Named Sherlock

by Bagatur Zhamkochyan

  The old man was sitting at a low desk, flipping through a huge book. At the sight of the guests, he looked up questioningly pulled his gray bushy eyebrows.

  - Here, the detective ordered - the police a little push in the back pushed me forward - need help. - Not another word, he turned and went into the corridor.

  - Well, it is necessary, it should be. Help, why not help. You again find the address uncle, my dear?

  While I, open-mouthed in amazement, clapped eyes, the old man poured a thin, some childish, sincere laugh. Not even laugh - laugh.

  - What do you think, I do not recognize you? I still you immediately recognize and then realize that you are not a girl and a boy.

  - Why do not you say anything? Well, back in the time.

  - Oh, my dear. That's why I'm seventeen years old at this point, that at one time could not remain silent. And now I no excess of me will not extend. I know a lot, I see, and even more, and had forgotten how to speak. So that!

  Seventeen years? Yes, it's just the time of the previous series of murders, that is suicide, as written in "Delhi Courant." Did this investigation also led it? If so, is it possible such luck? I can not believe ...

  Well, Grandpa, get ready. We have a long and interesting conversation!

  Chapter 12.

  - I can sit down, sir? - I nodded toward the only empty chair.

  - Well, sit down at the foot there is no truth. Though - the old man chuckled again - at your age that's just in the feet it is still full, usually do not have in my head.

  - And at your age where the truth?

  - You came to me to learn the truth?

  - What, you know her?

  Mr. Leksidi suddenly unmasked second fun-loving grandfatherly. Attentive and serious look spiny blue eyes was fleeting, almost imperceptible. The smile is back on his face.

  - Well, I know a lot of things. And you, young man, you know that is not very polite to answer a question with a question?

  - Well, then I'll tell you straight. I know that you do not have to say, but, nevertheless, very much counting on your help. Suicides in Whitechapel, seventeen years ago, you were investigating?

  I must say, the old man simply masterful control of himself. I must admit I expected that he will designate at least some emotions, but it did not happen. All with the same polite expression of expectations, he looked at me and continued to smile, as if nothing had happened.

  After a pause for a moment, Mr. Leksidi pursed his lips and said reluctantly:

  - Boy, are you sure that you ought to go into this business? There are some things that are not worth knowing - for their own good, restful sleep, and sometimes just to survive.

  - Yes, sir. I've already got, and now has to go to the end.

  - Eh, eh, eh ... young-green. To reach the end - how much courage and stupidity in these words. You can not even imagine that there is, in the end - to pretend, apparently, there was no sense anymore. Along with the good-natured smile disappeared and intonation good storyteller, the old man began to speak sharp, staccato phrases. - What do you think, if you're hooked on the edge of the latest series, so all the road back there? You almost did not touch, just turn around and go away.

  - I can not. I promised. And Detective March will help me. And by the way, but how do you know that I was "hooked on the latest series"? Wait ... Fresh? That is, you are aware that the last murder of girls - this is the third series?

  - Third? This is the seventh cycle. Rather, I was able to dig only to the seventh, and likely there were many more, just did not have any documentary evidence.

  - Wait. You know all this, and why? ..

  - Why do I sit here and say nothing? It is because I know everything. And I am very glad that the detective Marcha had the good sense not to poke his head into the noose, like I did at the time. And then sit him, at best, next to me in the archive. And then, as you know, is only room for one - the old man smiled wryly.

  I was silent, shocked. No, I did not learn anything new, except for the confirmation of their own conjecture, but was still shocked.

  - What do you know about the recent murders?

  - I think everyone knows that detective March. Here, you see, it is difficult to hide something. And I know how to look, listen and draw conclusions. And about your role in this matter, I also heard. Therefore, I say to you - do not go there until it was too late. You're still very much not smeared, not will draw attention.

  - Do not draw attention to what? - it seems that the old man was talking about something specific.

  - Togo, rather the one who is behind all this. Women, which is not written in the case. But me and you, and even detective March, we all know what it is.

  - Sir. You can tell me anything about these murders? Starting with the series, you have investigated earlier, thirty-two years ago. As detailed as possible, from the very beginning. Everything you remember, including all of your guesses and assumptions - I took a sheet of paper on which to make excerpts from the newspaper, and prepared to listen.

  - I mean, I'm not convinced? - Mr Leksidi sighed.

  - No, sir. I'll look for the killer, why would it not worth it to me. And I really need your help.

  - You say the detective March is ready to help you?

  - Yes, while informally, but if there is strong evidence ...

  - Evidence? - he smiled ruefully. - What evidence, what are you, young man? Just shoot this scum, if you can find, and as quickly as possible, until it will not turn you into their puppets.

  - So you know what she is able to control the mind?

  - Do I know? Yes, I felt in my own skin what it is! Good. I'll tell you everything from the beginning. Just wait, popyu some water, a long history ...

  Mr. Leksidi got hard, uneven shuffle took place in corner of the room and poured water from the jug standing on the shelf. The former liveliness suddenly disappeared somewhere, and it became clear that the years he was already very, very much.

  - When I began to investigate the matter, I was not so young Goldfinch as Detective March. For years, I was not much older, but had a lot more experience. He started working with the police courier, then became an ordinary constable, he was promoted to sergeant. I went through the school of life on the streets of the Eastern District, and believe me, navidalisya. When, finally, my request for a transfer to Homicide satisfied and I was appointed assistant to the detective, I was happy as a child. So once there, I finally got a chance to use better than me bestowed nature - the brain! Several brilliantly solved cases, and I was promoted to detective, but only after several years. But I agree, a good career for the boy from the slums.

  The old man paused, took a sip of water, then continued:

  - The first murder I remember perfectly. Lily Weiss, fishwife. Her family I knew, we were neighbors, because I grew up in the area Londiniumskih docks. The body found the innkeeper in the morning in a ditch, where he usually poured dishwater and dirty water. I must say, the spectacle was not for the faint of heart - Woman opened as mackerel prior to evisceration. All the peritoneum incised circle all covered with blood, but no trace of struggle. Yes and footprints around is not found, except for those that belong to the owner of the restaurant. Well, his first and then charged. I just could not believe it - well, there was no point him to kill her own right behind the inn. And the police just called it. But then I was an assistant detective without, the week, and Darkwood detective served for twenty years and did not hear brat. Innkeeper thrown behind bars.

  A week later found a new corpse, there, on the docks, in the next street. The girl from the institution of Madame Leona disappeared, and the next day found her in the water, right under the pier, where barges were moored to the wood. I must say that there is already a detective realized that the landlord is not to blame. The new body was a copy of the previously found - excavated from the pubis to the sternum. And then drew attention to one detail, which directly points to the similarities with the other victim - a tattoo mark on his shoulder. Coincide
nce it could not be. Boniface was released, and the newspapers began to speculate.

  A week later, after the third murder, they are already in a voice talking about a maniac. The third victim was no different from the first two - the same age, the label, killed the same way. Detective despair began to drag in all doprosnuyu port scum, hoping to find, if not the real killer, so at least a suitable scapegoat. I understand that it is not as easy as it seems.

  It was necessary to find out what brings these murders, they have in common. I began asking friends, relatives of the victims, hoping to find out. But, as it may sound horrible killed it was too little to understand. Too little information. One of the victims was an orphan, the second kin did not live with her, and nothing about her life did not know, and only in the establishment of Madame Leona told me anything. The girl showed off her friends generous customer who gave her a souvenir some trinket on a chain. But neither her body nor the things in the decoration is not found, and for a while I forgot about it.

  - Blue Crystal? - I interrupted the old man.

  - Yes, it described it that way. The Glass dark blue with strange drawings. The second time, the description of the crystal floated in the story of street beggars, who found the fifth victim. That's just his statements were not included in the deal as well, according to the detective Darkwood, kid openly fantasized. But I questioned the boy and believed every word of it, so how to come up like he just did not have enough mind.

  In the words of a Man, a girl, a fifth victim, stabbed herself. And I must say that at the time of this story, the boy's eyes were round with horror - he believed that telling the truth. He said that after a girl fell from the river ran some creepy fog, and the boy huddled in terror under the porch of a nearby house. And when plucked determined to look out, I saw that bent over the body of a figure in a dark cloak. The distance was small, about five meters, the street was daylight, so that the boy could see that the man in the cloak searched the victim and pulled out of her pocket something incomprehensible, but, as it seemed, blue and brilliant as a piece of glass. But the most interesting, the boy was certain that the man in the cloak - woman. He could not explain clearly how to come to this conclusion, but argued that he could not be mistaken. And I believed him.

  - And by that time it was in the case, sir?

  - Full wilderness. Me just laughed when I tried to prove that the killing is not just the work of a madman maniac, and what it stands for any clear pattern. I could not help thinking that all that we have seen only the tip of the iceberg. There were too many strange things in this business. I was most certainly confused the complete absence of signs of a struggle. The impression that the victim just stood quietly and waited for their vypotroshat. Or, if you believe the boy, to the witness, they really did it ourselves. Heard, by the way, somewhere in the east have a custom.

  - And the next? Did you find any footprints at the murder scene?

  - chock-full! Yes, but all the murders were committed in places trampled up and down. Although I found two similar small footprint shoe in two different crime scenes, it is considered a coincidence, as the killings were carried out in the surrounding streets. And after the sixth victim, and the recognition of the murder of John Campbell, no other reasons and is not considered.

  - That is the alleged killer appeared immediately after the sixth victim?

  - Not right away. He came to the police exactly one week after the sixth murder. On that day, as it turned out later, I lost another girl, the daughter of a port worker. But it has never been found, so this business is not tied.

  So, John Campbell - docker, an Irishman, a huge, like a bear or a gorilla, unsociable person. He came to the police station and he said he killed all those girls and dreams of punishment. During interrogations, the answer is quite harmoniously, in the testimony not confused. Yes, but it seemed to me that he talks like a sheet reads like retells the words of others. But, by the time I realized that the assumptions and guesses have to keep to yourself, because said nothing. In general, he dictated to us recognition - he did not know how to write, and then he died.

  - Is he dead? That is, the court was not ...

  - the Court was not, the case is closed and handed over to the archive, and all my suspicions have remained with me.

  - And what happened to him, sir?

  - They killed his comrades. We conducted an investigative experiment, brought to the crime scene. And it docks, then the news fly fast. We began to gather local hard workers, but so quietly that no one did not understand until the moment until it's too late is not. Then it all happened in seconds - police pushed, squeezed in the crowd, and he was stoned, almost a living space is not left. And yet, a moment - and all gone. Much later, when I was talking with people, all said that they found as a blurred, not to stop. Here on this all over.

  - Out of a formal investigation. But I am sure that you had his own version.

  - Look, he said, - the old man smiled wryly. - Yes, thoughts and doubts at the time I was a lot. Start at the Campbell - traces its field of crime are found, the boy-witness was not identified, he said in a cloak does not wrap - does not look like. And indeed, in a strange way it all - came to himself, he was not suspected, but we even namotok there were not any ... And his death. Too strange.

  In general, I did not believe in his guilt, he decided to dig a little more. I wanted first of all to understand - what is, after all, unites the victims? Besides the fact that they are young, poor, and killed one-week interval in the same area. And I found one, interested me, a moment. All these girls are treated at one time in the "Society of assistance and support", who for free meals, one for warm clothing.

  - What kind of society, sir? - out of context, I realized that it was some kind of charity. - Can you tell us in more detail what is it?

  - Do not you know? "Social assistance and support" - their offices are located in all poor areas. Is a charitable organization, there you can go to if you just too bad. There fed, can give some money, quite a decent hand clothes. Often they offer people the chance to earn a little, but most of it also is gone. Although demand at the same righteous life, but only some righteous life can be so poor?

  In general, all of the victims have been there. Who got a temporary job, who just came to eat, someone gave a warm coat. Perhaps it did not mean, as it was difficult in the human area, which would not have appealed to the Society for help, but the other strings I had not, so I tried to pull for this.

  I admit, the idea was not successful. No new information I got. All the ladies aristocrat who practiced charity, nothing interesting could not tell, though two of the females killed remembered - they appear in public more frequently than others. One of the women interviewed did not succeed, because she suddenly fell ill and went to correct health in the water. The daughter of her amazing beauty of the crimes did not know anything, she just came to town.

  - And that's it, and end?

  - What do you think I should do? Evidence pointing to the second killer officially there were not any, just as I did not have authority to continue to investigate, do not forget, because I was just an assistant detective. And this - the old man sighed, - in the case of a detective Darkwood, meant to be a gofer. The case was closed, and everyone forgot about it for years to fifteen years.

  Mr. Leksidi muffled cough, tapped his wizened fist on the sunken chest, covered with a satin waistcoat.

  - Now, wait a minute, still some water popyu - he shuffled back to the decanter.

  While the old man drank the water greedily, as if, after many hours of travel by the scorching heat of the desert, I think about his story. In fact, apart from the very method of the murder, a crime thirty years ago were no different from those that have occurred recently. One thing was clear - why every time to kill women differently? Whether it is a prerequisite for carrying out the ritual, or simply the whim of murderers? The papers that I have outlined for Donnie, it was said that the victims killed themselves, unable to resist the will of the person con
ducting the ritual. But nowhere does not say, which way they need to be euthanized. So why are some opened his stomach, the other - the throat, and others used the strangulation? What's the point of this? Perhaps realizing this, I can learn more about the alleged modus operandi of criminals ...

  - Well, young man, are not you tired yet from my fantasies? - Mr Leksidi finally drunk and seemed to be ready to continue.

  - No way, sir! - there is a "tired", but I was ready to decant the precious information on a drop, so it was important.

  - Well, so much the worse, my young friend. Because I'm tired of you. Time then, look how much time passed, - he pointed at the clock - but I still have to work. So let's, let's continue with you tomorrow. Come for an hour to five, I'm all that's left and doskazhu. Agreed?

  Choice I especially was not, and the clock was already half-past seven, so I did not argue.

  - Agreed, sir. And thank you very much for your help.

  - Go, thank you, ish ...

  Saying goodbye to the old man, the archivist, I went outside. Actually, the time was exactly the way home, if you do not force yourself to wait. Remembering that before dinner was going to warn the couple Jobson from excessive pressure on Donnie, I hastened to stop a passing carriage.

  The streets were almost empty, horse - quickly, so we arrived less than half an hour, and I had time. Jerome greeting and making sure that the couple Jobson yet, I walked into the living room.

  Donnie, plunged headlong into the textbook of alchemy, did not even notice my arrival. I must say, I'm well aware of it, read out, I could even skip the earthquake.

  - Hey, how the day went?

  - A? - one startled startled, and dropped to his knees book. - Oh, hi, Sherlock did not see you come in.

  - Well still - I pointed to the book - how is your study? Interesting?