'Lestrade, the new recruit is here', I was introduced stepping into the DI's office, the woman of African features making a quick step to the side to let me in. Donovan, I think that was her name, whatever, she was irritating me.
'Detective Inspector' my hand raised to my head in a salute while Lestrade was eyeing me from behind sleep deprived eyes. He must have had a hard case, no, he's in the middle of one if the 3 cups of coffee on his table are any indication.
'Ah, yes, the recruit' he mumbled, trying to remember my name
'Creedon' the DI looked at me stunned for a second before realising I had just supplied him with my surname, 'Kiera Creedon' I introduced myself fully
'Ah, yes, Detective Creedon, I'm sorry, not having the easiest of cases at the moment' he explained
'I can see that' I attempted to have empathy written on my face but I somehow think it came out wrong as Sergeant Donovan beside me gave me the most unwelcoming look I had the pleasure to see. Well this was going to be interesting.
'We have a press conference soon, Donovan, you will be the spokes person.' Lestrade stated giving the woman a pointed look, while signalling me to sit down for a bit more of a chat. Donovan huffed and walked out, slamming the door behind her. She saw me for 4 minutes and already decided she didn't like me, talk about rash decisions. 'Ms. Creedon' the greying man in front of me started
'Kiera' my correction arrived, he could call me by my first name, he didn't seem so judgemental
'Right, Kiera' he shifted in his chair to be more comfortable 'We're in the middle of a case at the moment, do you mind observing this time round? We do things slightly differently to the Dublin Gardaí' His eyes seemed almost apologetic for asking me to sit back on the case, but he was right, they do things differently in Ireland and it was probably best for me to observe, get a feel for it, and then jump right in.
'Of course Captain'
'I see here' his fingers rubbed off the back of a rather thick file that was clearly mine 'I see that you're very good at what you do' his gaze turning colder, ah, he was going into interview mode, how dull.
'Well I'd hope I am, as my file says I'm an ex-detective for the Gardaí and solved numerous homicides and not only' yeah not bragging at all, I smirked at myself, ok maybe a bit, but I'm allowed to.
'Yes, it doesn't state why you left though, so why did you leave?' Lestrade leaned in with interest and reservation. Why was everyone afraid of what they didn't know? I didn't kill anyone, that's for sure, but my leaving isn't something I particularly want to discuss, not in the middle of a homicide/suicide case.
'Many reasons, but mainly because I got bored' Well, it's a half lie, it's not that bad, right? I did get bored, all the same motives, all the same reasons for murder, where's the fun in that? Exactly, there is none. Lestrade nodded thoughtfully, his eyes glazing over slightly as he yawned while he looked at his watch and sprang to his feet.
'We have a press conference on in 10 minutes, want to join?' such a kind offer, how could I decline such a romantic getaway?
'Yes' my reply was given while I stood up smiling at the tired DI in front of me, who attempted to stop another yawn from coming out and failing, miserably. Lestrade opened the door for me and gestured for me to leave first, what a gentleman I smirked, then he led me down the corridor to the press conference room where the other officers were already standing in a line and the chairs started filling with reporters of all different newspapers that supplied London and England, Donovans words printed by the next morning. Once the room seemed to stop filling Donovan started her speech, clearly pre rehearsed with the man beside me, now if I was to ever look at someone and think 'Villain', he was it.
'The body of Beth Davenport, Junior Minister for Transport, was found late last night on a building site in Greater London. Preliminary investigations suggest that this was suicide. We can confirm that this apparent suicide closely resembles those of Sir Jeffrey Patterson and James Phillimore. In the light of this, these incidents are now being treated as linked. The investigation is ongoing but Detective Inspector Lestrade will take questions now.'
The man beside me mouthed the entire speech along with Donovan, much to my distress, the sound of lips smacking closed without words being spoken giving me cold chills, such a disgusting sound.
'Detective Inspector, how can suicides be linked?' one of the reporters asked, and what a good question it was too, a rarity. Lestrade shifted uncomfortably beside me, before he found his voice and gave a somewhat stuttered reply.
'Well, they all took the same poison; um, they were all found in places they had no reason to be; none of them had shown any prior indication of ...' his sentence broken off by an impatient reporter
'But you can't have serial suicides.' The reporter almost snapped.
'Well, apparently you can.' Lestrade snapped back, irritation soaking his voice.
'These three people: there's nothing that links them?' This reporter was starting to irritate me too now, what an ass.
'There's no link been found yet, but we're looking for it. There has to be one' Lestrade said trying to remain calm, the poor man, not only was he sleep deprived he was also put on the spot by some smarty pants reporter. Suddenly the room was filled by ringtones, beeps, shreeks any other form of ring tone available to listen to, and everyone picked out their phone. Curiously I checked my own phone too, but I had no new calls or texts, apart from the one Mycroft sent me earlier to make sure I landed safely. Speaking of, I should probably reply to him, don't want the old man having a heart attack.
'If you've all got texts, please ignore them.' Donovan quickly piped up.
'Just says, 'Wrong'.' A new reporter stated. Interesting, I looked at Lestrade questioningly hoping he'd give me some answers but nothing came, he just shook his head.
'Yeah, well, just ignore that. Okay, if there are no more questions for Detective Inspector Lestrade, I'm going to bring this session to an end.' Oh Donovan, so quick to run from trouble, not surprising at all.
'But if they're suicides, what are you investigating?' the first reporter asked again, as if Lestrade hadn't already explained all they needed to know by saying they were bloody linked. I huffed and changed my position as I was trying not to let my annoyance show, how dumb are people? Every day I went out thinking 'They can't be that bad' but every day I get surprised by human ignorance, they have a tendency to hear but not to listen.
'As I say, these ... these suicides are clearly linked. Um, it's an ... it's an unusual situation. We've got our best people investigating ...' Lestrade stuttered, oh the poor man, I wish I could help him but I have no information on this investigation. Again all the phones went off and again I checked my phone with no results, whoever was sending those messages clearly wasn't smart enough to get my number too.
'Says, 'Wrong' again.' The reporter stated again, Lestrade sending Donovan a despairing look and she got the message (for once) and said that the reporters only had one more question, which they quickly used 'Is there any chance that these are murders, and if they are, is this the work of a serial killer?' The press and their love for serial killers, I'll never understand that. Sure, they're fun to solve, sooner or later any killer makes a mistake and that's their downfall, but the press romanticising serial killers just made more and more of them appear, and the more appear the duller they get.
'I ... I know that you like writing about these, but these do appear to be suicides. We know the difference. The, um, the poison was clearly self-administered.' So, we are talking about a mass suicide by the same drug? Now that was interesting.
'Yes, but if they are murders, how do people keep themselves safe?'
'Right, that's a second question and we agreed on 'one more', I believe the conference is over' I stepped up. Ah damn, I really shouldn't have done that if the looks I just got from Lestrade and Donovan were any indication.
'Obviously this is a frightening time for people, but all anyone has to do is exercise reasonable precautions. We are all as safe as we want to be.' Lestrade managed to finish his sentence before all the phones went again. For gods sake, the sound was giving me a headache. Lestrades phone went off a little late, and I saw a short message appear on his screen but couldn't read it properly, only the initials left by the texter, SH. He pockets the phone and thanks the reporters for arriving, then leads me out of the room while he talks to Donovan. The conversation is hushed so I can't make out all the words, but I do manage to catch something about someone making them look like idiots. Well it didn't take much to make that happen I giggled internally.
'Creedon, get your things ready, I want you to meet someone' Lestrade ordered
'Kiera' the correction followed promptly
'Kiera, get your things ready, we're leaving in 5' he repeated, smiling at me tiredly as he poured himself another coffee
'The coffee down the road is much better' I winced as I took a sip from the cup that I was handed by a sour looking Donovan. Lestrade just smiled at me knowingly and walked back to his office, while I sat in awkward silence opposite to Donovan and what appeared to be her lover, the villain guy, that's my name for him now, the villain. A few minutes later Lestrade emerged from his office fully dressed and ready to go, we exchanged quick nods and I followed the man out of the precinct and into the passenger seat of a Scotland Yard police car.
'I sit there' Donovan pointed out as I put my bag into the leg compartment, Lestrade just stared at her from the drivers seat
'Sit in the back' he ordered Donovan with a tone of finality. She simply glared at me and stepped back opening the rear door and I took my seat beside Lestrade. Once we were all comfortable in the car he pulled out and started explaining.
'We will visit someone who helps us solve cases when we can't find any leads' Lestrade began, 'He's a bit... Eccentric...'
'Freak' Donovan supplied behind me, can someone just close her mouth please? I don't want to get my hands dirty but if she doesn't shut up I'll do something I might regret, and Lestrade seemed to agree judging by the glare he gave her.
'Anyways, he's a bit specific to say the least, but he is very good at what he does' Lestrade continued returning his gaze on the road
'Consulting?' I asked curious, that's what I always wanted to do, consult the police rather than be the police. Give me enough power and I will abuse it to no end.
'Yeah, I suppose that's what he does' the man beside me agreed. The car ride was quiet outside of Villain and Donovan mumbling and giggling with each other in the back seat, they were so obviously a couple, it hurt. Why even try to hide it? Whatever, I don't care. We pulled up to a glossed black door with some of the paint scraping off and a golden 221B screwed on. I looked up out of interest and saw the curtain from the window above us flutter closed quickly, though I didn't have time to make out who it was that was watching. Lestrade knocked and an elderly woman opened the door, Ms. Hudson as Lestrate called her, who let us in while chatting constantly. Why can't people just shut up sometimes? Donovan and Villain decided to stay in the car, thank god. We followed the stairs up and into an already open apartment. After I stepped in I took a look around and I must say I thought I was messy but this room was beyond salvageable, the wallpaper was giving me a headache and the furniture was medieval at best. Ok maybe I am a bit harsh, Donovans mumbling and giggling gave me a headache and it didn't leave.
'Where' a baritone voice demanded, the lack of emotion in his voice making me look up. My eyes met with grey ones belonging to a man taller than me, with sand coloured hair and a soldiers posture, and I couldn't help but ask 'Iraq or Afghanistan?' to which the man responded with putting his hands up in the air and sighing in defeat while looking at the other man I had missed, who was clearly interested in me now.
'What is it with people asking me this? Second time! Second time this week!' the first man sounded exasperated, while the other was still boring his eyes into what felt like my soul.
'Kiera, Sherlock, we have a case to solve' Lestrade reminded us, 'Brixton, Lauriston Gardens.' He added with a pointed look at the pale figure named Sherlock. Wait. Mycroft had told me about a Sherlock.
'Sherlock Holmes?' I asked earning a curious look from everyone in the room, even the older lady stopped chatting.
'How do you know?' Sherlock asked, looking down at me with dominance, too bad that didn't work on me.
'Lucky guess' my fake smile almost believable, but I knew he caught it out if he is anything like his dear brother. His blue eyes looked at me intensely, studying me, deducing my every motive and my very life, but by the frown that appeared on his forehead seconds later I realised that he couldn't read me fully. Good, MyMys training had worked.
'What's new about this one? You wouldn't have come to get me if there wasn't something different.' Sherlock asked Lestrade but never looked away from me, fixated on my eyes still trying to read me.
'You know how they never leave notes? ' Lestrade now took a step forward blocking me slightly with his body. How cute, we exchanged 5 sentences and he was protective over me, I put my hand on his shoulder signalling I was ok, and the taller man in front of me visibly relaxed. I started deducing Lestrade simply to kill the boredom that began creeping into my mind: Married but his wife is cheating, no children if the overly protective nature was any indication, though he wants children, my guess is the wife doesn't, very hard working, a little sarcastic which is good, means he understands my humour, loves his work and considers Sherlock good, though he also thinks the bark haired man a bloody nuisance. I like Lestrade, already, I decide I like him and I'll protect him if it costs my life. He's also fiercely loyal, much like the ex army officer that Sherlock seems to keep close.
'Who's on forensics?' Sherlocks baritone snapped me out of my thoughts
'It's Anderson' I giggled as Sherlocks face twisted in disgust at the mention of Villain
'Anderson doesn't work with me' he quickly retorted hoping to sway Lestrade off having Sherlock and Anderson partnered
'Well, he won't be your assistant' Both Sherlock and I turned to Lestrade wondering what the implication was, as his tone suggested he was about to throw a bit of a curve ball at us
'But I need an assistant' John looked at Sherlock almost hopeful as Sherlock said that sentence
'I know, that's why I had Kiera flown to London' My jaw fell, that wasn't just a flat down lie it was also him wanting to pair me with Sherlock? I thought I was just here to observe! 'Will you come?' Lestrade added looking between a flabbergasted Sherlock and me with my jaw hanging open, I quickly composed myself and nodded while Sherlock said he would follow. I turned on my heel and made my way down into the car promptly, followed by a mischievously smiling Lestrade.
'What the hell? I thought I was supposed to watch, I haven't worked cases in a long time Lestrade!' I huffed as we all settled into the car, a confused look wandering between Mr. And Ms. Villain in the back seat who I almost forgot about.
'Well, about time you started again then' Lestrade smiled pulling the car out of the parking space
'But!' I began, but Lestrade put his hand up signalling me to stop trying to change his mind about this, so I sat back into my seat, crossed my arms on my chest and stared out of the window. A long day was awaiting me.