Prompt: Story telling, from mrspencil
It was remarkable, Mrs. Hudson thought, how much two grown men could look like recalcitrant toddlers. Particularly since one of them was a respected doctor and army veteran, and the other a detective renowned the world over for his intelligence.
At the moment, however, they both looked rather as if they had been taken into the headmaster's office for punishment. Neither would meet her eyes, or each other's, for that matter.
"Which of you is responsible for this?" Mrs. Hudson asked. In her hand she held the offending item, a knife which was bent nearly at a perfect right angle. "How is it a high quality kitchen knife ended up in this condition?"
"Well, you see, Mrs. Hudson-" Mr. Holmes began smoothly.
"And don't tell me it was a criminal who broke in and the knife was bent in a fight for your life. I think I should have noticed such a thing," Mrs. Hudson broke in. "No story telling, do you understand?"
Dr. Watson chuckled, and Mrs. Hudson turned to face him, the knife pointing in his direction, though with the unnatural bend, the tip was hardly of any use. "You know about this, Doctor?" she asked.
Dr. Watson stepped backward, eyeing the knife and holding out his hands in a gesture of innocence. "I have been on my rounds all day," he said. "In any case, what use would I have for a knife of that type?"
It was true; he would have no use for a large knife used in kitchen work. Mrs. Hudson nodded and turned back to Mr. Holmes. He was the more likely suspect anyway, for the simple reason that every chemical smell, unusual noise, or bullet hole in the walls could be traced back to him. One did not need to be a consulting detective to solve a mystery of that type at 221 Baker Street.
"As I was explaining," he began again. "My latest experiment would allow me to determine at what temperature ordinary steel would bend in exactly such a way."
"So you decided to take a flame to my best knife due to some chemical fancy?" Mrs. Hudson asked.
"Not at all!" Mr. Holmes said. "A man's life hung in the balance of the experiment! You see, my client has engaged my services to determine his innocence. He is being held on suspicion of stabbing his supervisor at the docks, with just such a knife, bent in exactly that way."
Despite herself, Mrs. Hudson found herself growing intrigued. She rarely told him (he did not need any more of an adoring audience than he had already) but she found Mr. Holmes's cases fascinating. "The police propose that he stabbed the man with such force that the knife bent in a perfect right angle," Mr. Holmes finished.
"Why, that is impossible," Mrs. Hudson said, before she could stop herself. "It would take more strength than most men have to bend a knife in exactly this way, even if they stabbed a brick wall, let alone another man."
"Precisely," Mr. Holmes said. "I had thought this would be obvious, but for the police force of London, little is. I now must prove that the knife was bent in another way altogether. You see that identical knife on the table?" He pointed to an identical knife lying on his chemistry table. "That is the knife I have attempted to bend by stabbing the wall. You see it has hardly bent at all?"
"Indeed," Mrs. Hudson said, studying the second knife. "Merely chipped."
"Yes," Mr. Holmes said. "It is not a perfect experiment, for I would need to stab a man to exactly recreate the original conditions-"
"Yes, and I was curiously unwilling to assist in that experiment," Doctor Watson added dryly.
Mr. Holmes continued as if he had not heard, "-but perhaps this is even better for it proves such a knife will not bend even when stabbed against something much harder than a man's body. Your knife, Mrs. Hudson, took ten minutes of very high heat and exacting effort on my part to bend in exactly the same manner. It proves, therefore, that someone must have taken the time to bend the knife and leave it where the police might find it and connect it to both the murder victim and my client. Why, I do not know, but he must be a clever fiend, to throw me off the scent on both ends, but I shall crack it eventually!"
Mrs. Hudson spared a second to be impressed at his reasoning before saying, "And this had to be my knife you ruined with your experiment?" she asked.
Mr. Holmes looked sheepish. "As it happens, the knife found at the murder scene was exactly the same type as yours. Luckily, I was able to find its twin in the shop on the corner, or else the experiment would have been useless." He stopped, then added quickly as he saw she still looked very stern, "Rest assured I shall replace it for you."
"Good," Mrs. Hudson said. "Though if it is to save an innocent man I cannot blame you too much. I should hate it if he was sent to the gallows for lack of a knife to test."
"Mrs. Hudson, you are sainthood itself," Doctor Watson said.
Mrs. Hudson smiled at this pronouncement, before remembering something else Mr. Holmes has said. "Did you say you tested the other knife against the wall? Where, by chance? There had best not be a hole in my molding or you shall find yourself with not even a pair of scissors in future."