Prompt: Use the 'Sherlock Holmes blood test' in some way. Explain why we never hear of it again, use it for the conclusion of a crime, or whatever you wish.
A/N: Again, many apologies for the late update! This time it was not due to a lack of computer... it was more due, in fact, to my unfortunate tendency to forget to add a new chapter to the story once I finish typing up a document #blush#.
This was my creativity's day off, so I was on my own for this one. It's rather short, I'm afraid... but it's all I could come up with :P
"Of all the dreary, dispicably dull states this confounded city has ever been in, this is by far the worst," growled Sherlock Holmes by way of greeting as he came downstairs.
"Whatever do you mean?" I asked.
"I mean, Watson, that there is very little use for me or my particular skills as this dullness continues. All crimes are commonplace and easily solved. There seem to be no little problems of interest occuring of late. All is but ordinary, and law abiding, and decidedly boring."
I smiled at his frustrated description. "I am sure many would argue that this late wave of peace is hardly a bad thing, Holmes."
He waved away my comment absently. "It is as well that fewer killers run loose, of course," he agreed sulkily, "but that all activity of interest should cease is absolutely infuriating. An incident does not have to be criminal to have its merits, yet no client has come to our door with a problem of any sort."
I gestured to the paper. "And Scotland Yard has nothing to consult with you about?" I asked. "I read just now that a new lead has arisen in an old case."
His mood, if anything, darkened. "Yes, they have found a new lead," he grumbled. "It points to the victim's cousin--any fool could have seen that he was the most likely suspect from the start, of course, but the Yard proceeded to run off on all sorts of wild goose chases instead. No doubt by not they've enough evidence to arrest the man, though." He glared out the window. "Lestrade announced to me yesterday that he had found some suspicious stains upon some articles of the man's clothing, shoved to the back of his wardrobe. Why he did not simply dispose of the article is beyond me. It used to be that they would come to me for help in gathering evidence in a case such as this, and would present me with a diverting little problem with which to occupy my mind, however elementary it might have been. But now--now they simply use the infallible blood test of my own invention."
I could not help but chuckle at the irony. "Robbed by your own hand, eh, Holmes?"
"It is most trying. On the one hand, I am surely indirectly responsible for the convition of many guilty men; on the other hand, there are fewer problems with which to occupy my attention. No doubt the Yard is still overjoyed with the Sherlock Holmes blood test, but I sometimes wish the blasted thing had never come into existence." He continued to scowl out the window.
I do not posess Holmes' fantastic powers of mind reading, but I could see where his thoughts were straying. I half considered leaving the room, but decided, as I saw him finally take his bottle from the mantlepiece and his syringe from its morocco case with such deliberation, that I would remain silent no longer.
"Which is it today," I asked, "morphine or cocaine?"
A/N: You know the rest...