A Study In Scarlet

A Study In Scarlet

“Don’t be late,” Cody Edwards said into the phone to his beloved, Frieda Holmes.

So, Frieda arrived at nine in the evening. She looked around his studio avidly. She was very amazed he didn’t seem to be there.

“He wanted me here on time, but now he’s the one who's late,” she muttered.

She was studying some of the pencil sketches that were posted on the walls around the room, when she felt a sharp pain between her shoulders. In minutes, Cody stood over the body, dripping with her blood and looked with an artist’s analytical eye, down on her corpse.

Wiping his hands, he pulled a palette out from behind his easel and set it in place. Scooping up blood from around the body, he mixed it with just enough white and grey so it would become paint.

“This will be my greatest masterpiece,” he told himself.

As he began, his eyes glittered with madness and his hand trembled.

“She said she loved me. Swore she would give up all others. I went to our favorite cafe for coffee and to dream of her, just last night. What do I see? What drives a stiletto into my heart? She is sitting in a dark corner with my greatest rival, kissing him passionately.”

He continued to paint feverishly. By dawn, he deemed it finished.

“I cannot live without her!” he howled. Taking a long palette knife, he drove it into his heart.

The art community went wild for his final work. It was shown all over the world. His agent named it ‘Study in Scarlet’ because Cody spattered the finished canvas with drops, gouts and streaks of his blood. It was purchased anonymously by the artist’s biggest rival. His own death made headlines a week later.