The songstress watched as the pale-skinned man on the bed walked towards her.
His eyes glowed with excitement, like a child who had just discovered a new toy, or a twisted attachment. The sickly smile on his face was reflected on the scalpel in his left hand.
Irene Adler closed her eyes in despair.
But the next moment, they heard a loud rumble above their heads. It was the sound of the secret room's entrance being opened.
When Zhang Heng and Holmes rushed down with revolvers in their hands, they froze in place.
They had never imagined that they would witness such a bizarre scene.
Irene Adler's hands and feet were still tied up, unable to move. Father Jacob stood rooted to the ground, and at his feet, a strange middle-aged man lay in a pool of blood.
The latter's pale face was filled with disbelief, as if he had seen the most incredible thing in the world. His eyes were wide open, and he looked at Father Jacob as if asking why.
When Father Jacob saw Zhang Heng and Holmes, he threw away the bloody knife in his hand and said calmly, "You came at the right time. I killed him."
Holmes squatted on the ground and examined the middle-aged man. When he saw the wound on the back of the man's head, he shook his head at Zhang Heng. "It's hopeless."
Zhang Heng stepped over the body and came to the singer. He untied the ropes on her hands and feet and removed the rag from her mouth. As soon as Irene Adler regained her freedom, she spat on the ground as if trying to get rid of the strange taste in her mouth.
In fact, Zhang Heng was ready to use the Evil Wall for the last time. Fortunately, Holmes found the entrance within three minutes.
When the two of them rushed in, they thought that they would encounter a situation where the murderer was holding a hostage, but the result surprised everyone.
The next moment, Zhang Heng heard the notification that the main mission had been completed. Although he still had a lot of doubts in his heart, now was not the time to dwell on such things. He and Holmes first tied up Father Jacob with the rope they untied from Irene Adler's body, then notified the nearby patrolling police.
Holmes stayed where he was, guarding Father Jacob while waiting for the police to send more men over. Meanwhile, Zhang Heng sent Miss Songstress home.
Zhang Heng stayed at Eirinn's place until six in the morning before returning to 221B Baker Street. By then, Holmes had also returned from the police station.
He looked perfectly content. Ignoring the protests of his landlady, Mrs. Hudson, he took out his fiddle and began to play it. The melodious sound echoed through the room, and one wondered if the neighbors in the next building, awoken by the noise, would come rushing in to kill him.
"It seems that you have figured out all the ins and outs," Zhang Heng said.
"Looks like you can go to the opera for free in the future," Holmes said.
"…"
"This may not be the most complicated case I've ever encountered, but it is indeed the most interesting one." Holmes put down the violin and finally turned the topic back to the case.
"When Father Jacob was young, he made a mistake and had an illegitimate child with a prostitute. Although I don't think it was his child, it doesn't matter. What's important is that it has always been a knot in his heart. He is willing to treat the child as his own flesh and blood. In other words, he is using this method to punish himself, to atone for the mistake he made in the past."
Zhang Heng had already learned about these things from Irene Adler, so he was not surprised. He motioned for Holmes to continue. "The child's birth was a mistake.
"The child's birth was a mistake. He was the child of a priest and a prostitute after an impulsive moment. They couldn't even be considered love. He was abandoned by his mother when he was young, and his father had no choice but to send him to an orphanage for the sake of his reputation. Growing up in such an environment, it was inevitable that his personality would become lonely and gloomy. Father Jacob said that the seed of evil was buried in his body, but I actually have a different view on this."
Holmes lit his pipe. "The police and Father Jacob believe that Jack the Ripper murdered the prostitutes out of revenge for his biological mother for giving birth to him and abandoning him. But I think it's more like he used the murders as a ritual to trace the origin of his life. Of course, like many serial killers, he craves the world's attention. The letter to the newspaper is the best example."
"Uterus?" Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, I think the womb is a very important symbol in this case. It is related to reproduction, and it is also the place where the embryo is conceived. Jack the Ripper took away the womb of the victims, which means that he wanted to find his own home, just like how he chose prostitutes who had given birth to children, and who lived together with other men. Through these characteristics, he connected these victims to their birth mothers. When he committed the crime, he could indeed feel the connection between himself and his targets again. It was as if he had found his mother, and it was amazing, wasn't it? Emma gave him life, and he took away the life from the bodies of those who had taken over his body. It was like a complete cycle."
Holmes blinked. "Of course, the latter part is just my speculation. Jack the Ripper is dead. I guess this speculation of mine will probably never be confirmed … Speaking of Jack the Ripper, let's talk about Father Jacob. I have to admit that his role in this case was beyond my expectations. Remember our previous speculation?"
"Huh?"
"We all agreed at the time that there was no collusion in this case. So when you reconnected Father Jacob with Jack the Ripper through Mark Cohen, I was briefly confused. It turned out that Father Jacob was not Jack the Ripper's accomplice," Holmes continued.
"Jack the Ripper lived quietly in the secret chamber under the confessional of the Sacred Heart Church. This allowed him to hear a lot of secrets that should not have been made known to a third person. When he committed the first crime, Father Jacob did not know that he was the murderer until he took the initiative to confess to Father Jacob. From then on, Father Jacob was caught in a dilemma. He certainly did not want Jack the Ripper to kill, but on the other hand, Jack was his and Emma's child. To make up for what he had done, he had a reason to protect this child.
"So he made another wrong choice. He decided to hide this matter and hoped that he could control this beast. At the same time, he also made another move. He began to consciously guide Mark Cohen, who also had a mental illness, to use him as bait to mislead the police. This was a reasonable choice from a father's point of view.
"But he obviously overestimated his ability and underestimated Jack the Ripper's long-suppressed mental illness. So, there were a second and third murder cases. Things were slipping rapidly in the direction of losing control. It was also at this time that Father Jacob began to realize that he had no ability to stop Jack the Ripper from committing crimes. Just then, Miss Adler came to him. She showed characteristics that perfectly matched the target that Jack the Ripper had been looking for. So Father Jacob kidnapped her, not to use her as a sacrifice to the devil, but as a test for Jack the Ripper.
"He wanted to see with his own eyes whether his son had really defeated the devil in his heart and would not commit crimes again, but the result disappointed him. From Jack the Ripper's reaction, he knew that as long as Jack the Ripper was alive, there would be another victim in the world. Innocent souls would die. So in the end, he could only choose to kill the devil he created with his own hands."
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