"Good morning to you, Miss Ashberry. I am so sorry for your loss, but I am afraid that Mister Crosby, whom you were having an affair with, really did commit suicide and was not, as you suspect, murdered."
As if electrocuted, the woman leaped from her chair and stood stiff as a board. "How dare you spy on me, or, or, read my mind or whatever it is that you have done!"
"I meant no offense. Believe me, all that I have said, I gathered from seeing you here. No witchcraft or spying was involved."
She seemed to relax slightly, but eyed my friend warily. I decided to intervene.
"Miss, he really did deduce it all. I have lived with him for three years and never cease to marvel at his powers of observation," I soothed, enough that she took a seat again.
"Alright, Mr. Hume. I would like an explanation though. How did you come to all of those conclusions?"
"Wadsworth here knows my methods. Surely you could cast a bit of light on how I came to know so much?" He turned to me with a patient smile.
"Well, I, uh, I see that she has a somewhat distinctive ring on, but not a wedding ring. Perhaps, you recognized the crest."
"I did indeed. That was how I knew that she was of the Ashberry family, and, as any good detective, I have studied all of the well known families of London and knew that the Ashberry family had a daughter about your age and carried the sort of signet inscribed on your ring. As to your relationship with Mister Crosby, you have the slightest scent of Maquis, a plant native to Morocco. In passing Mister Crosby once a month ago, I noticed a sunburn implying a trip out of the country. He also walked with a tenser gate than I had scene before, implying that he had just come from a dangerous locale. Therefore, the combination of this rare odor and his strange behavior, not to mention the mud on your shoes specific to his neighborhood of London come together to clearly indicate that you had some sort of dealings with him. The darkness of your dress, unsuited to a lady of your complexion suggests that you have taken upon yourself to indicate grief for his passing, but you did not want your emotions made public, hence the fact that your dress is not purely black. The most probable explanation is that you two were lovers, but given his married status could not have this known. I, naturally, read about his untimely death and several details jumped out at me. First, he is a father of two young girls named Mary and Trista. Mary, the elder, has a name associated with the virgin Mary and stars. Trista, on the other hand, had its origins in the story of a tragic lover from Celtic lore. Clearly, this indicates a decline in either his wife's happiness or his own. Having recently returned from Morocco, he would have clear reasons to become depressed, as the culture and climate shock of leaving and returning could unbalance even the strongest of men. However, the clearest evidence of his committing suicide is that the same distinctive gravel lodged in her left shoe was present outside the office of Dr. Mendel's office, where persons go for psychiatric assistance. It was in the footprint made by a shoe the exact size of Mister Crosby, which I calculated in passing. The age of the footprint matched the date of his death, and therefore implies strongly that he was in an unstable mental state, further evidenced by the erratic footprint pattern in the soil."
"So as you see, it was elementary, my dear Watson."
