"Me?" Lestrade drew his brows together. "It was Gregson investigated Merridew's complaint." Yes, and Gregson who had testified, however reluctantly, for the prosecution, although I would always be grateful to him for doing so in such excessively dull terms that both lawyers had been quick to leave him go.

"I didn't ask Holmes why," I said, although I might have asked Lestrade if a dozen listeners weren't hanging on our words, eager for any hint of collusion.

"If I know Sherlock Holmes," Lestrade grumbled, "I'm about to find out that he's solved my last three cases by reading the newspapers."