With a good mood coming from nowhere, Sherlock explains the part I missed in police station.
Christian Carter, 87, died in sleep 3 weeks ago.
Judy Pierce, 24, died in a trip to London 25 years ago.
Lily Carter, 22, got on a train to London and never arrived 27 years ago, not found alive or dead.
"Were they a family?" That was the first question I can think of.
"Yes."
"Was she killed and deserted on the train?"
Sherlock shakes his head, "No. No one could take a body off train, yet no body was found along the railway. The girl didn't arrive at London because she got off before that by herself."
"And got killed?"
"I'm afraid so." I imagine a girl; she bought a ticket to London to cheat on others, not knowing the death awaiting. And the grandma lived lonely ever since.
"Maybe she is still alive; just don't come back for some reason or other."
"Yes, maybe." My friend says gently. I dare not to look at his eyes.
"Why did they go to London?"
"Lily Carter went to visit her best friend named Charlie Fleen."
"A boy? A secret elopement?"
"No, Charlie Fleen was a girl. Her parents were killed in car accident days ago, so she invited her best friend to London for companionship. Actually she reported her friends' disappearance to police. She thought her friend missed the first train, so patiently waited for the second train, and got panic after the second train arrived. She reported this to the police instantly."
"Did Lily get on the first train?"
"Yes. Her friends saw her off at train station and saw her get on the train."
"Must be a hard for her, parents and best friend."
"Yes, she fell ill instantly."
"Sentiment, you don't understand it, do you?"
"No."
Another heartbroken girl, I sigh. "And Judy Pierce?"
"A shopping tour. She and 3 other friends got on train to London together, went different stores and she didn't show up at the agreed time to catch the back train. The 3 girls came back and found her missing. They reported to the police right away, the body was found in London, in a dump near underground bars. No one remembered her face."
"Did she?"
"No, no hints that she planned to go to place like that."
"What's the relationship between the 3, no, 6 cases?"
"Christian Carter's death is the first one in line of Mr. and Mrs. Cliff's and Robin Feller's. Judy Pierce was a classmate of Lily Carter in high school." Sherlock stressed on "High School".
"Were they all book club members?"
"I don't know. I want to find clues in the library. There is none, except for a name engraved on an armchair reads Lily."
"That was her."
"Probably, it's a small village anyway. But that's not important. The dead people, they knew each other and they knew something, which leaded to their deaths."
"Could it be…?" I'm shocked by my own idea. "The…" I find it hard to continue.
"Man love between the teacher and his student?" Sherlock glances at me. "That's possible, but don't build deduction on guess, that is what gossip does. The other detective, she is making the same mistake."
"So you are not competing with her now?"
"No." Sherlock turns his head away, "It's a lucky guess of her."
"You don't believe in luck, do you?"
He doesn't reply.
I have another question. "You knew all of this before we left London?"
"Yes, vaguely, some cases happened when I was a child, that's why we are here. Yet you doubted me."
"Hell. I still doubt you now. There was no travel plan before I left our dining room."
"You don't think I'd just sit there, doing nothing, do you?"
"Sure you planned to travel, that's your favorite, murders, puzzles. But…"
"No, I mean you left the dining room."
Suddenly I forget what I'm going to say, and I decide to forget it anyway.
"Well, for this work, collecting clues here and there all by yourself…" I clear my throat. "uh…You know you could have me to help."
He says nothing.
"And you could tell me this on the train."
"You don't talk."
I don't know what to say. So I just pat his shoulder. "I packed gun, remember? What's our next step?"
"Christian Carter's home."
"Hers?" I hesitated. "She couldn't be murdered."
"Her granddaughter disappeared 27 years ago; her death is followed by other 3. You got to be kidding."
"But what for? She knew nothing about what was going on in the high school, did she? Or her granddaughter's disappearance, otherwise she would search for her."
"What? What did you say?"
"I said, she would search for her. What wrong with that?"
"No, nothing. Of course she searched for her. All police searched for her. She was an exception of all the dead, and an exception could reveal facts more specific than others."
I'm totally confused. But Sherlock simply says, "Let's go."