Ch.120Chapter 120 – The Hound of the Baskervilles (8)

– Whoosh…

“…………”

Sharlotte Holmes, who had been quietly watching the storm sweeping through the Baskerville estate from the window, slowly turns her gaze to the side.

“Has there been any word from the police station?”

“…Due to the sudden storm, it seems it will take some time for the investigation team to arrive.”

“Didn’t you hear when they might get here?”

“They said tomorrow evening at the earliest. The bridge leading to this area is flooded.”

Lestrade hangs her rain-soaked police hat on the coat rack while reporting the situation to Sharlotte.

“A rather typical situation.”

“…But there’s something more important right now.”

As Sharlotte mutters this, Lestrade tilts her head in confusion before holding out something in her hand.

“This is…”

“I just came from the basement where Issac Adler is being held, and only this note was left behind.”

A doodle of Adler baring his fangs in a “rawr” pose was drawn in the middle of the note.

“…Sigh.”

After staring at it quietly for a moment, Sharlotte sighs deeply and shakes her head.

“That’s Adler for you.”

“…Are we just going to let this slide?”

“Diverting my attention is Adler’s goal. So let’s postpone teaching him a lesson and focus on the case for now.”

“Well, I agree with that opinion… but is there really a need to focus?”

Inspector Lestrade, watching her, asks with a puzzled expression.

“What do you mean?”

“Hasn’t the case already been solved?”

Sharlotte stares blankly at the inspector after hearing this.

“What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you say so yourself? To arrest Issac Adler on murder charges…”

“…That was a lie to borrow your manpower.”

“What?”

“Issac Adler is not the culprit in this case.”

Leaving the stunned Lestrade behind, Sharlotte begins to walk forward, quietly biting her fingernails and muttering in a low voice.

“He’s only been interfering with and obstructing the investigation of the case…”

“Th-Then… who on earth is the culprit?”

“…Who do you think it is?”

Sharlotte glances at her and throws back a question instead.

“Hmm… if Adler isn’t the culprit, then it must be that thing.”

After thinking for a moment, Lestrade’s eyes light up as she speaks.

“…The demon hound. That strange creature we saw at dawn.”

“I thought you might think that.”

“Are you saying it’s not? Of course, I didn’t believe the legend when I first heard it. But didn’t you clearly see it with your own eyes?”

Sharlotte turns her gaze to Lestrade, keeping her mouth shut.

“The Baskerville demon hound exists.”

“……..”

“I definitely felt my Curse responding to it that day. It’s not just a large hunting dog or wolf.”

“…I think you’re misunderstanding something.”

Sharlotte sighs and begins to explain to Inspector Lestrade, who had been speaking with a serious expression.

“I never said the demon hound doesn’t exist, nor did I say it wasn’t supernatural.”

“Then…?”

“I only claimed that it’s not the culprit in this case.”

The inspector tilts her head with a slightly blank expression at these words.

“While I absolutely detest unnecessary occult elements creeping into cases, I’m not a fool who denies what I’ve seen with my own eyes.”

“………”

“…Rather, it’s precisely because I saw it clearly with my own eyes that I can be so certain it’s not the culprit.”

But as Lestrade still wore an expression of incomprehension, Sharlotte narrowed her eyes and whispered.

“After seeing that bloody crime scene and the dog’s face with its glowing eyes, haven’t you noticed yet?”

“Ah…! Now that you mention it…!”

Lestrade finally realizes and slaps her knee.

“There was no blood on the dog’s face…”

“Exactly. It’s quite strange, isn’t it? In a crime scene so drenched in blood, the demon hound, whose only weapons are sharp teeth and claws, appeared without a single drop of blood on it.”

“…B-But. It was raining at the time, wasn’t it?”

“Unlike the downpour we’re having now, it was only drizzling then—not even enough to need an umbrella. Not enough to wash blood from an animal’s fur.”

“That’s certainly true…”

Lestrade nods with an enlightened expression after Sharlotte’s explanation, but suddenly asks with a hardened face.

“But if it truly isn’t the culprit, then who killed Mrs. Stapleton?”

Sharlotte falls silent for a moment.

“And come to think of it, weren’t there marks from sharp teeth on the woman’s neck and arms, and scratches from claws? There was even gray fur on the floor.”

“That’s true. Even Watson, who initially denied reality, hid under the covers after confirming those during the autopsy.”

“According to her opinion, those are wounds that cannot be easily fabricated by a person. If it wasn’t that demon hound we witnessed, what kind of being could leave such traces?”

After quietly contemplating the new opinion presented by Lestrade, Sharlotte begins to quicken her pace.

“…Miss Holmes?”

“I was just about to show you the answer to that.”

Lestrade follows quietly behind her, wearing a slightly dubious expression despite Sharlotte’s confident voice.

“Honestly, if it weren’t for those moments of genius you’ve demonstrated before my eyes several times, I might not have believed you.”

“…You still don’t seem to believe me.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been embarrassed after doubting you. I’ll trust you.”

At those words, Sharlotte shows a somewhat shy smile before quietly clearing her throat and stopping in place.

“This is…”

“The mansion’s dining room. The servants are probably busy preparing breakfast inside.”

Saying this, Sharlotte throws open the door leading to the mansion’s dining room.

“”……….””

The young servants who had been busily preparing the meal inside now stare at Sharlotte and Lestrade with pale faces.

“So, what are you planning to do here…?”

As Lestrade frowns quietly at the eerie sight and questions Sharlotte, she takes something out from her pocket.

“Here we go.”

With a composed expression, she throws that something into the center of the dining room, causing the servants’ gazes to focus upward for an instant.

– Boom….!

At that moment, a considerable explosion occurs in the dining room.

“D-Dangerous… Huh?”

Lestrade, startled by the sudden event and ready for combat, soon has a question mark appear on her face.

– Tsssssss…

Something had certainly exploded powerfully in the center of the dining room, but it was merely silver glittering powder spreading in all directions.

“What is this…”

“It’s an anti-Adler bomb.”

Lestrade, who had been staring at the scene with a dumbfounded expression, begins to hear Sharlotte’s calm explanation.

“It’s a device that spreads refined silver into fine powder like fog. I designed it myself, inspired by the ‘Three Garidebs’ case.”

“W-Why silver specifically?”

“He’s a Vampire, isn’t he? I was planning to detonate it to neutralize Adler if he misbehaved. I should have used it earlier—my oversight.”

Lestrade’s eyes widen as she turns her gaze forward with a disbelieving expression.

“Good heavens…”

“Still, it was worth saving. Refined silver doesn’t just neutralize Vampires.”

All the servants of the mansion who had been staring at them with pale faces were now collapsed, unconscious.

“So all the servants in this mansion…”

“Unusually pale complexions, always moving in groups while working, drawing curtains at night rather than morning, and never venturing outside even though the mansion’s owner was murdered in the middle of the night—if people behave like that, there’s only one possible identity.”

With a fluffy, silver tail that had suddenly appeared, now wrapped around her waist.

“Werebeasts…”

“They’re probably the last Werebeasts remaining in London, or even England. After seeing so many fake Werebeasts in the last few cases, we finally meet real ones.”

“So, these people are the culprits…?”

“…To be precise, they’re ‘accomplices.’ The actual perpetrator is someone else.”

The inspector’s eyes, which had been wide open at the unexpected sight, sharpen at those words.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the Baskerville hound that killed Sir Charles Baskerville and Mrs. Julia Stapleton is someone else.”

“…Then what is the identity of that hound?”

“It’s a very simple process of elimination.”

Sharlotte explains in a low voice.

“In this vast locked room, if we exclude Issac Adler who was running around excitedly, Watson and myself, you, and these wolves who have quite solid alibis, only two people remain.”

“The butler and the heir, those two?”

“Ah, since the Baskerville family ‘hound’ couldn’t possibly be the heir, Miss Helen Baskerville, that narrows it down to one person.”

Lestrade, who had been listening quietly, asks with a tense expression.

“…So the mansion’s butler, Gabriel Motimer. She’s the true culprit of the case?”

“You’ve gotten quicker at using your brain for an inspector.”

Sharlotte pats Lestrade’s shoulder as if praising her, then turns around.

“Actually, I had some suspicions from the beginning.”

“…Is that so?”

“She and I are acquainted. I also have some idea about her motive for doing this.”

She begins to quicken her pace.

“Shall we hurry now?”

“What?”

“…Since we’ve launched a preemptive strike, we should deal with her before they wake up.”

Her face is filled with an indescribable excitement, tension, and thrill.

“Before Helen Baskerville and Issac Adler, whose whereabouts are unknown, become more endangered.”

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Meanwhile, at that time.

“…Miss Motimer.”

“I’m sorry, but would you please not call me by that name?”

Adler and the mansion’s butler Motimer were walking through the wilderness, cutting through the raging storm.

“Then, would you first remove the claws you’re holding to my neck?”

“…That seems difficult.”

“But I can’t help you with your revenge against the Baskerville family like this…”

“I don’t know how you know such facts, but this is still problematic.”

She, who had been holding partially wolf-transformed claws to Adler’s neck, begins to whisper in a cold voice.

“Because you were one of my targets from the beginning.”

“…What?”

“Why do you think that is? Try to guess.”

After staring blankly at the butler’s face for a while, Adler finally realizes something.

“Is that a human skin mask?”

“A product imported from the Qing Dynasty. It works quite well. I may not have fooled that detective, but I succeeded in deceiving you.”

“Uh, well…”

As he makes a slightly embarrassed expression, Motimer, who had been staring at him, removes the human skin mask she had been wearing.

– Riiip…

“……..!”

Upon seeing the face revealed, Adler freezes in place.

“It’s been a while, Issac Adler.”

“Ah, haha…”

The butler he had dismissed after her house burned down during the Bohemian Queen scandal case was staring at him.

“…You used to hate mixing with lowly people like me more than anything in the world.”

For some reason, his pre-possession self, who never touched his own women, had severely abused her, as evidenced by the marks.

“Are you ready?”

“…No.”

When she asks with a pale smile, Adler quickly shakes his head.

“An excellent answer.”

But Motimer, who responded thus, begins to grab his clothes with a cold smile.

“…..Eeeek.”

A moment later, Adler’s faint scream echoed across the wilderness.