"Please Sherlock, it's just for one week." John insisted as the little blonde girl clutched his hand. Sherlock crossed his arms and retorted.
"John children don't belong in the flat. What if I'm in the middle of an experiment and she gets in the way? She could ruin my case!" The little girl gripped Johns hand tighter and inched closer, afraid of the irritated consulting detective.
"She's part of the case! It was her sister that was kidnapped, and we're supposed to look after her. Moira is staying and I don't want to hear another word about it."
Just as Sherlock was about to protest a knock came to the door. John turned and opened it to find Mrs. Hudson standing there with a large tray in her hands, her voice chipper as always.
"Hello dears, I've brought some things for our little houseguest." She placed the tray on the coffee table and revealed its contents.
"I have hot chocolate, butter cookies, and some movies."
Moira reluctantly let go of Johns hand and started towards the coffee table, curious as to what movies the nice lady had. There were three Disney movies, Cinderella, Snow White, and Tarzan. Moira excitedly picked up Snow White and ran back to John, pointing at the cover. The little girl hadn't spoken a word since her sister, Cassie, had been taken from their bedroom the previous night. There had been a string of them lately, all young blonde girls around ten years old. Every time a girl was taken she was found dead a week later, with no apparent cause. No ligature markings, no strangulation, no blood loss or blunt force trauma, and no malnutrition. The kidnapper seemed to take good care of them until their death, with no signs of molestation or abuse. The girls just seemed to die. They were all dumped in different areas, but all were face up, eyes closed, with their hands folded over their chests. A sign of remorse. The police had found the fifth victim, Milly, little over a week ago and decided it was time to call in a real professional.
When John didn't respond quickly enough Moira forgot her fear and turned to Sherlock, pointing at the DVD cover and looking up at him with big green eyes. Sherlock took the DVD in his hands, examining the cover.
"Dull." He said as he handed the disc to his flat-mate. "But I suppose it will keep her occupied for the time being."
Moira clapped her little hands and ran over to the couch. Mrs. Hudson poured the girl a cup of hot chocolate and left the trio to watch the Disney classic. John walked over to the television and set up the film. Just as he sat down next to Moira he noticed Sherlock try to sneak off to his bedroom to do god knows what. He had mentioned something about an experiment so John absolutely did not want Sherlock to be by himself while there was a six-year-old in the flat. What if he set fire to something?
"Sherlock Holmes don't even think about it. Get over here and watch this with us."
"John I have far more important things to do than watch a children's film!"
"Oh come on Sherlock have a bit of fun once in a while. If you can get through this entire movie then you can do whatever experiments you like… in the kitchen where I can see you."
Sherlock seemed to be weighing his options. He liked the idea of being able to perform any experiment he wanted, but with John in full view it might be difficult. John seemed to get uncomfortable when he brought in pieces of dead people, which is precisely what he needed… alright he would do it. It was only an hour or so, and he could always drift off into his mind palace…
"Alright John I'll watch, but you have to let me do any experiment I want."
"Fine as long as you don't use fire. Deal?"
"Deal."
Sherlock walked over to the couch and took a seat next to john at the far left of the couch. Moira sat to the far right, closest to the TV, with big excited eyes. The movie began and Sherlock watched with curiosity, and commented throughout the film. Moira shushed him a couple times, but John just smiled in amusement at his observations.
"If her step mother is so terrible, why doesn't she just leave?"
"So a stranger climbs over her wall and sings to her, and she's not in any way mortified? She falls in love with a prowler? Odd."
"The queen clearly possesses magic, why can't she just kill Snow White from afar? She can't just place a curse on her? Dull."
"Why on earth would she eat food from a stranger? She just met this woman two minutes ago, and she's eating whatever she gives her…"
Moira cut in then, giving him an answer.
"She's too nice to say no because the witch was nice to her."
A light bulb went off in Sherlock's head. Poison. That's what was killing the children! Some toxins and poisons don't show up on tox screens and can be mixed into food. With the right dosage it should kill the children in about a week.
"That's why they seemed healthy. He, or she, has been feeding them well but must have slipped something in their food…"
"Sherlock what are you going on about?"
Sherlock hadn't realized he was speaking aloud, and looked at the pair sitting in front of him on the couch. He looked at John and said,
"I know what's been killing the children."
The next day Sherlock and John left Moira with Mrs. Hudson while they visited the morgue to take a look at their latest victim. Her body would be the freshest, and they asked Molly to perform a tox screen again. Sure enough it came back positive for arsenic.
"So now we know what's killing them, but we still don't know where. We also don't know who is killing them…" John commented.
"Not true John. We know so much more now. Obviously our kidnapper is a woman who suffered some sort of major loss. Most likely a sister or daughter roughly around the same age as our missing Cassie. She uses poison, which is more likely of a woman. Also there was no sign of sexual abuse, which indicates the kidnapper was most likely not male. And finally the bodies were placed carefully, with love and affection, which is indicative of a family member."
"Amazing…"
"Actually it's elementary, but don't worry John. I can't imagine how hard it is to work with an ordinary mind."