A Curious Print

Venturing further down the damp brick pavement, I slipped behind the metal leg of a street corner newsstand to avoid the hurried tread of pedestrians. Propped against the lowest wooden shelf rested a discarded magnifying loupe, abandoned near a scattered fan of morning broadsheets. Naturally, I confiscated the glass immediately. Tilting the lens above a muddy smudge on the wooden riser, I identified the distinct diagonal ribbed tread of a delivery boy's boot, paired with a smear of printer's ink still tacky to the touch. Elementary. The boy dropped his papers in a rush less than twenty minutes ago, leaving his instrument behind. A detective must always upgrade his equipment when the city provides.