Chapter 59: Research on Gases

Chapter 59 The Study of Gases

The second floor of the Wells Hotel.

The room outside the crime scene was crowded with people, all of them travelers living there.

According to Arthur’s orders, all travelers were detained inside the hotel until the investigation of the crime scene was completed.

The police officers who arrived here in advance had already completed the interrogation of all the people, and when they saw Arthur coming, they were just in time to submit the investigation records in their hands to their supervisors.

“Sir, this is the information collected so far, please take a look.”

Arthur received the information and did not inspect it at first, but first scanned the layout of the room.

This was a relatively narrow irregular housing, and the furniture and furnishings in the room were also very simple, a bed barely big enough for two people to lie down normally, a nightstand for placing sundries, and an extinguished gas lamp on the cabinet.

Directly opposite the door was a wooden sunlight window with black curtains, and below the window stood a tin can about two inches high.

The two victims were lying on the bed, their faces covered with a white cloth, and some yellowish-white vomit remaining on the white-washed sheets and pillowcases.

Arthur sniffed gently with his nose, and a faint odor of coal did remain in the room.

Arthur turned over the information in his hand, while flipping through it, he inquired, “Have you examined the body of the deceased?”

The patrolman nodded his head and said, “Checked, the deceased didn’t have any wounds all over his body and there were no traces of fighting at the scene, so we initially judged that he shouldn’t have died from a violent crime.

And the scene does have a smell of gas, you may not feel too obvious now, but when we first came here, the house was full of that smell, and it took a long time to open the windows and disperse the smell before it faded down.

Sir, I think we can almost close the case, a gas leak accident, there’s nothing more to investigate.”

As soon as the patrolman said this, the travelers standing outside the door also spoke up and demanded, “That’s right! Let’s close the case quickly, we’ve all been locked up here for more than two hours, and the big guys still have their own things to do!”

The burly middle-aged man standing beside the patrolman also said with a smiling face, “Yes, the guests all have things to do, and I have to open the door for business! Mr. Officer, you may not know, the rent of Central Street is not cheap, my monthly profit is only a few days of room money, one less day of business, or this month will have to lose money.”

Arthur looked up at the middle-aged man, “So, you are the innkeeper, Mr. Wells?”

The middle-aged man took off his hat over his chest and nodded, “Pleased to meet you, Inspector Hastings.”

Arthur closed his databook and asked, “How did you know I was a police inspector and not a sergeant?”

“Uh ……” Wells paused for a moment and then whirled around to point to Arthur’s shoulder patch, “You’re wearing stars, and as I recall Sergeants have three V’s, that’s how I saw it.”

“Wow, really?” Arthur handed the information book back to the patrolman on the sidelines, “I thought you’d heard that from my colleagues, I didn’t realize you knew how to identify Scotland Yard shoulder patches. What? Have you worked at Scotland Yard before?”

“Uh……” Wells’ smile faltered, but he quickly waved his hand in denial, “No, no, no, no, I haven’t worked at Scotland Yard, but I have a nephew who used to spend time there, and I heard about it from him. ”

Hearing this, Arthur didn’t pursue the matter further, he just stared at Wells for a moment, then walked into the room and uncovered the white cloth covering the dead man’s face.

The dead woman’s face was adorned with pale makeup, while underneath the ghastly white skin could be seen that her face was slightly purple and blue.

Arthur frowned in thought as he suddenly remembered some of their private exchanges about chemical gases after Faraday’s lecture that day.

He stretched out two fingers to pry open the dead man’s tightly closed mouth, put his nose up and sniffed, the dead man’s mouth unexpectedly had a faint sweet odor.

The onlookers travelers on the sidelines were puzzled when they saw this, “What is this for?”

“Mr. Officer, hurry up, we’re all in a hurry.”

But in a position unnoticed by the travelers, the innkeeper, Wells, slightly widened his horrified eyes.

But Arthur didn’t pay any attention to them, but walked straight to the innkeeper Wells.

“Mr. Wells, you said in your testimony that the deceased died from a gas leak?”

Arthur’s torso was between the window and Wells, and the room was flooded with sunlight, but when it came to Wells, he looked at nothing but shadows.

The knot in Wells’ throat shrugged slightly as he gulped and nodded slowly, “That’s right, I think they may have died from a gas leak.”

“What makes you think that?”

Wells’ eyes slowly widened when he heard this, and he stormed out abruptly, “It’s not on the table! People are dead and the house smells like gas, what else could it be because of other than a gas leak?
Officer, do you know how to investigate a case or not, if you don’t, then get someone else who does! Scotland Yard’s got so many constables, can’t they find one who can!
Why don’t you just call in that old sergeant from the old days, he’s good at it, and youngsters like you need to learn more from him!”

“The old sheriff? You mean Willox?” Arthur suddenly smiled, “How does he do cases?”

Wells sputtered angrily, “What about it! You’re a cop and you’re going to ask me how I do cases? Fuck that! Efficient, swift, and not a delay in business either, that’s the kind of officer we poor citizens need!”

At the end of his speech, he didn’t forget to drum at the travelers behind him, “Do you all think I’m right?” Agares, who had been riding on the window to watch the show, couldn’t help but throw his head back and laugh at the scene, his tongue dragging to the ground.

The Red Devil taunted, “That fool! He’s on the verge of writing the words ‘I killed the man’ on his face, he gets angry when his little trick is poked and prodded, and I can’t even find a second adjective to qualify him other than ‘incompetent’.”

The onlookers were also baffled by Wells’ unexplained outburst of anger.

Someone spoke up and said, “Mr. Officer, just about enough, look at Mr. Wells losing his temper.”

“It’s just an ordinary accident, nothing to investigate.”

Seeing this situation, Arthur didn’t say much, but rushed to the police officer beside him and calmly opened his mouth, “Bring the innkeeper Wells back to the police station.”

Several police officers were first stunned, but at the critical moment, it was Tom and Tony who reacted fast, they rushed up with one strong step and pressed Wells to the ground with one left and one right.

Wells was on the ground angrily flailing his bladder, and he put his foot three inches below Tony’s navel, struggling to get up and escape.

Tony suffered a momentary pain and rolled along the floor with his stomach, cursing as he did so, “Fuck! What are you waiting for? Hurry up and take him down. Fuck! I’m not married yet ah ……”

Other police officers also reacted at this time, four or five people swarmed up, as if iterative Luohan like death suppressed Wells.

Wells roared with red eyes, “Why are you arresting me? I didn’t kill anyone!”

Arthur crouched down and asked, “Did I say you killed anyone?”

“I ……” Arthur’s words just left his mouth, and the swear words that Wells had reached the edge of his mouth were suddenly blocked in his throat.

The travelers were shocked on the spot by the scene that suddenly happened in front of them, they did not know why the situation that was peaceful in the last second suddenly became like this.

“Mr. Officer, can you explain to us what is going on?”

Arthur said as he pointed to the two dead men lying on the bed.

“As far as I know, if the deceased died of gas poisoning, then there should be a strong foul odor left in her mouth.

But just now I not only didn’t smell a foul odor from the deceased’s mouth, but instead I smelled a slightly sweet scent.

And the deceased’s face did not leave cherry red spots consistent with gas poisoning, but slightly green and purple, which is not only unlike gas poisoning, but like death by asphyxiation.

That’s why I intend to invite Mr. Wells back to the police station for further investigation. But I don’t know why Mr. Wells suddenly became furious, and I’m wondering about that too.”

Saying this, Arthur turned his head towards Wells, “I’ve finished explaining what I should explain, can you now explain to me the reason for your rage?”

Hearing this, the travelers quieted down one by one as well, and whispers rose and fell as they eyed Wells with suspicion.

“Good heavens! So this might be a murder?”

“The innkeeper killed two prostitutes?”

“I ……” Wells’ lips quivered, his mind a mess and his body trembling, “I-I thought you were trying to arrest me, Mr. Officer, and there’s been a misunderstanding.”

Arthur shrugged, “I hope it’s all a misunderstanding too, and I’m inclined to think you’re innocent until all the facts are known. So, in order to find out the truth, please try to cooperate.”

He held out his hand to Wells.

Wells reluctantly revealed an ugly smile, and before he could shake Arthur’s hand, he heard Arthur’s voice ring out again.

“Send one of your men over to the London Gas Light and Coke Company in Westminster at once; that gas canister sitting by the window is labeled by them; find out when it was delivered.

Also, send men at once to the neighborhood stores to make inquiries and ask them if they are selling nitrous oxide. If they do, get their ledgers and see if anyone has recently purchased large quantities of it.

By the way, it also has an alias, ‘laughing gas’, which just tastes slightly sweet, and an overdose will have a strong narcotic effect, just like the victim’s symptoms.

I deduced that the victim was presumed to have inhaled too much of this stuff, resulting in unconsciousness and finally being smothered to death with a pillow on the bed.

You guys were too careless when you investigated the scene, two people living in one room and only one pillow in the room, why don’t you write this kind of thing on the investigation record?
And ……”

The more Wells listened, the more he felt chilled, his lips and teeth were trembling, he lost all his strength, and his whole body collapsed to the ground like mud.

Arthur glanced at him and asked with a smile, “Mr. Wells, take it easy, I still don’t know why the perpetrator killed, do you know anything about this? Nitrous oxide isn’t cheap, and you’ve lost a tank of gas.

By the way, you mentioned Willox just now, and you said he had come to check it out before; could a similar case have happened in this hotel before?”

(End of chapter.)