Chapter 1.

Alexis Bardsley. A teenage criminal mastermind who, until last year, had been the most successful thief in the world. She had got away with everything flawlessly, before the police even noticed that there had been a security breach. She lived the high life; private yacht parties, formal balls, anything you could imagine she was invited to. Of course no-one knew her, not really. She slipped into the crowd, made an impression and then faded into the background. The things she had managed to do with that skill were incredible, stealing necklaces off of women's necks, shoes, dresses, even a toupee once. Then there were the paintings; above all else Alexis loved art. It was a frequent pass time of hers to paint and draw, but what she loved more than that was collecting and by collecting she meant stealing. Not just small unknown paintings, but the greats; Monet, Salvador Dali, Da Vinci, Matisse, she even had a Renoir at one point.

Then it all took a turn for the worst, a small mistake and her whole career was in pieces around her. While on a heist, stealing a particularly valuable painting, she made a mistake. A small, seemingly insignificant mistake that landed her caught red handed...

...A formal ball in the National art gallery in London, Alexis Bardsley was on the prowl. She had ditched her date less than five minutes ago, excusing herself to go to the bathroom. She was currently sat at the bar, sipping on champagne and letting her eyes flit over to the doors, which were manned by three guards a piece. The bartender was flirting, but Alexis didn't pay him attention, she had no time for that tonight. Across the room she locked eyes with her newly acquired partner in crime; a tall blond, young woman. Jessica Cartnam, was the only daughter of a fashion designer in Paris and was spoiled rotten. Some how, Alexis really didn't bother to ask, Jessica had become a thief. However, she was not a thief with a love of objects, but a thief who procured selected items for clients.

Jessica nodded once and flashed a hand signal Alexis' way before slipping back into the press of bodies. Carefully Alexis edged off of her seat and towards the door, and began chatting to one of the security men, fluttering her eyelashes and trying to be as appealing as possible. The plan was to slip through the door as soon as Jessica had created the distraction. It worked well enough, it was simple, but a pretty young girl fainting in the middle of the dance floor was enough to send everyone running. As soon as she was out side the door, Alexis kicked her heels off, hitched up her dress and sped through the gallery. Again, getting the painting was simple, only a few alarm wires had to be cut through. She was off again, carrying the painting, and marvelling at the thrill of holding it in her hands. That was when she heard the alarm sound. Looking up from the painting she could see people running at her and leading the way, in her obnoxious red dress was Jessica. That was the mistake. Trusting Jessica...

...It was a year and seven months later when, early one September morning, there was a knock at Alexis' door. She had been on house arrest, no judge would send her to prison, and the only visitors she was allowed were the police. Her parents were the ones to answer the door, though Alexis was awake, flicking through television channels.

"It's a little early for a visit Detective inspector," Alexis said aloud as the two armed police men walked into the room. Getting up from the couch, she pulled her silk kimono dressing gown around her. "I'm not even dressed."

There was an awkward silence, and then; "You should get dressed, we need to speak to you."

Stifling a yawn Alexis walked out of the room, returning ten minutes later fully dressed and hair brushed into a organised mess of curls. Her parents looked pale, worried, and Alexis didn't blame them. The last time the police were her it was because she had been using the Internet to watch episodes of t.v. shows she had missed, which was apparently not allowed in her terms of arrest. Though she knew that this time she really hadn't done anything wrong. In fact she had hardly moved from the sofa in a month. All she did was watch t.v. and eat and on occasion sleep.

"Alexis Bardsley, we are here to formally release you from house arrest," the DI said, a slight quirk at the corner of his mouth betrayed his secret wonder at the teenage girl in front of him.

"You're releasing me?" She asked, looking to her parents who were smiling. "And you knew," she turned to them and frowned. "Why?"

"Well, you see, we need your help," the DI said grudgingly. Alexis raised an eyebrow, what kind of help? Did he want to break into a bank? "There has been a string of murders, nasty ones and we can't make sense of who killed them or why. We need you to help." Murders? Alexis frowned again, why should she be asked to help with catching a serial killer? When she voiced this, the only reply she received was, "All you have to do is work with us and then you're out of house arrest for good."

"I-"

"We searched your Internet history when we took your laptop, ? You're actually pretty good. A lot of cold cases have been picked up again because of you," the Sargent next to the DI said, actually seeming quite awed. Alexis smirked a little, a pink blush on her cheeks. She had always been a sucker for a compliment and her work was her weak point. She was as vain about her work as her mother was about her looks and that was a lot.

There were more police officers showing up now, and some official looking men in suits all waiting on Alexis to agree. Of course it was not a hard decision, she was bored out of her mind cooped up in her house, she hadn't slept in days and she had managed to watch all of the star trek series without stopping. A little murder case was going to be a welcome break and if it got her out of house arrest...

"Alright," she sighed, sitting back down on the sofa. "But, I have conditions." The room fell silent, as Alexis put her feet up on the coffee table. "First things first, if I have to break the law, then I want full pardon. You're not allowed to treat me like a child, I do what I need to and I will get the job done and I do not need a baby sitter while I do it. I need new clothes, so some money for that would be lovely, and if I need to get taxis or whatever. And Lastly I want to move out of this house."

"Well, they don't seem too unreasonable...I'm sure we could sort something out," the DI said after she had listed her requests. Alexis flashed him a smile. "I'm Detective Inspector Mitchel Johnson, you'll be working directly with me. It's nice to have you on board." she shook his hand and offered him a seat next to her while they filled out the appropriate paperwork.

When that was done, Alexis was once again reunited with her beloved laptop and given the case files for the murder victims. There were quite a few, five in total, all gruesome; the bodies had been cut up almost beyond recognition, some had to have their dental records checked. Alexis grimaced as she looked at the photos, feeling slightly sick.

"Well whoever did this was obviously insane," she muttered, looking through the victims, they ranged in gender, race, religion, hair colour, parts of London, occupation. "It goes against the grain, see, serial killers usually have a pattern. Sometimes it's women, sometimes its prostitutes, others is to do with race, or religion, but nothing here is similar."

"Yeah, we figured that much," once of the police officers grumbled.

Alexis shot him a look of annoyance and then looked back to the case files. Her mind was ticking things over, trying to suss out what was going on here. There had to be something. Something. The whole room was quiet, everyone was waiting for an answer to this puzzle.

"I'm going to need some time to think about this," she answered finally and everyone gave a collective groan of frustration and began to file out of the living room and into the large kitchen area where Alexis' mother was serving tea and coffee.

Drumming a slow steady beat just to the right of her mouse pad, Alexis closed her eyes and immersed herself in information. She opened her eyes again a few minutes, or what seemed to her as a few minutes later, and was surprised to see the sun shining in through the living room window. The room was empty, of people; she guessed that her parents had gone back to bed and that the police had gone home too.

Alexis placed her laptop down on the coffee table, and winced as her muscles complained from being cramped in the same position for several hours, but that was soon forgotten when she realised that she could go 'outside' again. Quickly searching for some shoes and pulling on her grey coat, Alexis pulled open the front door and stepped out on to the stone path that lead to the street. With growing anticipation she ran up the path and onto the adjoining pavement. This was the furthest she had been allowed to go in just over a year an a half. She laughed despite herself and then turned and went back inside.

The phone rang almost exactly as she closed the door, and Alexis answered it, shrugging out of her coat as she did so; "Hello, Alexis Bardsley speaking."

"I'm coming to pick you up," DI Mitchel Johnson said quickly down the line. "We found another body less than an hour ago. Get something to eat."

Then he hung up. Alexis, put the phone back in it's stand while doing a giddy spin. Freedom, a mystery to solve and a new dead body, this was starting to get rather fun.

It took less than ten minutes for Mitchel to arrive, and Alexis was ready and waiting. She clearly more than eager to be out in the city again, though she looked in distaste at the police car. Bad memories. She slid into the backseat, ignoring the look that the other police officer gave her, and pulling out her mini-tablet.

"So, what's the low down?" Alexis asked, fingers already tapping away, hacking into some very secret files. "Oh, never mind I've found it!"

"Found what?" Mitchel asked impatiently as he wove through the lines of traffic.

"The basic report. Your police files are far to easy to get into you know, maybe invest in better security," Alexis said vaguely, her eyes skimming over the information. "Exactly the same, but again different. This would be much easier if there was a pattern or a motive...or...or something! Do we even know what weapon was used?"

Before either of the policemen could reply Alexis babbled on, "Probably a machete, that or a samurai sword. I stole one once...no, not the sword, the cuts are too sloppy...Knife? I'm really liking the chances of it being a machete...I hope it is...I love being right..." She continues to ramble on until they reached the house where the body was found. There were far to many police cars for Alexis' liking.

"Come on, we have around twenty minutes before the ambulance gets here," Mitchel sighed, un-plugging his seat belt. Alexis and the other police officer followed his lead, though Alexis was the only on to walk straight in, only pausing to grab some latex gloves. She wandered through the house, looking at the floor, any scuffs on the carpet could tell her a considerable amount. Sadly she came up with nothing. The body was upstairs, actually, right at the top of the stairs. Alexis gagged, it was disgusting, intestines were everywhere and there was so much blood. She gripped the banister for support, composed herself and then knelt on the top step to examine the body.

"Oh you have got to be joking!" Alexis blurted out, attracting the attention of the forensic team who were waiting for their chance to examine the mutilated corpse. "Bullet holes. This guy was shot and then cut up. That is just brilliant. Oi Mitchel! get your team to look for bullets, in this mess, the guys was shot first!"

Springing to her feet, Alexis bounded down the stairs, through the house and into the kitchen. Pulling the wash basin out of the sink she inspected the drain, a thin line of pink stained the side of the cream sink, and the outline of the plug was red. Her eyes flicked upwards to the knife block, carefully she drew out a knife carefully inspecting it for any trace of blood. She repeated this until she found what she was looking for, on the third knife. Part of the handle was chipped, and in that tiny little chip was a spot of brown-ish red.

"I found the knife!" Alexis practically sang out. "Why hadn't I thought of this before? Who would suspect the killer to use the victims knives? Brilliant!"

Dumping the knife into an evidence bag she suggested that they run DNA tests on it right away to see if they have any matches. Though she was rather impatient when she was told it would take three - nine days, she resigned herself to wandering around the house looking for any more clues.

"Okay, now I'm bored. I've pretty much solved the case, so can I get lunch or something?" Alexis whined to Mitchel as he was filling out paper work. "Please I'm hungry!"

"No. Just be patient, I'll take you home soon, you can eat there."

"I'll get a cab thanks! And I don't want to go home! I've been HOME for over a year and a half! Why the hell would I want to be taken home!?" Alexis practically yelled, shoving her hands in her coat pockets and walking away from the police car, to wards the main road. "Not that I have anywhere else to go."

"Alexis! Come back!"

'Alexis' ugh she hated that now. It was her high society name. Her 'I own everything I want' name. It was too posh and it reminded her too much of her previous career before she had to stoop so low as to help the police to get out of house arrest. Alexis. No. She needed a change. Alex? She mused...yes, she liked that. Alex, the badass reformed criminal catching serial killers because the police as too bloody stupid to do it by themselves. Yes. Alex.

"Don't call me that!" She yelled back over her shoulder before sprinting out of sight.

Some how 'Alex', as she will now be referred too, ended up sat on a park bench in the middle of London and no idea how to get back. She had no phone, no internet connection on her tablet, no money, nothing. Sighing she looked up at the grey sky, she was beginning to wonder if this was going to be such a good idea. It was clear that she wasn't going to get on with Mitchel or any of the others on his team, but she really had no choice. She would have done anything to get out of house arrest.

It was starting to get darker, though it was only quarter past one, and Alex felt the first drop of rain hit her cheek. She stood, pulled the collar of her coat up further around her neck was began to walk out of the park, which she later found out was called 'the secret garden'. Crossing the bridge that lead out of the park, Alex then took the left hand path and met a road. She tried to hail a cab, but after the third unsuccessful attempt she decided to walk. After crossing several more roads, she ended up in an unfamiliar street. It was busy, but it was London so everywhere was busy, she slipped through the crowd as if she were non-existent. Doing this a year ago at least one person would have recognised her face, but now she was a normal citizen again. The rain was heavier now and a red fronted sandwich shop drew her in with the smell of coffee and pastry. She took a seat by the window and left her coat on the chair before going up to the counter and - she sighed and returned to her seat, pretending to look for change in her pockets even though she knew she had none.

After around ten minutes, Alex decided she couldn't stay any longer without buying anything. She stood, put on her coat and prepared herself to walk to a payphone and call Mitchel. Then, just as she was walking out of the door, she ran into someone. At first she thought it was a wall.

"Sorry," Alex muttered, rubbing her sore shoulder. "I didn't mean to- It's you!"

Mitchel held up his hand in surrender as Alex stepped away from him in anger.

"I came to talk to you," he said, holding the door open for her to go back inside. When they were seated, both with a cup of coffee, Mitchel began to talk. "I know that this probably isn't the most idea situation. Believe me I would not be asking for your help unless I needed it, but I do so can we please try to co-operate a little."

Alex crossed her arms and looked out the window at the passing people before she answered. "I am willing to co-operate, as long as I'm not being treated as a child."

"I know, I am sorry and I will try to remember that you are almost eighteen, but you need to remember that you can't go storming off on your own. Granted I have people out there who can tell me where you are at almost any given moment, but that is besides the point. Oh and I almost forgot." From hit pocket Mitchel produced a phone, it was new, one of the latest models and probably greatly expensive. "I save my number in speed dial, so if you need me just call. I'll be paying for your contract. "

"You didn't have to-"

"Think of it as a peace offering," Mitchel chuckled, cutting Alex off. "Oh and another thing. There is a basement flat for rent, right next door to this place."

Alex perked up even more at this new news and then she practically beamed when he said that he had already put down her first months rent.

"When did you manage to do that?" Alex asked him, slightly awed that he had done all that just to keep her working with them.

"Just before you walked into me outside the cafe," Mitchel explained as he knocked on the black door with the gold numbers 221b on. When the door opened a friendly older woman poked her head out at smiled at Mitchel before opening the door. "Mrs Hudson this is Alex Bardsley."

The introductions were kept as brief as possible, Alex honestly didn't want to trouble the woman with her past. The basement flat was cold, dank and empty, but Alex found herself growing hugely attracted to it. She grinned the entire time she looked around the place, imagining where her things would go. The actual apartment number was 221C baker street, as 221B was up the stairs, where, as Mrs Hudson put it 'two lovely boys live'.

It was a snap decision, but Alex decided she was moving in that very evening. She 'acquired' a moving van and, much to his dislike, Mitchel helped her pack it full of her things. The only items that were left in her room where was her old Edwardian style wardrobe and her four poster bed frame. It took several hours, it was very nearly midnight, until everything was unloaded and the moving van was safely returned.

Alex settled down, cross legged on her mattress that was in the middle of the living room, on a slightly raised shelf of floor. Fairy lights were strung up around the room since the main light wasn't working and a small halogen heater gave off a warm glow. Now that she had filled the space with her things, Alex liked this place even more. All of her books were piled in stacks and in boxes in the corner, her white shag rug was in the middle of the lower part of the living room and partly ontop of that was a coffee table and her t.v. All of her clothes were neatly stowed in the other room, in a couple of canvas wardrobes and all of her other belongings were placed in the other rooms.

There was a knock at the door and Mrs Hudson popped her head through before entering with a glass of milk and some biscuits. Alex smiled and thanked her. Mrs Hudson waved it off and said, "Just this once dear, I'm not your house keeper." This seemed to attract the attention of someone else within the building.

"Mrs Hudson?" an unfamiliar male voice called out and then a short haired, clearly military man entered the room, "Who are you talking - oh. Uhm, yeh, hello."

Alex gave an awkward wave before looking down at her scantily clad body and blushing. She reached for a jacket to cover herself with before she introduced herself. "Uhm hi, I'm Alex Bardsley. I'm guessing you live upstairs?"

"John..." He said coming in and shaking her hand. "John Watson. I live upstairs with my flat mate, how did you?"

"Mrs Hudson told me," Alex said smiling. "Nice to meet you John, I would love to chat, but I'll probably have to be up early tomorrow and I really should get some sleep."

"Goodnight," he said, leaving the flat with Mrs Hudson trailing behind. Alex sighed. If John's flatmate was as lovely as him Alex would deem herself the luckiest person alive.

Okay so that's the chapter done, hope you liked it. This is off my wattpad, but it wasn't getting a response so I hope you all tell me how I'm doing with this! Thanks to anyone who reads this :) And hello to my fans who read my Vampire diaries fic, if you don't feel free to check it out! :D x

R&R!