at its base Toby broke away from Holmes’s grasp of his leash and disappeared into the tangle of the undergrowth.
The determination of Toby’s sudden surge forward seemed to indicate that he was now certain of his quarry. We floundered in his wake, but were unable to match his speed and lost sight of him altogether. We feared that he had disappeared for good and that he had gone off on a wild-goose chase when, all of a sudden his distinctive bark echoed through the trees from just a few yards ahead of us.
Toby was clearly pleased with himself, for he came bounding over to us with his tail flailing about wildly. He led us towards a large hollow that had formed, over the years, at the base of an immense oak. While I regained Toby’s leash Holmes dropped to the ground and crawled towards this depression on his stomach. He was greeted by a terrible snarling and a hostile display of teeth that were most uncharacteristic of a Labrador.
Holmes employed the same soothing tones that had so often quelled the fears of some of our more distraught female clients and in a moment or two he had successfully coaxed the dog from his lair. He then called for me to join him on the ground. Having secured both dogs to a tree I did his bidding.
‘See here Watson. Was there ever a more convincing display of a dog’s devotion to his master than this?’
I stared into the darkness, to where Holmes indicated, yet all that I could see was a strange collection of mangled pieces of red leather within the darkest recesses of the tree-trunk.
‘I don’t understand,’ I protested. ‘There is nothing here that would indicate devotion.’
‘Very likely not, yet this display, described by Carlton Clarke as the dog’s “peculiar penchant” is nothing of the sort! He is destroying the most prized possessions that once belonged to the object of his hate and the cause of his abject misery. However, there is much more of relevance to be learnt here than merely the understanding of the wretchedness of a dog.’
Before I could question him as to the exact significance of this latest discovery he sprang to his feet and made a small sack out of his jacket by tying its sleeves together in a tight knot. Into this bundle he now threw the remnants of leather that he had gathered from the base of the oak. He next improvised a leash from his necktie with which he successfully secured the Labrador.
‘Watson, please return our trusty ally to Pinchin Lane. I shall make one last enquiry before rejoining you and our client at Baker Street.’ Without another word Holmes turned and began making his way up the side of the dell with the reluctant Goldie in tow.
Toby proved to be more reluctant to return to his cage in Sherman’s menagerie than he had been to escape it. None the less, I was still able to return to our rooms before either Lestrade or Carlton Clarke and, most surprisingly it appeared, Sherlock Holmes. That mystery was solved a moment later, though, when his voice rang out from behind his bedroom door.
‘A thousand apologies, Watson, yet, as you have observed, I had need to replace almost half of my wardrobe!’ He laughed.
A moment later he bounded into the room and immediately offered me a Cognac and one of his favourite Indian cigars.
‘The satisfactory conclusion to a most unusual and problematic case is cause for a small celebration, would you not say?’ He smiled while applying the flame of a vesta to the tip of my cigar.
‘I could reply more definitively if I was to be more enlightened as to the exact details of its conclusion.’ I responded through a column of dark and resinous smoke.
‘Quite so and yet, unless I am very much mistaken, the time of your enlightenment is not too far away.’ Holmes was glancing casually through the window and I correctly concluded that our two guests had just arrived at our door. Once our guests had returned to the chairs they had occupied before, Holmes extinguished his cigar and filled his cherrywood from the Persian slipper as a prelude to his denouement of the case. However it was Lestrade who spoke first.
‘I assume, Mr Holmes, that you have summoned us here to offer your sincere apologies to both the disillusioned Mr Clarke and myself.’ He said, still retaining his air of pugnacious confidence.
‘I was certain that this would prove to be your inevitable and yet erroneous conclusion, Mr Lestrade!’ Holmes responded whilst intentionally and maliciously omitting the hapless detective’s correct title. ‘You have careered clumsily through this case, basing all of your conclusions upon the evidence thrust into your face, without once standing back to analyse it.
‘Would a man possessing the talents and intellect with which Alfred Walker was so obviously endowed, commit a deliberate murder in so clumsy a manner? His heartrending display of grief, at the side of his wife’s corpse, and his intention to give his valued and faithful dog away, merely to appease her, were hardly the acts of a man set upon taking the life of his wife and partner. Mr Clarke, here, has attested to Walker’s enduring love and devotion in the face of almost intolerable abuse, and he was a model professional to the last.’
Lestrade now visibly reddened and began to shift uncomfortably in his seat.
‘Yet what other conclusion is one supposed to draw when faced with these incontrovertible facts?’ he asked in more subdued tones than he had used at first.
‘Broaden your field of vision, Inspector and make use of your limited imagination! Once we have concluded that Sonia’s death was not as a result of a malicious act, the only solution is that her demise was a tragic accident, although the cause of this is less obvious, given the uncanny accuracy of Walker’s throwing prowess.
‘Watson knows my methods and the first action I took was to conduct a thorough examination of the floor of the room in which the incident took place. More especially, the direction of my enquiry took in to account, to some degree, the strange behaviour of Goldie the Labrador. After all, Labradors, as a rule, are quiet and docile animals and not prone to erratic behaviour. Once my questioning had established the exact routine and circumstances of the rehearsals, I realized at once that Walker was surely as much surprised at the tragic outcome on this occasion as everybody else had been and that the flight of his faithful hound had been of secondary importance to him.
‘I then discovered a small scrap of mangled red leather, in a corner of the room and duly noted the complete absence of any other traces of the distinctive red shoes. Thereupon my decision to send for Toby appeared to have been vindicated, despite your own reservations, Inspector.’
‘So far I have not heard anything to dispel those reservations,’ Lestrade replied, some confidence returning to his manner.
In reply Holmes turned on his heel and a moment later returned from his room bearing his makeshift sack. He untied the sleeves and allowed its strange contents to cascade on to the floor at his feet. Lestrade laughed uproariously and gleefully clapped his hands.
‘Oh, Mr Holmes, you have surpassed yourself this time! What tomfoolery is this?!’ he cried, whilst the crestfallen Carlton Clarke turned ruefully away.
‘This idiocy of mine,’ Holmes declared, with bitter irony, ‘will, undoubtedly restore Alfred Walker to his rightful place, in the centre of the ring at Clarke and Clarke’s Circus!’
‘Why, these are nothing more than mangled shreds!’ Clarke cried in despair.
‘At first glance they undoubtedly are, but they also hold the key to Walker’s innocence. Goldie’s devotion to his master was such that he felt compelled to destroy the most valued possession of his tormentor. These are the remains of Sonia’s most treasured shoes. Yet, on closer examination, one realizes that there are two pairs of shoes amongst this debris, one pair far newer than the other.’
‘How can you possibly tell which is which?’ Lestrade asked, no longer feigning any indifference.
Holmes beckoned for Lestrade to join him on the floor. Slowly picking out certain pieces of leather from the rest, Holmes painstakingly reconstructed the crude outline of a left shoe. ‘See how the manufacturer’s mark has been almost obliterated by constant use on this one. One moment, please.’ While Holmes continued to piece together further bits of leather, Lestrade looked up to me for consolation as he watched his case collapsing before his eyes. He was to get none. Meanwhile Clarke’s mood visibly lightened as he, too, dropped to his knees.
Holmes offered another partial reconstruction for them to examine. ‘Now observe the condition of the label on this example.’
‘Why, this shoe is almost brand-new!’ Carlton Clarke exclaimed.
‘It is brand-new,’ Holmes corrected. ‘On my way back to Baker Street, I called in on the vendors and they were able to confirm that this particular shoe, an unusually expensive pair, I might add, had only been available since last week. Apparently they are this season’s latest fashion and are distinguished from last season’s collection by one vital detail. See here, the heel is a full inch higher than that of the old pair!’
