Chapter 2

Unexpected Guests

A yellow taxi cab drives down a single road to a manor. Inside of the taxi are two men who take the opportunity to a party that might be a lead to find a psychotic villain. "Are you sure we're invited to this party?" The shorter man said. The man wore a casual suit with a black tie, and had short scruffy blonde hair. "We don't exactly know these people."

"It's an open party John, I'm sure they wouldn't mind a couple of extra guests." The taller man said. The other man is wearing a purple collared shirt, black jacket and blue scarf, had curly black hair, and pretty sharp cheekbones. "Besides, there will most likely be other people there, we will just blend in with the crowd."

John shook his head and smirked. "Sherlock, what does this party have anything to do with the search for Moriarty?"

"When his message broadcast all over London, Mycroft had his people trace the source, and it led back here to America. Yesterday the source narrowed down to this town, and an open party unexpected? Please John, this will definitely help us."

"More like help you, and maybe this place has parties often. It doesn't mean it's unexpected."

"When we were in town everyone had the same conversation about the party." Sherlock reached into his pocket and looked at his phone checking the time. 5:54, just a few minutes before the party starts. "If this manor had parties often, then it would just be a normal thing for everyone."

"Well I guess that's a valid point." John took out his phone checking for any messages. 1 New Message From: Mary.

"How's Mary doing?" Sherlock asked out of curiosity.

"Just got a text from her, she says she's doing fine with Mrs. Hudson and her pregnancy." John's face fell a bit solemn. "It feels like any day she could go into labor. I really wished we could have taken her with."

"John, you know as well as I do that would risk her life, and your child's." Sherlock looked at John with small concern. "It's best for her to stay in London while we do the investigation."

The taxi pulls into the round about driveway and parks in front of the main doors. Sherlock and John stepped out of the taxi and paid the driver, and watched as he drove away. The two men walk up to the doors and fixed their jackets.

"And Sherlock," John started. "Don't be, you know."

"Yes I'm quite aware of what you mean, and I will make no definite promises." Sherlock adjusted his jacket to make it aligned. He checked his phone one more time. 6:00 on the dot.

"Well, this will be fun then." John knocked four times on the door, and on the other side you could hear the sound of heels clicking towards the door.

The door opened and there stood a woman in a red dress. "Welcome! Please come in, let me take your coats."

The two men walked into the home and handed their jackets (and scarf) to the woman. They looked around the mansion, and mostly John was impressed by the designs and decorations. "This is a very extraordinary house!" John exclaimed with an awe smile on his face.

"Thank you, it's been passed down for a few generations." The woman said. "My name is Olivia Haven, I own this house along with my sister. She should be down in a few minutes."

"My name is John Watson, and this is Sherlock Holmes." Sherlock is barely paying attention to the conversation, just looking around with his hands behind his back.

"How many generations did you say this house was passed down?" Sherlock said.

"I'm not exactly sure," Olivia responded. "My father gave the deed to me and my sister in his will, and my grandfather passed it down to him and so on. But I never knew how many generations it's been."

"It's obvious when you look at it." Sherlock remarked. "If you look at the wall lining, there has been some repairs in the past few years. Nothing new, but if you look past that you see the repairs look dated back to around 1850. I would guess your great-great grandfather would have owned this manor."

Olivia and John looked at Sherlock in amazement. "That's impressive Mr. Holmes. I'll have to see my family records to see if that's true." The doorbell rang once again. "Please excuse me."

Sherlock smiled and wandered around some more. As she opened the door, more and more guests began to arrive. By 6:15 most of the town arrived, and started to get crowded. "Where is Christine?" Olivia wondered to herself. "She should be done by now." With that thought, the doorbell rang again and Olivia walked over to answer.