Part 7 (2/2)
”What do you estiue, his atte constable
”Very droll, Hol the poor constable as one of his fellows slaps his back The bile of his sto jolts out to join his expelled breakfast in a , and I pull up the collar on reatcoat and pull down the bri
”I would suggest death by decapitation,” I posit, as my mind wanders to a warm fire back at Baker Street and some of Mrs Hudson's homemade scones
Holmes looks sharply over his shoulder at me, one knee sodden where it supports hi with the deluge frorey clouds above
”Is that your professional opinion, Doctor?”
Despite having been his acquaintance-I hesitate to say ”friend” -for several years, and although it was doubtful anyone could ever say they actually ”knew” Sherlock Holmes, I do, for the most part, believe I can decipher his mores and whimsies better than most Yet I could rarely tell with any certainty when he was being serious and when he favoured sarcasence-which, by the baroe but pales to the reue-but most pointedly, I believed, of my capacity for forbearance, for Hol, Holer to be away from this squalor and to environs entirely e of the poor and the deprived, and, while not blind to their plight, I had no wish to associate with it any longer than I had to
”Wrong!” he snaps, standing straight and sweeping across the narrow alley to a pool of viscera, thinning with every passing second as the pouring rain diluted it ”Watson, you are as blind as you are drenched A lay, I suspect, in the theatre of it, ”little better than the observations of Inspector Lestrade” He turns to the inspector to who black coat and hat ”Wouldn't you say, Inspector?'
”Get on with it, Hol to hide the scowl or his obvious displeasure at the incle with unfettered delight at a truth to which only he, with his prodigious deductive abilities, can see ”And here,” he adds, crouching down again to wet his other knee and ht hand, ”is the proof of it” Dropping the hand, he skips over to the head next ”And here, also See it?”
He puts this last question to , ”What am I supposed to be-”
”No, of course you don't,” he interrupts, ”none of you do, having already demonstrated the abject mediocrity of your observational skills”
”So illuminate us, Mr Holmes,” says Lestrade He pronounces the words, ”illoo thin
Hol down the curtain on his performance
”Doctor, consult your notebook, if you will, and tell me the approximate time of death based on this unfortunate individual's liver temperature, as noted e first entered Brick Lane and beheld this grisly scene now before us”
Slightly wrong-footed but quick to react, I leaf through my notebook and find the requested answer
”Approxiers, a tutor happy with his slightly di?” asks Lestrade, still not following
”Have you seen this man's hands, Inspector?” says Holmes ”Have you seen his face? Have you examined, observed or noticed his other extremities at all? In short, have you perceived or inspected anything in this alley toof your profession and rank a just one?”
”Watch it,” he warns, but stoops alongside Holer to witness the conclusion of ue's antics, despite my distaste for the either side as we flank him
Up close, and with the tior ent flush of pride at Holuarded smile, ”which should be impossible after only two hours, yet this man's hands are curled into claws Of course,” I continue,the boots and socks noses”
Barring a rather ugly carbuncle, the toes are perfectly fine
”No apparent rigor on the other extremy menthol handkerchief closer to my mouth and nose
Between inhalations, I add, ”The face is sirin,” I sneer the word, ”upon it Eyes are wide, pupils dilated No purpling or swelling of the tongue”
”And what is your analysis, my dear Watson?”
Holmes has followed me and I can practically smell the tobacco on his breath
”Well, I would say this man was dead before his head was removed and furthermore, that it sounds ridiculous but”
”He was scared to death!” declares Hol frohtmares coalesced into solid form, prompted such a reaction froht”
”If he was already dead, then why remove his head?” Lestrade chips in
Holnitively challenged inspector,” he says, ”is the question before us”
”Not to mention what that God-awful, bloodyto the pool of viscera slowly sluicing into Brick Lane's streets for stray dogs to lap at
”Indeed,” says Holmes, equally ebullient as he turns his razor-like attention on me ”Do you know, my dear Watson,” he adds, his expression al, ”I do believe there is hope for you yet”
He stands and stalks fro seen all he needs to of the evidence
”Hol now?” I hope it's back to Baker Street to dry out
”Mrs Hudson's ho out of sight as he leaves the cri my mind
”And, I suppose, a hot bath and a war the weather
”You really are on good for path through London's gloo or unable to tellhi that often the only possible recourse when he is in one of his moods is to simply accept it and let it run its course
Heback, about to take one street before favouring another and taking that instead By the tiar Square, I a to achieve
”Hol to shout to be heard, ue's attention falling on deaf ears