A modern update of the Sherlock Holmes story, set in Sacramento. When doctor John Watson meets and becomes roommate with an eccentric private consultant named Sherlock Holmes, his boring life changes dramatically. Suddenly, he is thrust in a world of mystery and crimes. The two friends assist Captain Thomas Gorman and Lieutenant Lilian Morse of the Homicide Division of the Sacramento Police Department in their investigations and bring to justice dangerous criminals.

Sherlock Holmes

Chapter I - The Art of Deduction

Part 1

Sacramento, California

It was a sunny Monday morning. A young man, in his late twenties, walked into Horatio's Café. That tiny café huddled despondent among the huge city buildings. The interior of the café was warm and cheery, with bright lights and colorful walls. The man that had just entered was tall, with dark skin and dark eyes. He was handsome, slim, muscular, with an almost perfectly symmetrical face and shaved hair. He was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans.

"Hello, Horatio.", he said with a smile on his face. "Bring me some coffee please."

"Good morning, John.", Horatio replied. Horatio was in his early thirties. He was slim, with blue eyes and light beard. He was wearing a green shirt and red trousers. He had opened this Café only a month ago, thus he did not have many costumers yet. Aside from John, there was only a couple and a lone guy at the Café. "As you can see, I've got lot of work here...", Horatio said. His self-depreciating humor helped Horatio cope with the problems of running the Café.

"I am sure that things will get better.", John said. "Last week you had almost no costumers at all. Now you have a few."

"So, how is your search for an apartment going?"

John smiled. "I am going to see one right now, actually. An old friend texted me yesterday that an acquaintance of his is looking for a roommate to rent together an apartment. So, I will be meeting him today."

"Do you know anything about this guy?"

John thought for a moment. "What is his name...? Ah yes, Sherlock! Sherlock Holmes is his name. He came here from London. My friend told me that this Sherlock guy is a bit eccentric at times but that we would get along."

Horatio handed John his coffee and asked, "How eccentric? Hopefully not like your last roommate..."

John sighed. "I don't want to be reminded of her... But fortunately this Sherlock will not be that bad. He is a private detective or something like that."

"Cool!", Horatio exclaimed. "It will be like living with Shawn from Psych or Patrick Jane from The Mentalist."

"You watch too many TV shows..."

John entered the third apartment on the second floor. The apartment seemed fine to John, although it did lack much furniture. The floor was polished concrete and the walls white. There was a bookshelf, a brown couch and a small, wooden table. As he was inspecting the apartment, another man walked into the room.

"Hello.", that man said. "I am Sherlock Holmes. You must be Dr. John Watson?"

"Indeed.", John said as he inspected the man standing in front of him. Sherlock was in his early thirties. He was lean and tall. He had shaggy brown hair, light beard and green eyes. He was wearing a brown tweed suit with a dark red tie. "I am glad to meet you."

"Don't worry, I surely will not be as bad as your last roommate!", Sherlock said, leaving John astounded. He hadn't told anyone aside from Horatio and a few other close friends about his last roommate.

"How did you know that?"

"I also know that you are planning to run a neighborhood medical practice, if you do not already do so. You specialize in internal medicine and are a general practitioner."

John shook his head in disbelief. "Did you do a research on me?"

Sherlock laughed. "No. I was able to deduce all that from inspecting you and your reactions. For a start, you inspected me thoroughly. The most likely reason for that was that your last roommate wasn't a pleasant fellow and thus you are somewhat suspicious of roommates. This apartment is not near a hospital, so you must not be working in one. I thus guessed that you are already running or plan to run a neighborhood medical practice. The rest was thus easy to deduce. If you want to know more about my methods, you can read my post titled 'The Art of Deduction' in my personal website."

"Wow, you really are like Shawn from Psych..."

"I don't really know who that Shawn fellow is, but if he is a private detective of high intellect with excellent observation skills working as a consultant for a police department, then you are right in comparing him to me."

"You are also modest..."

Sherlock smiled. "I am just stating the facts. I have a high level of intellectual ability and my observation skills are second to none."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "So, John, I like sometimes to play the violin. It helps me think. I used to do drugs but not anymore. I like to stay awake late at night and study. I also bring home body parts of corpses from the morgue from time to time in order to conduct experiments. If none of those habits of mine are problematic to you, shall you agree to be my roommate?"

"Body parts...", John repeated. Although as a doctor he was used to this kind of stuff, still, bringing body parts in one's home seemed somewhat strange and disgusting to John. Yet, he did not want to turn down this deal. The apartment seemed fine and Sherlock, despite being somewhat eccentric, seemed a nice enough fellow, especially compared to his last roommate. "Well, I guess we are roommates then."

"Excellent!"

At that moment Sherlock's phone ringed. Someone had texted him a message. As soon as he read it, Sherlock laughed and was barely able to contain his excitement. "It's a murder!"

John gaped in astonishment at Sherlock's reaction to a murder. "Are you a psychopath or on drugs?"

"No! I am bored! Or rather, I was bored. You see, I need to keep my mind occupied. I need to challenge myself, to solve puzzles. It has been almost two weeks since I last had a case, so of course I am excited that my deductive skills are finally needed."

John sighed. "The most amazing thing is that you are still saner than my last roommate..."

"So, are you coming with me?"

"What? Coming where?"

"To the crime scene!"

"You must be kidding, right?", John asked. "Why should I go to a crime scene?"

"Do you have anything better to do?"

"No..."

"So come on! It will be fun. Plus, you are a doctor, so you may be helpful with my investigation."

John sighed. "Alright, I will be coming with you. But only for this one time."

"Excellent!"

Sherlock and John took a taxi and soon arrived to their destination; a grey three storey high building. A police car, with its blue and red lights on, was parked outside the building. The two men walked into the building and headed to the second apartment of the first floor. As they walked into the room, two police officers greeted them. The first was Thomas Gorman, head of the Homicide Division of the Sacramento Police Department. A lean middle aged man, he was wearing black suite and trousers and a brown tie. His hair and mustache were brown and his eyes green. The second officer was Lieutenant Lilian Morse. She was tall, with an athletic body, curly hair and blue eyes. Lilian was in her early thirties.

"Good morning Captain Thomas and Lieutenant Lilian.", Sherlock said.

"Hello, Sherlock. Who is this guy?", Thomas said, pointing at John.

"He is Dr. John Watson, a friend of mine.", Sherlock replied. "We are roommates."

"You found someone who can stand you and your antics?", Lilian nonchalantly asked.

Sherlock ignored the comment and went on to inspect the corpse of a young woman lying on the floor. John exclaimed, 'My God!", when he saw the corpse and the pool of blood on the floor. Although as a doctor he had seen corpses before, he had not been in a crime scene before and this was totally different for him.

"Her name is Johanna Stern.", Lilian said. "Cause of death was trauma on the head, caused by a sharp object; most likely a knife. The window is broken, so the killer may have entered from there. There is no DNA of the killer in the crime scene nor are there fingertips; the killer must have been wearing gloves. Jewelry and money are missing, so this is most likely a burglary gone wrong."

"John, can you examine the trauma at the head and estimate time of death?", Sherlock asked.

"Sure.", John replied. He wasn't pleased with this task but he wanted to be of use to the police. The sooner this criminal could be caught, the better. John examined carefully the wound and said, "The Lieutenant is right; this trauma was certainly caused by a knife. Time of death must be around midnight."

"So, what is your take on this?", Thomas asked. "It is a burglary?"

"No.", Sherlock replied. "I do not think the killer broke through the window. There is no broken glass inside the apartment. If the killer had entered through the window, there would have been broken glass all over the place. Instead, the broken glass seems to have fallen down on the street. The killer must have broken the window from the inside once the victim was dead in order to give us the impression that this was a burglary. This is the reason why the jewelry and money are missing too. If the killer entered through the front door, and that is the most likely scenario, it means that the victim knew the killer. She wouldn't have let anyone enter into her apartment, I presume. So the one who killed Miss Stern must have been an acquaintance of her. I want a list of all her family members, friends, boyfriends, coworkers. The killer must belong to one of those categories."

"Will text you the list as soon as possible.", Thomas said. "While we do that, why don't you go check the place where she worked? She worked in a shopping mall only a few blocks away from here. Maybe her coworkers there will give you some more info. I and Lilian will be talking to her family and try to learn if she had any troubles."

Sherlock nodded in agreement. He then turned to John and said, "Shall we get going?"

"Well, I don't have anything better to do, so let's go. "