CHAPTER ONE

I thought that after my last memoir on the singular acts of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I would forget about writing. I was clearing my attic last week on Mary's request and a tin box followed, in it contained written documents on one of the most singular acts of my friend Sherlock Holmes in aiding the capture of the serial killer RedJohn in the United States of America.

It was in the month of December in the year 2014, Mary's hardworking nature had earned her an expense paid holiday for a family of four in California, USA, Sherlock was reluctant to follow together for this Christmas reward, but my increased influence over him aided in my persuading him to join us on the trip, and it wasn't long before we were in Sacramento enjoying the holidays. Sherlock as was his nature had a habit of checking the agony columns daily for singular unsolved crimes, and he carried this ungodly habit with him on our holiday, Mary had complained to him many a times about it ruining the purpose of holiday and only twice had I successfully compelled him to drop his laptop and join us in family fun. He kept on this habit for about a week, while complaining about the dullness of the new world, finally he finally found what he was looking for, it read 'SERIAL KILLER REDJOHN STRIKES AGAIN', he called my attention to it and read out the details which went like this.

" The CBI serious crimes divisions headed by Special Agent Teresa Lisbon was called upon a gruesome crime scene today at Palm beach, where RedJohn, the famous serial killer appeared to have stroke again, killing two adults, Dr. Gregory Tannon and Allison Randolph..."

Sherlock seemed to be absorbed, then later he turned to me, "I will spend the rest of today filling myself on information on the RedJohn, I'll go and visit the scene tomorrow, and I hope you'll be kind enough to follow me", "I will" I answered dryly, "I thought I knew my Watson", he said smiling, and he got up and went into his room, it was until evening, as Mary was beginning to complain about his obsession, that he stepped out of his room, he sat deep in thought, smoking a haze in the sitting room, "John Watson" he said at last, "I trust you will be glad to meet someone who thinks your name worthy to add to his", "you seem to have a theory about the case" I asked, "O no Watson, no data, it is dangerous to form conclusions with little to no data, but from what I have read he is dangerous, I hope you came with your trusty revolver?" He finally asked, "Sherlock its a Christmas holiday for God sakes, I only took a revolver because I thought you might ask" I said, He grunted, dinner was silent, and he went to bed quickly, dropping a flimsy "We will be up and out early tomorrow". when he had gone, Mary turned on me, "You have to help Sherlock loosen up, its Christmas for god sakes!", "I can't change who he is, besides, this is good, now we can all enjoy Christmas in our own way", She was about to raise an argument, but I waved her off and went to bed. I awoke to Sherlock standing over my bed, fully dressed, "are you awake yet Watson?" He asked, "I am now". It was a short drive to the crime scene, it was littered with police and CBI agents, Sherlock sent in his card and we were assaulted by Agent Teresa Lisbon the Leader of the serious crimes division, "I am sorry Mr. Holmes, but the CBI director did not say anything about we having to work with a consulting detective", "You aren't going to have to" Sherlock said, "It's art for art's sake", "art for arts sake huh?" She asked with a raised brow, "well you don't have access to our crime scene, go home", "Miss Lisbon I trust you'll find me easier to work with", "Sure" Lisbon said sarcastically, "You don't seem to have enjoyed your flight, but a quick glance couldn't hurt you" Sherlock said smiling, she just shrugged and signalled to the inspector, and we were in. Sherlock meticulously studied the house, from where Dr. Tannon's body once lay to the room where Allison once lay, "I commend the position of this smiley face to you attention" He said turning to Agent Lisbon who had shadowed us throughout the campaign, "I already did" Lisbon answered, "RedJohn draws it as a sign whenever he kills a person", Sherlock just grunted, "Well there is nothing more we can learn from here Watson, lets go", he turned to Lisbon, "Can I talk to her husband?", "Ok, knock yourself out". Mr. Randolph wasn't pleased to be subject to further interrogation, but once Sherlock assured him it would be brief, he began to cooperate, his brother just sat there brooding over him. "What was your relationship with Dr. Tannon?" "He was my wife's friend, and a employee of my wife's therapist" he answered, "What was your wife on therapy for?", "She had issues with drugs I think." "Mr. Randolph did it ever strike you at any time that Dr. Tannon and your wife may have been lovers?", "No, Tannon is gay". Sherlock smiled as if he had hit something in a gold field, "Watson I commend this again to your attention" and turning to his Randolph's brother "Did you also know that he was gay?", "Mr. Holmes, it was quite obvious to anyone who met him", "Mr. Randolph, we are done here", Sherlock said getting up, "lets go Watson". In the cab he sat quietly deep in thought, then suddenly he turned to me, "What do you make of this case Watson?", "I can neither make head or tail of it" I answered, "Well Watson, this case begins to have a definite form in my mind", "So you have made up your mind on it then?", "Well I do know the Tannon wasn't killed over jealousy, so the brothers are innocent, Watson, but I shall have the killer in my clutches soon", he paused, "Though the brothers will have a bigger issue among themselves soon.", "And what will that be Sherlock?" I asked, "Well, the younger brother was having an affair with his brothers wife". Having known Holmes method over the years, I didn't really bother to ask, he immediately answered my inner question, "Did you not notice that he brooded over her death severely, clearly he was intimate with her." I nodded in agreement. We drove to Dr. Wagner's office and spoke with him, Sherlock walking up and down as he spoke, and then abruptly he ended the interview and we were back at our apartment, Mary was seriously annoyed over our ruining her holiday spirits, but it didn't take me long to calm her down, Sherlock himself was a bit too jumpy for the weather, and this attracted our attention to him, he had been reading something on the internet and now he seemed to want to make up his mind on something, and it got him excited. "What's going on Sherlock?" Mary asked at last, "I am about to send a very valuable asset to children in Africa to prison, I'm seriously locked in a battle on whether to do that or not", "Who is that Sherlock?" I asked, "The good doctor" He answered, "And yet he donates millions of dollars to Children in Africa, will it be morally right to send him to prison, and let thousands of kids die?", "Well Sherlock, the law must win" I said, "Alas John you're right, the law must prevail, I have to go and clear my mind on this matter.", It was mid-night when I was aware of Sherlock enter the apartment and into his room. The next morning just after breakfast we had an early morning visitor, Dr. Wagner, Sherlock immediately greeted him with such grace as he is well known to employ, "You're a smart man Dr" He said once they were both seated, I and Mary watching in great surprise , "But I find that it is stupid that you never made an effort to hide the body or clear up the evidence.", Wagner looked annoyed, "I don't understand your game Mr. Holmes, you aren't even the police", "But I know what they don't know, and have the power to let you go on account of those thousands of children in Africa, but if you attempt to lie to me again, you will be in the hands of the CBI before today is over.", Wagner seemed to consider it for a moment, "Well Mr. Holmes, if that is your position on the matter, it will serve me well if I should make a clean breast of the situation." "As you well know, I run a hospital as well as a charity, and this man Tannon was going to ruin me over theft, over petty embezzlement, so I killed him", "And Allison you used as distraction" Sherlock exclaimed, "You're good sir" Dr. Wagner said getting up. "I am" Sherlock said getting up too and removing a portable recorder from his pocket, "This belongs to the police confession records", Wagner was really shocked, "I knew something like this would happen" he drew out a pistol from his pocket, "Hand the recorder over to me", Sherlock just walked past him to the door and handed it over to Agent Risgby who stepped in and handled the rest of the arrest, I was beginning to get worried about it, and so was Mary. Agent Lisbon stepped in, and greeted us, "I have been reading about you Mr. Holmes, and you lived up to your reputation", "I do try" Sherlock replied, "What led you to him?" She asked taking a sit, as Sherlock did, "Everything, every train of reason that I followed, I commended to your attention. After hearing the news of the crime, Watson will remember how I fed myself on information about RedJohn, as part of this information, I learned that RedJohn draws his smiley face on the wall facing the door, so as soon as you opened it, you saw the face. And this I commended to your attention, the killer clearly wasn't RedJohn, as the art appeared on the wrong wall. Therefore I eliminated him as a suspect".

" Further examination of the crime scene also showed the same deviation from RedJohn." "I went with the theory then that Tannon was the intended target rather than Allison, based on the theory that a jealous husband might kill him if he suspected he was having an affair with his wife, and therefore spoke with the brothers, I later found out that Tannon was gay and it was well known by all who knew him according to the Randolph's, therefore that motive flew out the window", "I then went to his work place to speak with his boss, and among his collections were books on crime psyches, containing chapters on RedJohn, he became my prime suspect, and it went well with the fact that the killer had wrongly imitated RedJohn, and based on my policy on eliminating the impossible, I was able to come to my conclusion, and that is how I got my man". As he said this he stood up, "Wow" Lisbon exclaimed, "You would be a fine addition to any serious crimes unit", "Its all about deductive imagination" Sherlock said, "And now you must excuse us, I have done enough to ruin Mary's Christmas", He all but threw Lisbon out of the house, turning to us he said, "All professional law enforcers seem to have the same problem with imagination, I bet Lisbon would fit perfectly with Lestrade. But enough about that" He produced the package and handed to Mary, "Merry Christmas Mary".