4
The next day they rode into town; not on horse back; but in a carriage with one extra passenger, Rowan. In one day, she and Julia had become the best of friends. When they reached the local post office, Mycroft walked in unaccompanied. Mycroft had explained that he had some business to attend to, and that the others should go on without him.
They had heard from Rowan that there was a museum on the east side of Llanfoist. When they arrived, they found policemen scattered everywhere. Holmes was the first to exit, followed by Watson. Julia eagerly jumped from the carriage, but she not so eagerly followed her father and Holmes in to the building. Julia looked around, seeing as many piles of broken glass as constables. Watson broke off to talk to the police chief, so Julia followed Holmes to what used to be the gems exhibits.
When they approached, Julia stopped in her tracks, "Mr. Holmes, I may be seeing things, but it looks as if there is a set of foot prints going both ways. They are not the shoes a constable would wear, they are riding boots of some sort." she hypothesized, kneeling by the pile of glass.
"You are correct, but that would mean that the glass was broken before he walked to the exhibit. And maybe it was done so by this." Holmes pulled a long, intricate throwing dagger out of the ruby exhibit. "Ah, look what else I have found!" he cried happily as he pulled a piece of burnt and bloodied cloth out of the same exhibit. "Julia, smell this. I have, and thus I fell to a conclusion that I wish you to confirm." Holmes said, passing the scrap of clothing to her.
"It smells of, limestone? But why would burnt cloth smell like limestone?" she asked, handing the cloth back.
"Julia, what is limestone an ingredient in?" Holmes asked, already knowing the answer, but wishing to see if his pupil did.
"Glass, I think. That would also explain why it is scorched." Julia realized while trying to remember the equations to find a person's height and weight from their footprints.
"But it would not account for the blood, in a spattered form, on the cloth." Holmes added.
"I think our culprit is six feet. No, that can't be right! It is to shallow, I think." she pouted as she plopped down onto the ground.
"Julia, you must remember to take into consideration the fact that it is a print in glass." he reminded, becoming a little impatient, "Oh, I see. You are right, they are to shallow to be of a six foot man, but the stride suggests six feet. This means that either he is as wide as a quill, or he has a long stride for his height." Holmes said, reassuring Julia while thoughts traveling on an analytical chain swirled through his mind.