The Doctor's Daughter | Wholock {1}

Chapter 8: The Science of Deduction

"And if he doesn't agree to help us?" Kimmy asked. She already knew what his answer was going to be.

"Then we tell him the truth and scare him into helping us," Sherlock said flatly. Kimmy couldn't stop herself from laughing.

They arrived at the Tower of London shortly afterwards. Sherlock paid the cabbie and the two decided to wait for Anderson outside. They found a bench where they could see the front door, where Anderson and his cousins were sure to exit. They sat in silence for several minutes before Kimmy spoke.

"How do you do it?" she asked. "Your deductions, I mean."

"I observe," Sherlock answered. "I notice things others do not and draw conclusions from that. Take that woman, for instance," he said, nodding towards a woman standing to their left. "What can you tell me about her?"

"Well," Kimmy said, trying to look at things like Sherlock would, "she's obviously a tourist."

"How can you tell?" Sherlock asked. The way he spoke made Kimmy think of her arithmetic teacher, who asked similar questions to make sure her students understood what they were doing.

"Her shirt," Kimmy said, looking at the woman's I <3 London shirt. "Only a tourist would wear something like that. She's also taking a lot of pictures, which makes me think it's her first time here."

Sherlock nodded. "Go on."

"I think she's a widow," Kimym continued. "She's not wearing a ring, but there's a tan line on her ring finger. She looks like she's in her fifties or sixties, so her husband must have been around the same age. He could have gotten sick."

"What else?" Sherlock asked.

"That's all I've got," Kimmy said, shrugging her shoulders. "How badly did I do?"

"Not horrible," Sherlock admitted. "You were right, she is a tourist. American, I'd guess. You were wrong about why she doesn't have a ring, though. She still has a tan line, so she stopped wearing it recently. If her husband died due to sickness she'd have medical bills to pay, she wouldn't waste money on a trip to London. If it were an accident she'd be grieving. No, he left her. She's come here to do some soul searching, I'd guess."

"Incredible," Kimmy said.

"You sound like your father," Sherlock said. Kimmy could see him smiling out of the corner of her eye. "Look at her phone," he said at the woman pulled a phone out of her pocket. "It's the latest model, not something a woman of her age would buy for herself. Her daughter gave her that—you can tell it's a daughter because of the pattern on the case. A son would have given her a generic case, not one with a design. Her daughter wants her to stay in touch.

"I'm not done yet," he said when Kimmy opened her mouth to speak. "Look at the backs of her hands. There're little cuts all over them. They appear in groups with uniform distances between them. You only see cuts like that on people who have cats. That many cuts, it's a new one; probably got it right after her husband left her."

"Sherlock, that is truly amazing," Kimmy told him. "You've got to teach me how you do that."

"Later," Sherlock said, smiling. "Right now it's time to work. Anderson just walked out."

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Author's Note: Hey, just letting you know I might not be able to update for a few days. I'll try to post another chapter or two before Christmas. And yes, I will try to make them longer.