The Adventure of A Curly Haired Girl

The Crimson Riddle

The woman burst into tears and could no longer talk. Sherlock looked at the woman almost like he was at a loss at what to do. Emily shook her head at the consulting detective and turned a caring gaze upon the woman.

"Thank you." She said softly to the woman while handing her a box of tissues that one of the medics had left beside the woman. She took it gladly and wiped her tears away.

"If you're done making this woman cry, the body is inside." Lestrade whispered for just Sherlock and Emily to hear and motioned for them to follow.

They then made their way to the steps of the front door of the crime scene. On the outside of the door laid many unopened mail and three days worth of newspapers.

Sherlock looked down at the newspapers warily as he stepped over them to pass the threshold. Lestrade was waiting for them, standing beside the body. Emily took a deep breath before looking.

Thankfully, her mind did not play tricks on her this time, for she did not recognize the person lying on his back.

He was an elderly man, just as Mrs. Taylor had said, and didn't look as fresh as the man they earlier had visited. Emily brought her sleeve to her nose to try and block the rotting odor, but to no avail. The man looked to have been stabbed many times, and blood pooled around him in crimson puddles.

"How long has he been here?" Emily asked. Her voice was muffled by her sleeve.

" About three days." Sherlock and Anderson said simultaneously. They looked at each other shocked, as if perplexed they could actually agree on something.

" Why do you say so?" Lestrade questioned.

" The wounds." Anderson said simply and then looked to Sherlock for his answer.

The detective shrugged and with an indifferent face he remarked, " The papers."

Everyone remained silent as they waited for the detective to continue. Emily saw a slight smirk grow on Sherlock's face.

Show off

" All the answers are right on the porch." Sherlock said.

" I don't see how his papers and bills have anything to do with this case." Lestrade said doubtfully

"It has everything to do with this case!" Sherlock exclaimed.

"Anderson, what day is it?" Anderson just stared at Sherlock, confused on why he would ask such a trivial question. " Don't just gawk at me! What's the day?"

" Um, Friday."

"Friday!" Sherlock quickly ran to the porch and yelled as he went, "Strange that the last date on the newspaper outside is Tuesday."

He came back with the papers in hand and gave them to Lestrade. Emily and Anderson huddled around him to look, the body, momentary, forgotten.

"Now unless there was some unspoken holiday for the last three days, there isn't a reasonable answer for the absence of Thursday's and Friday's papers"

"But how does this connect?" Emily asked.

"Because, why would someone stop delivering, unless they knew there is not a person to deliver to." Sherlock clarified. "No doubt he hasn't show to work for the past two days, and he's probably already out of town, considering he killed two civilians."

"Are you saying he's the same murderer for the case we just left?"

Sherlock decided to answer Lestrade's question with another question. He turned to his companion and asked her, "What do these two cases have in common?"