8
"The Daughters of Corinth"
The veil of the mist covered the streets as if it wanted to mask the filth of the city. But nothing could ever cover the obscenity of the people living in here. Peek into their houses and you will catch a glimpse of their true nature which is well hidden in an outwardly safe four walls. In every minute, the thought of committing crime crosses somebody's mind and Sherlock knows how often they take it a step further, they go from thinking to doing. Sometimes I think that he can deduce somebody's intentions even before they actually take an action.
It was one of those lazy days, when the London was unusually calm and Sherlock was bored out of his mind. After few months, I knew that nothing good will come out of this state in which he falls every time there is no peculiar case for him to investigate. I could only hope that he won't think of using me or Mrs Hudson as an object of study, because it happened many times. Although, I must admit that we were never hurt, at least not badly hurt. Holmes did not see any downsides of using us, especially me, in his study. "Sacrifices have to be made in order to achieve the results!" he said. "And you, my friend, you are the one which I know best, and so if any disturbance will occur in your behaviour, I will notice it in an instance". I cannot argue with that. Still I had some hope left to stick to, that he has some boundaries, which he wouldn't cross. But today, he wasn't interested in examining me.
About the noon, few letters came in and I didn't see anything strange about this, in fact, every day my flatmate receives many letters, from all over the world. People want to engage him in cases, which the police was unable to solve or didn't ever take a look at them because it wasn't their area of work. Also they offer him a substantial amounts of money to convince him to take the case and give them some answers they for some reasons need. Most of those papers end up getting burned and so did almost every letter received today. From his behaviour, I could tell that he wasn't satisfied with its contents. He was almost lying in an armchair with legs hanging over an armrest, beside the fireplace. However, he wasn't relaxed because he was nervously tapping his feet, while his eyes were concentrated on the letter. Rolling his eyes in annoyance or a loud grunt sometimes proceeded throwing a paper into the fire. But one letter stopped the monotonous tapping.
"That's interesting..." he whispered and raised himself from the chair.
I kept looking at him but he wasn't going to continue so I asked "What? What's interesting?", but he already wasn't listening to me, not even noticing my presence as if I wasn't there. He got sucked into the contents of the letter. Few minutes later, he was still studying the written text
"Truly amazing, astonishing. That can be to our advantage in catching a criminals. Marvellous discovery, Francis. Touché!" he again was talking to himself and getting comfortable in an armchair but I could no longer stand the suspension and I shouted "Holmes!".
He instantly looked at me and smiled with delight "Yes, yes. You want to know what did I just read and I can't blame you for that because that is truly remarkable. I got the letter from Sir Francis Galton, an old acquaintance of Mycroft." He stood up and started walking around the room. "They were involved in some research concerning the above-average intelligence but as far as I know, this Englishman has a very broad interests in an anthropology, a journeys to far-distant countries, meteorology and silly psychometrics and controversial eugenics. But finally he made a valuable discovery on the human palm. More precisely on the fingertips. Apparently the mark they make is unique for every person in the world. According to his researches, two identical fingerprints don't exist. Do you understand what that means? With the method he described, I can identify the criminal who left his fingerprints on the crime scene." He finally sat down and started to tap he's fingers on the armrest.
He behaved as if he was expecting someone but I didn't know whom, so I sat in front of him, knowing he wouldn't let me be uninformed for too long.
"We will have a visitor. He has send me a note today. Message was that the case is urgent and he can't wait no longer. Mr Roy should be here any minute. He didn't write any details, why he needs our help so I believe he has quite some news. "
Few minutes later a man in his thirties came into the room. There was something inappropriate about him, although he was well-dressed, and I could tell that he was a wealthy man. However, I was sure that Sherlock is about to make a man confused by his power of deduction and will prove that he made a good choice by coming to him. I stood up and made a seat free for a newcomer. Sherlock was still sitting and he waved his hand invitingly.
"Please, come in and take a seat" he said. "I suppose there's no need to waste time to exchange courtesies." I was a bit confused with this impolite words coming from Holmes but he was clearly disappointed by the appearance of our visitor.
"Good afternoon, how can we help you?" I asked politely to make a good impression of which my flatmate clearly did not care, but of Mr Roy was extremely tense, and he kept glancing at the windows and the door and surprisingly only on me. I was afraid that he will turn about and go back where he came from, but in spite of this inner fight he was still standing at our doorway. The despair was reflected on his face. I felt sorry for this poor man but Sherlock seemed to be impassive.
"You can speak freely, this is my assistant Mr Watson and he has proven himself to be a discrete person." Holmes as always answered unasked question and allayed the anxiety "I understand that your carter is spying on you for your wife but you should stop worrying, she already knows about your mistress. And for the next time, I wouldn't disturb the Turkish family that runs the spice store a street away from here. I heard that the father of those girls is a very impulsive man. He is capable of doing more than just scaring you a little bit."
My friend with unhidden content looked at Mr Roy who was confused and stammered "H-how could you p-possibly know that?".
Sherlock closed his eyes and sat more comfortably in his armchair. "Watson, you have observed me doing this so many times, do you think you could explain this gentleman from what I deduced it all?"
Basically, I knew how it all works but to do what he had done was impossible to me. All I saw is a middle aged man who was shook up, wore a fashionable pieces of clothing in a professional grey colour. I coughed to clear my throat and started speaking "Well, I suppose the scent of spices is clear, but the rest is also a mystery to me, I see nothing beside the usual"
"Exactly, my Watson. You "see" but don't observe". Holmes suddenly opened his eyes and turned straight to the visitor. "Let's say I just see more than you, ordinary people do. Like you have a few black cumin seeds stuck to your jacket which must have found themselves there when, let's say the merriest of daughters had encountered you, and while escaping you wiped them off the table. I suppose you should also rub the lipstick away from your ear. You don't want to make your wife more upset." He stopped talking for a second, in order to give Mr Roy a time to comprehend what he just heard. After a heartbeat, he continued. "Also the collar of your shirt tells me that someone recently has grabbed you close to the neck, which got a bit more red than the rest of the skin. And the obvious smell of a sumac powder which is one of the favourite Turkish spices. And why would you go through that all? Because you pretended in front of your carter to go into the spice shop due to business of the trade union, of which you are a high member. Finally, your wedding ring tells me that you are married for not longer than a year because the outward part of the ring has no scratches, but the edges are rounded as a result of constant putting the ring on and off a finger. That means you have someone in your life who isn't supposed to know about your marriage. And that would be a lady whom initials JW are embroidered on the handkerchief that sticks out of your pocket
"Johanna. Johanna Smith, the love of my life. But my wife... she knows about her?" man said quietly and started nervously playing with his wedding ring.
"Unfortunately, she already knows. You should have noticed that about a week ago her behaviour towards you has changed, what I deduced from the condition of your moustache. She stopped taking such a good care for you which you could clearly see if you weren't torn by the emotions which made you a blind man".
The gentleman almost wept but he answered "So you probably also know that she was missing for a few days and now the police has found her dead at her house."
"No, I didn't make any conclusion like that because I don't have a proof to support that kind of statement. It would be a wild guess, and that is not what I do" as he spoke that, he joined his hands and asked the man for an explanation of what happened.
Mr Roy took a deep breath and began to unveil his relationship with Johanna.
"When my wife and I came to the store to pick a fabric for her new dresses, the unexpected happened. I saw the most beautiful and innocent human being that has ever stepped upon this rotten world. She had the most amazingly long hair in a colour of a dark chocolate. Later I came back to that place, by myself, desperate to gain some information about her. Mrs Steel took under her wing that unfortunate girl and gave her a room of her own. She even got rid of her awful dog because Johanna was allergic to an animal hair. She had nobody to care for her and after a week, despite Mrs Steel's strong objections, I decided that I will provide everything Johanna needs because I could not stand such an injustice. So she moved from that woman's house into a cosy flat in a good neighbourhood that I provided. She rarely asked for anything, perhaps because I was giving her more than she could ever think of. Week later our relationship changed into more intimate, if you know what I mean, and our love grew from that day on. It lasted until yesterday when Johanna has been gone missing. I must admit, at first I was blindfolded by her beauty but later on I figured it out that she was forced by Mrs Steel to sell her body. I let my sweetheart to think that I never knew the truth but when I wasn't able to find her, I thought that has to do something with that despicable woman. I went to her shop and demanded an answer but Mrs Steel looked confused. She muttered something about some girls going abroad and made an assumption that Johanna went with them but she knew nothing more. But I know that my love wouldn't do something like that to me. Every time I didn't contact her for a day or two, she was worried sick, so how could she do the same to me? I wondered but then I ran out of options and went to the police station just to find out that she has been found but she was... dead." Mr Roy made a dramatic ending to his story, but it was only the beginning of unfolding the truth. As I watched Sherlock, he nodded his head and said "Well, I cannot tell that is the brilliant crime but I see a potential in it. Let's not waste the valuable time and go to the police station. I want to see the body with my own eyes. Preferable, before those so called specialists would finally destroy all of the important evidences and clues."
Sherlock almost raced to the door, so I asked Mr Roy to write down his address and advised him to go home. "If we have some information, we will immediately contact you."
"T-thank you. I will be waiting".
Holmes stormed into the inspector Lestrade's office and I was a few steps behind him. My friend stumbled a little because clearly he wasn't expecting to see someone who wasn't Lestrade at his desk. Instead of him we encountered inspector Stuart. He obviously was expecting us, because although he did not raise his head from above the papers he still said
"Well, I was told that you two will come and meddle in the investigation" he straightened his glasses and leaned back in the chair. "So let's see what is true from what I have heard of you two"
"Tell me did you already investigate the Madame who runs the brothel?" boldly asked question flustered the inspector. His eyes widened but this little sign of surprise turned into understanding.
Sherlock smirked "Nowadays, it is difficult to recognise a prostitute if she has no heart-shaped tattoo. Those females are so sneaky, dressing as a decent and respectable woman would do."
Inspector blushed because of an anger. "Follow me" he said, and went down to the morgue. "We found her this morning at the flat. There were a signs of struggle but the victim knew the assailant because she let her in. There were no signs of breaking and entering."
"This was done by a female?" I asked surprised, because the poison was more common in crimes committed by females, not strangling..
"Yes, this is quite unusual, it took a lot of strength and skill to incapacitate the victim like that. But we have a witness who saw an older woman walking into the victims flat. Unfortunately, we are unable to identify her. However, the most peculiar was the red ribbon on the victim's neck, covering the bruises that appeared during the strangling."
"Show me the ribbon" Sherlock demanded and inspector reluctantly passed it to him.
Sherlock nodded and bend over the victim's body. "I bet that if you will look closer to the other recent female victims of murder, you will find the same red ribbon on their clothing or body. For, this isn't the first or the last victim of this assailant". Inspector called for one of his assistants and ordered him to check it. Holmes raised a sheet covering the body, first a little bit, just to take it all of with one strong and a little too dramatic move. He took out his magnifying glass and for next five minutes he looked closely to the body. "The victim knew that somebody is after her, and the rest of her friends that were kept woman. I will not dare to say more before I will gain some more new evidences to point a guilty". Suddenly, he leaned ever more closely to the body and shouted with satisfaction "Here it is!" He spread open the victims eyelid. "You made a good prediction that the murderer would have troubles to do it all only with her own strength. So I eliminated all the other possibilities and it appeared that the paralyzing drug must have been involved. That is indicated by the miosis and few other factors that your co-workers noticed but weren't able to put in together. They overlooked one important element of the puzzle and it all was as good as nothing for them. The drug is the reason why the assaulter would meet no resistance. Inspector, please come in here and tell me what you see."
"It's a small puncture wound, probably made with an needle, but that requires a great precision. We don't have a female physicians in London so a man had done it?"
"You are trying to hard to make it consistent. In that way you will miss other possible solutions. However I don't have time to teach you inspector. I wish now to take a fingerprints of the victims neck and see where that would lead me."
He took out numerous brushes and a kind of powder with a special paper to take the fingerprints off. We looked with curiosity at him and I silently explained what my friend is doing to Mr Stuart. Than the inspectors assistant came in.
"Sir, there is in fact a common factor linking the cases I found that were recently unsolved. It's not only the ribbon that connects the cases but the appearance of them. Every and each had a pale skin, slim figure, similar height and the most importantly long, brown hairs"
"Interesting enough. Let me see, I have got what I wanted and I think there is nothing more to see in here. But now I would like to go and see the shop with fabrics where Johanna worked".
As we were almost there, Sherlock glanced at me and said "Watson, I hope you won't be mislead by what we will see here and still stay focused.".
I did no quite understand what he meant by that but I hoped that he did not just reprimand me, before we walked into this house of pleasure where a lot of man has left their money and common sense. I did not expect an answer so soon but here it was, standing in the corner, almost glowing. As we walked in to Mrs Steel's store the explanation suddenly hit me. The big coil of a red fabric was in the corner of the store. A took a piece of it and went straight to Sherlock because only he could compare and recognise positively a two pieces fabric that could match.
"Holmes, I think I found something. And it suddenly makes sense to me. Mrs Steel is the murderer. The fabric comes from her store. She put down her own dog just to get her hands on the vial with the drug. She's obviously good with needles, just look at those dresses she makes. The reason she did it can be the falling down of her business and desperate need to make Johanna work for her again." Sherlock looked a bit disappointed..
"This is the same fabric but that's exactly against what I was warning you. Jumping to conclusions when there is more to it. Murdering her own courtesans? There was a struggle between the victim and murdered and I assure you, there are no signs of in on Mrs Steel. Mrs Steel told Mr Roy that her pupils went abroad. She knew that they are missing, probably ended up dead and if she told him the truth that would spread the panic among her costumers and the most importantly pupils. The girls were supposed to be cheerful and not terrified with the oncoming vision of painful death by strangulation. Then the subtle business would go down and in these times it's difficult to make a living for an old Lady." He walked over to Mrs Steel and said "Could you tell us who has bought from you this fabric lately? I know that it's not selling very well so the one who bought it, caused a lot of trouble to you and your girls."
Mrs Steel shivered and whispered "Are you from the police? I was expecting the police."
"No, Madam. We are better than the police. Now, take out the records and contribute to solving the mystery."
"I don't have to check it, I remember clearly who bought it. It was a wife of one of my costumers. But, Mr Holmes, she comes from a wealthy family and I don't want any trouble so I'm walking to the basement for the supply and when I will come back, I want you two to be gone." Then she tapped three times in the counter and disappeared behind the back door".
"What a lovely woman" I said and bend over the counter to take out the book. "Let's see..." I was leading my index finger up and down the list when I noticed the name which we both knew. Sherlock you will never guess who's name is written in here." I started all excited.
"Mrs Roy!" we said simultaneously.
Amazing. I think I will never get used to that. "How did you get to that?"
"Well as always I did my own little research. I stole Mr Roy's locket with a an image of his wife and a mistress. By the way, that's an odd idea to keep their photos together but it saved me a lot of trouble. I paid few people on the street and they told me who was regularly lurking around this shop, searching for her husband's mistress. She was blindfolded with anger. She couldn't stand the thought that her husband fall in love with some fake and tacky little courtesan instead of loving her, sophisticated. As I recall, she brought quite a fortune into the marriage, and now he was spending most of their income on a mistress. She watched how woman were brought down with their reckless husbands so she took care of her problem. But she did not identify the girl so she was going to kill one girl after another. That was her revenge. Prostitutes are an easy target, they usually have a bad life but some of them like Johanna and her friends had a cosy life till the end."
"Poor girl. She almost made it to live like Fanny Hill."
"Almost" Sherlock agreed and then continued. "She met the prostitutes under a pretext of buying the fabric from which she made the ribbons. After all, no other colour suits this profession better than red. She even engaged Johanna into a small talk and that's why she let her into the flat so easily. Perhaps they discovered some common grounds and Johanna saw it as an opportunity to meet and mingle into the upper class through Mrs Roy. For obvious reasons, Mr Roy didn't introduce his mistress to his splendid company. Girl like Johanna finally got bored with the small parties with other kept woman and their benefactors. Now we can send a note to the police station and invite them to out flat. They should come right in time to catch our murderous beauty."
Sherlock used a simple trick to lure the woman into the flat. He wrote a enigmatic note to Mrs Roy, pretending to be a prostitute. He left a strong scent of perfumes, that only unrefined woman would use, on a flashy and bold stationery. It was already an offense to send a letter looking like that to a noble lady like as she perceived herself. She would definitely come after Holmes threatened to turn her in to the police unless she pays twenty thousand pounds for the silence. Clever woman like Mrs Roy would come here with the cruel intentions. Inspector Stuart was sceptical but he and I were hidden behind the closet, and Sherlock dressed as a woman in a specially arranged for the occasion room. He looked ridiculously but in a dark room it worked. We heard quiet steps and there was out murderer with the intention to kill. She pretended that she wanted only to talk but the circumstances seemed to her to favourable. She grabbed a candleholder and would have smashed my friends head if he wasn't so limber. That was enough for the inspector and the stopped the woman from hurting anyone else.
Later Mrs Roy mourned the loss of two women he loved in completely different ways. The one was his wife behind the bars and the other the mistress and a cheerful companion, the daughter of Corinth.