5 Holmes Explains Everything

Chapter 5 Holmes Explains Everything After we'd eaten, we retired to the drawing room, and Sherlock Holmes said to our host: "Colonel Hayter, I fear you must regret inviting a troublemaker like me into your home." "Not at all," replied the colonel warmly. "I consider it a great privilege to be able to study your methods up close, although I confess I am utterly unable to work out how you reached the conclusions you did." "Forgive me," said Holmes. "As Watson knows, it is my habit to give little or nothing away during the course of an investigation. Now that the case is solved, I'm happy to explain everything."

And so, we settled back in our seats and listened. "Gentlemen," Holmes began, "one of the most important skills in the art of detection is the ability to recognize which clues are minor and which ones are vital. In this case, there wasn't the slightest doubt in my mind that the most vital clue—indeed the key to the entire problem—lay in that little scrap of paper found in the dead man's hand. "The first thing I realized was that it couldn't have been the burglar who tore the paper from Keegan's hand—not if the story the Cunninghams told us was correct. They said the burglar instantly fled after the shooting, so he wouldn't have had time.

"If the burglar didn't tear away the paper, then the only person who could have done so was Alec Cunningham, who had a few moments alone with the corpse before his father and the servants arrived on the scene. "This possibility was ignored by Inspector Forrester because he assumed the wealthy and respectable Cunninghams couldn't possibly have been involved in the crime. I personally make a point of ruling nobody out of my investigations, no matter what their reputation. I am led only by the facts. So from the start, I found myself

looking somewhat suspiciously at Mr. Alec Cunningham. "Now I turned my attention to the scrap of paper Inspector Forrester showed us. It was clear to me at once that this formed part of a remarkable document." Holmes opened his pocketbook, took out the scrap of paper, and showed it to us. "What do you notice about it?" he asked. "It has a very uneven look," said the colonel. "Well observed!" said Holmes. "There's no regularity to it, is there? It's as if every other word was written by a different person. And if you look closely, you'll see that this is indeed the case: the note was written by two people writing alternate words. Look at the firm handwriting of at, to, learn, and maybe, compared to the softer, weaker style of quarter, twelve, and what. Do you see what I mean?" "By Jove, now that you've pointed it out, it's as clear as day!" cried the colonel. "But why should two men write a letter in such a fashion?" "Because they were involved in some criminal deed. One of them didn't trust the other and was

determined that, whatever happened, his partner should take his share of responsibility for it. What better way of ensuring that than by making the partner write the letter jointly with him? "What's more, it was clear to me that of the pair of them, the one who wrote at, to, learn, and maybe, was the ringleader." "How could you tell that?" I asked. "Is it because his handwriting suggests a stronger, more forceful character?" "Possibly," said Holmes, "but there's also a more logical reason. If you look carefully at the writing, you'll see that the man with the stronger handwriting wrote his words first, leaving blank spaces for his partner to fill in. These blank spaces weren't always generous enough, forcing the second man to squeeze in the word quarter to make it fit between at and to."

"An astonishing piece of deduction, Mr. Holmes!" cried Mr. Acton. "Thank you," said Holmes. "I've studied handwriting for many years, and I once even wrote an academic paper on it. My expertise has allowed me to see more in this sample than would be obvious to the average person. For example, I'm certain that the bold, strong hand was written by a young man, whereas the weaker script was produced by someone elderly. I've also noticed similarities between these two styles that suggest the writers are related by blood. "In total, I made twenty-three deductions, but I won't trouble you with the details. All I'll say is