The Wall Lake Mystery

Chapter 6: Observation and Deduction

I hurried to catch up to Holmes, who was striding forward at a rapid clip, oblivious to nearly all about us.

I wanted to ask him more about the scrap of green cloth, but I knew when he was in this state he would never hear me, let alone respond. So I followed him gamely onward, wondering if we would return to the inn for some late breakfast, for my stomach was protesting its current state rather loudly.

To my embarrassment, one of my stomach's growls distracted Holmes from his thoughts. For a moment, anger flashed across his features, but then he turned to me, a smile playing across his lips. "We had better find you some food, or I daresay your stomach might climb out of you and eat me!"

I chuckled. "I must confess to being famished. Will you have something?"

Holmes shrugged and turned left, back towards the inn. "I suppose I could partake in something small."

"It would make my job as your physician a bit easier."

Holmes only shook his head.

"Have you deduced anything about that scrap of cloth?" I asked before he could return to his reverie.

"Only that we will find the rest of the tie belongs to a short, muscular American, who is also likely a bachelor and a murderer."

I cast Holmes an inquisitive look, unable to see the connections as he could.

Holmes sighed, his irritation obvious. "Come, Watson! It is absurdly simple."

"For you, perhaps," I replied, opening the inn's front door and following Holmes inside.

"If he was a tall man," said Holmes, lowering his voice as we came within earshot of others, "the tie would not have caught so low upon the house, even if he bent lower than necessary to check Hieman's neck for a pulse."

I nodded, my brain working furiously to connect the others. "That he is the murderer or an accomplice is pretty obvious from the bloodstain and location in which we found it, and he would need to be muscular to throw a man out of a window." When Holmes did not respond, I realised his attention was not on my words but on the scene playing out at the table nearest the kitchen.

A man stood there, speaking in a low voice with the innkeeper.

"It is our shadow from last night," Holmes muttered, his voice barely audible.

I squinted at the man; it had been too dark for me to make out more than the silhouette of the figure, but Holmes' nighttime vision was superior to mine.

As unobtrusively as possible, we made our way across the dining room and into the hall. The men across the room did not seem to notice our presence, but my heart sank a little when I saw the flash of coins exchanging hands.

We had reached the door and headed down the hall towards our rooms.

"I shall have a word with our innkeeper, once his unsavoury acquaintance departs," said Holmes.

"Half a moment." I stopped Holmes before he could enter his room. "How did you know the owner of the tie was an American and a bachelor?"

Holmes pursed his lips with irritation but answered my question regardless. "Even a short man would have to wear a somewhat long tie to snag it so low, and the current American style matches that description. The fact that he is a bachelor is perhaps the most obvious thing about it. It was certainly what came to my mind first."

"Not so with me," I replied, wishing my brains were a little quicker and my eyes more prone to noticing the important facts.

"The colour, Watson!"