Disclaimer:Everything belongs to Arthur Conan Doyle. I claim only my humble story line and a few minor characters.
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I couldn't believe Holmes' plan for getting hard evidence. It involved several things that were dangerous and probably illegal as well, but one visit to Lorelei hardened our resolve. Poor girl, hooked up to a ventilator and everything. The nurse told us she was doing fine, but during our visit, she was drifting in and out of consciousness. Not terribly reassuring.
Holmes' plan was to look through Moriarty's house for evidence. Lorelei did live with her uncle during the summer, so our excuse about looking for the rest of her stuff was plausible, if not accurate. I still had this horrible feeling that if we were caught no one would hear about it. Ever. Or maybe I had just watched to many detective movies.
Holmes and I showed up at Moriarty's house around eight. House was kinda a understatement. Put a few turrets here and there it would have been a castle, it was even built with stone. A maid that was the stereotype of the stately old matron let us in and guided us up to Lorelei's room. Before Mildred (that was actually her name!) left she apologized for the state of the room and told us she would be in the kitchen if we needed her.
I saw what she meant. Lorelei's room looked like any other teenager's room. In other words, it was a train wreck. A tornado in the middle of the room would have been an improvement. We grabbed enough stuff to cover our alibi and sneaked downstairs.
Lord Moriarty's study was the exact opposite of Lorelei's room. Everything was neatly labeled and filed away in locked file cabinets. I kept look out while Holmes picked the locks. The maid puttered past once, but that was it. The whole thing was almost anti-climactic.
Even though we knew what we were looking for, vaguely, finding what it was filed under was nearly impossible. Everything went according to some arcane system; personal letters were filed by topic, business letter filed by name. I finally found a likely file under "Inheritance, Lorelei"
"Holmes!" I hissed. He spun and grabbed the file out of my hand and spread it out on the pristine desk. The first thing that caught my eye was a paper headed "Last Will and Testament."
"I Joseph Moriarty, of sound mind and body…" He read. "Look here, it leaves everything to Lorelei in a trust fund she gets when she graduates college." I looked at the sum of money and whistled.
"As soon as Lei graduates all that money that Moriarty used to have disappears." I shook my head and mentally cursed Moriarty.
Among the other papers was a list of names and numbers, some investments in from the trust fund, and an invoice marked two days ago; the day of Lorelei's shooting.
"Close enough." He whispered and shoved all the papers back into their manila folder. I closed all the file drawers quietly and they locked automatically.
We hurried out the door. I put my hand on the knob just in time to have it pulled out from underneath my hand. My heart leaped into my throat. This was it. We had been caught. We were now officially screwed.
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::Insert dramtic music here and fade to commerical:: .·´¨`·»¦«·Kerowyn ·»¦«·´¨`·.
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I couldn't believe Holmes' plan for getting hard evidence. It involved several things that were dangerous and probably illegal as well, but one visit to Lorelei hardened our resolve. Poor girl, hooked up to a ventilator and everything. The nurse told us she was doing fine, but during our visit, she was drifting in and out of consciousness. Not terribly reassuring.
Holmes' plan was to look through Moriarty's house for evidence. Lorelei did live with her uncle during the summer, so our excuse about looking for the rest of her stuff was plausible, if not accurate. I still had this horrible feeling that if we were caught no one would hear about it. Ever. Or maybe I had just watched to many detective movies.
Holmes and I showed up at Moriarty's house around eight. House was kinda a understatement. Put a few turrets here and there it would have been a castle, it was even built with stone. A maid that was the stereotype of the stately old matron let us in and guided us up to Lorelei's room. Before Mildred (that was actually her name!) left she apologized for the state of the room and told us she would be in the kitchen if we needed her.
I saw what she meant. Lorelei's room looked like any other teenager's room. In other words, it was a train wreck. A tornado in the middle of the room would have been an improvement. We grabbed enough stuff to cover our alibi and sneaked downstairs.
Lord Moriarty's study was the exact opposite of Lorelei's room. Everything was neatly labeled and filed away in locked file cabinets. I kept look out while Holmes picked the locks. The maid puttered past once, but that was it. The whole thing was almost anti-climactic.
Even though we knew what we were looking for, vaguely, finding what it was filed under was nearly impossible. Everything went according to some arcane system; personal letters were filed by topic, business letter filed by name. I finally found a likely file under "Inheritance, Lorelei"
"Holmes!" I hissed. He spun and grabbed the file out of my hand and spread it out on the pristine desk. The first thing that caught my eye was a paper headed "Last Will and Testament."
"I Joseph Moriarty, of sound mind and body…" He read. "Look here, it leaves everything to Lorelei in a trust fund she gets when she graduates college." I looked at the sum of money and whistled.
"As soon as Lei graduates all that money that Moriarty used to have disappears." I shook my head and mentally cursed Moriarty.
Among the other papers was a list of names and numbers, some investments in from the trust fund, and an invoice marked two days ago; the day of Lorelei's shooting.
"Close enough." He whispered and shoved all the papers back into their manila folder. I closed all the file drawers quietly and they locked automatically.
We hurried out the door. I put my hand on the knob just in time to have it pulled out from underneath my hand. My heart leaped into my throat. This was it. We had been caught. We were now officially screwed.
******************************************************
::Insert dramtic music here and fade to commerical:: .·´¨`·»¦«·Kerowyn ·»¦«·´¨`·.
