The next day, a large piece of news titled "The Strange Case of Brixton" appeared in various newspapers. Each newspaper published continuous reports. In addition, some even wrote special editorials. Some of the news even

This is also the first time I have heard of it. I still have many newspaper clippings about this case in my scrapbook. Now I will add some appendices below:

"The Daily Telegraph" reported: "In a series of criminal records, nothing is more bizarre than this tragic incident. The victim had a German name, no other motive was found, and there were such vicious writings on the wall.

All of this shows that this was the work of a group of desperate revolutionary parties or political prisoners. In the United States, there are many factions of revolutionary parties and socialist parties; there is no doubt that the deceased violated their unwritten laws, so

Only then was he traced here and murdered." This report briefly mentioned a series of related cases that had occurred in the past, including the German Mystery Court case, the Italian Carbonari case, the Mineral Spring case, the Marquess de Blancville case, Malthus

Principle case, Darwin theory case and Ratcliffe Highway murder case, etc. The report ended with advice to the government, pointing out that foreigners in the UK should be monitored more closely in the future.

"The Standard" commented: Such audacious crimes usually occur when the Liberal Party is in power. These crimes are actually caused by the unrest of the people and the weakening of the power of the government. The victim is an American gentleman, in the City of London

He had been staying for several weeks. He had lived in Mrs. Penty's apartment in Torquay, Camberwell. The deceased was traveling in London, accompanied by his private secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson. The service will be held on the 4th of this month.

2. After bidding farewell to Mrs. Xia Penjie, the two people immediately went to Euston Station to take the express train to Liverpool. At that time, someone saw the two people on the station platform, and they disappeared since then. Later, at Euston Station, they left

Mr. Drebber's body was found in an empty house on Brixton Road a few miles away. How he got there and how he was killed are full of mysteries. Mr. Stangerson's whereabouts remain unknown.

What is gratifying is that Scotland Yard's famous detectives Gregson and Leithward are investigating the case at the same time and firmly believe that the case will be solved soon.

"Daily News" reported: This must be a political crime. Because of the tyranny of the mainland governments and their incomparable hatred of liberalism, many people were deported to our territory. If there is any question about what they did in the past

Because they are too tolerant and will not be held accountable, it is impossible for these people to become good citizens. Among this group of exiles, there are unwritten but extremely strict "laws". Once violated, they will definitely be executed. Now we must

Every effort was made to find the deceased's personal secretary, Stangerson, in order to find out the important characteristics of the deceased's living habits. The address where the deceased was sent to London before his death has been known, which will make the case a big step forward. This discovery should first of all be attributed to

The dry wit of Mr. Gregson of Scotland Yard.

At breakfast time I read through these reports and reviews with Holmes, which seemed to interest my companion.

"I told you a long time ago." Holmes continued decisively: "No matter what the situation is, the credit should always go to Leisweid and Gregson!"

"Then it depends on the outcome!"

"Brother, it doesn't matter in the end! If the murderer is caught, it will naturally be due to the diligent work of the two great detectives; if the murderer escapes, they can also say this: despite all the difficulties and dangers, but... no matter

Anyway, good things always belong to them, and bad things always belong to others. No matter what they do, there will always be someone who will sing their praises. There is a French proverb that goes well: 'Fools may be stupid, but there are others more stupid than them.

Fools cheer them on.'"

While we were talking, there was suddenly a burst of chaotic footsteps on the stairs and in the corridor, mixed with the complaining voice of the landlady. I couldn't help but shout: "What's going on?"

"My detective team, the Baker Street Squad." Holmes said matter-of-factly. As he spoke, six street children rushed through the door. I have never seen such dirty and shabby teenagers.

"Stand at attention!" shouted my companion.

I saw these six street children standing in a line like six unsightly little clay figurines.

Holmes said: "From now on, you will ask Wiggins to be your representative. Just one person can come up and report. The others must wait on the street. Wiggins, have you found him?"

One child replied: "Not yet, sir, we haven't found it yet."

"I estimate that you haven't found it yet. You must continue to search. If you don't find it, it won't be finished. Oh, this is your salary." My partner gave each child a shilling and ordered: "Okay, you are now

Go ahead and report back next time, I hope you can bring me good news."

My partner waved his hand, and the group of children went downstairs like a nest of mice. Soon, their high-pitched noises could be heard from the street.

Holmes explained: "This group of children alone can achieve more than the work of eleven or twelve official detectives. Because as soon as the official detectives show up, many insiders dare not speak. And these children can't do anything anywhere."

If you can go there, you can find out about anything. They are as smart as needlepoints and are seamless. Their only shortcoming is their lack of organization and discipline."

"Did you hire them just for this Brixton Road case?" I asked.

"Yeah. There's one key point I want to get to, and I guess it's just a matter of time. Oh, and now we get some interesting news. Look, down the street, Gregson is heading towards us.

He came to his residence. From his triumphant look, I knew that he was here to come to us. Look, he stood still. It was really him!"

After the doorbell rang loudly, Gregson, the handsome-haired detective, jumped upstairs three steps at a time and rushed straight into our living room.

"My dear friend!" He held my partner's hand tightly and said loudly: "Please congratulate me! This case has been investigated by me and it is as clear as the blue sky."

I noticed that there was a shadow of worry on Holmes's expressive face. He asked: "Gregson, do you mean you have figured it out clearly?"

"Yeah, really, man, I even caught the murderer."

"What's the murderer's name?" Holmes asked.

"Arthur Charpenti, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy." Gregson said proudly while rubbing his chubby hands and puffing up his chest.

After hearing what he said, my partner felt relieved, breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled unconsciously.

"Please sit down and smoke a cigar!" said Holmes. "We would like to know how you did it. How about some whiskey and water?"

"Just drink some!" Detective Gregson said: "I have spent a lot of time in the past two days, but I am exhausted. As you know, although there is not much physical work, the brain is extremely nervous.

Yes. You know whether it is sweet or bitter, Mr. Holmes, because the work we do is mainly mental work."

Holmes pretended to be serious and said: "Let us listen carefully to how you achieved such gratifying achievements."

Gregson sat down in the armchair and puffed on his cigar with pleasure. Suddenly he slapped his thigh and said happily: "This idiot Leisweid is really ridiculous. He thinks he is better than us."

Yeah! But he was completely wrong. He was looking for the whereabouts of the secretary Stangerson. In fact, that guy was like an unborn baby and had nothing to do with this case. I dare to conclude that now, Leisweid is probably

The guy has been caught."

When the detective said this, he laughed even more proudly until he couldn't breathe.

"So, how did you track down the clues?" I asked suddenly.

"Oh, I'll tell you everything. Of course, Dr. Watson, this is a top secret and can only be discussed between us. The biggest difficulty that must be overcome in the first step is to identify this American

Some people may want to place an advertisement and wait for someone to come forward to report, or wait for relatives and friends of the deceased to proactively inform them of some important clues. But this is not the way I work. Do you still remember the hat next to the deceased?

?"

"Remember!" said my companion, "and I bought it from John Underwood and Sons Hat Shop, 229 Camberwell Road."

After hearing this, Detective Gregson immediately showed some frustration and said, "I can't believe that you paid attention to this detail. But have you ever been to that hat shop?"

"No," replied Holmes.

"Haha!" Detective Gregson finally felt relieved and said, "No matter how small the possibility seems, you should never let it pass."

"For an outstanding man, nothing is insignificant." My partner seemed to be quoting from classics.

"Okay. I first found the shop owner Andewu and his son, and asked them: 'Have they ever sold a hat of this style and this size?' They looked through the sales records and quickly found out that this hat was given away

I went to Mr. Drieber, the resident of the Pente Apartments in Torquery. In this way, I traced this important address."

"Great, great job!" My partner praised in a low voice.

"Then I went to visit Mrs. Charpenti!" Gregson continued: My first impression was that her face was pale and she looked particularly uneasy. Her daughter was also in the room at the time - what a real lady.

A very beautiful girl. When I was talking to Mrs. Charpenti, her eyes were red and her lips were trembling. All of these, of course, could not escape my notice. So, I began to have some doubts. Mr. Holmes, you understand

Got it, what kind of energy does it feel when you find accurate clues? You just feel your whole body shaking with joy. I asked them: "Have you heard the news that your tenant, Mr. Drieber of Cleveland City, was murdered?"

?'

Mrs. Charpenti nodded, as if she could not even speak. But her daughter shed tears. The more I watched, the more I felt that they must know something about the case.

I asked: 'At what time did Mr. Driber leave your place for the station?'

'At eight o'clock,' Mrs. Charpenti said, swallowing her saliva and suppressing her excitement. Drieber's secretary Stangerson once said that there are two trains to Liverpool. The first one is at 9:15, and the second one is at 9:15.

The second train is at 11 o'clock. They catch the first train.

'Is this your last meeting?'

As soon as I mentioned this question, Mrs. Charpenti suddenly turned pale. After a while, she answered: "This is the last meeting." But she spoke unnaturally and her voice was hoarse. Everyone was silent for a while.

.Her daughter suddenly spoke, her attitude was very calm and her speech was very smart.

She said: 'There's no good in lying, Mom, let's be frank with this detective!' She said to me, 'Later, we did meet Mr. Drebber again.'

'May God forgive you!' Her mother stretched out her hands and shouted, then leaned back on the chair and said, 'This time your brother will be harmed by you!'

"Arthur will definitely want us to tell the truth," the girl said firmly.

I said: 'Now, you'd better tell me everything. If you want to say it but don't say it, it's better not to say it at all. Besides, you don't know how much information the National Police Agency has.'

'It's all your fault, Alice!' Mrs. Charpenti scolded her daughter loudly, then turned to me and said: 'Sir, I'll tell you everything. Don't think that I'm going to tell you everything when I mention my son.

I'm worried, because he has nothing to do with this man's murder. He is innocent. But what I am worried about is that in the eyes of the police department or others, he seems to be suspected of committing a crime. However, this is absolutely impossible.

.His noble qualities, his work profession, and his experience can all prove this.'

I induced her and said: 'You'd better tell the truth completely. Believe me, if your son is really innocent, he will definitely not be wronged in any way.'

She said, 'Alice, you'd better go out and let me talk to this gentleman!' So her daughter went out. Then she said, 'Sir, I didn't want to tell you this, but I didn't want to tell you this.

My daughter has already spoken out first, and now I have no other choice but to speak out. Now that I am ready to speak out, I will not hold anything back.'

I encouraged, 'That's the smart thing to do.'

She recounted: 'Dribber stayed with me for about three weeks. He and his secretary, Mr. Stangerson, kept traveling on the European continent. I found that each of their boxes had a Copenhagen label on it. It can be seen that it was

The last area they visited. Mr. Stangerson was a quiet and well-bred man, but his owner was a terrible person. They were two very different people. The owner was nasty and violent. On the night they moved in,

, this master was so drunk that he didn't wake up until 12 noon the next day. His frivolous attitude towards my maid was really disgusting. The most shameless thing is that he actually treated me with such a despicable behavior

My daughter Alice. I heard him talk nonsense to Alice more than once. Once, he actually held Alice in his arms and hugged her tightly. His audacious behavior even made Stangerson

All his teachers blamed him for his indecent behavior and his unworthy behavior.'

I asked them: 'But why can you tolerate it? I think you can drive them away if you like.'

When I asked her this question, she blushed and said, "How wonderful it would be if I refused them the rent on the day they came. Just because there is a very tempting question, each of them rents one pound a day.

That’s 14 pounds a week. Besides, it happens to be the off-season when there are few customers. I am a widow, and although my son is serving in the navy, his expenses are huge. I really can’t bear to let such a generous rent go to waste. So I try to tolerate it as much as possible.

.However, this time recently, he became too noisy, so I kicked him out. That's why they moved away.'

I asked: 'What happened next?'

She continued to narrate: 'Later, I saw them leaving in a carriage, and I felt relieved. Now, my son is on vacation. But I didn't dare to tell him any of these things, because he has a bad temper and he also

I felt particularly sorry for Alice. After the two tenants left, I closed the door and finally solved a big knot in my heart. God knows, less than an hour later, someone called the door and it turned out that Driber was back. He looked very excited.

It was obvious that he had drunk a lot of wine. He rushed into the house, where Alice and I were sitting. This guy started talking nonsense, saying that he had missed the train. Later, he dared to face me in front of me.

He talked to my daughter in person and suggested that Alice elope with him. He told Alice that she had grown up and the laws could no longer control her, and that he had plenty of money, so she didn’t have to worry about the old lady. Now.

, follow him immediately! He said she could enjoy happiness like a princess. My daughter was very scared and kept avoiding this guy. But he grabbed her wrist and pulled her out. I was so scared that I screamed. At this time,

My son Arthur came in. I don’t know what happened next. I only heard the sounds of scuffling and yelling, and it was a chaotic mess. I was so frightened that I didn’t even dare to raise my head. Finally, finally,

It was quiet. I raised my head and saw my son standing at the door, smiling, with a stick in his hand. Arthur, a living treasure, would never come to trouble again. I went out and followed him to see what he did.

Having said this, Arthur picked up his hat and ran into the street. The next morning we heard the news that this fellow Drebber had been murdered.'

The above is what Mrs. Charpenti said herself. When she spoke, she would often pause for a while and occasionally take a breath. Sometimes her speaking voice was very low, and I really couldn't hear it clearly. However, I basically transcribed what she said.

Once you get down there, there will definitely be no big mistakes.

My partner yawned and said, "That was really good, but what happened next?"

Gregson continued: When Mrs. Charpenti stopped talking, I discovered the key to the whole case. I stared at her with the eyes that are very effective for women, and asked her about the return of her son Arthur.

time.

She replied: 'I don't know.'

I asked: 'Not sure?'

'I really don't know. But Arthur has the key to the spring lock, and he will open the door himself.'

I asked again: 'He didn't come back until you went to bed, right?'

'Yes.'

'What time do you usually go to bed?'

'It's about 11 o'clock.'

'So your son will be out for at least two hours.'

'Yes.'

'He has been out for four or five hours, is it possible?'

'Also a possibility.'

'What has he been doing during these hours?'

She replied: 'I don't know.' At this time, her lips turned white. Of course, at this point, there is no need to ask more about other things. After I knew the whereabouts of Lieutenant Charpenti, I took two police colleagues with me.

Arrested him. At that time, I patted his shoulder and warned him to follow us and stop playing tricks. But he actually said boldly: 'I think you arrested me because you thought I was related to the death of that bad guy in Delib!'

'I didn't mention this to him, but he said it himself first, which made me feel even more suspicious.

"Suspicious indeed," agreed my companion.

"At that time, Arthur was still holding the big wooden stick that Mrs. Charpenti said was used to chase Dribert. It was an oak stick and was very strong." "So, Gregson, what do you have to say?

What?" asked Holmes.

"According to my opinion, Arthur chased and beat Drebber all the way to Brixton Road. At this time, they were noisy and argued again. During the dispute, Drebber received a severe blow, probably on the right side of the road.

On the heart, therefore, although he lost his life, no scars were left. It rained heavily at night and there was no one nearby. Arthur Charpentier dragged the body to the empty house. As for the candles and blood stains,

The bloody writing on the wall, the gold ring, etc. are just some tricks he used to lead the police astray."

Holmes praised and said: "Good analysis! Well done! Gregson, you are really making great progress. It seems that sooner or later you will become famous all over the world."

Detective Gregson said proudly: "I thought I handled this matter fairly neatly. But Arthur Charpentier testified that he had been chasing for a while, and was spotted by Drieber, so he took the car

A carriage left. On the way home, he met a colleague on the ship, so he walked with this colleague for a long time. But I asked him the address of this colleague, and his answer was not satisfactory to me.

.I think that the plot of this case is very consistent. The funny thing is Leisweide, he went astray from the beginning. I speculate that he will not achieve anything. Hey, just talking about Cao Cao, Cao Cao is here.

"

Sure enough, the person who came in was Detective Leisweid. When we were talking, he had already started to go upstairs, and then walked into the house. You can usually find his elation in his appearance and dress.

His extremely arrogant demeanor has disappeared now. He looks bad, has a sad face, and his clothes are sloppy. It is obvious that he came here to ask my partner for advice. But when he saw

When he arrived at his colleague Gregson, he seemed quite uneasy, even at a loss. He stood in the middle of the living room, fiddling with his hat with both hands.

Finally, he finally spoke: "Indeed, this is a case with fragmented clues, a strange thing that is difficult to understand."

Gregson said arrogantly: "Oh, do you think so too? Mr. Leisweid, I have known for a long time that you would draw such an inference. Have you found the secretary, Mr. Stangerson?"

"
Chapter completed!