CHAPTER 1, WATSON
It should come as no surprise to the reader to learn that Sherlock Holmes, as familiar as he was with London's underworld, was no stranger to the purveyors of all the vices available to those who sought them out. Those vices included the products one could ingest, inject, or inhale in pursuit of fantastic visions or languorous stupor, the games of chance where the opiate was the adrenaline rush as the contests played out to their resolution, and of course, the pleasures to be found in the contact of flesh with flesh.
Early one November evening, Holmes and I were in the sitting room of our Baker Street apartments, I enjoying a postprandial cigar and reading the late Edition of the Times, he deep in thought abetted by a full charge of shag tobacco glowing in his favorite brier pipe, the smoke from which swirled around his chair by the window. The window curtain was mostly closed, affording the great detective only a narrow slit to view the street outside, but it was enough for him to discern the approach of a hansom cab which stopped before the door of number 221B. A female form emerged, paid the driver, and proceeded to the door. Presently we heard the footsteps of Mrs. Hudson on the stair followed by her tap on our door. "A Miss Devereaux wishes to speak with Mr. Holmes", she announced.
At a nod from Holmes, I opened the door, thanked Mrs. Hudson, and ushered in a young woman of perhaps five and twenty years who appeared to be in great distress. She wore an overcoat against the night's chill, and without waiting for me to offer assistance she unbuttoned and removed it. The clothing she wore announced her as a woman whose occupation was to offer carnal entertainment to men with the means to pay for it. Her ample breasts threatened to spill out from over the top of the bustier which thrust them proudly out and up. Her dress was tailored to accentuate both her narrow waist and her full hips. The skirt was slit up one side to show a hint of the leg beneath as, without waiting for an invitation, she walked over to the vacant wing chair next to the fireplace and seated herself. She was hatless and her auburn hair was unpinned on one side, falling to her shoulder.
"I have an urgent message to deliver to Mr. Sherlock Holmes," she said, looking from me to the detective. "Pray, to which of you gentlemen should I deliver it?"
"I am he whom you seek", said Holmes. "This is my associate, Dr. Watson, with whom you may speak as frankly as to me. Be assured we shall both hold whatever message you have in the strictest confidence. Watson, perhaps some brandy for Miss Devereaux." I rose to comply, and delivered a glass to her as Holmes began to speak.
"I perceive you hold yourself to be more a courtesan than common streetwalker, accepting as clients only men of breeding. You awakened your last customer's manhood with what is colloquially called a blowjob. You were distressed to find that he possessed a penis of less than the usual length. Despite your distress you dutifully removed your knickers and allowed him the pleasures he had purchased. Something occurred during his performance of the carnal act that caused you to dismiss him as soon as he had spent himself and you proceeded here immediately without making the ablutions you normally would to prepare for your next assignation".
Miss Devereaux's shoulders jerked back at Holmes' words, and she took a large swallow of the brandy to compose herself. "How could you possibly know that? You speak as if you were present in my lodging!"
Accustomed as I was to Holmes' method of establishing his bona fides at first meeting a new client, I still could only partially follow his reasoning. Even I could see that the woman's clothing, her manner of carrying herself, and general state of dishabille identified her as a lady of the evening. But I was baffled by his detailed description of the services she afforded her customer as well as his comments upon the physical characteristics of her client.
As he is wont, Holmes took the opportunity to explain his reasoning. "The act of fellatio imparts a distinctive pattern upon the lipstick of the artist performing it. That you failed to repair the damage together with the state of your hair and the rest of your clothing suggests haste on your part. Since you had not previously made an appointment to call upon me yet you proceeded here in such a state indicates that the need to consult with me occurred to you during the course of your most recent carnal liaison. Your skirt rides a bit high upon your left thigh and a rather large moist spot there appears to be the cause. A man more sumptuously endowed would dispense his ejaculate deeper within your vaginal cavity than one of less impressive length. The latter's being much more likely, then, to leak out after the act."
"Remarkable," said I.
"Elementary," said he.