April 2014….
"It was a dark and stormy night, the car drew up sharp, the lights dimmed, she got out. I was surprised or maybe I wasn't. She was the kind of broad who'd show up exactly when you didn't expect it and I didn't expect it.
I needed a cigarette but waited until she entered the milonga at the old haunt before flicking my lighter. The old haunt. Huh. If walls could speak. It's not so much a place as a collection of odd balls who assemble on borer-ridden floorboards to dance tango.
Any of them could've done it and it was my job to work out who. I followed her in."
I needed a cigarette but waited until she entered the milonga at the old haunt before flicking my lighter. The old haunt. Huh. If walls could speak. It's not so much a place as a collection of odd balls who assemble on borer-ridden floorboards to dance tango.
Any of them could've done it and it was my job to work out who. I followed her in."
"It's starting to make sense to me now.
This letter is dated the 5th of March but it wasn't delivered until the 5th of April. At first glance one would think it a very ordinary letter about cabbages, the weather and what-not. It is not until the final phrase that a glimmer of truth is revealed. "I'll see you there" it says, meaning the dress-up milonga at Floorspace. Rather an odd turn of phrase from someone who is blind and knock-kneed, don't you think? Especially if that someone knew full well that by the 5th of April Dorothy would be unable to attend the milonga or any social function for that matter. She'd be laid out in the morgue and the only dressing up that would be done would be by the undertaker."
Sherlock Holmes: Tell me what you see, Watson.
Watson: I see a woman's shoe.
Sherlock: Anything else?
Watson: Well it's a left shoe, gold straps, stilleto heel of about three and a half inches. By the label I see it is made in Buenos Aires. Scuffed on the inside edge.
Sherlock: Very good.
Watson: Did I get everything?
Sherlock: You did very well, Watson, better than usual. You saw all that is obvious but missed everything of importance.
Watson: (with facial expression of disappointment and admiration combined) Well, go on Sherlock, tell me.
Sherlock: Look closely at the strap. You can see by the indentations that it's usually buckled on the third hole.
Watson: yes…
Sherlock: but the shoe was wrenched off while buckled on the fifth. If the shoe had been buckled on the third we would know her intention was, in fact, dancing. But, that it was buckled on fifth indicates clearly that she was up to something, needed an alibi. And look at the stilleto: damp at the base.
Watson: oh, yes…
Sherlock: She's been walking on wet grass, maybe through a puddle… no. No! Smell that Watson. What is it?
Watson: (sniffs) I don't know but it smells familiar...
Sherlock: It's precisely the same smell we discerned near Knox Hall.
Watson: By Jupiter! so it is, Sherlock!
Sherlock: And Watson.
Watson: Sherlock?
Sherlock: How you missed the blood splats, I don't know.
Watson: I see a woman's shoe.
Sherlock: Anything else?
Watson: Well it's a left shoe, gold straps, stilleto heel of about three and a half inches. By the label I see it is made in Buenos Aires. Scuffed on the inside edge.
Sherlock: Very good.
Watson: Did I get everything?
Sherlock: You did very well, Watson, better than usual. You saw all that is obvious but missed everything of importance.
Watson: (with facial expression of disappointment and admiration combined) Well, go on Sherlock, tell me.
Sherlock: Look closely at the strap. You can see by the indentations that it's usually buckled on the third hole.
Watson: yes…
Sherlock: but the shoe was wrenched off while buckled on the fifth. If the shoe had been buckled on the third we would know her intention was, in fact, dancing. But, that it was buckled on fifth indicates clearly that she was up to something, needed an alibi. And look at the stilleto: damp at the base.
Watson: oh, yes…
Sherlock: She's been walking on wet grass, maybe through a puddle… no. No! Smell that Watson. What is it?
Watson: (sniffs) I don't know but it smells familiar...
Sherlock: It's precisely the same smell we discerned near Knox Hall.
Watson: By Jupiter! so it is, Sherlock!
Sherlock: And Watson.
Watson: Sherlock?
Sherlock: How you missed the blood splats, I don't know.
