Prompt from W. Y. Traveller: Frost
"You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles."
~ Holmes in The Boscombe Valley Mystery, ACD
The Case of the Missing Silver Sculpture
The frosty-haired butler, with a long-suffering sigh, reiterated his story, "I saw the sculpture when I secured the place after everyone retired in bed. It was around 11 o'clock last night. I do not recall seeing it when I came down to the study at 8 o'clock this morning."
"I cannot imagine who would take such a trophy. The silver might be valuable but I treasured the memories of Silver Blaze's triumphs on the racetrack more." Lady Frost shed a tear as she rearranged the fresh roses on the sideboard.
"Why do you think I know anything?" the groundskeeper grumbled. "I saw a light through the window when I passed by early to get a head start on my duties. It was dark and the hoarfrost was thick upon the panes."
"Can you identify the figure you saw?" Holmes' questioning suddenly chilled with an unmistakeable touch of frost as he addressed the groundskeeper. "Think carefully before you answer."
"No, I couldn't even tell you if it was a man or a woman." He glared at Holmes with such frosty focus that even Jack Frost might shiver.
"If that is your final answer, then I suggest, Constable, that we begin our search for the frosted silver figurine in the garden where this here, groundskeeper, was digging."
~221B ~
"But how did you know that it was the groundskeeper?" Watson asked later that evening.
"I must thank you for the answer, Watson. As you aptly suggested after my last, ah, misstep upon the ice, I updated my brain attic on the solid phases of H2O. Those flowers Mrs Frost was arranging were freshly cut this morning and unharmed by frost. No frozen crystallisation, thick as the groundkeeper claimed, could have obscured his view through the window. He was lying."
"Brilliant!" Watson exclaimed.
"Elementary when one has all the facts at his disposal."
And, if the song had been written back in the late 1800s (instead of 1950), Watson may have been heard to hum the cheery festive tune, Frosty the Snowman.
A/N: I am definitely getting into the winter theme with recent prompts being ice and now frost.