Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Thoughts

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Case 3: The Mystified Murderess
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[Before I start Case 3, I decided to try a different approach this time. Normally, I try to go through any interesting leads, sating my curiosity and enjoying the other side mysteries. But given that Holmes never speaks about side mysteries in the solution, and such answers are not part of the base 100 score (but they still have a consolation score), I think a better experience would be to first try to solve the main case with minimal leads, like Holmes, tackling the intended challenge head-on. Then I check the Questions, lock in my answers, and read the Solution. But instead of opening the envelope after that, I think I'll go back and explore the other side content for the case, possibly writing a few thoughts, but without altering my answers at all. Once I'm satisfied, I can then open the envelope and calculate the score.]

Victim: Guy Clarendon
- found murdered at Halliday's
- Scion of a wealthy family, accomplished batsman for West London Cricketeers, ranked fencer in international competitions
- According to Gerald Lock, Clarendon is a "scoundrel", very fond of cards and drink, associating with low East End types. Father all but disinherited him. He was supposedly after Frances's money

Suspect: Frances Nolan
- found over the body with a pistol in her hand
- She and her sister Loretta are the surviving heirs of Sir Malcolm Nolan, founder of the Aberdeen Navigation Company.
- Parents killed when an anarchist, Zagreb Yoblinski, threw a bomb into the carriage, mistakenly thinking that the Duke of York was in it
- Loretta, aged 4-5, was in the carriage too but was miraculously uninjured.
- Locke is the suitor for Frances's hand

[Curious what was the relationship between Frances and Guy. Was Guy another suitor? Or did they have some business dealings?]

<1> 15 SW (Halliday's)
----------------------
- Guy Clarendon registered as "Clarence Guy" on 29th May
- initially at front room on third floor, but on 31st May, he requested Suite 205 and moved on 1st June
- only two visitors during his stay:
-- a big man with a thick walrus moustache and a prominent scar down his cheek came on 1st June, waiting in the lobby. Twenty minutes later, Clarendon came down and passed by when the man yanked him aside. Clarendon looked afraid but gestured to the clerk that everything is fine. [was the man upset that Clarendon was not in his original room? Was Clarendon being watched from the window?]
-- the other visitor was a frequent one: a fashionably dressed woman with a full and deep distinctive laugh [Frances Nolan?]

July 2nd:
- A different woman entered at ~9 from the front door, heading straight to the staircase, which normally isn't allowed, but the clerk was busy with another guest (Mr Ramsay, chronic complainer).
- Less than 30 seconds later, he heard a woman scream. He rushed up to find a crowd of guests, who said they heard a faint bang before the scream, and pointed to Room 205.
- Both Clarendon and the woman [Frances] were lying down. She was in the center, with a smoking pistol in her hand.
- Clerk revived her with some whiskey, but she was totally disoriented, with no idea where she was or what happened.
- When she saw the corpse, she gave a small cry and let go of the pistol

- Front Doors are locked at 10 pm, so any guests/visitors have to be let in by the night staff, but Clarendon always returned before 10
- 2-room suite
- Sitting room walls are papered in a subdued floral pattern
- ceiling covered with yellow plaster
- body was found in the entryway to the bedroom
- some blood on the carpet
- A larger stain (than the blood) was from a shattered wine glass nearby
- In the centre of the sitting room, some 15 feet away, are small flecks of yellow plaster [from the ceiling?]
- Top Desk Drawer has a folded bank statement from Cox's:
-- June 1st: withdraw 5000 pounds
-- June 16th: deposit 2000 pounds
-- June 18th: deposit 500 pounds

- Bedroom closet has two shirts and three pairs of shoes, including a pair of canvas fencing shoes dyed black.
- Loosely tossed in the top drawer of a dresser is a black wool sweater and a pair of black trousers. [he could be wearing all black]
- Outside the open bedroom window is a brick wall of the next building, and ivy vines in the back wall of Halliday's [no chance of a snipe, and he may have requested the suite solely to avoid being seen from the window]

[The suite is on the 2nd floor, so it's plausible for someone to escape out the window, especially with ivy vines. However, the clerk should have noticed if there was a visitor before Frances, whether it was the usual unknown woman or someone else. Is it also possible for someone to have climbed up the vines as well?]

[it seems the flecks of plaster were at the spot where Frances lay. How did they get there from the ceiling? Was there something hanging in the ceiling that fell?]

[from the clothes mentioned, it seems Clarendon had no pants except the black trousers.]

[Let's go see Frances; she may not know what she was doing in the room, but she may recall something from before all this]

<2> 36 EC (Old Bailey)
----------------------
- she didn't know he was at Halliday's and she was never there before
- she loved Clarendon and they planned to get married next year [poor Locke]
- his father promised the Church of Canterbury

The last thing she remembers is going to bed the night before
- Dr Trevelyan (whose care Loretta is under) dines with her on Sunday evenings, and left at 10 pm. At 11, her maid Grace prepared a cup of cocoa. Frances drank it and read in bed for a short time before falling asleep. [Crime happened on July 2nd, so 1st was a Sunday]

- She met Clarendon in March [4 months ago] in an estate where her sister was at a party and dived into a 15-foot fountain.
- Guy didn't seem to notice her, but on May 10th [2 months ago], he came to see her, apologizing for his impertinence, and asked to come again. Eventually, after several carriage rides and picnic lunches, he asked her hand
- Frances is the legal guardian of Loretta. If anything happens to her, their affairs were to be managed by Hiram Davenport, their solicitor, just like when they were children.

- she's experienced memory loss twice in the past two weeks:
-- first time, she found herself sitting on a bench in Hyde Park
-- second time was a few days later when she woke up in Waterloo staton, but the last thing she remembered was going to Lambeth Walk (to get information about a house where she was planning to stay for two weeks on a vacation away from the city).
- Her doctor, Dr Mason was puzzled, and advised rest

- She has never seen the pistol before
- Gerard "Gerry" Locke is an old friend of hers, but she was upset about what he said about Guy.

- Wilfrid Robarts is taking her case.

[Checking the map, Frances lives in 46 WC, at Madame Tussauds in front of Regent Park. Hyde Park (95 WC) is quite a distance away, about an hour from her home. Lambeth Walk (53-56 SE is about 20 minutes away from Waterloo Station. I considered whether her maid spiked the cocoa, but that wouldn't explain the event at Lambeth Walk, where she was already far from her home and therefore, couldn't have been drinking her maid's cocoa.]

[Newspaper has several entries about the "Society Burglar", whose first robbery was on 2nd June, the day after Clarendon moved. It's quite a stretch, but perhaps Clarendon would sneak out of his bedroom window in pure black to steal jewels? This would explain why he was not happy with the initial room, which was out front.]

[The robberies are initially quite frequent, on 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th, 15th, 17th. Every 3 days, except 15th instead of 14th. 14th is the only Thursday, for whatever it's worth. After that, however, there seems to be a pause, until the latest robbery at July 1st. What could be the reason behind this long pause? Is it a coincidence that Clarendon's only two deposits (16th and 18th) this month were around the same time as the start of the pause? If Clarendon is the robber, then it's possible that he was using these jewels for some purpose, possibly gifting them to this unknown lady, but the jewels on the 15th and 17th were not utilized (the lady rejected them, or he couldn't find her?), and so he sold them instead (for 2000 pounds and 500 pounds, respectively). These jewels were valued at 3000 and 1000 respectively, but as these are not famous unique gems, he would have to sell them for lower than their actual value, especially if he's dealing with the black market. If this is the case, then his original purpose of robbery was renewed for the 1st July robbery (the lady returned, physically or emotionally?)]

[let's try to map out the locations of these robberies:]
[2nd June: R Baker, 50 SW]
[5th June: Hardinge, 12 SW]
[8th June: Richmond, 39 SW]
[11th June: B. Lewin, 27 SW]
[15th June: Dearth, 25 SW]
[17th June: Judd, 24 SW]
[1st July: Leeds, there are two Leeds, Kevin Leeds at 56 S and Sir Sanford Leeds at 30 SW; a different article in the same paper mentions the latest victim as "Lady" Leeds, so I'm inclined to think her husband is Sir Sanford Leeds]

[Okay, all SW, lessee where they are in the map, particularly in relation to Halliday's, 15 SW... Hmmm, aside from Hardinge, 12 SW, which is very close to the hotel, the others are all quite a distance away. If Clarendon left in the middle of the night, it would be risky to utilize public transport, and I don't think he would walk so far... Still though, that all of these locations are in SW should be significant. He wasn't willing to cross the river, but he may have tried to make sure his targets were far enough from Halliday's to avoid suspicion.]

[Going back to the crime scene, I now find the wine glass stain a bit odd. Specifically on why there was a filled glass to begin with. It doesn't make sense for him to be holding the glass while going to the bedroom, unless he was bringing it to someone else. It couldn't have been for Frances, since it was less than 30 seconds from after the went up before she screamed. So this third person in the suite was someone that Clarendon knew, and likely even poured a drink for. I doubt he would be pouring a drink early in the morning, so the glass was likely filled the night before, and this third person stayed the night. The unknown woman seems to be the most likely candidate.]

[Speaking of drinks, I considered whether Frances's memory loss was due to intoxication, but that wouldn't fit with her behavior at Halliday's, where she went straight up without looking left or right. She evidently collapsed right after the bank, which suggests that it might have been due to the trauma of seeing someone (particularly someone she loved) right before her eyes. Her parents were killed after all, and I do wonder where she was during that incident.]

[I then tried to look into whether there may have been any murders that would explain her two recent experiences of memory loss. When checking the case introduction, Watson mentioned a tightrope walker dying at the Royal Italian Circus, which is at 35 NW, an hour away from Hyde Park. I couldn't find anything for Lambert Walk / Waterloo Station.]

[But while going through the case introduction, Watson apparently mentioned Society Burglar too, confirming the last victim as Sir Sanford Leeds. The fact that every victim could be traced from the newspaper + case introduction + directory with no ambiguity makes me feel that it is especially significant that they're all in SW. Well, it may be significant for a side issue, at least.]

[I'm really not sure what would be a good lead to pursue any of these areas, since I don't know any names for Clarendon's connections, so I think I'll just burn one at an Informant instead. Porky Shinwell might be the best choice, who might know about the "low East End types" (as Locke put it) that Clarendon was hanging out with, or possibly about the jewels sold to the black market.]

<3> 52 EC (Porky Shinwell)
--------------------------
- Clarendon and his "lady friend" [unknown woman, most likely] often go to Kilgore's Gaming Parlor
- Cops tried to shut the place down, but Kilgore knows when they come within three blocks.
- Clarendon owed Kilgore 7000 pounds, and Kilgore didn't let Clarendon in anymore.
- Clarendon almost caused a row until Gus Bullock, Kilgore's right-hand man, stepped in. Gus has a scar [June 1st visitor?]
- A month later [from when??? Porky should clarify dates!!!], Clarendon and Kilgore got along well, presumably with the debt repaid.
- Calvin Leach steps in, who buys "stolen property" for one half the value. The three of them were meeting late at night, and continued until the night before Clarendon's death [July 1st]

[Okay, this was an excellent informant choice! Those jewels were likely sold to Calvin Leach. In fact, the numbers match perfectly!
[- First three jewels (2nd, 5th, 8th June) were valued at 500 + 1500 + 2000 = 4000 pounds, so Calvin Leach would pay 2000 pounds. Combined with the 5000-pound withdrawal, it adds up to exactly 7000 pounds, which Clarendon owed Kilgore.]
[The next two jewels (11th and 15th June) were valued at 1000 + 3000 = 4000 pounds, so Calvin Leach would pay 2000 pounds, which Clarendon deposited on the 16th.]
[The next jewel (17th June) was valued at 1000 pounds, so Calvin Leach paid 500 pounds, which Clarendon deposited on the 18th.]

[Gus Bullock went to Halliday's on June 1st, probably to pressure Clarendon into paying Kilgore back. The first robbery was the day after that.]

[Clarendon is pretty much confirmed to be Society Burglar at this point.]

[Why was the 2000-pound deposit, which was earned from two jewels, deposited all at once? This implies that Clarendon did not meet Calvin Leach after stealing the 11th June jewel until after he stole the 15th June jewel, so he sold the two together. I should make a day chart]

[11th June = Monday, 15th June = Friday, 17th June = Sunday, 18th June = Monday]

[Okay, so it looks like he only meets Calvin Leach on weekends. He likely sold the 11th + 15th June jewels on Saturday (or maybe Friday night), and deposited on Saturday as well. The 17th June jewel (Sunday) was likely sold on the same day, probably at night, since the deposit was made the day after.]

[For some reason, Clarendon paused his robberies. Maybe his guilty conscience caught up to him; he probably only did the robberies to pay back Kilgore. Once it was paid back, Kilgore and/or Leach might have egged him on to continue his talent, but after two more robberies, he couldn't handle it anymore and quit. Apparently, they were still meeting though, according to Shinwell. Then, something prompted him to make another robbery on July 1st, which was a Sunday. There was a meeting that night too, and Shinwell specifically said these meetings continued until the night before the murder, so he probably sold the July 1st tiara to Calvin Leach. This would imply that he should have 2500 pounds in his possession when he died, but the crime scene visit did not mention any money. Maybe he paid somebody (Killgore?) with it?]

[Clarendon feeling bad about the robberies would also explain why Society Burglar only takes one jewel at a time; his victims would not experience a heavier loss than just the single jewel. Clarendon was likely fully capable of stealing a lot more from each victim, which would allow him to pay back Killgore earlier, but his conscience would not subject his targets to such enormous losses, so he chose to spread it around across more victims, restricting himself to only one jewel from each.]

[Clarendon must've repaid his debt to Kilgore in the weekend before the 11th, i.e., 8th to 10th. Shinwell said they got back together after about a month, so Kilgore banning Clarendon would be around the 8th to 10th of May, or near that ballpark. May 10th is when he approached Frances Nolan... yeah, okay, it seems Locke was right about Clarendon being after her money.]

[Well, maybe he initially approached Frances for her money, but it's possible that genuine love developed between them. While I'm not sure when or how he got the initial 5000 pounds, he kept it in his bank until June 1st, instead of paying Kilgore back earlier. Maybe he wanted to completely wash his hands off of Kilgore, and tried to avoid him. Perhaps, this is why he starting living in Halliday's instead, since Kilgore knew his usual residence (31 SW). But Bullock found him and confronted him on June 1st, causing him to withdraw the 5000 pounds and start these robberies to pay back Kilgore. Maybe the three extra robberies (8th, 11th, 15th June) were done to make money to buy Frances a ring for marriage, but then he despised himself for what he became and resolved to earn money through honest work from then on. However, it seems he couldn't completely evade Kilgore, since the meetings presumably continued, and something caused him to give in and make a final robbery on July 1st...]

[Of course, this does not explain the other unknown woman, especially since her frequent visits to Halliday's were after June 1st, contradicting my theory that he was serious about Frances. Unless... the woman is not a romantic interest, after all. When checking Guy Clarendon's residence, I saw two other Clarendons: Sir Francis Clarendon and Lady Gertrude Clarendon, all in the same residence (31 SW). Now, they could be his parents, but I don't think wives are usually in the directory unless they're living separately from their husbands (I distinctly recall the absence of Countess von Schulenberg). Furthermore, Watson mentioned that Guy was the "younger Clarendon", implying there is an older sibling. If it was an older brother, he should have been listed in the directory as well (his last name wouldn't change), but there isn't another entry, so I think the older Clarendon is a sister, unmarried and living with her father (but still has the Lady title because she is the daughter of a Sir? I'm not too sure how titles work). Perhaps she is sympathetic to Guy's plight, and he confided her about his escape to Halliday's (but maybe not about the robberies), so she would frequently visit him.]

[That being said, I'm not sure his sister would accompany him to Raven & Rat, and even if she did, Shinwell would likely have recognized her, or at the very least, not mistake her as his "lady friend". But I'm also pretty sure Frances wasn't the one accompanying Clarendon in these visits.]

[Also, let's try mapping locations again:]
[- Raven & Rat: 52 EC]
[- Kilgore's Gaming Parlor: can't find it in the directory, but Kilgore himself lives at 21 SE; Shinwell also said it's in the southeast (presumably relative to Raven & Rat)]
[- Halliday's: 15 SW]

[Okay, Kilgore's residence is very far from Raven & Rat; they're at the extreme south and north ends of London respectively. I don't think Kilgore would be holding late meetings at Raven & Rat. That being said, Shinwell clearly said that Clarendon and his "lady friend" would drop by here on their way to or from Kilgore's Gaming Parlour, which I think would only make sense if the other endpoint is very close to Raven & Rat, particularly within walking distance, i.e., they'd stop by Raven & Rat before they take a cab to the Gaming Parlour, or after they step off the cab from the Gaming Parlour. From the map, I would guess 54 EC, but 53 EC or 55 EC are possible too; but no further.]

[The meetings happening late into the night would imply that Clarendon had been sneaking out (likely in his all-black outfit) from his bedroom window, and climbing back in through the ivy, since Halliday's is vigilant about night entries.]

[Anyway, let's go and have a chat with this older sister]

<4> 31 SW (Clarendon residence)
-------------------------------
- Sir Francis Clarendon was disappointed in his only son, gave him 5000 pounds about a month ago [the amount he withdrew on June 1st] and told him that was the last that Guy would see of his father's money.
- Apparently he was gambling on all hours of the night with that "wild woman", who was none other than... Loretta Nolan [okay, I absolutely was not expecting THAT!!! I had initially dismissed Loretta as irrelevant, but now I need to examine her properly after this lead]
- Gertrude was his mother after all [and apparently he's an only child??? I guess "younger Clarendon" was to distinguish him from his father, wow, I am stupid]
- Butler tells us that Guy wasn't all that bad.
- About five weeks ago [please give some dates, man! Well, it would be the last week of May anyhow, so shortly before Guy moved to Halliday's], a formidable-looking character with a scar on his face [Bullock] was hanging about, walking up and down the street for most of the evening.
- At 3 am that night, the butler heard a clatter in the house and went to check, to find Guy all battered and bruised with a fresh cut in his forehead.

[Okay, I was completely wrong about the lady being his sister, but learning that she was Loretta is huge progress. Looks like Bullock was beating up Guy, presumably for not paying back Kilgore, and this may have led Guy to move out and stay at Haliday's. I'm guessing he saw Bullock outside the window of his room, waiting for him to come out, which is what prompted Guy to request the room whose window only faced a brick wall. But this caused Bullock to just wait in the lobby instead.]

[Alright, so... Loretta. She was aged 4-5 at the time when her parents died, and she was inside the carriage herself, but was miraculously unharmed. Frances mentioned a doctor looking after her, which I had assumed was due to her trauma. Frances is the legal guardian of Loretta... does this mean Loretta is not an adult yet? Loretta would also know Frances better than anyone else, so she might even have anticipated that Frances would collapse and lose her memory at the crime scene. In fact, even if Frances's memory loss was not due to seeing a person die, it's possible that Loretta would know exactly what would trigger the memory loss and may even be able to deliberately invoke whatever it was.]

[In fact, she might have been with Frances during the recent memory loss incidents as well. The one at Lambeth Walk, which was from their homes, was when Frances wanted to inquire about a house to stay with her sister for a vacation being planned, so it's likely that her sister was accompanying her for this trip, even Frances doesn't quite recall her presence due to the memory loss.]

[So Clarendon was dating both sisters at the same time...? Well, the first time Frances met him was in a party that Loretta went to (Frances only came to pick her up after she fell into a fountain), so Clarendon probably knew Loretta for quite a while. Maybe after he sucked Loretta's wealth dry from gambling, he decided to go claim Frances's wealth. Loretta herself may have pushed him to do so, never imagining that he would actually become serious about Frances. But Clarendon wanted to get away from this wild life, from all the gambling, and dealing with people like Loretta and Kilgore, and ended up genuinely falling in love with Frances, despite his original intention to manipulate her for wealth. Once Loretta found out about Clarendon's true feelings (maybe from Frances telling her that they were getting married), she may have sought to kill Clarendon out of jealousy, and probably called Frances in to frame her for murder. As a bonus, Frances being executed would mean that Loretta would inherit the rest of the estate.]

[Speaking of the proposal, Frances said that Clarendon's father promised to get the church of Caterbury for the wedding, but his father dismissed Frances's name when he was referring to Loretta instead, implying that the father certainly did not know of any kind of relationship between Frances and Guy. My guess is that Guy wanted to hide his father's estrangement from Frances, but truly believed that his father would approve of the marriage and promise the church of Canterbury once Guy reconciles with his father. He may have been waiting until he earned proper wealth from honest work, possibly even planning to repay his father of the 5000-pound parting gift, and he may also have wanted to make sure he cleanly breaks off his connections to Loretta and Kilgore first. He still lied and claimed his father promised the church, to comfort Frances of something that he truly believed would come to pass.]

[Time to confront Loretta!]

<5> 21 SW (Loretta Nolan)
-------------------------
- A man resembling an Arabian outfit, with a curved scimitar even, guarded Loretta's home.
- Loretta is reclining on silk pillows with a similar male Arabian outfit, puffing a hookah [what the heck]
- she laughs at our discomfort, and breaks out of her roleplay
- She said Guy was fun to be with, and that Frances is an innocent among the lions [I don't think she's referring to innocence in terms of the crime, but rather, that she is living a respectable life while being close to Loretta and Guy who have these wild night activities.]

[did this Arabian roleplay arise from mental scarring from the trauma she experienced from her parents' deaths...?]

[She had a large laugh, further suggesting that she was the frequent visitor at Halliday's. On that note, her residence is very close to Halliday's, within walking distance]

[Given that Loretta was puffing on a hookah, and seems to have a knack for Arabian roleplays, she is probably very familiar with hashish. It's possible that hashish or a similar drug causes Frances to experience these memory-loss blackouts, and manipulated her into coming to Halliday's.]

[But... there is a problem with this theory. Guy poured a drink in his Suite, so he was aware that there was a guest in his room. Loretta must have stayed the night in his suite. Given that Clarendon had a meeting that very night, it's possible that he met Loretta on the way and they climbed into his suite together. They may have done this multiple times in the past too. So when did Loretta have the opportunity to drug and manipulate her sister? Maybe she snuck out in the morning, knowing that Clarendon would still be asleep by the time she came back. She may even have spiked his drink (with sleeping pills, not hashish), but left her glass on the table. Then she could leave a letter for her sister, probably saying something like how she'll be able to catch Clarendon cheating on her if she comes to the Halliday's Suite at 9 am, while also drugging her breakfast. She could have returned before Clarendon woke up. Loretta made sure Frances was right in the center of the room when Loretta shot Clarendon, who just woke up and was leaving the bedroom. Loretta placed the gun in Frances' hand, and scampered out the bedroom window.]

[If Loretta did sneak inside her sister's house, then her maid might know something]

<6> 46 WC (Frances Nolan)
-------------------------
- Grace gave Frances the cocoa after the doctor left at 10 [just as Frances said]
- Frances's bedroom light went out at 11:30.
- Grace woke up in th emiddle of the night, thinking she heard something [Loretta sneaking in?] and listened but heard nothing more [Loretta knows the house very well, she can move around stealthily in it]
- Grace woke up at 7:30, was ready by 8 and went to prepare breakfast when Frances left.

[Not much, but the noise seems to confirm that Loretta snuck inside the room. A good opportunity to drug Frances and leave a letter that would make Frances go straight to Haliday's. In fact, she might have done this even before Clarendon returned from his meeting with Kilgore and Leach.]

[I took one more look at the newspaper, and found a Milo Meyer, with experiments of NEW MESMERISM. I think this is worth checking out, since it seems the only weak link in my theory is Loretta's manipulation of Frances's actions, with the corresponding memory loss.]

<7> 63 SW (Olympia Theatre)
---------------------------
- Director, Mr Casey, describes that Milo de Meyer can submit to his will the most spectical of spectators.
- Milo de Meyer explains that hypnosis can be used on anyone, but it's easier for those in physically weakened conditions. [Frances was sleeping]
- The first step is to focus the attention of the subject on a specific element [maybe Loretta woke Frances up and hypnotized her in this groggy state]
- Subject cannot do something their moral values reject or that their physical capabilities do not allow. They would faint when faced with such a contradiction [Frances would go to Halliday's, but seeing Guy being shot would cause her to faint.]
- Certain drugs may help a subject enter a state of hypnosis, mainly light sedatives that are available with a light prescription. [Loretta probably has easy access to such drugs]

[Yeah, I think my theory of the events surrounding the murder work out well.]

[However, I still don't understand what caused Clarendon to make the July 1st robbery. Did he sell the tiara afterwards? His debt with Kilgore should have been cleared. I didn't want to visit all the robbery victims, but I think July 1st is an exceptional case that I should explore.]

<8> 30 SW (Sir Sanford Leeds)
-----------------------------
- Clarendon poured champagne down the robbery victim's clothes at the Richmond's party on the 20th. [Richmond himself was an earlier victim]
- This was the last time she wore the tiara
- It was kept in the bottom drawer of the bureau, under some of her more "frilly garments"
- This was their first night out after the Richmond party.

[While I'm surprised to see Clarendon explicitly mentioned, I'm not sure how pouring the champage down would relate to anything. I think the fact that they never left since the Richmond party might be relevant.]

[I'm actually not sure how Society Burglar was able to (a) learn exactly where their target jewel is kept, and (b) know of exactly when the victims leave. I observed that the Clarendon residence is quite close to all of these other places, so it's possible that these noble families all know each other, or at the very least, they are invited to the same events. Clarendon is still a noble, and maybe he would regularly visit his mother, chat with her, and she would divulge all the stories she heard from her friends, including where they hide their jewels. Clarendon himself seems to be attending these events as well.]

[I still think Clarendon was committed to quitting the stealing, but he decided to execute one final robbery, possibly so he can give the tiara to Loretta as a parting gift when he officially breaks up with her. Once he gave her the tiara, and confessed that his feelings for Frances were serious and that he even proposed to her, Loretta was extremely upset and hatched up her plan to kill him the very next morning and frame Frances.]

~~~~~~~~~
QUESTIONS
~~~~~~~~~
1. Loretta Nolan
2. She was upset that Clarendon was breaking up with her for her own sister, who he was initially planning to exploit for money (which Loretta likely encouraged him to do), leaving Loretta both single and penniless. This was also a great opportunity to eliminate her sister, who stole Clarendon from her, and her poverty would be overturned by inheriting her sister's share of their parents' estate.
3. She was hypnotized by Loretta, manipulated into going directly to Clarendon's suite in Halliday's.
4. Guy Clarendon
5. Calvin Leach is the dealer who buys the jewels that Clarendon steals, for half of their actual value.

6. I don't even know who this is
7. Or this.
8. Kilgore knows when the cops come within three blocks. I'm not exactly sure how he know this, but hey, at least I have some inkling about this point!

[After reading the solution (not the envelope), yeah, okay, I didn't think the doctor was relevant. Loretta would still get the inheritance, but I didn't consider that the doctor could have planned to manipulate her and retrieve a significant chunk of it. That being said, it doesn't explain Frances's recent blackouts... The doctor may have been around for the Hyde Park incident, but she wouldn't be bringing him to Lambeth Park to get info about a vacation house. Given that Frances's actions in the morning are (imo) the biggest and most important mystery to the case, I feel like the link to the doctor is relatively weak. Also, the fact that the doctor has no personal connection to Clarendon, and was still willing to kill him, and incriminate the sister of his patient which he apparently does not bear any ill will whatsoever, just so he could get some wealth (and that too in a roundabout way, by manipulating his patient out of money). Does he even feel like he is entitled to this wealth? Or is he in such a poor state of poverty that he is willing to basically murder any two people that he has no hostility towards just to claim their wealth? Even worse, one of them is his patient's loving sister... I find this conclusion very unsatisfying, personally.]

==========================
Case 4: The Lionised Lions
==========================

- Date: 17th August 1888

[...Okay, that was a short introduction. Gotta start with the newspaper this time.]

[It's not really appropriate to use this as a hint, but the case title is about lions, so the case should be about lions... However, I found four entries in the newspaper involving lions:]
[The most suspicious one is of two male lions being shot dead in Hyde Park. Why were there lions in Hyde Park anyway? And why were they shot?]
[Two of the entries involve Roy Slade's Wild African Extravaganza, one advertising the performance of O'Neill with eight full-grown lions, and another about O'Neill being injured yesterdary. It's possible that this relates to the first entry; perhaps O'Neill's injury was caused by an incident in Hyde Park that also led to two of his lions being killed.]
[The fourth entry is about presenting Britain as a lion against the Irish people who are seeking Home Rule. This is most likely irrelevant.]

<1> 95 NW (Hyde Park)
---------------------
- Warden found the two lions dead, early this morning
- 5-6 policemen came, witnessed the facts, and took away the bodies of the lions, as well as the cart and horses [There was a cart and horses left there? This suggests that somebody came in the cart, pulled by horses, but had left on foot. The injured O'Neill comes to mind.]
- The spot is about a 100 yards away from the path
- Among the wheel tracks are also traces of bare feet
- Grass is trampled all over on the crime scene
- Small dark brown spots [bloodstains] on both sides of the wheel tracks [were they killed in the cart? Were they found in the cart?]

[A few interesting points, but nothing that would suggest a lead, except that O'Neill seems more likely related now. Let's go visit him. ]

[Okay, there are two O'Neills in the directory: Phillip and Caroll. The injured lion tamer is Barry O'Neill, who is not in the directory. I guess I need to visit Hengler's Circus directly. By the way, Roy Slade isn't in the directory either.

<2> 47 WC (Hengler's Circus)
----------------------------
- Roy Slade confirmed that the lions belonged to Barry
- Barry joined up with Slade six months ago, in Marseilles
- While unloading the ship yesterday, one of the cases broke loose and landed on Barry, breaking both his legs. He's at the St Thomas Hospital atm.
- Barry and Roy met multiple times even before joining, in Africa.
- There's a boy, Mabudo, who helps Barry, but is afraid of lions. Barry's wife, Mary, walks around during Barry's show. She is staying with Barry's parents in London.
- Slade has no idea where the [remaining] lions are.

[I'm unsure if Barry is related, after all, since I doubt he could fake a case landing on his legs. He might, however, have done this intentionally? I can't imagine that he'd deliberately break his legs, but maybe the case was an excuse for him to get to the hospital? Worth a visit]

<3> 29 SE (St Thomas's Hospital)
--------------------------------
- Nurse is digusted by Barry and "that savage of his"
- Barry has both his legs in casts, hanging in traction.
- He calls to Mabudo, who gets ready to attack with a wooden tube.
- He commands Mabudo to stand down when we ask about the lions, but he says he doesn't know anything and can't go see them. He insists that he doesn't know anything and kicks us out.

[Mabudo is bare-footed, so he was likely present at the crime scene. But this is certainly quite odd... Barry was injured yesterday; even if he was faking the case landing on him or anything relating to it, the hospital would have examined him and apparently did not report anything unusual. So Barry really was bedridden since yesterday, whereas the murder on Hyde Park likely happened in the night. Barry could not have gone to Hyde Park. But bare-footed footprints suggest that Mabudo went to Hyde Park. Did he go without Barry? Mabudo is terrified of lions, so I can't imagine that he would bring the lions there without Barry. Did somebody else bring the lions, possibly to threaten Mabudo? Mabudo, however, does not use guns (nor does he seem to be the type of person who would use a gun) and fights with the wooden tube, so he is not the one who shot the lions.]

[Back to no leads. I'm not sure if I want to talk to his wife, since I feel like she is unrelated, and I also don't know which of the two O'Neill entries in the directory would be one of Barry's parents.]

[Looking at past newspaper entries, I found that the Case 3 newspaper has an entry about a "Thomas O'Neill" as an internationally suspected criminal for stealing jewels. The theft happened on July 2, with the victim being the Duchess of Oldenburg. Could this Thomas O'Neill be related to Barry O'Neill? Maybe brothers?]

[Even further back, the Case 1 newspaper has an entry about a burglar throwing a smoke bomb at RS Garrard & Co Jewellers before looting a display case of jewels. The chief suspect is Thomas O'Neill, who was known to be in London within the last few days. This incident happened in March 11th.]

[Here's a wild idea: Thomas O'Neill stole jewels and then hid them in the lions' stomachs to avoid police searches. Barry was probably supposed to meet Thomas in Hyde Park on the night of the 16th August to extract the stolen jewels. But he was bedridden due to the injury, and sent Mabudo instead. But Mabudo is terrified of lions, and is definitely not capable of getting the lions to regurgitate the jewels, so Thomas O'Neill shot the lions instead to get the jewels out.]

[I cannot think of a better motive for killing lions, aside from self-defense. But since it was established that Barry couldn't go to Hyde Park, and must have sent Mabudo with the lions, with Mabudo being unable to tame the lions, it doesn't seem like anybody there had tried to use the lions to attack, so self-defense is unlikely.]

<4> 44 EC (RS Garrard & Co Jewellers)
-------------------------------------
- Someone who was well-dressed and wearing a travel bag threw the smoke bomb.

[Okay, checking here was useless. Thomas O'Neill was probably the culprit.]

[Looking back at the Hengler Circus lead, it seems that when Roy Slade met Barry O'Neill in Marseilles six months ago, Barry O'Neill was bringing the lions to the Continent. Why would he do so? Barry frequently travelled to Africa before that, capturing live animals. Why the sudden interest in bringing lions to Europe? He didn't already join a circus at the time, because Roy Slade met him after he was already bringing lions to Europe. I suspect that his motive was to hide the jewels that Thomas O'Neill steals, and Roy Slade offering him a position as a circus entertainer provided the perfect cover.]

[With no good ideas for next leads, and a solid theory, I think I'll go ahead and send it in.]

~~~~~~~~~
QUESTIONS
~~~~~~~~~
1. Thomas O'Neill
2. To retrieve jewels that were swallowed by the lions
3. Barry was supposed to bring the lions to Thomas and get the lions to regurgitate the jewels non-lethally, but was unable to do so due to the injury.
4. Thomas O'Neill was the one who stole the jewels to begin with, and also the one who killed the lions.
5. No clue
6. Mabudo [why is this a bonus question???]
7. No clue
8. No clue

[I find it very odd that Holmes did not even visit the crime scene in his solution. That should generally be the first lead; speculating about the nature of the murder sounds quite absurd without it. It was rather convenient that, for this particular case, there was nothing in the crime scene that would suggest any deviation from the theory, and I don't think it's reasonable for even someone like Holmes to confidently form such a conclusion without at least verifying the crime scene.]