Chapter 3 Chapter 3 The Devil's Nemesis

Even the least obsessive about appearance will admit that often a person's clothes can say a lot about his character.This statement applies not only to individuals but also to groups.Even today, those who engage in the fighting profession still adorn themselves with feathers, bright colors, and gold and silver ornaments, like African warriors and American Indian warriors, to show their place in the war in modern civilization.Don't the priests of the Roman Church still wear the monk's clothes before the fall of the Roman Empire when they ascended the altar, which symbolizes the unshakable history of the church!Also, while the times are bumping forward, doesn't our judiciary still follow the headdress of Queen Anne's time to show respect for the predecessors!

Here I should apologize to the readers for inserting such an inexplicable sentence.However, because on hot afternoons, I went out to the Cloisters of the Temple Law School many times to cool off, when I found a wig shop there, which had some interesting products, so I felt it.I stood in front of the window of the little shop, looking obsessively at the wigs displayed inside, and the reveries I mentioned in the previous paragraph quickly rushed into my head.Suddenly, a deep, soft voice sounded in my ear: "If I were you, I would choose the full face." I turned around abruptly, and it was my old friend and schoolmate—Reeves—who appeared in front of me.Behind him, gazing at us with a solemn smile is my mentor, Dr. John Avenlin Thorndike.The two greeted me very warmly, and I felt flattered immediately, because Dr. Thorndike was already a well-known figure in the industry at this time, and Reeves was a senior several years above me.

"Would you like to have a cup of tea with us?" Thorndike asked, and I was naturally delighted.So the three of us walked side by side through the hall to the old treasury. "Why were you looking at those court decorations in a daze just now, Bakery?" Thorndike asked with a smile, "Do you intend to join me and Reeves' team and abandon medicine and follow law?" "What? Senior Reeves became a lawyer?" I yelled in surprise. "It's not what you expected! Yes, I'm a lawyer!" Reeves replied, "I'm Thorndike's parasite now! You know, like a small bug on a big bug, or I am the incidental number trailing behind the decimal point."

"Don't listen to his nonsense, Bakery," Thorndike interjected hastily, "he's the leader. All I can offer is credit and moral support. By the way, you haven't answered my question yet, you Why on earth are you standing in front of a wig shop window on a hot afternoon?" "I was seeing a colleague of mine, Barna, who had a patient in Neville Lane." "I know him," Thorndike said. "We see each other sometimes, but he's been looking haggard lately. Has he gone on vacation?" "Yes. He's gone on a merchant ship to a Greek island for vacation."

"So," Reeves said with a grin, "you are the local general practitioner? No wonder you look so imposing." "I saw your very leisurely appearance just now," said Thorndike. "I can guess that your visit is going well. Are all the patients locals?" "Yes," I replied, "his patients basically live in the streets and alleys, only half a mile away from the hospital, and some of them live in very simple houses. I almost forgot, I just encountered a very strange thing , I think you must be interested." "Life is a series of coincidences," Thorndike lamented. "Only those critics of fiction are surprised by coincidences. Tell me, what is it?"

"The case I'm talking about is very similar to a case you brought up in your medical school class two years ago. It's about the sudden disappearance of a man. Don't know if you remember? The man's name was John Berlinham. " "You mean the Egyptian archaeologist? Of course, I remember it perfectly. What's the matter?" "His brother, who was my patient this morning, lives with his daughter in Nevill Lane. From the furnishings of their house, it can be seen that they live in relative poverty." "Really?" asked Thorndike, surprised. "That's interesting. But I think they must have suddenly gotten into trouble. For, if I remember correctly, his brother was living in a mansion, and Own a large piece of land."

"Yes, it is. It appears that you are reminded of the case." "My dear friend," said Reeves, "Thorndike never forgot the important cases. He was rather like a camel, with a great store of forensic cases in his hump. When he was free, he Will chew the cud, chew the cases carefully. Thorndike could swallow cases that appeared in the newspapers or in the courts. Then, when the events passed and no one remembered them any more, he would make them emerge in a new light; People would be shocked by that, and Thorndike had already harvested and dried them. I know he's been thinking about the case all this time."

"I think you see," said Thorndike, "that my erudite partner often indulges in complex metaphors. Although he sometimes uses obscure words, he speaks the truth. You will tell me a little more about Mr. Burlingham when we have tea later." We walked and talked like this, and soon we came to the trail building of Temple Law School. The second floor is Thorndike's office.The room was spacious and stately, and paneled.There was an older man in the house at the time, a short man in neat black clothes.I looked at him curiously. Although he was dressed in black, he didn't look like a servant.In fact, his appearance is very intriguing, with a calm and dignified demeanor. It can be seen from his serious and wise face that he is a very learned man.But judging from his dexterous hands, he looks like a skilled craftsman.

Thorndike looked at the tea tray and said to the old man: "You have prepared three teacups, my dear Peter, how do you know that I will bring a friend back for tea?" The short man smiled and explained with a hint of gratitude: "Because I happened to see you from the laboratory window when you rounded the corner, sir." "Oh, the simplicity is disappointing," Reeves said regretfully, "I thought there was some mystery in it, like super-sensing or something!" "Sir, but you forgot that simplicity is the foundation of efficiency." Peter said a brilliant warning.After checking the tea set, he made sure he hadn't forgotten anything, and left quietly.

"Well, let's all get back to the Burlingham case!" said Thorndike gravely. "Can you now recall those things about the client? I mean, can you say it here? " "I've only heard one or two things, and it doesn't hurt to mention them. For example, I know that Godfill Berlinham, my patient, lost all his property at the same time as this disappearance. " "It's very odd," said Thorndike, "and it would be easy to understand if it were the other way around; but it's not so embarrassing anyway! Unless some other allowance is made or something."

"There is no allowance, so this surprised me. And there are many incomprehensible aspects of this case, and there are many legal issues involved. For example, although there is a will, the execution of the will is very troublesome. " "Unless there is evidence proving that the person concerned is dead, it may be difficult to execute this will," Thorndike said. "Indeed. And that's just one of the problems. Besides, there seems to be something wrong with the will itself. But I don't know what it is, and I think Mr. Burlingham will tell me sooner or later. By the way, I'll mention it to him." When it comes to you, say you're good at this kind of case, I guess Mr. Burlingham will come to you for help, but the poor fellow says he can't afford you." "It would be even more strange if all the other people involved had money and he alone didn't. Maybe the only way to do it is to go to the law. But the law doesn't protect the interests of the poor, so I'm afraid he will suffer. This He needs someone else's advice." "I can't think of anyone who can help him," I said regretfully. "Me too," Thorndike said frankly. "There is no unit that can assist penniless litigants. It seems that only rich people can enter the court. Of course, people like us who know the parties or who are familiar with the case can also help." He gave it a shot; but that's not the case, he might be a complete rascal." I overheard a conversation that day, but I wondered how Thorndike would react if I said it.It's not convenient for me to say now, so I can only give a general impression of my impression. "I don't think there's anything terrible about him," I said. "Of course, you can't judge by appearances. Anyway, he made a good impression on me, much better than the other guy." "The other guy? Who is it?" Thorndike asked. "There's another important person in this case, isn't there? But I forgot his name. I saw that man on my medical rounds. It didn't feel right. He seemed to be putting pressure on Mr. Bellingham all the time." .” "I think Bakri knows more about this person than we do," Reeves said. "We can check the files to see who this stranger is." Take off a thick newspaper clipping and put it on the table. "Come and take a look," he slid his finger down the index. "Thorndike has a habit of filing all cold cases. I know he pays close attention to them. I guess he is imagining this Out of whose house the body of the missing gentleman will pop up. Yes, this man is Herbert, their cousin, and it was his house that was the last place the gentleman was seen before he disappeared." "Do you think Mr. Herbert manipulated it?" Thorndike casually glanced at the file and asked. "That's just my impression," I replied, "to be honest, I don't know anything." "Well," said Thorndike, "if you have any new discoveries about the case, and if you are permitted to do so, please let us know, I am very interested in them; and if my informal opinion If there is anything I can do to help you, I'd be more than happy to do so." "It would help if the other side had a lawyer." After a while, I continued, "Did you spend a lot of time researching this case?" "Actually, you can't say that," Thorndike said after thinking for a while. "When the matter was first published in the newspaper, I read it carefully, and then occasionally thought about the case. As Reeves said In that way, I prefer to spend my free time thinking about this special case, for example, on the train, looking for some reasonable explanations for those unsolved cases. I think this is a good habit, because I can gain the ability to think while training. Some experience, and many cases will be handed over to me in the end, which saves time for rethinking." "What do you infer about the case?" I asked. "I do have several inferences, and one of them is my favorite. In fact, I have been paying attention to whether there are new discoveries in this case, so that I can determine which inference is correct." "You don't have to pump so hard, Bakery," said Reeves. "Thorndike's mind is like a pump with a reverse throttle, and all you can do is fill it with water. It is impossible to get a little water out of it!" Hearing this, Thorndike couldn't help giggling. "My learned friend is quite accurate," he went on, "you know that although I may now be consulted on this case at any time, if I now express my opinion in full , isn't that stupid? I'd like to know what you and Reeves think of the newspaper reports, though." "Look, here it comes again," Reeves yelled in pretended pain, "Let me just say, he just wants to suck the information in your mind." "Since this kind of thing involves my brain," I said with a smile, "and he sucks it like a vacuum cleaner, I have to step aside. After all, you are a professional lawyer and I am just a small doctor .” Reeves filled his pipe with an exaggerated motion, lit it, took a deep breath, and exhaled a puff of smoke into the air, saying: "If you really want to know my opinion on this case, then I can only say two words - no!" "My God! Please!" said Thorndike. "You 'didn't' because you didn't want to think about it. Bicky was waiting to see your forensic literacy! For this case, even experienced lawyers They will be confused, but they will never express their thoughts directly, they will only interpret them in euphemistic terms. Well, tell us quickly, what conclusions you have come to, let us hear you The results of the research." "Okay," Reeves said, "Now I will show you my superb analytical ability, although there is no conclusion yet." Reeves took another deep breath, with a trace of embarrassment on his face .To be honest, I sympathize with him.After exhaling a small puff of smoke, he began to comment: "My guess is this: a man was seen entering a house, and was taken to a study by a servant, who closed the door behind him. But no one saw him come out. However, just as the study door was When it was opened again, there was no one in the room, and the man seemed to have disappeared at the ground level. Regardless of whether he is still alive or not, the beginning of the story is full of strange colors." "Obviously, there are three possibilities: first, he may still be alive in that study, or in that house; second, he may have died in that room or that house, and the body was buried As for the cause of death, it is nothing more than natural death and unnatural death; the third possibility is that he has left the house, but no one noticed. According to the first scenario, it is absolutely impossible for him to stay in the house alive In the house for two years without being noticed. For example, when the servants cleaned the house, it was impossible not to see him." "It seems that my learned friend doesn't take my question seriously." Thorndike looked at his students with a tolerant smile, and then said, "Well, let's accept his conclusion for the time being that the man It was impossible to stay in that house alive and not be seen." "Thank you for saying that. However, can it be said that he died in that room? This is obviously not true. It is reported that after the man disappeared, Herbert ordered his servants to search thoroughly and carefully. room. If he were dead, the murderer would not have had the opportunity or time to dispose of the body, and the only reasonable conclusion is that there was no body there. It could even be argued that if we admit that he was dead, and that it was murder— —for that is the only way to hide the body—then the question arises: who killed him? Certainly not a servant. As for Mr. Herbert, we do not yet know what connection he had with the missing man. What kind of relationship. Anyway, I don't know—" "Me too," echoed Thorndike, "all I know, except what is mentioned in the papers, is what Bakery told us today." "So we don't know anything about it. Herbert either had a motive to kill the man, or he didn't. But the problem is, he doesn't seem to have had a chance to do it. Even assuming he has a way to temporarily hide the body, but He still has to find a chance to dispose of it. Besides, he can't bury the body in the garden, can he? Then it will be seen or discovered by the servants at home, and he can't burn it. So the only thing he can do Just cut it into small pieces and bury it in some remote place, or throw it into a pond or river. However, we haven’t found such wreckage until today. It stands to reason that we should find at least one now A small part. So this argument is also untenable.” "So now there's a third hypothesis - that he left the house and no one saw him leave. That's possible, but it's a very strange phenomenon. Perhaps the man was a man of extreme impulsiveness or Strange man. We don't know anything about this man's character. The only thing we know is that he hasn't shown himself in the past two years. If he really left the house quietly at that time, then he must have run away Where did he go to hide, and he has been hiding for more than two years, until now. Of course, maybe he is the kind of lunatic who behaves strangely." "In addition, the scarab jewellery, found in the courtyard of his brother's residence in Woodover, also made this case even more mysterious and complicated. It seems to suggest something to us-he has been here at some time There, but no one has seen him for sure. So we can't tell whether he went to his brother's house or Herbert's. If he was wearing that ornament when he arrived at Herbert's house in Elson , then it means that he really left the study quietly, and came to Woodver; Whether she was really wearing that ornament when she was seen by Herbert's maid at the last moment before she disappeared, there is still no reliable evidence." "If he had come to his brother's house after his visit to Herbert's, then we could have easily understood his disappearance. Assuming the possibility of murder remained - as it would have been possible only in the circumstances Dispose of the body. But the problem is that no one saw him enter that house, and even if he did, it must have entered through the back door that communicated with the study—an independent cabin some distance from the master bedroom. If that were the case, then his brother would have been able to dispose of the body out of sight for a long time, because no one had seen him enter that room, and no one knew he had been there—if he had Obviously, the house was never searched. In fact, if there is evidence that the man left the Herbert house alive, or that he was wearing the scarab jewel when he was there, then the situation would be different. It is very detrimental to the Berlinham father and daughter-the father is involved in the case, and the daughter cannot escape. But there is no evidence that the missing person left Herbert's house alive. If he really did not leave, then, like I just started That said, no matter how you reason, you will eventually get into a dead end." "What an anticlimactic analysis," Thorndike commented. "I know you're going to say that," Reeves said, "and what conclusion do you draw? There may be many inferences, but only one of them is true. But how do we decide? I think , we can only further study the financial situation or interest disputes of the parties, otherwise we will not have any clues." "That," said Thorndike, "I really disagree. In fact, we've got a very rich line of clues. You don't think we can decide which of these inferences is true, but I think that if you seriously, If you read those related reports carefully, you will find that all the facts clearly point to one inference, and there is no other possibility. Maybe that is not the real case, but I don't think so either. However, we have been theorizing about the case, and I firmly believe that we have enough information to draw conclusions. What do you say, Bakri?" "Oh, I think I should go back now, I have a medical meeting at 6pm," I said awkwardly. "Well," said Thorndike, "we hope we haven't delayed your work; poor Barna should be picking currants on the Greek island at this very moment! Be sure to come and see us. You can come after get off work." When the time comes, don't worry about disturbing us, we are usually not very busy after 8pm." I am deeply gracious for Thorndike's warm invitation.So I left his office and walked home along Nave Lane and the Embankment; although it was not a straight line to Fetter Lane, the conversation I had just had had a great deal to do with the Bellinghams. Strong curiosity also stimulated my reasoning nerves. After listening to their analysis and inferences, I found that the conspiracy in this case suddenly became very strong.It is possible that the missing Mr. John Bellingham was murdered by those two venerable gentlemen--I do not deny the possibility.It was not hard to see from the naked, angry conversation of the two men that they could let evil thoughts enter the mind with ease--just one step away from becoming concrete doubts.My mind became alive with their words: this case is full of mysteries. Immediately afterwards, my thoughts suddenly wandered from the problem itself to the charming girl.Although it was the first time I saw her, how charming and unforgettable it was in my eyes! At this time, I remembered a sentence that Reeves said: If the father is involved in the case, then the daughter cannot escape.This statement is scary, and although it is only speculation, I am very disgusted, and I am surprised that I feel this way.However, I can't deny that the gray figure in black robe that emerges from my memory does have a hint of mystery and tragedy.