To Die Or Not To Die...

To Die or Not To Die

 “Elementary, Dr. Watson. Elementary!” That was the answer he gave me when I asked him how he solved the mystery of the Oliver Queen’s demise. That’s his usual answer whenever I asked him how he solved all his previous complex cases. Holmes was as usual cold, precise but has an admirably balanced mind. He also happens to be the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has ever seen. Strangely, those words were spoken every single time he solves a mystery. To understand the circumstances, let me start from the beginning.

On the morning of autumn March twenty eighth 2001, Sherlock Holmes and I had arrived in Mystic Falls, London for the funeral of my dearest friend, Oliver Queen. It was very rare for Sherlock to come out of his lodgings in Baker Street as he normally preferred to be at home deeply attracted to the study of crime. Oliver was only in his thirties when he had passed away. He was the definitely one of the most admired individuals who had impacted the lives of many in the community even at such a young age. This was quite obvious as quite a number of people were present at his funeral. The sound of the drizzling rain had set the solemn mood for this unfortunate funeral. Men and women of all ages were dressed in black and sounds of intermittent sobs were heard in the crowd. I was devastated when I heard the news of my dear friend’s untimely death. Many had known Oliver for his wealth and his heart of gold but not many had known Oliver’s personal life. I had not paid attention to anything else but instead tried to recollect all the memories Oliver and I had shared together during our years in college. Something odd but not surprising had gotten my attention. Sherlock Holmes. His hands were inside the pocket of his long black coat and his eyes looking suspiciously at everyone who attended the funeral under that checked hat of his.

 “Sherlock, this isn’t a case. Would you please find it in that stone heart of yours and at least pretend that you’re grieving for Oliver?” I said with a sigh. For Sherlock, he has extraordinary powers of observation in following out those clues and clearing up mysteries which have been abandoned as hopeless by the police.

Holmes was known for many things but he was not known to be a man who would be fooled that easily.  As the funeral went on, there was something fishy in the air that got Sherlock buzzing about the whole atmosphere. The people who came to the funeral weren’t at all closely related to Oliver, and seemed that they couldn’t care less about his passing. As minutes went on, Sherlock knew that he had to do more research on Oliver Queen’s missing as he figured that the body in the coffin wasn’t him.

Suddenly, someone from the crowd suddenly shouted and said that “Oliver can’t be dead”. Everybody thought that he was just crazy as he was a great fan. Among the large gathered crowd, only Sherlock grew very quiet. I knew Holmes every mood and habit. He was at work again. He was hot upon the scent of some new problem.

He asked me more of Oliver Queen’s background. I related to him that as both Oliver’s father and mother had passed away in a tragic accident when he was only 15, Oliver stayed with his only relatives, his aunt Marge, Uncle Homer and his cousin Weasly. They were the closest to family for him. According to rumours from a very reliable source, Oliver a billionaire at 28, the sole heir to the Queen estate was soon to lose all his fortune due to some fraudulent dealings in his company. He was on the verge of being declared a bankrupt as his company shares fell. That was one information Sherlock deduced in this case. However I was puzzled as to where Sherlock was going with this information.

Sherlock grew restless as the time passed. As soon as the funeral ended, Sherlock hailed a taxi and pulled me into the black automobile. He instructed the driver with a very straight and serious tone giving him directions to Oliver’s house. It took about an hour to reach our destination. When we knocked on the door a gentle voice replied saying “yes?’’. It was not familiar voice. The door was opened by a stone faced middle aged  stoic woman in a white starched apron. Sherlock said his pleasantries and quickly found himself in the living room. He then found his way into Oliver’s bedroom and was observing everything around him. During the inspection, he found clues which made him extremely suspicious and knowing that something were obviously not right. Firstly as he walked in into Oliver’s bedroom, he found  used dirty clothes stacked in one corner of the room. Also, when Sherlock walked into his bathroom, the shower tub had water and the sink was clogged with unclean and filthy water. Sherlock then questioned the maid in a disrespectful manner by saying “Who had been here the last?”. The maid looked extremely scared but hastily replied by saying “No, Sir no one has been here’ Judging from her trembling voice she was obviously hiding something. As if someone has been there. Who could it be? Then Sherlock gestured to me that it was time to leave.

I phoned our mutual friend, Mr Bruce Wayne a banker at the Lloyds Bank for a favour. We told him to run a check on Oliver’s current state of finances. As he owed me and Sherlock a favour he obliged immediately. Meanwhile, we hurriedly got into the taxi and I asked Sherlock…..what are you thinking? Sherlock answered …’ take me to his aunt’s house.’  After some brief instructions to the driver we were on our way to Oliver’s maternal aunts home, where he spent most of his childhood. It was a rather large house with cobbled stones and a chimney. We were greeted by an elderly gentleman who was smoking pipe and looking a little weary. We paid our condolences and Sherlock asked to see some of the family photographs. Oliver's aunt Marge was more than willing to share her stories with us. Mrs. Marge is Oliver’s maternal aunt. Both Aunt Marge and her Husband Homer have been caring for Oliver since his parent’s death. They also have a son Weasly who was sickly and was of the same height as Oliver. According to Homer, Weasley was undergoing treatment for his mysterious  illness and was recovering slowly. Apparently it was Oliver who financed his medical bills. Throughout the time I was asking questions, Sherlock was observing Aunt Marge. We couldn’t help noticing how her eyes lit up whenever she spoke of her son and immediately tears streamed down her cheeks. She quickly wiped her tears away as though she didn’t want us to witness her moment of weakness. Then Sherlock asked when is her son coming back….they both shook their heads. Sherlock became more curious and asked more questions about their son Weasley.

Sherlock asked why all three of them weren’t at the funeral. And their reply to his question was that Weasley had been grieving his dear cousin’s death in their country cottage. Their voice started to be shaky as soon as they were talking about Weasley.

 Sherlock than became increasingly curious as the minutes passed by and asked to visit Weasley’s room.

Both of us were led upstairs by Oliver’s aunt. When we entered I immediately spotted scratch marks on the floor and he wall next to the study table, Buzz! Buzz!” Sherlock’s phone suddenly beeped. Mr Bruce Wayne was on the other line. They were both engaged in a serious conversation for sometime which got me curious on what was their conversation all about. Sherlock was on to something. I was going through the pictures on the wall and was thinking to myself about Weasley. Weasley was only nineteen and he looked pale and frail in the photos. His huge innocent eyes were filled with despair.

As we came back to Then I heard Sherlock exclaim! Watson! Guess what? I have an important piece of news from Bruce. Guess who is the heir of the Queen Estate? I gave him a puzzled look and asked quietly” Is it Weasley? 
“Exactly!” remarked Sherlock.

“ Sherlock! Weasly killed Oliver! It’s a must because Weasley stands to inherit 10 million pounds upon Oliver’s death! All his mansions also will be inherited by Weasly. He wanted all the money to himself.” I said in a very confident manner.

“Haha! How brave of you to say that my dear friend. I know that you are still very depressed and dwindling about your friend Oliver’s death but I’m sorry to break it to you.  ely, Weasley can’t be the murderer’. This case can’t be that easy.” answered Sherlock in a very calm manner.

I was absolutely confused at that moment. I couldn’t believe that Sherlock could think otherwise despite such a big and an obvious clue like that. It was as if he was thinking that Oliver is still alive. He was completely out of his mind, a ridiculous thought and was really rude.

“Lets go Watson! We got work to do!” Sherlock said.

As we were showing ourselves out of the house, a young man walked in climbing up the stairs and Aunt Marge immediately exclaimed “Oli.. errr Weasley” in a rather hurried voice. Sherlock and I extended our hand for a handshake. Strangely, Weasley shook my hand rather hurriedly and introduced himself by looking the other way. I then realised his voice was really familiar.

“Hey! Where were you during your cousin, Oliver’s death?” I asked

“Err Oliver? Oh yes! I went to err.. I was out of town when I received the news. It was terrible. I… I came as fast as I could.” He replied shakily. “Apologies, I am not feeling too well. Pleasure to meet the both of you.”

We said our goodbyes, and Sherlock hailed the nearest cab in an instance. it was that moment inside the cab when I fixed the pieces together.

 Once we got in the cab, Sherlock was grinning ear to ear. It was really weird. I then asked him what’s the matter?

“Well, don’t you see it? Everything adds up nicely. All the clues that have been laying around connects and the answer to this murder case is right in front of our eyes. It is so clear.” answered Sherlock.

“ What do you mean?” I asked curiously.

“ Well, starting off, when we entered Oliver’s room didn’t we see the bathroom all wet? After, when we asked Mrs. Marge about her son Weasley, she had that shaky and scared tone in her voice. It was as if she was trying to hide something from us. Then, once we moved up to Weasley’s room, we then saw scratches on the floor. And the most obvious clue was when “Weasley” walked in into the house. Mrs. Marge called him Oli then quickly changed by calling him Weasley. Mrs. Marge lied right in front of our faces by saying where Weasley was.” Sherlock replied.

“I thought that Weasley’s voice was familiar too. It couldn’t be…but the more I thought about it, it pointed out onto only one obvious person….Oliver! But why? Oliver owed the bank a lot of money and he was seriously in debt. His trust fund was not to be touched nor used for his business. He was going to lose it all and probably go to jail for embezzlement of funds. Cousin Weasley was his sole heir but too ill to live for another year, so Oliver faked his own death, killed his cousin, promised his aunt and uncle a lot of money and assumed the identity of his cousin Weasley. In this way, Oliver gets his inheritance Weasley’s parents are spared of huge medical bill and he doesn’t have to go to jail.” I answered with confidence.

“ I must say, I’m proud of you Watson. You have improved in your observations and investigation skills.” he answered with no sign of surprise on his face.

I then called the police and that was the end of Oliver Queen mysterious death. He was heard about again in London.

Another case was successfully solved by the great minds in town.

“ You knew didn’t you. You just wanted me to solve it myself. But how Sherlock? How? How did you solve this mystery? You hardly met Oliver.” I then asked again.

““Elementary, Dr. Watson. Elementary! You see… but do not observe. The distinction is clear.” He responded with a cheeky smirk on his face.

“Absolutely impressive I must say. You are quite a man Sherlock.”

I could not help laughing at the ease of which Sherlock explained his process of deduction. “ When I hear you give your reasons,” I remarked. “The thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning, I am baffled until you explain your process.