My Adventures of The Great Mouse Detective

Discoveries and Forming Trust

As promised, I went with Basil's observation and the bar scene. On with the story.

Chapter 10: Discoveries and Forming Trust

Third Person POV

Basil and Dawson told Mrs. Judson what happened in the toy store such as Olivia being kidnapped and Kaitlin ran away to find her and her father. "Oh, my!" Mrs. Judson gasped, "I hope Kaitlin finds them."

"Either that or she ended up getting herself in trouble with Ratigan," Basil said because he was angry, confused, and rather ashamed. Angry because Fidget had gotten away with Miss Flaverpickle. Confused because Kaitlin just made no sense to him and he had no idea how to respond to her. Ashamed because he took his frustrations out on her. She was just there and he was itching to pick a fight with someone he knew would fight back.

"Don't say that," Dawson told him, "Who knows? She probably already found them."

Basil sighed. "You're probably right, Doctor. I shouldn't dwell on the bad." But now, Basil tried to shift his focus back onto the case and away from the girl-turned mouse. What was he going to do now? He had to find some sort of hint... a clue... ANYTHING.

"Kaitlin is such a sweet girl and she'll never do anything to hurt a sweet Olivia," Mrs. Judson said.

...

Basil turned on his kerosine lamp to get a better look at the list Fidget dropped with Dawson behind him to watch. "Offhand, I can deduce very little," said Basil, "Only that the words are written with a broad-pointed quill pen which has spattered, twice. That the paper is of..." He put away his magnifying glass in his pocket and closed his eyes, while feeling the texture of the paper and making it flutter gently in his right hand. "Native Mongolian manufacture, no watermark. And has..." He began tasting the paper a little. "Been gummed, if I'm not bit in much error..." He sniffed the paper to get its scent and held the paper by his pointer finger and thumb as he said to Dawson, "By a bat who has been drinking Rodent's Delight." Basil showed the paper to Dawson as Basil casually smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Dawson briefly took out his reading glasses to look at the paper as Basil concluded his thesis, "A cheap brandy sold only in the seediest pubs."

Basil stopped showing Dawson the paper and brought it over to his chemistry set that consisted of cups, bottles, glass beakers, and tubes with multi-colored chemicals. "Hmm, amazing," Dawson said, interested.

"Oh, not really, doctor. We still don't know where it came from," Basil corrected, as he pulled out a microscope and slid the paper underneath it. "Perhaps a closer inspection will tell us something." He brought the lens to focus to see black splattered spots, humming while doing so. "Coal dust. Clearly of the type used in sewer lamps."

Just as Basil walked away, it only took Dawson a second to examine the list through the microscope before Basil snatched away the paper, much to the doctor's surprise.

With his tongue out, Basil discreetly clutched the paper over the Bunsen burner and turned the knob, making the flame increase, burning a hole in the paper. Then, he turned the Bunsen burner down to let the paper slowly burn.

Seeing the list burn, Dawson protested, "B-But Basil I-"

"Shh! Don't speak!" Basil interrupted as he let the burning paper gradually turn to ash inside a wooden bowl. He seized a wooden grinder to stir up the ashes into a dusty material. After that, he poured it into a glass beaker with yellow liquid, making the liquid turn blue.

Dawson studied the blue liquid, but Basil returned with a beaker and a bottle of red liquid, while ordering, "Excuse me, Dawson." Cautiously, Basil lightly tipped the bottle over the beaker. "Steady hand." A small drip of red liquid fell, creating a gust as it turned into a darker shade of blue.