The Written Test

He looked at his paper and was baffled at the question that was given to him. It was a tough question to solve, and for someone to solve it, he might need a lot of intellect. Lucky for him though, he had studied Sherlock Holmes cases very closely.

The question was as follows, "You enter a room which had been locked from the inside and there lies the body of a woman. Her throat has been cut and there is a pool of blood around the neck. There a two cups on the table, and the window has been shut tight. Is this a murder or a suicide?"

After reading the question, Jack began to ponder over some of the facts that he had considered missing. The body of a woman was the first point. "How old was she?", he asked as he looked into the camera that was looking at his every move.

Watson, who was watching from the other side had a smile on his face. The people who had entered before him didn't ask any question and ruled it as a suicide. But Jack was the only one who had asked.

"Unless I have clear evidence that this was suicide, I will consider this as murder, and thus have to cover all the aspects of murder", he thought as looked back at the description on the paper. The woman was not described with much detail, and he needed answers as much as he could.

But to his dismay, he found nothing. There were no voices that gave an answer to his question, neither were there any images that popped up as a guide for him to follow. and thus his dilemma continued.

The room was too dark for him to see, but there was a window and through it came a small amount of light into the room. And as he looked around, he saw a faint white outline of a body. Shock was written all over his face as the question he was given was the very case that he had to solve.

With a chuckle and excitement coursing through his body, he got up from the chair and looked at the outline. He couldn't turn the lamp due to the electrocution, but what he knew was that to end this, he needed to examine the outline.

He traced it with his fingers as he ran a diagram in his head and memory served him well. The outline made him deduce that the body was that of a woman who might be between 25-28 years old.

He then looked around to find the cups that should have been on the table, but he couldn't find it. The desk as all there was in the room, and he was thinking if this was the desk that the cups were upon, that meant that those cups were on the desk.

He ran his hand across the desk, and he felt two bumps along the sides. Sure enough, he was sure that was the size of the cups and his brain began to work frantically now. If those were the cups, and there were sofas just as he was imagining, his reasoning kicked in.

"If this was a murder then, how did the culprit escape without opening the window and the door? It was locked from the inside", he thought as he looked back at the question. He was now sure that it was murder, as he felt the bumps were slightly different, meaning that the quantity of liquid that were in those cups were different.

"And since the body was in that position, I can conclude that they were a tall person with a long arm reach", he thought as he looked back and forth. Watson who was observing him from the inside had a gleeful face.

"The only plausible explanation must be the vents", he thought as he looked up at the ceiling. He was sure of the possibility now, and looking at the size of the vent, he was sure that the murdered was not a person of obesity, but rather a slim and yet strong person.

After finding out everything and deducing information from the things that was given to him, he began to write his answer.

"This was a well planned murder. The culprit is a tall and slender person, who's gender is unknown. Height could range from 5'10 - 6'3. Has a muscular build and is adept at parkour. And since the door was locked from the inside, it means the victim had a lot of trust in the culprit. Could be a friend. Checking her contacts would be the best course of action", he wrote and completed the answer.

With that answer, he was satisfactory. He knew for sure that Sherlock Holmes would have been able to deduce much more from the little information that was provided, but he was Jack Brown, an ordinary detective of the an ordinary force.

After the completion of the test, he came out and handed the paper in. He was asked to wait behind, as Watson began to have a look at his answer sheet. Watson was in glee, as his search for a successor to Sherlock's home wasn't in vain. And he was impressed with Jack's natural talent of finding stuff out.

The day was going about, and the participants were waiting outside for their results to be known. Unknown to Jack, there were vultures that were waiting for a chance at the legendary 221B Baker Street, for other purposes.

It was the evening and in came Mrs. Hudson's cakes and tea, which jack found to be very lovely. At thirty past eight, everyone that was with him was told to leave and that the results to the test will be coming out the next day.

Jack left in a dilemma, as he didn't have a place to sleep for the night, and succumbed to his desk in the station, and began dreaming about him winning the competition, getting him a place to stay in the world.