She worked for Mycroft Holmes who was essentially the British government. What that meant was whenever Anthea was busy, she had to run his errands. Even if that meant picking up his insufferable younger brother, Sherlock, a chore she highly doubted she would enjoy. From what she had heard, he was a complete arse.
"Mycroft, you can't make me do this," she spat into her mobile in the car to 221B Baker Street.
"My dear, I understand that my brother can sometimes be intolerable and I complain a lot but he can have his high points. He might surprise you. Plus we need him," said Mycroft.
"Fine, but I'm not happy about this, Mycroft," she said before hanging up. She was certainly not looking forward to this. She might as well be civil though. Who knows? He could surprise her.
She soon arrived at the flat where the consulting detective lived with his flatmate the retired army doctor, John H. Watson. She rang the door bell and prepared for the worst. To her surprise it was not Sherlock who answered the door. John looked at the woman, slightly nervous.
"Hello. May I help you?" asked John tentatively upon answering the door.
"I've been sent to collect you and Mr. Holmes. You are Dr. Watson I presume?" she said.
"Uh yes, where's Anthea? She's normally the one who comes to get us," said John.
"Her and Mycroft are busy today," she said.
"Then why are we being called in?"
"Because, Dr. Watson, things happen all the time and some things are a matter of urgency. I will brief you both on the details in the car on the way there. Safe to say Mr. Holmes will not have to deal with his brother today. Just me," she said. "Now if you would go get Mr. Holmes, we must be on our way. We will wait here but please be quick."
John trekked back up the stairs into the flat. "Sherlock, we've got to go. The British government needs us. Again," he said. Sherlock remained motionless on the couch in his GoAwayI'mThinking pose. "C'mon, Sherlock."
"No," was the stern reply.
"I thought you said you were bored," said John.
"Going to help my dear brother is not going to help," Sherlock snarled.
"You won't actually have to speak to him this time and think of this way. It isn't a case with Scotland Yard so you won't have to deal with Anderson potentially being there."
"Fine," Sherlock huffed. He got up and grabbed his coat and scarf. He made the descent to the front door with John close behind him. He climbed into the cab next to the unfamiliar woman. "Who are you and where is Anthea?"
"Oh, Mr. Holmes, I'm sure even John can figure out where your brother and his personal assistant are and even what they are both doing," she said. "Think about it."
"Too true. However I would still like to know your name," said Sherlock.
"It's Jane," she said.
"That's a very common name," said Sherlock.
"Yes well Sherlock is a very uncommon name," said Jane.
"So uh where are Mycroft and Anthea?" asked John.
Jane smirked, "I suppose I was wrong."
"My brother is off shagging his personal assistant, John," said Sherlock. John's face turned bright pink.
"Correct, Mr. Holmes I am certain," said Jane. She giggled at John's flustered reaction.
"So uh where are we going?" he asked.
"Yes and what are we going to find there?" asked Sherlock.
"We are going to Number 6 Privet Drive in Little Whinging in Surry. There have been some break ins ," explained Jane.
Sherlock scoffed. "Mycroft knows I don't do petty burglaries," he said. Jane gave him a look that told him to think again. "Oh there is more isn't there? This isn't merely a break in is it? No. Its murder. Someone had been murdered, no wait two someones and you lot don't know how. Oh this should be fun. Details?"
"Neither of the bodies has any visible marks and every tox screen we ran showed no evidence of poisoning. No bruises. No cuts. No signs of asphyxiation. And, the only thing stolen was an empty brief case," Jane explained.
"How did you know it was empty?" asked John.
"There were security cameras installed in every room in the house except the bedrooms and bathrooms. We have footage of the man emptying the suitcase in the hall and holding it up for the camera to see," she said. "The man must have done his research before hand if he knew where the cameras were. Next you're going to ask is why then if we have him on film, do we not know who he is? His face was covered by a mask so we were not able to recognize his features. He was very careful about this." She could tell that Sherlock was starting to become interested. She went on, "The police would have been called but we needed a sharper eye and absolute discretion. These are very important people, not to the public. No one knows who they are, but rather behind the scenes. If further information was leaked about them, it would be very bad news indeed. And here we are. If you'll follow me." They had arrived at the house. Sherlock and John followed Jane up to the house and inside to the bedroom where the two bodies were still lying when they had first been found. Sherlock bent down and began to examine the bodies.
"They were poisoned," he said.
"But the tox screens checked negative for poison," said Jane.
"Tox screens don't account for everything," said Sherlock. "Look here at the hairline on the back of the head. It's barely visible so I'm not surprised your examiners were unable to find it. A small pin prick where a very small needle carrying a very lethal poison was injected into the victim's blood stream." He handed her his pocket magnifying glass.
"Wow," she said. She was actually somewhat impressed. "Very good, Mr. Holmes... You are really are clever aren't you?"
"Yes I am," Sherlock said. "I noticed on the front door that there were no signs of forced entry. The only other possible door would be the back door but that fence is too high to jump so the killer would've been able to break in. There are mud prints on the carpet. It rained last night but your people didn't show up until this morning when all the mud had dried. Judging from the prints he was young. The pattern on his sneakers are that of a younger man. He's also very thin and average height. I'd say 5 feet 10 inches. I'm sure if you take samples from the prints you could find out where he had been in the last 2 days."
"Thank you, Mr. Holmes. I think that will be all we'll be needing today," said Jane.
"You already knew at least half of what I just told you and I'm sure you could've figured out the rest. You are much smarter then you let on. Why did you need me?" asked Sherlock.
"Because you're Mycroft's genius little brother," Jane said. She handed him a card, "Call me. We can get drinks and talk. Good bye, Mr. Holmes." She walked away. She had another car waiting for her and the boys would take the car they came in back to Baker Street.
"Are you gonna call her?" asked John.
"I think I am," said Sherlock, for once in his life somewhat surprised...
