Becoming Professor Moriarty's Probability

Chapter 120: The Hound of the Baskervilles (8)

Chapter 120: The Hound of the Baskervilles (8)

- Ssshhh...

"............"

Charlotte Holmes, who had been watching the storm sweep over the Baskerville estate from the window in utter silence, suddenly turned her gaze to the side.

"Has there been any contact from the police station?"

"... Due to the sudden storm, it seems it will take some time for the investigative team to arrive."

"Have you heard any estimate on when they would be able to arrive?"

"At the earliest, tomorrow evening, I’m afraid. They mentioned that the bridge leading to this area has been flooded, rendering it unusable temporarily."

Gia Lestrade, having hung her wet police hat on a coat rack, reported the situation to Charlotte in a concise manner.

"Sounds like a typical situation."

"... But, there's something more important than that right now."

Charlotte continued to mutter to herself, meanwhile, Lestrade, who had momentarily tilted her head to the side, suddenly held out something that she had been clutching in her hands all this time.

"This is..."

"I've just been to the basement where Isaac Adler is locked up, and this sole note was left there in the empty room."

A doodle of Adler, baring fangs while posing like an angry cat, was drawn squarely in the middle of the note.

"... Sigh."

Charlotte looked down at the childish note silently for a moment, then sighed deeply while shaking her head.

"That's Adler for you."

"... Should we just let him go?"

"Diverting my attention is Adler's aim. So let's postpone giving him a thrashing and focus on the case at hand."

"Well, I agree with your opinion, but... is there really a need to focus on this case anymore?"

Lestrade, staring at her, asked with a perplexed gaze.

"What are you talking about?"

"Hasn't the case been solved already?"

Charlotte began to stare intently at the clueless Inspector.

"What are you saying?"

"Weren't you the one who said to arrest Isaac Adler on suspicion of murder..."

"That was a lie to borrow the force of the police."

"Pardon?"

"Isaac Adler is not the perpetrator of this case."

As Charlotte stepped forward, leaving a bewildered Lestrade behind, she quietly bit her nails and murmured in a low voice.

"I don’t understand just what compelled him to behave like this, but he’s been continuously meddling and obstructing the investigation process of this case...”

"Then... who exactly is the culprit?"

"... Who do you think?"

Charlotte glanced at her and threw the question back at her in an inquisitive tone.

"Hmm... If Adler isn't the culprit, then it has to be that being."

Lestrade, after a moment of thought, opened her mouth with her eyes flashing intensely as though she had found the correct answer.

"... The demonic hound. I'm talking about that monstrous creature we saw at dawn."

"I knew you would give that answer, Inspector."

"So, you're saying it's not? Of course, I, myself, didn't believe it when I first heard about the legend. But you saw it with your own two eyes that day, didn't you?"

At those words, Charlotte quietly closed her mouth and then turned her gaze toward Lestrade.

"The Baskerville family's demonic hound does exist, Miss Holmes."

"........"

"I felt for certain that my curse reacted to that monstrous being that day. It's not just a mere giant hunting dog or wolf, I’m sure of it."

"... It seems you are misunderstanding something."

With a serious expression, she began to explain to Inspector Lestrade, who was laying out her thoughts, sighing deeply.

"I never said that the demonic hound doesn't exist, nor that it's not a mysterious creature of supernatural origins."

"Then...?"

"I merely argued that it wasn't the culprit in this case."

At those words, the inspector began to tilt her head quizzically with a slightly dull expression.

"While I do detest needless supernatural elements creeping into a case, I'm not so foolish as to deny what I've seen with my own eyes."

"........."

"Rather, it's precisely because I witnessed it myself that I can be so certain the hound isn't the culprit in this case."

However, as Lestrade still wore a puzzled look, Charlotte narrowed her eyes and whispered to explain her reasoning further.

"Even you saw the bloody scene and the gleaming eyes of the dog, Inspector. Are you still unable to piece it together?"

"Ah...! Now that I think of it...!"

Lestrade, finally hitting upon some sort of realization, slapped her knee with her hand.

"... Then what is the identity of this hound*?"

"It's actually quite a simple elimination process, really."

Charlotte explained in a low voice.

"Excluding Isaac Adler, who was wandering around this locked room with excitement, you and Watson, and these wolves with fairly solid alibis, there are only two people left."

"The butler and the heir, those two, right?"

"Well, since the Baskerville family's hound can't be the heiress, Miss Helen Baskerville, it narrows down to only one person, in the end."

Lestrade, who had been quietly listening, couldn’t help but ask with an exceedingly tense expression.

"... The estate's female butler, Gabrielle Mortimer. She's the real culprit?"

"You're getting quicker at piecing things together for a mere Inspector, Miss Lestrade."

Charlotte patted her on the shoulder as if to commend her for her growth and then turned on her feet.

"Actually, I had some suspicions regarding her from the beginning."

"Is that so?"

"She’s an old acquaintance of mine, you see1. I have some inkling of her motive for doing something like this."

She then began to quicken her pace.

"Shall we hurry along then?"

"Huh?"

"... Since we've made the first move, we need to strike her down before they wake up."

She spoke, a face filled with a mix of unknown excitement, tension, and thrill.

"Before Helen Baskerville and Isaac Adler, who have gone missing, are put in any more danger."

.

.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, at that moment...

"... Miss Mortimer."

"Would you mind not calling me by my name, please, sir?"

Adler and the estate's butler, Mortimer, were walking through the wilderness, braving the raging storm.

"Then, could you please retract the claw you have pressed against my throat first?"

"... I’m afraid that is quite difficult for me to do.”

"If that's the case, I won't be able to help you with your revenge against the Baskerville family..."

"I'm not sure how you know such things, but it would still be inconvenient."

Mortimer, who had been pressing a partially transformed wolf claw against Adler's throat, began to whisper in a chilling voice.

"Because you were one of my targets from the start."

"... Excuse me?"

"Why do you think that is so? Take a guess."

Adler, after staring blankly at the female butler's face for a while, was able to realize something.

"Is that... human face mask?"

"It's a product imported from the Qing dynasty. Quite an effective product, if I say so myself. It seems that the detective couldn't be fooled, but in the end, I succeeded in deceiving you."

"Uh, um..."

As he showed a slightly flustered expression, Mortimer, who had been staring at him, finally took off the human face mask she had been wearing on her face.

- Squeak...

Upon seeing the revealed face, Adler stood frozen on the spot.

"It's been a long time, Isaac Adler."

"Ah, haha..."

The female butler, whom he had dismissed after the house burned down during the incident, was staring at him with a burning gaze.

"... You used to despise intertwining with someone as lowly as me more than anything else in the world, right?"

For some inexplicable reason, she bore evident signs of severe abuse on her body even though the previous him had never laid a hand on his women.

"Are you ready?"

"... No."

As she asked with a bloody smile plastered on her exceedingly pale face, Adler quickly shook his head.

"That's an excellent response."

However, Mortimer, with a cold smile, began grasping his clothes.

"..... Ahh!"

Mere moments later, Adler's muffled scream echoed across the /genesisforsaken