༺ The Missing Case of Silver Blaze (5) ༻
“Miss Holmes.”
“………”
“Miss Holmes?”
Adler and Charlotte Holmes walked the streets with their arms handcuffed together… just as usual.
“Why are you making that face, since earlier?”
Isaac Adler, who had been flinching at the overt stares pouring in from around them, soon posed a question to Charlotte Holmes walking beside him.
“………”
Hearing his words, Charlotte silently looked at Adler.
“… Do you like a body like Professor Moriarty’s?”
At her unexpected words, Adler made a clueless face, making it seem like he didn’t know what she was on about.
“I just like Miss Holmes.”
“Stop talking nonsense…”
“It’s true, Miss Holmes.”
Upon hearing his response, Charlotte made a face as if she was disgusted by his lies. However, once she saw the slightly serious look in Adler’s eyes, she wasn’t able to finish her response and trailed off…
“Now, look.”
In her line of sight, the backside of Adler’s slightly raised left hand came into view.
“… Hmm.”
She soon noticed that the seal of engagement that had been engraved on his hand was now damaged. She pouted her lips and turned her head to the side.
– Swish…
As she did that, Adler quietly clasped onto her hand. Charlotte, just like the previous day, pinched his hand tightly in response to his action.
“What are you trying to do?”
“It’s a gesture of affection.”
“… It’s vulgar.”
Of course, despite that, Charlotte didn’t push Adler away.
“Stay away from me.”
She merely touched his chest with a force so light that not even an ant would be repelled by it.
“……?”
However, at that moment, there was a slight change in Charlotte’s gaze.
“Miss Holmes? This really seems like sexual harassment, doesn’t it?”
Then, out of the blue, she slipped her hand inside Adler’s clothes.
“Stay still.”
“I don’t want to, you can’t, don’t do it…”
“Hmm.”
Momentarily brushing his chest with her hands, Charlotte’s hand caught onto something, prompting her to pull it out immediately. Clutched in her hand was a red cat doll.
“What’s this?”
“As you can see, it’s a doll.”
“Why are you carrying it inside your clothes?”
“I’m actually quite fond of dolls.”
Adler started to sweat nervously as he watched Charlotte examine the doll with an intense gaze.
“… I see.”
While intently staring into the doll’s eyes, she suddenly broke into a dark smile.
“The dolls these days are quite something. There’s blood around their mouths and their eyes are able to move too.”
“Ah, ah-gfuuufkhuu”
“And when you press their stomachs hard, they can even make sounds. Truly fascinating…”
Her gaze was turning chillingly cold, and her deep and profound black eyes gave the impression that it would devour the cat whole.
“Meow.”
“It’s a specially made doll. And you shouldn’t press it so hard.”
Desperate to explain before she could destroy the doll, Adler quickly snatched Princess Clay from her hands.
“… By any chance, Mr. Adler, are you an animal lover?”
“Not at all. I only like Miss Holmes.”
“Is that the only flattery you know?”
“Uh.”
Charlotte, casting a gaze full of suspicion while asking him the question, suddenly shoved her finger into his mouth.
– Slick…
Then, Adler, looking at Charlotte with wide eyes, eventually bit into her finger and began silently sucking on her blood.
“Don’t test my patience…”
Recalling their rough encounter from the day before, Charlotte’s face turned red, and she murmured with her head bowed.
“… You can’t even live without me.”
“It’s the same for you now, isn’t it?”
Adler whispered in a drowsy voice close to Charlotte’s ear and then quietly leaned on her shoulder.
“………”
There was no retort in return to his cheeky statement.
“… Once again, I don’t feel anything…”
“Don’t feel anything for me, right? I’m the one who’s unilaterally in love, after all.”
“If you know that so well, then why don’t you stop making that stupid face already?”
With that, the two began to wander the streets of London, looking close enough that anyone might misconstrue their relationship.
“… They’re at it again?”
“Just leave them be, it’s not the first or second time.”
“They seem to be spotted frequently these days…”
Unbeknownst to the two involved, their antics were almost an iconic sight in London by now.
Various witness accounts and tips were consistently being sent to gossip-loving media and magazines.
However, there were rumors going around that the British government itself, a particular woman, and an unknown royal family from overseas were discreetly applying pressure on the media outlets. Hence, those tips would never see the light of day. At least, not in written form…
Believe it or not.
.
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After a considerable amount of walking, the two finally arrived at the scene of the case.
“Who’s that person beside you?”
“… Don’t mind him.”
Due to complications in the investigation, the welcoming officer soon posed a question with a puzzled expression on her face.
“He’s just my assistant.”
“But why do you have your fingers in his mouth?”
“Nevermind that, just lend me your ears for a moment.”
However, ignoring her words, Charlotte whispered something to the officer and then stepped into the crime scene with Adler in tow.
“… It’s time for another riddle, Miss Holmes.”
“……….”
“By the way, how much do you know about the case?”
Upon Adler’s casual inquiry, Charlotte’s heart began to quietly flutter.
“I’ve grasped most of the information.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m almost on the verge of reaching a conclusion.”
“Ohh…!”
When Adler looked at her with intrigue at those words, she merely shrugged her shoulders.
For Charlotte, solving mysteries with Adler had long become a stimulation more entertaining than anything else in the world.
“Although I couldn’t move yesterday, I had Watson gather information on the case instead. I supplemented any missing details with the newspaper from this morning.”
“I see.”
“So now, it seems like all we need is to verify a few key pieces of evidence to draw a conclusion to this case.”
Looking at the confident Charlotte with a hint of amusement in his eyes, Adler took a step forward and asked,
“So, what are these crucial pieces of evidence you speak of?”
“The first, of course, is the curry from last night’s dinner.”
With that, Charlotte opened the door to the room of the victim— John Straker, which was right in front of them.
“Hmm.”
She lightly touched the cold curry bowl that was on the desk of the room and soon tilted her head, licking her finger.
“… It’s a highly concentrated stimulant.”
“Uh-oh.”
Upon hearing her words, Adler, with a startled expression, tried to step back.
“It’s commonly used as a drug. Don’t worry, this amount won’t affect me.”
“… Really?”
“Perhaps…?”
When Charlotte, with darkened eyes, grabbed hold of him, Adler shuddered ever so slightly, a nervous smile on the corner of his lips.
“So, why was there a drug in the curry?”
Upon his question, Charlotte’s previously darkened gaze became sparkly once again.
“Before I answer that, we need to verify the next piece of evidence.”
With that, she briskly walked to the side, looking rather excited.
‘… She can be so cute for her age at times like these.’
“Just as I thought.”
Adler followed her while looking at her with an intrigued expression. Charlotte, with a triumphant look, pulled something out of the trash bin.
“What’s that?”
“A bunch of receipts. It’s a decisive piece of evidence that the stupid police didn’t even bother to take a glance at.”
“Why would that be considered decisive evidence?”
The question was followed by her confident explanation.
“After Watson met with Mr. Straker’s wife yesterday, she found out that their relationship had been strained as of late. They barely even look at each other these days, she said.”
“And?”
“Why then, are there so many receipts from a high-end clothing store thrown away in the trash bin?”
“… Perhaps he was buying gifts to reconcile with his wife?”
As she meticulously examined the receipts, Charlotte chuckled and shook her head in response to Adler’s guess.
“The purchases were consistent over several months.”
“Hmm.”
“Furthermore, the buyer’s name is different for all the receipts. In other words, Mr. Straker was buying a large quantity of clothes using an alias.”
“In that case…”
“An affair with a lavish woman. Is there a more straightforward explanation than that?”
Watching Charlotte, Adler reached out and gently touched her head.
“… Ahem.”
“So, what’s the connection between Mr. Straker’s affair and the drugs in the curry?”
“……..”
Charlotte, about to accept Adler’s touch with a smile on her face, wore a slightly cold expression due to the teasing question he delivered to her as his hand stopped right in front of her nose.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
Then, she subtly moved a step forward.
“Watson mentioned that the hounds guarding the racetrack didn’t bark last night.”
“What’s so odd about that?”
“If an unknown intruder had broken in to drug the meal, the dogs would have naturally barked, wouldn’t they?”
Adler’s hand soon gently settled atop Charlotte’s head as she stepped a pace closer to him.
“But what if that person was familiar to the dogs?”
“……….”
“And what if that person was close enough to Mr. Straker to personally bring him a late dinner?”
As she tilted her head from side to side, it really looked like she was enjoying Adler’s touch right now.
“But did you know this? The stimulant mixed in the meal was quite potent; had it been any ordinary dish, it would have been detected almost immediately.”
“In that case…”
“Isn’t it too much of a coincidence that curry, one of the few dishes that can mask such a strong taste, was served for dinner?”
As she paused to catch her breath, the closed door slightly opened at that very moment.
“I’ve brought what you requested earlier…”
Just as the officer, holding something in her hand, attempted to step inside, she caught a glimpse of the tender scene unfolding before her eyes and halted in her tracks, even trailing off at the end of her words.
“What Mr. Straker was clutching tightly was a syringe, right?”
“Yes, yes, it was…”
“What about the substance inside?”
“We’ll need to examine it to be sure, but…”
“Then take it back and have it examined. Most likely, it’s a doping agent.”
Charlotte signaled the officer to leave with a gesture of her hand, then flashed a triumphant smile toward Adler.
“In conclusion, it’s this.”
She began excitedly piecing together her deductions.
“Mr. Straker’s affair partner was a person who could roam the racetrack late in the evening without arousing any suspicion. Furthermore, she was someone with enough power to dictate the evening menu.”
As she paced around the room, leaning back with confidence in each of her steps, she raised her voice ever so slightly.
“What if the person who drugged Mr. Straker, as planned, had then instructed a heavily drugged Mr. Straker to dope Silver Blaze?”
She then turned her head to where Adler had been.
“That person would be the mastermind behind the case.”
She was about to declare the solution of the riddle when…
“And that person is…”
She stopped mid-sentence, frozen in place.
“Mr. Adler?”
Adler, who was caressing her hair just moments ago, had vanished without a trace.
“He ran off on his own again?”
Charlotte stared blankly at the dangling handcuffs, the same ones that had been snapped the day before. Slowly, her expression cooled.
“Such a bad habit you have…”
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Thinking that solving the riddle too quickly might not be a good idea in this scenario, I quietly slipped away from Charlotte’s side.
“Fuck. I’m sorry.”
However, upon seeing the terrifying message that appeared before my eyes, I instantly felt regret and hurriedly tried to return to Charlotte. But just then…
“… Adler.”
To my bad luck, I ran straight into her.
“Just as you wanted, I got rid of Straker, who kept babbling without knowing anything.”
She was the owner of the racetrack and the de facto owner of the demi-humans stabled in this place. She also held a notorious reputation in the underworld— a vile, cruel, and merciless woman.
“Though it didn’t go as planned, getting rid of him not just from the job but from this world altogether, I guess it doesn’t really matter now.”
And with that, the mastermind behind this incident…
“Because alllllll I need is you~”
Somehow, with a wild ferocity in her eyes, it was none other than Colonel Rose, whispering these words to me while tremblingly pointing a gun at my side.
“Do you feel the same?”
“… Do I even know you?”
“You’ve gotten quite cheeky, honey”
At this point, it was clear…
“Let’s leave for the U.S. right now. I’ve got all the business arrangements in place already, and I’ll ensure that you live a luxurious life without even lifting a finger for the rest of your life…”
“Please… someone save me….”
It seemed like I was under a particularly bad curse.
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