Molly Hooper wasn't particularly brave. She worked in a morgue, sure, but she wasn't brave. She didn't like people much unless they were lying on a slab. Living people ridiculed her a lot. She was the lonely thirty-something who curled up with her cat instead of a man every evening. Innocent, naïve, optimistic Molly.

Tonight had been a particularly hard shift. She'd had to open up a couple of people she'd known who'd been recently murdered. Turns out it was poison. She felt bad for the family; they were some of the few people who were actually nice to her. She'd walked home lost in her own thoughts.

'Hello.'

Molly jumped a mile and twirled on the spot. Her brain registered something tall and black. And then the voice; someone had said hello. She followed coat buttons up to the speaker's face. Pale, like the dead in the morgue. But that hair! All curly and thick and I'm not sure why I'm thinking this, but-

'Excuse me. I don't have time for you to stand gawking.'

'Right! Um… sorry, I'm-'

'Molly Hooper, 33, single, lives with one cat, sentimental,

modest and lonely.'

'How did you-'

'Obvious. You work at Barts, I go in there a fair bit, I've seen you. Plus you're wearing your id badge still. The date of birth tells me you're 33, unless you're lying, but why would you, you have no-one to impress. Single; you aren't wearing a wedding or engagement ring which rules out any strong relationship bond, you aren't wearing makeup so you aren't trying to impress anyone, I know you live with a cat because you have cat hairs on your trouser cuffs and the hem of your jumper; he's a house cat then. I say he because you smell very strongly of cat and it's a well known fact that males are more pungent than females. You're sentimental because you have a locket around your neck, possibly from a past boyfriend, more likely from your mother. You're modest; your shoulders slump and you're nervous so you have low self esteem. I know you're lonely because you had no idea where to look first when you saw me; interested then. How did I know that? I'm Sherlock Holmes, the world's only Consulting Detective, I get consulted when the police are in deep water, which, of course, is always.'