A/N1: Well, here we are...a sequel. Now, this one might be a little bit more...serious than As Above As Below, but I figured the moment called for it. But no worries, the fluff will be there!
In case any of you were wondering, this is based on Agatha Christie's novel "The Body in the Library" (obviously) and to some extent the Doctor Who episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp." Don't ask why. I DO WHAT I WANT.
Now read on! And I'll see you at the finish!
Shout out to A Pirate By Any Other Name, or Tiffany, for being so brilliant and a wonderful beta. Go read her stories! *Pwease?*
Molly Hooper took a bracing drink of red wine and cast a fresh eye over the room. Her family, dressed all in drab black clothing, were scattered around Great Aunt Christie's study. She would rather be anywhere but here, here among Aunt Christie's old relics, ones she used to play with when she was younger. Now it felt as if those relics, once so friendly and full of joy, were glaring at everyone in the room.
Especially that sock monkey in the corner.
Molly shivered and resisted the urge to run. She never really got along with any of her family, and the only person who understood her morbid interests and her equally morbid profession was lying in the coffin. A delicate brush of fingers on her left fore-arm made her jump out of her reverie. She smiled at the blonde woman sitting next to her, looking at her worriedly.
"I'm fine, Mary," Molly said soothingly. Mary bit her lip and looked unconvinced.
"You looked like you were eons away."
"It's alright, just reminiscing about Aunt Christie." She gave Mary a warm look. "Thanks for accompanying me here, by the way."
Now it was Mary's turn to smile, "Oh, it's my pleasure. I'm so honored you chose me to come with you here…at this sort of time."
"I don't think I could have stayed here for this long if it wasn't for you." Both women shared a warm smile, each thanking their stars that they had somehow managed to find the other.
"If you two start kissing, may I record it?" A sly voice shattered through the moment.
Molly glared at her cousin, "We are not a couple, Conway."
Conway Jefferson laughed, "Well, you could have fooled me." He winked at Mary, "Well then, since Miss Morstan is presumably single, would she mind coming on tour with me in this musty old house?"
"Oh…I…um…" Mary started, getting unreasonably flustered.
Molly rolled her eyes. She was a great deal more at ease around her family; she had made it clear a long time ago she despised the whole lot of them for disinheriting her father on a petty issue, "Conway, I see marriage hasn't eased your libido one dot."
"Maybe if you got laid more often, Molls, you wouldn't be so uptight all the time."
Molly waved a hand dismissively, "Mary, you can go on the tour with him if you want, he won't stop talking until you do." She smirked at her cousin and added, "I would go with you, but I doubt I can resist the urge to smack him with the largest phallic object I can find for long."
Mary laughed easily and took the hand Conway had proffered, "I'll be back before long, Molly."
"Have fun! Oh and Conway," she looked at her cousin, "Do show her the garden, won't you? She would appreciate the statues there." Molly paused and shivered, "They remind me too much of the Weeping Angels."
Conway stared at her while Mary giggled, "Weeping Angels? What are you, thirty three going on four?"
"You are never too old for the Doctor." Molly retorted.
Conway threw an incredulous look at Molly before heading off in the direction of stairwell, no doubt hoping to show Mary Aunt Christie's impressive library. It was the sort of thing that defined the house, and new visitors were always taken there. Molly sighed. She would join them soon, but for now, she needed another drink of wine.
They hadn't been gone ten minutes when she heard Mary's shrill shriek as well as Conway's. If she hadn't been so intent on following Arthur Bantry up the stairs, she would have put away Conway's girlie shriek for subsequent use.
Arthur wrenched open the door to the library, and Molly could barely just get a glimpse of Mary Morstan backed up against the shelves, white in the face and looking as if she was about to faint. Conway had collapsed on the moth-eaten armchair next to the fireplace.
Then her gaze shifted, as Arthur gave a muffled shout, to the body of the young woman lying on the thread-carpet, platinum blonde, dressed as if she was going to attend a ball and very clearly…dead.
Molly stuck her suddenly shaking hands into her purse, reaching around for her mobile phone. Dialing a number she had long since saved on speed dial, she swallowed and said, "Gre-Greg? It's me, Molly. Molly Hooper. There's been…a bit of trouble."
"Well, she's dead alright." Anderson stated as he finished the preliminary check-ups. "Dead as a doornail."
"Yes, Anderson, thank you for your deep insight," Molly snapped from where she was sitting next to Mary on the futon, rubbing soothing circles on the blanket covering her shoulder.
Greg Lestrade ran a hand through his graying hair, "Are you sure you lot don't know her, at all? A body can't just appear in a closed up place like this."
"No, Detective Inspector, we honestly don't know who the bloody hell she is," Arthur Bantry said irritably, "Do you know her, Con?"
Conway shook his head, "No, brother. She looks like-"
"She looks like a hussie, that's what she looks like," said Dolly Bantry, a singularly unpleasant cousin whom Molly disliked intensely, from the doorway.
Sally stepped forward, her heels causing puffs of dust to rise up from the moldy carpet of the library, "Now ma'am, this area is off limits. You would mind going downstairs? We will keep you updated."
Arthur gave his wife an apologetic look as she glared at him while being ushered out by the sergeant.
"If you ask me," Conway chipped up suddenly, "She looks like Dinah." His statement was met by blank stares and he hastily added, "Dinah Lee. You know, the bombshell Basil Blake from next door is dating."
"Right," Lestrade said, nodding at Sally, "You go see if Mr. Blake is in. The rest of you-"
"You aren't going to call him in, are you?" Sally interrupted. "Cause we can handle this."
Molly snorted uncharacteristically, "Yeah. And your hypothesis so far is that-"
"She's dead." Lestrade shot Anderson a reproving look. "Try not to make me punch you, Anderson. I'm calling him in anyway."
"Calling who in?" Mary asked, looking up at Molly.
Molly swallowed. "Sherlock. Sherlock Holmes. And oh boy is this going to be awkward."
A/N2: So, what do you all think? Now loads of love to all of you who reviewed, faved and followed As Above As Below, and I'm also hoping you'd like this one.
In other news, I'm also writing an alternate version to As Above As Below, I hope you'd read that one too!
Review?
Adi xoxo