Sherlock heard the door open and slam shut. In the brief moment the door was open, he could tell it was daylight, there was grass, an open field, and a garden fence around a handsome brick cottage. His neck was stiff and unable to support the weight of his head. The man who entered had no concern for that. Sherlock's head was jerked back by the man's rough grip in Sherlock's hair. An expiration of agony escaped Sherlock's dry throat. A bottle of water was forced into his mouth and emptied. Choking and sputtering on the water Sherlock rasped at the man, "That was nice, but mineral water for me next time." Not surprisingly, that earned him a split lip.
"You are not to speak," the gruff man said. From the dull light coming from the small window in the far left corner Sherlock could see a formidable frame of a man. Tall and dense–In more ways than one, eh?–the man and his presence added a palpable density to the small room.
Spitting out blood, Sherlock unwisely retorted, "Why? Afraid I'll let slip to the boss how you are skimming off th–" He was cut off by another blow to the face, this one backed by the added anger ignited by Sherlock's cheek.
"Speaking of my boss, she's pretty upset with you." The man began to pace in front of Sherlock. "Made quite a mess of her plans, you did. You took something from her, plans for such a lovely future. Gone by your involvement...figure it out yet, Einstein?" The man turned quickly on his heel, whipping his hand around as he did breaking the skin just below Sherlock's right eye.
It seemed that the lashing was not dependent on whether or not Sherlock spoke...So, why not? "Lady employer, rich family estate, annoying voice and dull intellect, seeking to pirate her sister's part of the inheritance by killing her nephew, and thwarted in the attempted murder of said sister...Yes, that one was a mere five. More of an inconvenience in my schedule than anything." He had planned on continuing, however the brief pause he took for a new breath was violently taken from him by an assault to his abdomen, seizing his diaphragm.
The man now mere inched from Sherlock's gasping face, shouted, "You will not speak about her that way!" He once again wrenched Sherlock's neck back, holding Sherlock's head steady as he came down upon the left side of Sherlock's face. After the second blow, Sherlock fell back into darkness.