Not Strictly Sherlock

Mrs. Hudson: Part 2

"Good Lord!" exclaimed Ellie.

"Oh no, I don't believe that he is sleeping, Ellie."

"What do we do Martha?" replied Mrs. Buckley.

"We need to get some help..." said Martha as she cast her gaze around the park and saw a couple of boys running a kite across the park lawn.

"Hello! Boys! Hello!" shouted Martha, while waving frantically at the two lads.

Then Martha heard an ear-piercing whistle and saw Ellie with two fingers in her mouth. She removed them, smiled at Martha, and smoothed the front of her dress as if her hand needed to return to a more familiar task as an apology.

That certainly got the young boys' attention, and they came running towards the two women and the seated gentleman who was most definitely not sleeping.

"Yes ma'am" the taller boy responded in a huff-and-puff voice.

"My boy, please run out to Marylebone Street and find a constable and bring him back here immediately. This gentleman here needs assistance" stated Mrs. Hudson with calm authority.

"He looks dead, missus."

The two women looked at each other, then Martha handed the boys each a ha'penny for their trouble and sent them off at a run.

"Should we stay here and wait?" asked Ellie, who looked frightened and confused.

Martha paused before she replied, and she thought a moment: what would Mr. Holmes do if he was here?

"Let's see if we can help the police and save them some time" replied Mrs. Hudson.

"First, let's see if we can find out who he is," stated Martha as she positioned herself next to the bench, just beside the dead gentleman's outstretched legs. She began to reach for his inside breast coat pocket when she noticed that his white starched collar was marked-up and was out of place, while his tie was twisted and off to the side of his neck. She paused and looked closer, and saw that there was a thin line of discoloration around his neck, partially hidden by his upturned collar. She reached into the front breast pocket of his coat, felt a wallet, slowly removed it, and opened it.

"Good Lord, there's over 50 pounds here... two gentleman's cards with different names... a pawn shop receipt... and two train tickets."

"Train tickets - where to?" prodded Ellie, suddenly less distressed by the dead man as she had been bitten by the curiosity bug.

"Nottingham... out of St. Pancras Station at 4:15 PM...hmmm look at that, they are for today."

Martha found a card case in his front pocket, removed a card, and read it out loud.

Mr. Walter Solabrini

Printer, Typesetter

She put the card in her purse and returned the card case and billfold back to Mr. Solabrini's pockets.

"Wait," she thought, "why did I keep his card?"

She paused and thought a brief moment, then she spied a semi-crumpled paper bag that was lying at the dead man's feet. She picked it up, straightened it out and looked inside. There were still a few bread crumbs inside.

"Look, Ellie, he was feeding the birds of course, but it looked as if he died before he finished."

"Do you think it was his heart, Martha?"

"I don't know El, but look at him, he looks no more than 30."

Mrs. Hudson absently looked at the gentleman, and around the bench, then she remembered the discussions she had witnessed between Mr. Holmes and the Doctor, or one of the Inspectors, while she either cleaned up or brought in a tea service: discussions about crime scenes. Mr. Holmes was always going on about evidence and the police ruining the scene, and his need to examine every small detail.

She froze.

"Ellie, don't move."

Then Martha started to look around the dead man's body and noticed that the pavement ended behind the bench and that there were heavy boot prints in the stiff mud directly behind the bench. It appeared that someone large had stood behind the place where Mr. Solabrini was sitting.

"Good Lord above Ellie, I believe that this man was murdered," said Mrs. Hudson is a voice just above a whisper.

The women looked at one another, the signs of shock painted all over Ellie Buckley's face, while Martha's expression failed to betray her emotions.

"Look at this Martha, he's got something in his hand" stammered Ellie.

Martha walked around to the front of the bench and looked at Mr. Solabrini's hands and noticed that there was a tuft of brown hair clutched in his left fist. She bent down, looking more closely, and could clearly see a knot of brown hair clutched in the dead man's hand, as well as the fact that his fingertips were covered in black stains.

For some unknown reason, she reached out to touch the hair then stopped as she noticed that she still had the bird crumb-bag still in her hand. Call it intuition, but Martha decided to take a closer look at the bag and noted no markings on the outside, so she opened the slightly crumpled bag to look inside. There, amidst the remaining breadcrumbs was a slip of paper!  She took it out of the bag, unfolded it, and saw handwriting!

"What is that Martha?"

"It's a note, actually its a slip, but it has handwriting on the backside. It says: 'Till tonight my Love' and it is signed off with a single initial - an 'L.'"

"Is the slip completed?" asked Ellie with a voice now full of enthusiasm.

"No, but if I am not mistaken, it is from Parklane Bakery." Martha held up the slip and showed Ellie a small Fleur-de-lis logo, then placed it back into the bag and returned the bag to its rightful spot on the ground.

So this is what it must be like for Mr. Holmes she thought; summoned to places where the dead waited, and then looking over their bodies, searching for clues... for reasons.

Martha admired Mr. Holmes and the Doctor immensely, as she did the men of Scotland Yard. All the stories about the crimes and unusual situations the two men have solved, and even with the experiments, and shenanigans, and the comings and goings of the hopeful. It was as if she lived inside a book, a fiction; but this was not a story, it was real.  She looked at the dead man and thought that it was strange that life never seemed more real than when in the presence of death.

***