A/N: I was a hair too late in submitting my prompts to get in on the mix for days 1 and 2, so special thanks to SheWhoScrawls for providing me with a couple! :)

December 1: "Roses" (from SheWhoScrawls)

Watson's POV

December the first of the year eighteen ninety-five found Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself at the close of another successful case. Mr. Cartwright, an American millionaire newly moved to England, had just been taken into custody by none other than our good friend Inspector Lestrade, for the charge of willful murder.

Now Holmes stood before us in Cartwright's drawing room, explaining the last of the details to Lestrade and myself.

"…And thus Mr. Cartwright had both the motive, and the opportunity," concluded Sherlock Holmes, rising from his chair, and crossing the room to the window.

"But how was the poisoning carried out?" I asked, mystified despite his explanation.

"That is where the realm of fact ends and we find ourselves at the gateway to the land of conjecture," said Holmes, observing something outside the window. "However, if pressed, I suspect he used the medium of the curiously placed bouquet of roses. A curious method, to be sure, but you would find that I have a few cases in my records with stranger methods than this."

"Well, well…I never would have thought it," Lestrade muttered, shaking his head. He added aloud, "I will certainly take your advice, Mr. Holmes. But how do you know it was the roses?"

Holmes gave a little twitch of a smile as he turned away from the window, hands folded behind his back with the air of a professor about to begin a lecture. "While conducting an investigation, it is crucial to pay attention to all the events that led to the conclusion, not just those that were criminal. An hour before the death of Mr. Cartwright's landlady, a bouquet of roses was delivered to the house. Cartwright's alibi was indisputable, and yet he was the only one with any reason to wish ill on the woman. Thus, the roses were the means of doing her in. Perhaps the poison was on the thorns, or perhaps the greenery." He turned his attention to Lestrade directly. "I would strongly recommend putting every effort into finding where he disposed of these flowers, but wear gloves!"