A Tale of Deduction

Chapter 7

*Sherlock's POV*

Sherlock was home playing his violin when his phone vibrated. Normally he would ignore it, but he knew it would be from Maria. He set down his instrument and took his phone from the windowsill. The screen lit up, and he read the message. 'I just saved your butt. You owe me –MC' Confused, he sent back 'How? –SH '

He expected her not to respond for a while, so he went back to his violin, continuing the composition he was currently making. His mind drifted as he slid the bow across the strings. How did she save me? And why? He thought of what could have happened at the police station, but none of his guesses seemed right. He just couldn't deduce anything about it. Thinking back to yesterday, he realized that instead of paying attention and deducing every little thing he could, he stared at her the whole time. I'm just curious about how advanced her skills are, he reassured himself. Nothing more.

An hour past before he got a reply. Not knowing what to expect, he lit up the screen of his phone. 'They wanted to do a fake drugs bust to get info. You're welcome. –MC' He was a bit shocked. Not at what they wanted to do, but that she tried to help him without a second thought. He probably would have never done the same. He sat on the couch, bringing his fingers to his lips. He thought about how much he actually knew about her. 'Looks about 27. Long, light brown hair and clear blue eyes. Her best-and possibly only-friend is Emily. Works at that dreaded police station. Always carries a hand gun with her. Her boss is Anderson. Moved from America-judging from the accent. Siblings? Relationship with parents? Schooling? Was she born with her gift?' Questions swarmed his mind. He got a headache from all of them, so he laid down with his back facing everything else. He heard Ms. Hudson walk in and ask something.

"Sherlock? Who was that young girl that came in yesterday?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Sherlock muttered. He said louder, "Her name is Maria. She works with the police."

"Well, she's very pretty. Bit violent and potty-mouthed though. She needs to learn to be more ladylike." He heard her set down some glass on the side table and sit in the chair beside it.

He smiled a bit, and decided he needed to know more about her before anything else happened. Thinking for a bit, he came up with a plan on how to do just that.

*John's POV*

John checked his watch. 12:30. Lunch break, he thought. He took in a big breath and sighed, standing up. He walked to the main room, looking for Emily. 'Maria said that she likes you. She'll say yes.' He gave himself a little pep talk as he walked up to her, sitting alone at the main desk.

"Hey Emily, what are you still doing here?" he felt like a zoo was bouncing around in his stomach.

"Hi, John." she looked up, smiling. "Just working on some last-minute paperwork before lunch."

"Oh. Well…" he repeated the pep talk in his mind, "I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner this afternoon? With me?" Oh man, he was nervous.

She smiled brightly. John's spirits lifted tremendously as she said, "I'd like that. Where?" She said yes! His mind cheered.

"Tierra Brindisa. It's on Northumberland Street," he answered. A smile crept onto his battle-worn face.

"I've heard of it. What time?" He told her 7:00, then thanked her. He smiled as he walked to the back room. He had a date at 7:00 with Emily.

His phone buzzed once. Expecting it to be from Maria, he took it out and read, 'Congrats. Don't screw up. –MC'.

*Maria's POV*

Finally, she thought as she sunk back in her desk chair. I thought they'd never stop asking questions. Just as she closed her eyes, her phone vibrated. Groaning, she pulled her phone out of her overcoat pocket and read the message from Emily. 'I got a date w/ John this afternoon! Tierra Brindisa at 7:00.'.

'Told you he'd ask today. -MC' she replied. Bored, she spun in her chair-until a young blond woman (Definitely younger than me, Maria thought, 21?) cleared her throat in front of her desk.

"Miss Donovan?" she asked. She looked rather nervous, but held her composure.

"Please, call me Sally." Maria slowed the spinning to a halt and smiled at the little murderer. "Now, feel free to grab the chair from his desk," she pointed to the desk that the flirt in the workroom sits at, "he's not here today."

"Oh, okay." Sophie walked over and wheeled it to the front of Maria's desk. "What did you figure out?" Maria saw her slightly raise her hand to twirl her hair.

"Well, the person that killed Mr. Lucas is in this building somewhere," she saw her tense up, but relax not even a second later.

"What do you mean?"

"We have reason to believe it was your father. He's in a jail cell now," She lied. If you try to make him take the blame, I'm making sure your cell here has a drunk already in it.

"What?" she looked around, panicked.

"It'll be okay, things like this happen all the time in the US. Just, relax." Maria was having fun with this.

"It's not-" she clamped her mouth shut before she finished.

"Excuse me? It's not him?" Come on, this is your chance to admit it and get an empty cell. Take it, idiot.

Sophia's bottom lip trembled, "It wasn't my dad. Can you get him out?" she looked on the verge of tears.

"Then who was it?"

"I'm not sure," Maria thought, The drunk it is, then.

"He's not even here. Now, please stand for me." Maria stood up and walked beside Sophia.

"Why?" she stood, acting confused. Maria took the handcuffs off her desk and slapped them on Sophia's wrists in one swift movement. Sophia gasped and looked up at her. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she saw an angry woman stalk toward them.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?!" Sally asked.

"Arresting another murderer. What are you doing?" Maria said innocently. Sophia tried to say she wasn't the one who killed her boyfriend, but Donovan shushed her.

"You can't just do that!"

"Can't I?" Maria pulled Sophia down the hall, in the direction of the cells. Donovan caught up to them and tried to stop her, but wasn't able to.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm not Donovan. Name's Maria Campbell, extraordinary genius." She winked at her as she pushed open the door, leading to another hall. The footsteps behind them stopped, letting them slow down a bit.

When they got there, a co-worker immediately took Sophia-protesting the whole time-and stuck her in the jail cell of Maria's choice ("The one with the sweaty drunk, please."). Sophia was shouting profanities at Maria by then. She just ignored them and walked out, whistling.

Donovan was flaming by the time Maria got back.

"Why he doesn't fire you now- if I was your boss, you'd be on the street," she went on. Maria half-listened, simply waiting for her to let out all the steam. Finally, she gave up on lecturing her and walked away, no doubt to Anderson. I'm so gonna get fired. She thought to herself.

She decided that, instead of focusing on her future firing, she would think about Em's and John's date-and how to follow them in case anything goes wrong.