The Second Revolver
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Second Revolver
By
Tom Hanratty
June 14, 2019
Fiction
“No, Watson. It is the small details at a crime scene that are often the critical pieces of the solution to the crime.”
“But surely, Holmes, it is the eyewitness that is paramount in bringing the culprit to justice. After all, that is the most damning evidence of all.”
“Witnesses lie, Watson. Memories are fallible. We see what we expect to see, through a veil of our past experiences and personal prejudices. The physical evidence that is the hallmark of each crime is a more reliable witness, if it can be made to speak.
“Mark my words, my good fellow, it is the bloodstain that is not where it should be, the footprint going in the wrong direction, the smell of cigar smoke when no one on the premises smoked cigars. The successful detective will find the answers to all the inexplicable conundrums to bring the case to closure.”
It was a cold evening in the early spring, and we sat after dinner on either side of a cheery fire in our rooms in Baker Street. Our gas was lit and cast long shadows on the walls. I put a match to my postprandial pipe and relaxed into our companionable discussion.
