Hampir setiap saat saya makan buah jeruk yang didalamnya terdapat bijinya, saya selalu teringat dengan sebuah kasus yang pernah ditangani oleh Sherlock Holmes. Kasusnya disebut kasus ‘Lima Biji Jeruk’ atau dalam bahasa aslinya “The Five Orange Pips”. Sebagai informasi saja, di Jepang, buah jeruk adalah buah yang tren dan menjadi biasa di musim dingin sampai awal musim semi. Buah jeruk di Jepang (yang dijual dipasar dan supermarket) umumnya tanpa biji. Namun ada salah satu varietas jeruk, yang hanya tren di awal musim semi yang memiliki banyak biji. Beberapa saat lalu saya memakannya, dan seperti yang sudah-sudah, saya teringat kembali kasus “The Five Orange Pips”.

Antara tahun 1882 – 1890, telah banyak kasus yang ditangani Sherlock Holmes (SH). Tahun 1887 sendiri banyak terjadi kasus sebagaimana Watson, karib SH menulis dalam awal-awal halaman episode ini, “Among my headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the British bark Sophy Anderson, of the singular adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man’s watch, to prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time — a deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the case.”
Namun, Watson mengatakan, semua itu masih kurang menarik bila dibandingkan dengan kasus unik, Lima Biji Jeruk (The Five Orange Pips).

Diawali cerita di akhir bulan September 1887, seorang pemuda mengaku bernama John Openshaw, datang ke kediaman SH di Baker Street 221B. Sang pemuda menceritakan bahwa pamannya, suatu hari di buan Maret 1883 menerima kiriman surat beramplop dari luar negeri, dengan ‘Pondicherry postmark’, dari India. Didalam amplop berisi 5 buah biji jeruk. Sang pemuda bercerita ke SH, “I began to laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he still held in his trembling hand, ‘K. K. K.!’ he shrieked, and then, ‘My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!’.”.

Malam itu juga, sang paman yang mantan kolonel memanggil pengacara, Mr Fordham, membuat surat wasiat. Sang paman mengatakan kepada keponakannya, “I wish you, John, to witness my will. I leave my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can’t say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper where Mr. Fordham shows you.”
Berikutnya diceritakan bahwa setelah insiden 5 biji jeruk itu, sang paman berubah, mulai mabuk, melakukan hal-hal yang aneh, termasuk selalu membawa revolver. Terkadang berteriak dalam mabuknya, kalau dia tak takut apapun, baik manusia atau iblis. Sering mengurung diri layaknya orang yang tertekan oleh teror yang berakar dalam jiwanya. Sering berkeringat, meski di hari-hari yang dingin.

Selanjutnya, John Openshaw, sang pemuda menceritakan ke SH:
“Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when we went to search for him, face downward in a little green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, brought in a verdict of ‘suicide.’ But I, who knew how he winced from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank.”
“One moment,” Holmes interposed, “your statement is, I foresee, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the date of his supposed suicide.”
“The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks later, upon the night of May 2d.”

Sesuai dengan wasiat, kekayaan dan rumah sang paman menjadi milik ayah John. Sampai sekitar 2 tahun berikutnya, di awal tahun 1885, sang ayah menerima amplop yang serupa, amplop berisi 5 biji jeruk, dengan kode K.K.K di amplopnya, serta pesan ‘put the papers on the sundial‘. Kali ini terkirim dari Dundee, sesuai dengan stempel post-nya. Sang ayah mengabaikan kiriman itu, sekaligus mengabaikan kekhawatiran John. Lalu, 5 hari berikutnya sang ayah ditemukan tewas dalam perjalanan ke tempat koleganya. Pihak berwajib menyatakan kematiannya sebagai ‘death from accidental causes‘.

Berikutnya, 2 tahun 8 bulan sejak kematian ayahnya, John seolah menerima kutukan yang sama. Dia menerima amplop yang serupa, berisi 5 biji jeruk, kode K.K.K dan pesan singkat ‘put the papers on the sundial‘. Kali ini terkiri dengan stempel pos London.

Apakah Sherlock Holmes berhasil memecahkan kasus ini???  Anda bisa membaca selengkapnya di:
http://221bakerstreet.org/adventures/five_orange_pips.txt

Sumber:
Five Orange Pips In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 1891: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [http://221bakerstreet.org/]
‘Five Orange Pips’ is the one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories, the fifth of the twelve stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. First published in The Strand magazine in November 1891 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Orange_Pips]