Sherlock Holmes is the kind of person that would give everything in order to solve a case. This being said, that was the reason why things escalated so much in the last one D.I. Lestrade had to offer.
It appeared to be a simple enough murder: out of passion and jealousy. The body had been found in Green Park and in the wallet they found a ticket from Roux at Parliament Square. The police immediately thought the murder had been out of passion; perhaps he was a cheater. As soon as Sherlock heard the news he informed me that they were wrong about it.
Then there were 4 other corpses found in the same state, and that was when Lestrade went to Baker Street.
I must admit that I was surprised that Sherlock was deeply interested in attending the last victim's funeral. He even asked Lestrade to declare that it had been out of passion for the murderer would likely attend the event. And thus I found myself attending the funeral of a stranger I had only seen in the gory pictures taken at the crime scene. Sherlock was so excited that it was hard to keep him in one place. He was analysing everyone attending certain that the murderer would attend the service. "That's our suspect," he said "It'll be dangerous." I was as lost as before he made the announcement. It amazes me how easily he reads people.
That's when he began the longest chase I've ever seen. He is a very impatient man, but when it comes to a case and chasing a suspect, he has all the patience of the world.
He went to Tesco with me claiming that he was just beginning the chase. What took me by surprise was that he practically pushed me to talk to a woman in the car park. He left with a murmured "See you home" while keeping his face down as if trying not to get noticed. I didn't give it a lot of thought for he's often like that.
It was the next day that my suspicions began. Sherlock often lefts me in the dark about his plans, and there are times he doesn't tell me who the suspect is. When late morning he ran up the stairs after being at Speedy's for breakfast, I knew that he was letting me out his machinations. He was meeting with the murderer later that day. "John, I can't turn to the police yet, there are no physical leads that will prove the murders. I need a confession, and I will work for that confession."
"Sherlock, no. You are most definitely not going on a mad chase after a murderer alone." I was standing before him holding a cup of tea that was for him. He just grinned and I knew here is where I'd come into his plan.
"Oh John, but I won't be alone. You will follow us on every step. I'd ask Mycroft for help but this won't be necessary for now. I think the Met will do perfectly for what I have prepared." He was pacing the room while talking. "A woman will be here shortly, I need you to open the door and tell her to leave. Oh, it's the same woman of the car park. I thought you should know."
That's when we heard a knocking and I hurried down the stairs beating Mrs. Hudson to the door. I didn't want her involved in such a grim and ghastly affair. "John hi! I was around and thought I'd come by and see if you wanted to go out or something?" She was smiling and as beautiful as the day before. It took a lot of effort to drive her away with a story convincing enough.
I closed the door, and before I could turn around Sherlock was pushing me towards the door and giving me my gun and jacket. "Do keep up John, I'm rather fond of my life. This will take a couple of weeks. Follow us at a respectable distance, don't wander off."
He ran ahead of me chasing for the woman I had just pushed away. It seemed important that he talked to her. At first she looked rather disappointed, I could understand her motives, but when Sherlock started talking to her a grin, similar to his fake-flirting smirk, made an appearance. Now I knew who the murderer was.
To say that I wasn't surprised would be and understatement. I was deeply taken aback by the fact that a woman was capable of committing such a gruesome murder. Psychologically speaking, and any psychologist will tell you this, women tend to commit murders and suicides in clean ways. They don't create messy scenes such as the ones we had found. At that moment I was glad I hadn't pointed out to Sherlock the men present at the funeral. Just now I could remember the woman being present. Her name was Catherine Walters, and she had been about talking to people.
I followed them everywhere for a month and a half. They went out about two or three times a week. She never called looking for me again. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but Sherlock told me not to seek her again, that she would fall into the trap he was setting.
One day in the afternoon after spending the morning at NSY, Sherlock stormed into the flat looking as excited as a child in Christmas. "John! Good news. We're about to finish this case. Lestrade is getting his team ready for the final piece of the puzzle."
"What on Earth has been going on? What are you so excited about? Is there a new case? You haven't taken any in the last month and a half." I was a little exasperated of being left in the dark for so long. Many things had developed and just now he was letting me in.
"She asked me to go for dinner at the Roux at Parliament Square." He halted his pacing and went silent. I was shocked. This was far more dangerous than what he had been doing. All the corpses had been found at St. James Park in the same conditions with a cheque from that restaurant. He was a step away from turning into the next corpse.
"Sherlock. Please tell me you are not going there." I said as sternly as I could muster at the moment over my fear. "Please don't expose yourself to that danger. It's way too dangerous."
He smirked, and I knew that the game was on.
"I know." He said simply breaking the silence that was stretching between us. "Please do everything as I going to instruct you." And he finally told me his plan.
-Conversation as recorded from Sherlock's mobile phone-
"Hey, there you are, sorry for being late. A case came up this morning. It was pretty easy, but took more time than expected."
"Not a problem Sherlock. Good to see you! Thank you for indulging me into dining in one of my favourite places."
"Oh! So, this is your favourite place?" -sound of something placed on the table-
"Yeah, it's been for a while. It brings me many memories from when I was married. It was a good time." -shuffling of clothes-
"Well, no need to meddle with the past. I see you asked for wine." -glass shattering- "Oh! Sorry. My mistake, I'll get someone to clean it." -feet approaching, unrecognisable whispers-
"Thank you very much. Sorry for the mess."
-Waiter- "Not a problem." -feet leaving-
"Why did you do it?" -Sherlock sounding more serious than his cheerful beginning-
"What are you talking about?" -nervous shuffling- "Are you ok?"
"I think you should ask that to yourself. Don't you think so? Everyone's staring at you because you've been having a conversation all by yourself."
"What are you talking about? Are you sure you are ok?"
"Are you?" -Silence- "Look around, they are looking at you because you are talking to yourself. You came here today because you've been following that John guy that was at the funeral. You've only seen me once at the car park, and look at yourself making an entire story out of a mumbled greeting!"
"You're lying." -sniffling, sobs-
"Am I? You've been following ever since. He's about to come through that door."
-Back to Dr. John Watson's recount as posted in his blog-
I went through the door and saw Catherine Walters turning towards me. It made me feel self conscious and a little bit wary, but I had a task to fulfil. I searched the place expecting to see Sally Donovan waiting for me at a table near Sherlock's. This was going to be fun. With my gun at hand and comforted to see some well-known faces of Lestrade's team, I made my way to my seat. It was a table close enough to listen Sherlock's conversation with Catherine, and it was placed in a position in which Sally could keep tabs of what was going on. Lestrade was waiting outside with a team; he was often in the news thus making him recognisable, ready to brag into the restaurant to fulfil the arrest.
"Sorry for being late, long shift at the clinic." I sat down and could practically fell Catherine's stare on my back. Even Sally looked uncomfortable with the entire situation. She even whispered as silent as she could muster if Sherlock was confident on what he was doing. I had no idea what he was doing. Then he started speaking again.
"See? Are you going to start believing me? I'm just a fiction of your imagination. You created me just as you created every story you've been telling me. Do you remember seeing him a few stores away looking into the shops? Him being tables away at restaurants? It was all in your mind. You've been following him like a lost dog looking for its owner."
"How can you be so cold?" Hate was starting to sound like madness, perhaps that was what Sherlock tried to see.
"I'm just a reflection of your desires. I'm what you want me to be." And in that moment Sally made me the signal to prepare my gun while taking out hers. So I grabbed my gun, and looked in a nearby reflection that Catherine had taken out one and was pointing it at Sherlock. I had no idea how he could be so calm about the entire situation, but I felt like jumping right at him and take her out as fast as possible for Lestrade to take to the Met.
"I was planning on killing you today." Everything seemed to stop for a moment. She was staring past Sherlock, and for a moment she focused on me and looked longingly. "He was perfect… so similar to him, yet not the same. I thought he would go out with me. But he didn't."
"That's why you brought me up. Why don't you talk about the others?"
"They were the same. They looked like him but weren't kind. They had to go. So I ended them just for the sake of saving them. Well, them and other women that fell into their traps. They were also cruel for dating other women while dating me. Those were the reasons. They deserved it."
"I know. Put the gun down before someone calls the police. Well, it's likely that they have already done that, but you get the gist. It will make things easier to explain when they ask you why were you wielding an armed gun towards empty air." And with that I understood everything.
Sherlock had taken me out of the way of danger. I was her next victim, but refused to play her game. He had been playing with her already deranged mind and turned things against her. She was still pointing her gun to Sherlock when Lestrade entered trying to talk some sense into her. He was trying to calm her for she was now hyperventilating. She was going to shoot any moment, but was so fixed on Lestrade that she didn't notice Sherlock going tense and his fleeting nervous expression at the whole situation.
Then everything ended as abruptly as it began. She placed the barrel into her mouth and took the shot. I had probably only seen Sherlock as shocked as he was during the Baskerville case. We were all silent for a moment before forensics began moving around. The few clients that were present were given shock-blankets, and Sherlock, Sally, and me were taken to NSY for declarations. Sherlock's recording was kept as evidence of her murders, and the victim's families were notified of the situation.