Detective Sylvester Cross

Sylvester Cross is the most famed detective in all England, a bit of a fop in his mid 50s who walks with a stick because of an accident MM E1·00:28:29 MM E1·00:32:05. A newspaper calls him "the Hunter of Hampstead Street" MM E1·00:30:28. Grant says he began as the personal physician to Lord Ignatius Cottonbottom, whose son Fletcher Cottonbottom is his arch nemesis MM E1·00:32:05. A newspaper reports that he has left the McCabbage case uncracked, and Brennan says it is the first case he has taken that he did not crack MM E1·00:30:28 MM E1·00:34:08. His companion Lars is his "body man" MM E1·00:28:29.

Sylvester is a fox detective whose career began as physician to Lord Ignatius Cottonbottom, and whose arch nemesis is Ignatius's son Fletcher MM E1·00:32:05. In a flashback he swipes a stolen diadem off Daisy on a train, Brennan says they then fall head over heels in love, and he stands alone at the altar MM E2·00:08:12 MM E2·00:19:00 MM E2·00:26:17. The squire had hired him over the McCabbage death, and at the squire's 60th birthday party in 1905 he returns his fee in public MM E1·00:30:28 MM E1·01:38:01.

After the squire is found dead, Sylvester takes charge, rolls a natural 20 plus 9 on an investigation check, and shows the room that Mrs. Molesly's lapse is epilepsy MM E3·00:29:39 MM E3·01:07:43. In MM_05 he finds a fragment of Bavarian shrapnel in the squire's heart and says "This is not the wound that killed him." MM E5·00:31:34 MM E5·00:33:56. In MM_07 Gilfoyle says that the symbol on the wall "looks much like a fox" MM E7·02:14:49. Sylvester answers "My word, my handwriting's a perfect match." MM E7·02:15:12. Daisy holds up a page from the squire's desk, which Brennan reads as "Sylvester Cross, I am afraid" MM E7·02:15:57. The constabulary manacles him and he is thrown into the oubliette MM E7·02:17:18 MM E7·02:22:46. There he frees his hands with a thieves' pick from his deerstalker hat and rigs a gramophone so that he can hear the Seance Room MM E8·00:46:37 MM E8·00:51:39.

Lars sweeps the bags off the cellar door, and Sylvester rushes out of the oubliette into the kitchen MM E8·01:19:41. Before the elevator doors open in MM_09 he says "Fletcher Cottonbottom is the greatest villain I have ever known." MM E9·00:14:18. In the ritual chamber he points out that the writing's penmanship is a perfect match to his own MM E9·01:41:15. He crawls up the knotted rope to the tower, and at the window he sees the broken camera MM E10·00:27:30 MM E10·01:31:42. He says "That would be the nail in the coffin, at long last, of Fletcher Cottonbottom." MM E10·01:32:37. Rain melts the makeup on Lawrence Longfoot's hand, Fletcher Cottonbottom greets him, and Fletcher shoves him out of the window MM E10·01:32:48 MM E10·01:33:21 MM E10·01:36:57. He takes 9 damage from the fall, jams a pointed file into the electrical system, and survives his death saves on a natural 20 MM E10·01:50:35 MM E10·02:08:28 MM E10·02:23:22. In the epilogue he accepts Daisy's proposal, saying "I've been all around the world but I've never been home when I wasn't with you; I accept." MM E10·02:43:41.