Welcome back to the wonderful world of Etheldrea Holmes. If this is your first time reading her name, then you can read the first two stories in her series, The Detective's Daughter, and Faults in Personality. I recommend you read them, but it is not necessary.

Forgive my knowledge, or lack of, on certain subjects including snakes, slang, and how tons of things work. There will probably be a lot. If you can help clear anything up, I will do my best not to make the same mistake again.

I do not own anything of Sherlock Holmes, only my characters. Concerning the cover, canon characters Sherlock, Irene, and Moriarty are played by their actors. The model Emily Rudd is the face for Etheldrea, and Naomi Watts is the face for a mystery character that won't be introduced for a while yet. 5 points and a virtual cookie if you can guess who.

Cool, calm, and quiet would describe the morning at 221B Baker Street. A dark haired detective named Sherlock Holmes was sulking in the living room, his light haired flat mate, friend and blogger looking through cases for them to do. Each one was either boring or not worth his time, and so John was getting as equally frustrated. In her room to the left of the landing, was the detective's dark (nearly completely black due to a case about two months ago) haired daughter. Etheldrea Holmes was on her bed, currently reading Rambles in Germany and Italy which kept her from going as insane as the other two.

The past week there had been absolutely nothing. No new cases or crimes or anything for them to do. The first two weeks of summer break had been exciting for sure, but now there wasn't anything to do, and John had hid his gun so Sherlock was even more in a mood. The last big case they had was just a few days ago when they went on that cruise. Of course, now the owners were trying to sue them, but Mycroft had it all worked out.

Plus, John had begun a scrapbook (though he wouldn't call it that) of the cases, well most of them. Right now he had A Study in Pink, The Blind Banker, and The Great Game. And both Holmes had gone out of their way to let him know what they thought. Sherlock had gone for yellow sticky notes to record his responses while Etheldrea had chosen purple.

The only way she could escape boredom was hanging out with her friend Abigail Grey. Last month, school ended and summer vacation finally began. She wouldn't have to deal with any bullies for a few months, no teachers ignoring her, and most certainly there was a lot of running around London with Abby. Her friends parents weren't too keen on it, but they knew they couldn't' kept her caged in all summer. They could only pretend she was shopping with her other friends.

It wasn't like they were searching out anyone in particular, but if she saw something, Etheldrea wasn't going to hesitate. She did try to make sure Abigail was involved as little as possible though, but when danger calls, Abigail was always ready. So far, the girls had alerted the police to three drug rings, two burglars, and one flasher, an event that quite possibly scarred the girls for life.

From downstairs there was a knocking on the door, urgent and loud. Etheldrea perked up, and set the book down. DI Lestrade was climbing up the stairs, greeting Etheldrea and entering into the living room.

"A young woman's dead. We need you."

"How?"

"No clue. She's covered in these red dots, nothing that the doctors can figure out."

"Break in?"

"No sign. Her sister and stepfather found her passed out on the floor. She died on the way."

"Will her family be ready to talk?"

"The sister will. The stepfather's still at the scene. They're getting ready to leave now. You can question him there. Will you come?"

"We'll follow behind."

Etheldrea stood with Lestrade, writing down any information they would need. Right now, all they had so far was the victim's name, and her family who they would talk to as soon as they were finished.

Sherlock and John stood over Julia Stoner as they examined her. Sherlock pulled out his magnifying glass to look at the speckles that covered her body.

"Do people actually read your website?" he asked John.

"Where do you think our clients come from?"

"I have a website."

"In which you innumerate four hundred and twenty types of tobacco ash. Nobody's treading your website. Alright then, dyed blonde hair, no obvious cause of death except these speckles, whatever they are."

Both men had straightened, and Etheldrea noticed her dad looked a bit tense. He turned while John wasn't paying attention and walked right out of the lab.

"Hold on, there are some bite marks on her ankles. If I could get a blood toxicology report, we could figure out what it is. It looks like a snake, but how many times do you hear about loose snakes in London?"

"Escaped from the zoo?" Etheldrea asked.

"I'll call and see when we get home. Where did your dad go?"

"Not entirely sure. Just outside I think." She smirked, "He seemed a bit sullen at what you said."

"Well, it is true. Yesterday you admitted to me that even the tobacco ash report put you to sleep."

"Come on you two." Lestrade said, "Miss Stoner's sister is waiting to give her report of what happened."

The pair followed him outside the morgue and to a small waiting room where Sherlock already was. Etheldrea stood in the corner of the room, notebook at the ready. Sherlock sat at the table with Helen Stoner, the twin sister of their victim. Her eyes were red but dry for she had been crying a lot recently. But she was ready to talk.

"Tell me about how you found your sister." Sherlock said.

"I couldn't sleep last night. I was tossing and turning, trying anything to get to sleep. I was incredibly anxious, and I felt like something bad was going to happen. Around one this morning, I heard the sound of banging from my sister's room. Like, she had dropped something. I didn't think anything of it. She had just come back from the pub with some mates, she wasn't completely drunk but she could have been buzzed. However, a few minutes later, I heard more banging like she had dumped her entire vanity on the floor. I was suspicious and decided to get up and check on her. Our stepfather, whom we live with, he was also coming out of his room. I tried knocking, but she didn't answer. I tried calling her name, banging on the door, nothing. It was locked, so I went to the kitchen to get a butter knife. When I opened the door she was on the floor, passed out and covered in these spots. I went to call for an ambulance, but she was gone before they even reached the hospital."

"How had she been acting into the past few weeks?"

"She had been rundown a lot, tired. She was supposed to get married soon, and we figured she had been stressed about the wedding."

"Thank you, if we need anything else, we'll be in touch."

Sherlock was out of the room in a flash, leaving the other two behind in his dust. The three of them were supposed to go back to Bart's and wait for the toxicology report, but when they met Molly; she told them he hadn't shown up. A short while later there was an unidentified poison in their victim's blood stream, and the possibility of it being a snake was looking more and more likely. When John and Etheldrea were back in Baker Street, they found Sherlock on John's laptop.

"Do you always have to use mine? Can't you use your own?"

Ignoring the question completely, "I've been looking into the Stoner's history. Their mother remarried when the girls were two, to a Doctor Roylott. Eight years ago, she died in a train accident outside London. Their stepfather is the owner of a cosmetics company. Even appeared on Connie Prince's show a few times."

Etheldrea nodded, "I think I remember that."

"Julia Stoner was going to be married to a man named Percy Armitage. I think we should go see them, they could be suspects."

John said, "Our victim was bit by something, most likely a snake. Why would we need suspects?"

"It was murder John, I know it was; I just have to figure out how."

"Well, you do that. Etheldrea and I are going to call around for an escaped snake."

"If a snake escaped, it'd be on the news."

John grabbed a dictionary and his phone and set to work. Etheldrea did the same. Unfortunately, no nearby zoo was missing their reptiles, and Sherlock was getting more and more impatient.

"OK, now that you've had your fun, we're going to go start investigating a real crime."

Doctor Roylott was a very tall, wrinkly, large faced man with thin crinkly eyes, and red skin. He was sat in wooden rocking chair, a tissue in one hand to blot his face.

"Forgive me; it's such a terrible thing. Julia is- was like a daughter to me, I've taken care of her for so long. I held her in my arms while we waited, I tried-. It wasn't enough."

John said, "Dr. Roylott, could you please tell us what happened?"

"I thought Helen already told you?"

"Yes, but we'd like to hear it from your point of view."

"I had been sleeping when this crashing woke me up. I got out of bed, and went into the hallway. Helen was already at Julia's door and knocked. We didn't hear anything else, so we tried calling her name. Helen went to get a knife, and when she opened the door Julia was on the floor. I tried to wake her up, but she wasn't responding. She was so cold, and the spots or speckles on her skin-"

Roylott broke off into a sob, blowing his nose loudly into his tissue. They waited a minute before asking him anything else.

"Could we please see Julia's room?"

"Of course. The third door to the left, just down there."

Her room was still in its disarray state. The bedding was crumpled on the floor, and near it were a few bottles of lotion. Across the room was an even bigger mess. Bottle littered the area around a mirror. Sherlock bent down and examined the area. Etheldrea saw where their victim had been lying, a section of perfumes and bottles were pushed together. A few other bottles were surrounding the area.

"She was looking for something." She said.

"How do you know?" John asked.

"It could have been an accident, not able to hold herself up, but the bottles tell a different story. Some of these are ways away, like she had thrown them behind her."

Sherlock added, "The blanket she used, thrown on the floor like that. Look at the way it's folded. She stood up and it pooled at her feet, if she had tossed it off it would at least be a bit more spread out. I think she realized what was happening to her, and was looking for the source."

"But, it was a snake or something like one. She had the bite marks on her ankle." John said.

"Think John, a snake bites you and you wouldn't shout in pain?"

"Well, maybe she had high pain endurance."

"Besides, how would a snake get in and out without being seen?"

"That's . . . you have a point.

"Come on, I have a few more questions."

Sherlock walked out quickly, back to the living room where Dr. Roylott hadn't moved.

"Doctor, do you or your step-daughters have any pets?"

"No, none"

"Was Julia adventures, ready to go for a wooden hike or anything outdoors."

"Hardly. She hates- hated nature."

"What about animals? Did she want pets; say a dog, cat, reptile?"

"No, most certainly not reptiles. Her fiancé takes care of a whole bunch. I thought it would cause a big riff between them when. They first started dating, but it didn't. They worked it out, granted she hardly went over there."

"Would you mind writing down the address? We'd like to talk with him too."

"Of course, give me a minute." He said as he grabbed a pen and paper.

He scribbled the address down, gave it to them, and then stood up and walked towards a closet. He pulled out three bottles with a white lotion into them.

He handed them over and said, "Please, take these. They're not available in stores yet. A token of my gratitude. I've read the blog, and I'm sure you'll figure why my Julia died."

Afterwards, they left and grabbed a cab to go to Percy Armitage's house. On the way, Etheldrea tried some of her lotion.

"It smells like jasmine and orange blossom." She noted.

"Roylott said that Julia's fiancé owned a lot of reptiles. It could be possible she was bit by something over there." John said.

"If she was, why would she be looking for anything on her dresser?" Sherlock asked.

"What do you think happened? If we're going over to her finances, aren't we looking for a reptile?"

"Close. The mystery poison. It could have come from there."

"We'll see soon."

The house the cab stopped at wasn't huge, or small. It was slightly run down, and seemed to be in the middle of repairs to the roof. Sherlock and Etheldrea stood back while John rang the doorbell.

"Come in." was the muffled response.

The group opened the door and walked inside. The entrance way was slightly dim as thick multicolored curtains covered the windows. A bright red rug lead the way down the hall where they heard muffled banging, like boxes being dropped on the floor. They started to walk in that direction, but Etheldrea's boot heel caught and she fell into the wall and hit the curtain.

She felt a weight drop onto her shoulders and thought it was the curtain, but that was wrong since the lighting had not changed. John had just sworn, and Sherlock was holding his hand up to tell her to stop and stay still. Both looked remarkably worried, and Sherlock nodded for her to look down.

Cautious, she lowered her gaze and came face to face with the hissing, black and brown snout of an Adder.