Just a quick thanks to my Beta, Maddie, and the kind Anonymous reviewers who took the time to read and comment :)
CHAPTER II
When Sherlock Holmes knocked on my door, I don't know what I was expecting but whatever it was I got none of it. Holmes barged straight past me and down the hall without looking at me.
"Sherlock Holmes, pleasure to meet you," he called over his shoulder.
Bewildered, I began to close the door, not realising someone else was waiting to be let in—he slipped past me just before the lock clicked.
"Sorry!"
"No problem." He held out his hand. "John. We spoke on the phone."
I shook his hand. "Thank you so much for coming all the way here. I—"
"Where do you keep your tea?" Sherlock called from the next room.
"I don't drink tea," I muttered softly to John as we made our way to the kitchen.
"No tea?" John said in mock horror. "What kind of English person are you?"
"Oh, I'm not—" I started to say. At the same time, Sherlock said bluntly, "She's Irish."
"How could you tell?" I asked, surprised. I was used to being mislabelled.
Sherlock gestured towards my refrigerator, where a tricolour was pinned tellingly.
"Ah. Yes, I grew up in Northern Ireland. My accent, however…"
"Is decidedly not," John supplied.
"My mum's from London, so I just picked up her voice, I suppose."
"Right, yes, well, enough of that," Sherlock said briskly, seating himself at the head of my kitchen table. " Let's get on with why we're here. What did you see?"
As I swept up the papers I'd left on the table this morning before work and stacked them neatly on the kitchen side, I told them everything. "I moved here, to London, about three years ago. I was offered a job I couldn't refuse. Anyway, I started seeing this…guy. Everywhere."
John looked at Sherlock before saying, "What did this guy look like?"
"Dark hair. Trench coat, always in a trench coat. I'd spot him through a crowd, and he'd give me this look. Almost like pity. It would completely freak me out, then he'd just disappear."
Sherlock leant back in his chair, unimpressed. I sat down across from John and glared. "I'm not an idiot. I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I know he's not a ghost. I get that I just lost sight of him. I'm just trying to give you a general idea of how I feel."
Sherlock nodded once. "Proceed."
"At first the sightings were few and far between. I wasn't really concerned enough to call the police or anything. But these last few weeks, I've seen him about eight times. And this afternoon, when I was coming home from work, he was on my bus, about three seats down from me. Staring at me like he does. It's the closest he's ever got to me. I got off at the next stop and ran home. Then I called you."
There was a moment of silence as the three of us gathered our thoughts and processed my story. Then John cleared his throat. "Well, I don't know about Sherlock, but I think I have a couple of questions."
"Okay."
"Don't feel like you have to answer all of these—or any of them, really…Now, you say you've never seen this man before you came to London?"
"That's correct."
"Can you imagine anybody you know who might know him?"
I shook my head. "No, I don't think so. My social circle is pretty limited, about five people at the very most. They wouldn't associate with weirdos like that."
"Is Simon one of these people?" Sherlock asked suddenly.
I jumped. "How—?" My eyes drifted to the papers I'd put aside, which included Simon's last letter. "Yeah, we went to school together back home…But like I said, he wouldn't have anything to do with this creep."
"Speaking of your acquaintances, I must address my next question to Sherlock," John said, turning to his companion. "Why on earth did you only agree to help Isadora when you found out her godmother gave her your number?"
Sherlock Holmes leant forward on his elbows, fingers forming a thoughtful steeple before his lips. "It wasn't so much the godmother who piqued my interest, more that the godmother was Donna Noble."
"Temple-Noble," I corrected automatically. "What's Aunty Donna got to do with the man in the trench coat?"
"Everything and more," Holmes said, rising to his feet. "I think you've given us all the information we need, Miss Greenhall. Now there's just one last thing I need to ask you to do; if you see your gentleman stalker again within one week from this meeting I want you to approach him and ask him what he wants."