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“Capital!” Holms exclaimed, “You are a romantic, Wilson. You are the very man to advise me in this matter. Now, have you ever been attracted to older women?”
“Good God, no. Prefer the young fillies myself.”
“But you are mature yourself now, what of when you were younger?”
“No, no, can't say I ever had the hots for an old thing.”
“But what would have made you have the 'hots', Wilson. What does an older woman bring to the table?”
“Dinner usually,” I joked.
“No, no, experience,” the detective insisted. “The skills and arts acquired over years of lovemaking. Do they hold no attractions?”
“Well, actually, Holms, where I grew up the young girls had those anyway.”
“You are incorrigible, Wilson.”
“No, Holms,” I protestes, “no older woman can match a young treasure with a pretty face and a howling body.
“Howling?”
“One that makes a chap howl like a wolf.” And I gave a convincing impression of Canis lupus.
Holks did not seem too impressed. “I see, and an older woman cannot hold these qualities?”
“None I've ever met.”
“But if there was one,” Holms said, suddenly animated, “and Henderson discovered her?”
“No future in it. Older women do not improve with age.”
“And yet, Mrs Houston, made a valid point. Not all men have your intense physical drives, Wilson.”
I dismissed that instantly. “Pah, she's only speaking up for old women because she is one.”
Holms allowed this new knowledge to sink into his immense intellect. “Then you cannot understand Henderson's motive?”
Indeed I could not and I let my friend know why. “That a young man like Henderson would leave a raver like Cynthia for some old bint? It's revolting.”
This perplexed the great detective for he took up that loping stride, to and fro, across the room which accompanied such a dilemma.
“Yet it fits the facts. Consider. Henderson leaves of his own free will. He is spotted with an older woman carrying out the mundane task of shopping. He makes no effort to contact his club. These are the actions of a man in love.”
I could be of no help to the detective. “But how do we find him? We can't interrogate every old dear in Manchester, or dust their girdles for Henderson's fingerprints.”
“Not all. Wilson, not all. I would imagine it would take a very special 'old dear' to excite the interest of a wealthy, fit and famous young man such as Jimmy Henderson.”
“Of course! An actress, a singer, that sort.”
“Precisely.”