep breath to dispel the smell coming from the river.
The police chief was stunned when he heard this, "How do you say this?"
"If I were you, I would send someone to investigate the John Textile Factory one mile upstream from here. The child works there. In addition, the murderer is a man and an acquaintance of the child, but he has always had suspicions about the child. Unexpected, six feet tall, strong, with scratches on his body, especially on his arms."
After Holmes finished speaking, he regained his lack of interest and said to Zhang Heng, "Let's go, our work is done, and it's getting late. How about having dinner together? Let's go to Hou Ben's restaurant. The ham there has always been my favorite.”
"Being respectful is worse than obeying orders." Zhang Heng said.
"We'll call the carriage ourselves, so I won't bother you to send us there, Sheriff." Holmes then said to the stunned Gregson, "Why are you still standing? Since you have got the clue you want, Now, hurry up and solve the case."
…………
Half an hour later, Zhang Heng and Holmes were sitting at the dining table of Hou Ben's restaurant.
The waiter poured pre-dinner red wine for the two of them, and the tragedy that happened on the Thames River was greatly diluted by the slow music in their ears.
Holding the wine glass, Holmes looked at Zhang Heng across from him with interest, as if he had discovered something interesting. After a moment, he said, "You are really able to keep your composure. I am becoming more and more interested in you." , but it doesn’t matter, it’s still some time before the food is served, if you have any questions, just ask, I will tell you everything I know.”
"Then I'm sorry, how did you deduce where the girl worked, and how did you know the general characteristics of the murderer?" Zhang Heng finally asked.
