The Unsuspected Return

It has been months, years maybe, since I last stepped foot into the residence of the once so famous Sherlock Holmes. I just couldn't muster up enough courage to even talk to Mrs. Hudson, will she understand however, the events that took place causing the "disappearance" of my companion. A recent passing has taken a toll in my life and as of this moment, I have been staying in a nearby hotel. By day, I'm a doctor who works for a living, come night, I suffer from a bad case of insomnia. A terrible life, this is. Or should I say this 'was'.
On April 3rd 1894, I was finally ready, I stood before the door and knocked , "Mrs. Hudson?" I called out, silence. I gave the door a small push and to my surprise, it wasn't locked. It was dangerous, so I quickly went in and shut the door, I looked around for the keys which was gone. I assumed that Mrs. Hudson had took the keys but forgot to lock the door when she left so I decided to stay until she gets back. I began walking up the stairs and there it was, the sound of a bow gently stroking the strings of a violin, the soothing sound of violin music playing in my head but then it stopped, I stopped. I shook my head telling myself it was but an imagination. I continued up the stairs and into the room to see nothing but dust covering everything. Releasing a big sigh, I walked in and sat on the armchair Holmes used to. Just as I sat down and closed my eyes, I heard a knock on the door. Startled, I woke up and uttered "Yes?"

Standing by the door was none other than Mycroft Holmes. "Hello Dr. Watson, reminiscing I see." said Mycroft.

"Mycroft!" I stood up agitated. "Pleased to see you again." I said as I extended my hand out.

"Always a pleasure, Dr. Watson. Now if you could kindly follow me, I have something to show you... If you are not too busy at the moment."

"Oh of course, I was just about to leave."

"You and I both know that you just got here Dr. Watson, but no matter, we're headed for The Diogenes Club."

Mycroft and I departed immediately and arrived there after a long silent carriage ride.

We got out of the carriage and I curiously asked "So what are we doing here?"
"Oh, you'll find out soon, Dr. Watson. It is a surprise that one cannot deny."

We went through the Stranger's Room and into Mycroft's office. In there we sat down as he pulled up a file. "Have you read the news lately, Dr. Watson?" He asked.
"No, no I haven't. I've been busy."

"Well you should have, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation right here."

"Why? What do you mean?"

Mycroft pulls out some newspapers and passes them to me. "Read the ones in circles, will you?"

"Serial Killer caught in France, Asian terrorist cell uncovered and stopped, Famous Myth in Russia debunked, why are you showing me this?"

"Do you still not get it, Dr. Watson? For years, these cases..."

"Oh, spare him the lecture, Mycroft." a voice appeared from the front door. "Hello Watson, we meet again."

Hesitantly, I turned my head and there he was, Sherlock Holmes, the Great Detective of Baker Street. "Holmes.. But you died." I murmured.

"Ah, dear Watson, I don't blame you for not recognizing my handiwork as you were busy with your own work. I see that you are not feeling well too, please rest while I prepare to leave."

"Leave.. Leave? Where to, Holmes?"

"Why, back to Baker Street, my friend. I see you've already been there but no matter, Mrs. Hudson would be surprised."

"You were alive.. and you left all of us.."

"Yes Watson, that is fairly obvious but there was a reason behind this accusation of yours."

"You bloody bastard, you had us all worried!" I walked towards him furiously.

"I know that, Watson, but please do understand that I did it for the sake of all of you and for England."

"You.." I hurled my fist towards him and he tried to dodge it but I managed to hit parts of his face. He was on the ground now, slowly getting up, adjusting his jaw, he said "Now that we got that out of your system, shall we leave for Baker Street?"

"Yes.. yes, let's."

"Very well," He turned towards Mycroft "Thank you Mycroft, your services are no longer required."

"You're welcome, Sherlock, please do remember to inform Sherrinford, will you?" Mycroft replied whilst looking at us walking towards the door.

"We'll see how the day goes, Mycroft, no promises." Holmes said as he opened the doors.

We called for a cab and made our way back to Baker Street. While in the carriage, the silence was broken when Holmes said "My condolences, Watson."

"What for?"

"Mary."

It hit me hard, I kept cleared my throat and said "Thank you". The entire ride was silent from then, the road was empty but two carriages and a few people on the street. When we reached Baker Street, we got off the carriage and as we were unloading Holmes's equipment, the cabby turned towards us and said "You're that detective ain't ya? Heard you were dead or somethin'."

Holmes looked towards me and said "Cover blown by a cabby, who would have expected." Quickly, Holmes turned towards the cabby and replied in an American accent "I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for someone else, I just recently moved here, my friend here is showing me around."

"Ah yes, he was eager to visit the residence of the great detective." I quickly said as my attention turned towards the cabby and the carriage parked behind it.

"I heard he was a really intelligent man, wish I could have met him myself."

The cabby shrugged and said "Yeah whatever, just get your stuff, I got a business to run 'ere."

We quickly grabbed everything and watched as the cabby rode off. "That was a close call." I remarked. The carriage that was behind us stayed at its current position, I hadn't thought much of it so I ignored it.

Holmes smiled and opened the door of 221B Baker Street, Mrs. Hudson was still out so we made our way up and unpacked everything. We sat down on our respective armchairs and looked at each other. "It's been a long time since this last happened." I pointed out.

"Oh how you've missed it." Holmes smirked.

"So, France, Asia, Russia. Where else did you go?"

"I've been everywhere, Watson. From China to America, I've seen it all."

"And where were you before you came back to London?"

"Greece, I was on another case during my visit there. A case of a three-headed dog."

"A three-headed dog? Why that's impossible, Holmes."

"An assumption that I first made. You know me, Watson, when I make assumptions like that, surely there's a reason behind my initial conclusion. It began with a fire, a house, being burnt down as a boy alongside his mother was passing by. Like anyone else, they came to a stop and witnessed the fire but what the boy saw in the fire was something extraordinary, it was a silhouette, a silhouette that of a three-headed hound."

"By God Holmes, surely this was a product of a young mind's imagination!" I proposed.

Lighting up his pipe, Holmes just smirked.

"But it wasn't, was it?" I inquired.

"Precisely. I was supposed to leave for London the morning after the incident, however as I was strolling by the location, there were policemen carrying out their investigation as to the cause of the fire, one of them, Sergeant Leonidas was his name, recognized me. "Sherlock Holmes?" He uttered whilst staring at me."

"I can assure you that you are mistaken." I proclaimed.

Panicked, he looked away and said "I apologize mister, you just look a lot like him."

"Something other than a fire happened here, I presume?"

"Quite right mister."

"Could you perhaps share some of the details?"

"I'm sorry but this is a police investigation and nobody is supposed to know what happened," He replied, shivering a little.

"Afraid, are we?"

"No mister, it's just..."

"You can tell me, fear is wisdom in the face of danger."

"Pretty words will not trick me into telling you mister."

"Persistent, fitting for your job."

"Thank you mister."

"No matter, soon I will be able to learn more of this case."

"Why do you think that mister?"

"Because I learned that you are recently married, you were having a lovely breakfast with your wife when you had to rush here, you took a cab and have very recently got promoted."

"How did you..."

"Less details, more brain work."

"Are you.."
"Sherlock Holmes, yes, now if you don't mind, tell me about this case."
"But you said..."

"Yes and it was a ruse to trick you into believing that I was not Sherlock Holmes and was just a passerby. Hurry up now will you?"

"Uhh.. Yes, yes sir. There was a fire, a child and her mother was passing by when they were distracted by said fire, the child then told the mother he saw something in it. He saw a dog."

"And the dog wasn't burning, barking or making any noise was he?"

"Yes but there was something to this dog... It had three heads."

"A child's imagination then, nothing more, nothing less. Your men has no reason to be here." Just as I completed my sentence, a police officer ran over and talked to the Sergeant in Greek, this police officer was clenching his teeth while trying to talk, he was afraid surely, but of what I did not wonder. Once they were done, Sergeant Leonidas looked towards me with fear in his eyes, "They found prints, the prints of a dog."

I pushed him aside and walked in while some officers tried to stop me, Sergeant Leonidas assured them that I was eligible to pass. I looked down and saw the prints, I followed it out of curiosity and the trail ended just outside the house. Leonidas ran to me and asked "An imagination came to life then?"

"Where is the boy?" I asked trying to ignore his remark.

"Over there sir." He replied, pointing his finger.

"Thank you."

I walked up to the boy and his mother who looked frighten and worried turn their eyes towards me. "This boy is the witness, is that correct?" I inquired. The mother turned to the boy and said "He saw no thing."

"Ah, well that is a problem you see, from what I know, the boy saw the dog."

"He sleepy, needs to go home."

"This won't take long, madam." I said quickly and turned to the boy. "Tell me, what did you see exactly?"

The kid whispered, "Dog, three head in the fire. Cerberus!""

I interrupted briefly, "Cerberus? Is that the dog's name?"

"Of course not Watson, you lack in the knowledge of Greek Mythology. Cerberus is a three-headed hound guarding the gate of the underworld, often known as 'Hound of Hades'."

"So it was Him all along."

"Oh Watson, what's a myth but fiction that parallels the real world?"

I gave a quiet yet queer look, then I took a deep breath and glanced towards the floor for a moment, "I'm afraid this case is very complex, Holmes. Were you able to solve it then?"

Holmes quickly snatched his pipe out and said "Well I am here Watson, what does that mean?"

"You have solved it then."

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" He uttered as he put his pipe back in his mouth. "I inspected the area soon after and discovered that dog was already there before the fire began, what the kid saw was the dog after realizing the house was burning and running out. The fire however, was caused by lighting a match onto the wooden floor, there was of course kerosene to ignite the place faster. The culprit left parts of his footprint by the flowing kerosene. Though by observation and deduction, I concluded that he had leather boots of size 7 and is indeed a man but the man was not of interest in this case, it was the dog, the hound. That night I waited in a nearby alley where I could see the house."

"Ahh, because if the hound were to live there, then it surely will return to where it clever you are, Holmes." He gave a smirk and continued on, "The Inspector tagged along but didn't last long, he went back to his apartment a few minutes before a silhouette appeared on the streets by a lamp post. And there I saw it, a rottweiler possessing three heads. I was," he took a short pause, "I was astonished. I went up to it as it growled at me, fear, anger and sadness in it's individual faces. It was tremendous, science has truly taken a toll in this marvelous production."

I pulled my head back and said "Holmes, what are you talking about?" I looked towards him and his eyes were looking up to the sky, his face showing no indication that he has lost himself yet he looked blank. "Holmes!" I shouted.

"Polycephaly." He replied with a quick glance to the ground.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Polycephaly, Watson. The rarest of them all."

"But Holmes, polycephaly has only happened once, the Two-Headed Boy of Bengal was but craniopagus parasiticus. Are you certain that such a rare disease has occurred once more and to such an extent?"

"I am certain, Watson, yes. I took the dog to the nearby police station with a note about the case. I then made my way back here to London."

"Marvelous indeed, Holmes. However, why have you returned? What about the man who burned the place?"

"Oh I have not forgotten Watson," He proclaimed as he took the pipe out of his mouth. "Come on in Inspector."

"Lestrade is here?" I inquired with a slight joy in my voice.

"No, Watson. Not Lestrade. Inspector Leonidas." He replied as he placed his pipe down and the door opened, a man of my height walked in nervously.

"But Holmes, you said he was a Sergeant."

"I did," he smiled, "but so did his name tag." Leonidas was standing between us now, staring down into the abyss. Holmes then said "He tried to trick everyone into thinking that he was demoted and was recently married. His ring on his ring finger was polished after he had burned the house, his ring however, belonged to his deceased wife in which he had found dead on the floor of his house. Panicking, his only thought was to burn the place down."

"But why would he do that? He found his wife dead, why not contact the authorities?"

"Because he was secretly married, look at his ring Watson, isn't it a little too big of a size for his finger? It's because it eases the ring to slip out of his finger when he goes out to the public where nobody will suspect him. By burning the place down, he had also destroyed most evidence that points to him being the owner of the lot."

"What of the wife then?"

Just as Holmes opened his mouth, Inspector Leonidas said "She was murdered," Tears began swelling his eyes and rolling down his face, "I found her with a knife stuck in her chest, my dog probably tried to wake her up." There was a long pause as he sobbed. "I know who the man responsible for this is, Mr. Holmes. I want you to help me catch him while I'm in prison."

"No." Holmes uttered.

"I'm... I'm sorry?"

"No, you will not be in prison, Inspector, nobody else other than us in this room knows about both the murder and the fact that you burned the place down. You are free to do as you will. Good day, Inspector."

Inspector Leonidas turned to my companion with joy and inspiration, he smiled at me and left the room as Holmes stood up and walked towards the window with his violin. "A successful case then, Holmes?" I stood up, looking towards him.

"A successful one indeed, Watson."

Thus, continued the many adventures my companion and I will share throughout the many years.