I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 183 : Unsolved

The wind was even stronger on the hill but the sleuth was even more excited when he finally was in sight of the place where  Robert Beach had been found years earlier. John and Greg, on the other  hand were feeling so cold that they kept their mouth shut to avoid  sparing any of their warmth. The reason why Sherlock had insisted on  dragging them along was yet unknown to them as for now, they had just  stand in the chilly winter without being of any apparent help.

On his knees, the younger Holmes was now looking at the floor in deep concentration as if he could read it. To anyone else than his two friends, he would have looked mad but the two men knew that he was on a serious lead, and they kept silence, waiting to see what was going to happen.

Five minutes later, the detective was running down the hill with his usual ecstatic  look, closely followed by Greg and John who had no idea nor where they  were going, nor why for. They crossed a road to a man stepping on the  break and blowing his horn furiously and quickly arrived to the sea.

"How long would it take you, walking to make it to the top of the hill ?" Sherlock asked the policeman.

"I'd say around ten or fifteen minutes." Greg answered, feeling that the man was near to his conclusions.

"How is your vision in the dark ?" the detective then questioned John, nodding slightly.

"Very bad like for most humans." the doctor replied still rubbing his hands one against the other to try to warm up.

"So  on a night with no moon and very poor weather, do you think you could  make it to the top of the hill without suffering any injuries ?" the younger Holmes wondered once more giving the two others the slight impression to have been brought here just to be lab rat.

"It is possible for someone with a good balance but it would certainly take some time to do so." Greg explained. "Although if I may, why would anyone lost cross a road then climb a hill instead of just following the road ?"

"The exposition to cold weather for a long time can cause disorientation and confusion." John remarked. "But it would most probably play on his balance too ..."

"Exactly." Sherlock nodded before remarking that his companions were waiting for more explanation. "Robert Beach took off from the airstrip at 10:34, of that we can be sure."

"Some people suggest it could be someone else ..." the doctor interrupted him shyly.

"That  would mean that someone able to fly this plane would have been waiting  outside for Robert to have finished his dinner and come out without  being noticed by anyone. All the people able to drive the plane on the  island, they were only three counting Robert, were that night gathered in the hotel's dining room. So we would need to have a stranger able to drive a plane, arrived at the island without having been seen by anyone. Silly idea." the sleuth denied in a breath. "So  he took off, promised to his girlfriend t be back in no time but never  land and nor his corpse, nor his plane is found on the island during the  searches conducted in the following weeks."

"What do you suggest ?" Greg wondered, knowing that his brother-in-law had a theory.

"The corpse, evidently, wasn't there." the detective simply answered. "Someone planted it later on, but why and how, that's the question."

"It was a murder ?" John gasped, already wondering what the man could have doe to be murdered.

"Not evidently. The coroners said that he died of  exposure with no injuries and no poisoning, something confirmed by the  undertakers and his family. There was no clear sign of injuries, strokes  or anything that suggested the intervention of an external attacker." Sherlock denied to the men's greatest surprise. "He really did died of exposure, but he didn't die  on this hill. You see, the place where he was found is sheltered from  the wind and if he really had ended up there, he would have been able to  find a refuge in the bushes that were only a few meters away. It  wouldn't have been enough to keep him warm for a long time but firstly  he would have been found on the first search, and he probably wouldn't have been dead before at least seven or eight on the next morning, giving him time to restore his strength and try to find back his way."