September 15th 2010
It was a gloomy morning on Baker Street. The rain was beating against the window with the occasional grumble of thunder and Sherlock was not awake yet. I decided to go and make myself a cup of tea. Our landlady, Mrs. Hudson, was in the kitchen rummaging through the fridge. "Oh good morning John." Mrs. Hudson said cheerfully to me "I'm just checking to see what shopping you need, thought I might as well do yours whilst I'm out" "That's very kind of you Mrs. Hudson. We defiantly need some more bread, milk, cheese and…"
"And cigarettes" Sherlock was awake and standing in the doorway of the kitchen with nothing but his sheet wrapped around him.
"No. Sherlock I thought you said you weren't going to smoke anymore?" I instructed him.
"I like to have a back up supply in case I crash one day" He said boldly.
"Well that never going to happen as long as I'm your fri…" I stopped and thought about what he said last night about not having any friends "as long as I'm around" I quickly corrected myself. He gave me a hard stare and passed an awkward silence around the room.
"I think I know what you need so I'll be on my way. Cheerio boys" Mrs. Hudson quickly said and left the apartment.
"You were going to say friend"
"No I wasn't" I lied
"Yes you were. John do we need to recall what happened last night?" Was that a threat Sherlock just gave me? Or had I miss hear something?
"No we don't. Sorry. I was a slip of the tongue" I left him standing in the kitchen and went up to my room to get changed.
I came down 10 minutes later to find Sherlock, fully clothed. He was wearing a white shirt with the top few buttons undone as usual. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows showing off his veiny forearm. His blazer jackets was hanging from the side of his armchair with his long coat and scarf still sprawled across the back of another chair from last night. The bottom of his trousers swayed slightly every time he moved his long legs and his black shoes were so polished that the sunlight, coming from the window, was reflecting brightly off them. He was holding his phone close to his ear with his curly locks draping down over the top of his phone, finishing off a conversation with Lestrade. "Kyle Maloney. Jackson's friend for 6 years, he's the bloke who killed them both and then robbed them" Sherlock had obviously found out who we are looking for. This meant that Sherlock wanted to track him down which usually running was going to be involved most probably.
At 10am, we arrived at Scotland Yard for what seemed to be the 100th time within the last 3 days. The whole journey here, Sherlock had locked himself inside his mind palace. Not once did I bother to try to make any sort of conversation with him because I knew it would be pointless. I knew what he was doing anyway; he was trying to figure out where to find Kyle.
"We've got good news and we've got bad news for you Sherlock," Lestrade informed us.
"You've caught the Kyle but he isn't speaking to any of your inspectors? Hmm I wonder why. Oh yes that right, it's because you're not brilliant minded like I am and you have probably been asking all the wrong questions." Sherlock was trying to be clever again, when actually he was just being cocky.
"I swear to god I am not afraid to chin you!" Lestrade replied to Sherlock in an angry tone. To be fair with him though, I felt like doing that to Sherlock a lot. His arrogant tone sometimes got the better of me. However, both Lestrade and I managed to hold back this urge.
Lestrade always bantered with Sherlock about wanting to hit him. Occasionally he would jokingly punch him on the arm but he never actually swung for him. I always thought of them two like two younger brothers always threatening each other; well in this case Lestrade was the one doing the threatening and not Sherlock. He had always told me that he had never had a great relationship with his own brother, Mycroft who worked for M16 or something to do with the secret services. It is a shame; Sherlock had his times where he actually did have the potential to be a good brother to someone.
Sherlock and I walked into the detention room where a man around the age of 23 sat. His blonde hair was draped over his face. His hands were cuffed to the table. He did not look like the sort of person who would kill his best friend and his best friend's wife and yet, there was a sinister look in his eyes telling me that he enjoyed every moment of it.
"Sherlock Holmes. I've heard a lot about you" Kyle teased Sherlock, chewing his gum, as we both sat down opposite him.
"And I of you" Replied Sherlock. "So, killed your best friend and his wife and ran off with their money. Anything you want to say in your defence?" Sherlock questioned him.
"Only that they had it coming" There was a slight pause once Kyle had muttered these words.
"What do you mean? How could they have had it coming?" Kyle had confused both of us now.
"Your reputation deceives you Mr. Holmes, you're not as clever as everyone makes you out to be" Kyle was now trying to rub Sherlock up the wrong way.
"I have a reputation? That is so nice to know. Now tell me, why did you do it?" He gave 'the look' to Kyle. This look consisted of his eyes narrowing, Sherlock staring deeply into the offenders mind. A blank expression would sweep across his lips, and his cheekbones stay stiffened and solid as ever. Not a sigh or a yawn would escape from his mouth. I would sit there next to him staring at the side of his face, waiting for him to speak again.
"As I said, they had it coming" Kyle seemed more relaxed then I expect him to be.
"Yes but why?" Sherlock asked still looking deep into Kyle's mind. "Oh. Of course" He said releasing the look and sitting back in the chair. "You killed them because they were holding something against you, weren't they?"
"They knew something about me that no person knew" Kyle again teased Sherlock.
"What? What did they know that no-one else knew, Kyle?"
"Who I truly was." Kyle seemed to be speaking in riddles. What did he mean who he truly was? Sherlock tilted his head slightly upwards as a sign to say 'please enlighten me'. "Tell me Mr Holmes, have you ever experience fear? Loss? Sentiment? Love?" On the final word, Sherlock's eyes widened slightly but not enough for Kyle to notice. I only saw due to how close I was sat to him.
"Sentiment is something I cannot waste my time on. Love is nothing but a trick with the mind when the heart takes over. Fear is again a trick of the mind. Loss happens every day; I see no need to ponder over… things of the past." Sherlock was lying through his teeth about every word he just said. He had experienced Sentiment. He had experienced Fear. He had experienced Loss and he had experienced Love.
"I am all of the things you fear, Mr Holmes. I will take all the things you Love. I will make you become so sentimental it will kill you every single day. Moreover, I will recall all those memories of the ones you love that you have lost. I, Mr Holmes am everything you dread in this life. I am everything that you have not been able to feel, everything you cannot feel and everything you are too afraid to feel and I will bring out each one of them emotions one by one in this very room alone. Oh look, there's the fear in your eyes." I turned to Sherlock. Kyle was not lying; there was fear in his eyes. I had never seen Sherlock Holmes afraid before. This man was far from evil, he was Lucifer himself!
"No one is capable of that Mr. Maloney, so I suggest we start again. Now tell me, who made you do it?" Sherlock did not believe a word that Kyle had said about making him afraid.
"No one made me do it Mr. Holmes; I did it for my own pleasure"
"Someone told you to threaten me with all those things because they knew you would be caught eventually now tell me, who, is, it?" By now, Sherlock was leant across the table with his face up close to Kyle's.
He sat there in silence, teasing Sherlock, staring him dead in the eyes. A smile was elevating from the left corner of mouth before he finally spoke the words that sent Sherlock and me both into shock. "Moriarty" These words impaled Sherlock in his heart. It was not the first time he had heard this name. He had told me about how the taxi driver, who attempted to kill him, had been working for Moriarty. This name had seemed to be following us everywhere we went. Something is going to happen soon. I just could not work out what yet and nor could Sherlock.
We both looked at each other briefly before Sherlock turned back to Kyle. "Please Kyle, tell me, who is this Moriarty?" Mine and Sherlock's interests in this man had elevated dramatically by now.
"You will know soon enough, Holmes, you will know" With this in mind, we left the interrogation room.
"Lestrade make sure this man is jailed. Text me once the court case is over and tell me what his sentence is" Sherlock instructed Lestrade. We left Scotland Yard after this. Before calling a cab for us both, Sherlock asked me whether I would like to go for a coffee with him and the next thing I knew, I found us both sat in a nice little café about a 10 minute walk away from home.
When Sherlock arrived back at the table with two coffees, he sat down quietly stirring the sugar into his drink. "John?" he asked, "I may be able to deduct the final outcome of most cases and things, but one thing I can't deduct is your real opinion of me. So tell me; what do you think of me?" I had not prepared myself for this question.
"What do I think of you?" I paused for a moment to try to think of what to say. I looked at Sherlock in his eyes. They were like deep ponds or like the sky on a clear day. "Sherlock" I said quietly "I've known you for just over a month now. On the first day I met you, we talked about moving in with each other. I had no clue what you were like, no clue who you were or what you do. You scared me, Sherlock. You were like no man I have ever met before. Now I solve crimes with you for the hell of it, I listen to you playing that violin of yours, hell I even just put up with you!" I looked at Sherlock. His head was tilted slight downwards as if what I had said had struck a nerve of some sort. "But, I never complain do I? Now if you can't make a deduction about what I think of you from that, then you're not as clever as you think you are" Sherlock smiled and gave a small giggle at that last line. We finished off our coffee and headed back to Baker Street.
As soon as both Sherlock and me sat down his phone went off, signalling he had a text. "It's Lestrade," Sherlock informed me. "He says that Kyle Maloney is to stand trial next week. But he's pretty certain that he is going to be in prison for life"
"Well that's a relief at least!" I proclaimed. Nevertheless, something was still nagging away in Sherlock's mind. "You're worried about him, aren't you?" I asked him.
"Worry is something that leads to sentiment, John you know that I don't concern myself with sentiment" He paused "But yes, I am slightly" He turned and looked at me in the eyes. I could tell that by his expression, he was not just slightly worried, He was extremely worried. Neither of us knew who Moriarty was or what he was capable of. For all we knew, he could bring down parliament in a single text. He may think he can hide his emotions and feelings like Spock, but not even the great Sherlock Holmes can hide from fear.
"Sherlock, I may not be your friend, but you are mine and I swear to god I won't let him hurt you" The words just tumbled out of my mouth somewhat. I did not even notice what I had sad until I saw Sherlock was staring at me. I think he was as shocked as I was. However, it was true. I would protect him from Moriarty. No matter what danger I would put myself in, I had sworn, then and there to protect Sherlock Holmes.