Investigation on the Word 'Blood' (4)

"Actually, it's quite simple to deduce these things." He walked to the body again and pulled up one of the female corpse's arms. "Look, the entire arm is as hard as a wooden stick and is slightly bent outward. This is not rigor mortis, but a sign that the tendon under the armpit had been severed, which could make the corpse's arm completely lose its ability to move."

As he spoke, he pointed to the legs of the corpse as if nothing had happened. "The lower limbs also had the inner muscles cut off using the same method. As a result, the victim was completely paralyzed on the ground. The killer was able to dissect her slowly, and she could not struggle or even scream because the killer had used a hook to destroy the victim's vocal cords and glottis through the throat…"

His tone was casual, but every line of his words could express extreme despair and pain.

And this method is a long-standing beef eating method in Rochester."

"Beef eating method?" Catherine could not help but ask again.

"That's right. In order to ensure the freshness of the meat, this is how they treated live cows. While cutting the meat, they use the mistletoe flower juice to stop the bleeding. During the process, the cow's body keeps twitching. It's very interesting, but more than 20 years ago, it was banned by the local councilors in the name of animal cruelty. They were really nosy… But if you want to try, I can introduce you to a few good underground restaurants. They're a little expensive," Sherlock said to Catherine with a smile.

"Focus on your case!"

"Alright." Sherlock continued, "In short, the killer's skill was not something that could be mastered in a day or two. If the arteries under the arm were damaged, the victim would have quickly bleed to death. The killer was extremely patient and probably took pleasure in it.

However, the underground restaurants in London could not provide the necessary environment for such training. The killer probably had his own means or simply raised large livestock himself. I was inclined to the latter because it was more secretive… The juice of the mistletoe flower could stop the bleeding very well, but prolonged contact would cause the skin to itch and shed hair. A close-fitting cotton shirt could effectively relieve this itch.

"As for the victim's mouth, as I said just now, the killer had destroyed the glottis because there was an obvious tear mark on the mouth. You should know that when destroying the vocal chord, the hook needs to be pressed down, right? It's very difficult to reach that angle without opening the mouth."

No one responded to him. Perhaps it was because they could not keep up with the speed of speech, or… Who would know such a thing?

Sherlock did not care and spoke faster. "In short, during the autopsy, the victim's face became extremely distorted because of the pain and the tearing of her mouth. However, the killer took the trouble to tidy up her facial muscles bit by bit.

Like I said, it was about five or six in the morning at that time. During that time, the killer still insisted on completing this matter. It was probably because he had some kind of obsession with the beautiful woman's face, something like an ugly woman did not deserve to be killed by him. He did not even hesitate to leave an eyewitness for her.

"If such a person came from an even better family background, then either he would often invite beautiful women to his house to have fun, which was the crude solution, or if he was more refined, he would collect portraits of beautiful women. I even think that he might be very good at painting, which could satisfy this kind of hobby, and yet be presentable. These two methods are the most common."

"But there's no evidence for what you said at all. It's just wishful thinking." Catherine seemed to want to refute the other party.

"I didn't say that I have evidence either." Sherlock smiled and said, "This is the most reasonable speculation at this stage. Why don't you all put all your efforts in this direction? I don't think you guys are the kind of people who need concrete evidence to arrest someone."

"Oh, right. The killer had an injury to the right side of his ribs. I'm sure of that because of the obvious contusion marks on the body's sternal incision. His arm shook a little when he performed delicate lateral movements. Muscle adhesions."

Sherlock made a gesture of holding a knife and cutting something.

This large paragraph of explanation actually contained a great deal of content, but the time taken to explain it was very short. It took only about a minute.

Sherlock used a clear tone of voice, but increased his speed by three times. He poured out everything in one breath without caring about others' feelings. It was as if he did not want people to follow his train of thought and react to it. He treated this ability to reason and analyze as something ordinary.

It made sense. As a detective, it was reasonable for him to have some deductive ability. He just had to stand at the crime scene for a while and he would be able to take in all the information to speculate. This ability was not worth showing off or praising.

However, the people around did not seem to think so.

For example, Catherine's expression changed from being indifferent and cold at the beginning to contemplation gradually. In the end, it became very exciting.

And Deacon Baldell, who had been standing in silence, his expression alternated between frowning and relaxing…

This was beyond Sherlock's expectations.

From his inherent impression of people from the judicial department, he had thought that they were the kind of people who only needed to know the name of the killer to hunt him down brutally. He did not expect him to listen carefully to his deductions.

In the end, he even nodded slightly. This meant that he had caught up with his thoughts and had expressed his affirmation after digesting a large amount of information.

On the other hand, the young sheriff who was wrapped in steam armor outside the alley had a blank expression. He only knew to open his mouth wide.

"Judging from the scene, I could only speculate to this extent. That's why I said that I'm no longer needed here." Sherlock finally brought the topic back to where it started. "Then I'll take some of the unanswered questions home and think about them slowly. That's what is most helpful for the case."

Catherine hesitated for a moment and her gaze alternated between the corpse on the ground and Sherlock. Finally, her gaze landed on Deacon Baldell's face. She paused for a few seconds as if she was reading the mind of the bereaved man.

After a while, she spoke slowly, "Remember, you have less than 20 hours left. If you succeed, you will naturally receive the gratitude of the Church. However, if you fail, you will also receive the punishment you deserve."

"Punishment?" Sherlock did not seem to have much doubt in his tone. "Pardon me for being blunt, but you've given such harsh conditions to solve the case. It's reasonable not to be able to find the killer, so why is there still a punishment?"

"Pressure will make people more focused on their work," Catherine said calmly.

This indicated that she knew the demands were unreasonable, but she did not care. There was no need to have a reason to punish a commoner. Sherlock felt that if killing him would make the killer appear, the people here would not hesitate to directly chop him to death.

However, such unreasonable behavior that was even close to disregarding human lives seemed so reasonable to everyone.

This was because this was a crushing gap in the social structure, so much so that it completely transcended other factors such as ethics and morality. No one would question why the clergy of the church would chop an innocent person to death. It was like stepping on a weed when walking. No one would care if that weed had been sentenced to death.

Of course, Sherlock was too lazy to judge the merit and demerits of social hierarchies. He was just an ordinary detective, so he smiled politely and said,

"Then… can you please request a carriage to send me home? Downtown, Baker Street… is quite far."