When the owner of a Knightsbridge Chinese restaurant was found lying face down in a plate of noodles, Lestrade came to see Sherlock. The man, Terry Wong, had choked to death and, at first, it appeared to be an accident. But bruising on Wong's face suggested that he'd been attacked at some point on the evening of his death.
But the victim had never been alone that night. Staff and customers all confirmed that he'd been constantly surrounded by people. A killer needs both opportunity and motive. And with there being no apparent opportunity, we decided to focus on motive. Who would want Terry Wong dead and why?
And the answer, it seemed, was most of London! He'd not been a nice bloke, by all accounts, so plenty of people might have had a motive but there was simply no way for any person to have attacked him that night without anyone else seeing. And so we were straight back to opportunity!
The police coroner confirmed that Wong had died at around midnight so we spoke to everyone who had been in the restaurant in the hour leading up to his death. There'd been nine customers, two waiters and two kitchen staff. Each of them confirmed that Wong had been alive at the time they left the restaurant. And every single one of them denied seeing anyone attack him. Nearby CCTV confirmed the times that each customer and member of staff said they left the restaurant - each of them leaving between 11pm and just after midnight. And nobody else seems to have gone near the restaurant at any point after that.
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Sherlock worked it out by breaking it down to the simplest facts.
a) Terry Wong was murdered at around midnight.
b) Nobody in the restaurant had seen anything.
c) Therefore some or ALL of them were lying.
They'd all done it! The customers and staff, all apparently random people, each had a motive for killing Wong. Sherlock had found online how they were all connected. An ex-member of staff had tweeted about how Wong had unfairly sacked him. Someone had replied saying that he'd been attacked by Wong years earlier. Someone else had replied... and so on and so on. A group of seemingly random people, all connected online.
There was no proof, of course. No taped meetings where they planned and plotted. And, after reading about some of the things Wong had done, Sherlock was quite happy to let it go. He was actually impressed by what they'd pulled off.
He had an odd sort of justice. For all that he claimed to be cold and uncaring, he had his own sense of right and wrong.
18 comments
Any word on that improbable guy, mate? Mike Stamford
Yeah. He's okay. He's being looked after. I'll text you. John Watson
Another victim of Holme's lies, methinks. Scarlet Glove
I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you. John Watson
Because we all know the truth. You're a sad, deluded little man. msmoneypenny
John's telling the truth. Sherlock was a good man. Molly Hopper
Thanks, Molly. And I will try and see you soon. John Watson
I've eaten there! Can totally reccommend the house white!!. Harry Watson
Wait are any of you real? Is any of this real? How do we know that people like "Harry Watson" and "Mike Stamford" aren't just made up for this blog? TheRealJoe
LOL! Jacob Sowersby
What Jacob Sowersby said Mike Stamford
CAN YOU HEAR HIM BURNING FOR HIS SINS? Sauron1976
No. We can just hear you. Angrily hiding behind a false name. John Watson
I WOULD SAY IT TO YOUR FACE. Sauron1976
Then tell us your real name and let's meet up. John Watson
I just hope that impossible dude is okay. He's the real victim in all this. P. Welsh
He'll be fine, trust me. John Watson
We still believe in you. We believe in both of you. Dame Latif
