Young Sherlock's deduction skills
From the reminiscences of young William S.S. Holmes:
I came home for the weekend to find mummy dearest lounging on the sofa, wearing her wedding ring, silver wrist-watch, and make-up. Obviously lunch with a friend!
Make-up alone, maybe a trip to the store, but all three, she had been dressed to impress and seeing as it was mid-afternoon, and her make-up hadn't yet faded, it had to be a lunch date.
"Where did you go today?" I asked, knowing full well she went out to lunch with a friend.
"Nowhere," she replied. She noticed my look of confusion and doubt as I stared at her wedding ring. "I bet you anything, I have not set foot out of this house all day," she smiled as she extended a hand to seal the deal.
Damn, she had me. She hadn't left the house all day. I should have known by the freshly hoovered floors downstairs.
They had come to visit her.
Would she have have gone through the trouble of dressing so nicely for a friend of her own? Balance of probability, suggests perhaps not.
Therefore, this had to be someone she had never met before. All signs pointed towards my brother.
I went through his short list of friends before blurting out,
"Mycroft brought over a lady friend."
Her smile indicated I got it on the nose.
"One from work," she added.
I donned a wicked smile knowing exactly whom she was alluding to.
"Now, stop it," she scolded, reading my thoughts. "They're only out on a hike."
"A lurve hike," I teased.
Oh, Mycroft would hear this later. I needed something extra special to add to my arsenal of insults and this tidbit of knowledge was just the thing.
I left the sitting room to scheme and plot, alone in my bedroom.
All I'd need to do is wait for him to walk through the front-door that evening and there I'd be, lurking in the dark, seated in my father's armchair, waiting for him.
And just at the moment he least expects it, I'll flip on the lights and the first word on my lips will be:
