WARNING!

There is alittle bit of drunken swearing in this chapter near the beginning. Please forgive me.

Chapter XII

Sherlock tried desperately to focus his throbbing head on reading the files on the computer screen before him. But it was incredibly hard for him to concentrate with this horrible hangover. Finally, he gave up and laid down on the bed.

As he slowly drifted out of consciousness, he thought back to the reason he was so hungover. Those three men at the bar last night, buying drink after drink,and gossiping about the rich Italian woman who was staying at the inn for yet another holiday.

"That pompous woman, I'll be she comes here just to look down on us normal folk." One of the men had slurred out last night.
"Damn rich people, why can't they just stay in their mansions?" Another man complained over his sixth scotch.

Lady Nicola Làconi Veloso. That was the name the bartender had called her. Sherlock remembered one of the men mentioning that she had a husband. Another of the men commented loudly,
"Yeah, where is the poor bastard? Probably on another of his business trips, hoping to get away from 'er!"

"Probably got a mistress somewhere." The third commented before going back to his drink.

All the pieces were coming together. Well, at least they were there to be put together. Sherlock slipped out of consciousness and into a blissful and light sleep.

XXXXXXXX

Sherlock was rudely awakened from his slumber by Ariel storming into the room, slamming the door behind her. Sherlock bolted upright as Ariel stomped into the room. Seeing the groggy looking Sherlock sitting upright in bed, her frustration melted away, replaced with a look of pity.

"I'm sorry I woke you." She said softly. Sherlock just rubbed his eyes and groaned in response. He closed his eyes and laid back down. After a moment, he opened one eye and looked over at Ariel, who was furiously rummaging through the small over night bag she had brought.

"What did Marcus say to you?" Sherlock asked, closing his eyes again. Ariel's head sagged as she let out a loud sigh and gripped the arm of the chair. She counted to five before she trusted herself to speak.

"How did you know?" She ask. Sherlock waved his hand dismissively.

"Simple. You're sexually frustrated, you smell of men's aftershave and you just had lunch, probably with the man whose aftershave you smell of." Sherlock said still lying on the bed. Ariel clenched her fists and turned around to face Sherlock. It took everything she had to not lunge at him and throttle him. She gave a wicked smile as she thought of how John would probably approve of her actions.

"Yes. I did have lunch with Marcus. I smell of his aftershave because I swear he bathes in it. And just for your information, I am not sexually frustrated, I'm just angry!" Ariel said, her voice raising dangerously close to a yell. Sherlock let out a low chuckle as her words faded to silence. Ariel turned around before she could kill him. A minute past in silence, Ariel counting in her head to sixty before turning back around and telling Sherlock about the Italian woman she had seen.

"Lady Nicola Làconi Veloso. Italian heiress. Comes here often for holidays, sometimes with her husband, but he is on a business trip planning to meet up with her here later this week." Ariel said, her voice even now.
"Mmm, but he won't be, because he's dead." Sherlock said.

"Right. So this woman is the victims wife then?" Ariel asked.
"Yes. And she's apparently having an affair with the chef you had lunch with." Sherlock said, opening his eyes and sitting up. He looked at a rather startled Ariel.

"Please. I could tell that was the reason you were angry when you came in. He told you he was having an affair with her. And you were jealous." Sherlock said, prodding at Ariel, just to see her reaction.

Instead of bursting out in angry like Sherlock expected, she recoiled a bit and straightened before coldly replying,
"Why would I be jealous? He is, after all, an idiot." Sherlock had to admit he was rather impressed at her response and her self control. He had full expected to be bleeding from his nose right now.

"Anything useful from the files Lestrade sent over?" Ariel asked, turning the hose back on Sherlock.
"Nothing useful so far." He replied, squirming a little. It wasn't a lie. But he'd only read the first 2 pages of information from Lestrade. Ariel let out a low sigh as she realized what he was actually saying.

"How long were you asleep?" Ariel asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. Sherlock blinked.
"No idea." He replied. Ariel shook her head, still pinching her nose, and let out another sigh. She walked over and grabbed Sherlocks laptop which had been abandoned on the table in the corner of the room. She flung it open and stared blankly at the locked computer screen.

"What's the pass code?" She asked, anger bubbling up in her again. Sherlock rolled his eyes at her.

"Give it here." He said, holding out his hand. She hesitated a moment before handing it over. Sherlock furiously typed on his keyboard. Then he clicked and scrolled.

A minute of silence followed as he worked at his laptop. Ariel half expected him to hand the laptop back to her, but when he didn't, she wasn't surprised. Ariel settled back against the wall and just watched Sherlock read page after page of files. A good half an hour passed before Sherlock snapped his laptop shut and retreated into his mind palace. Ariel was still angry, and she stormed over shook him by the shoulders.

"Oh no! You may be able to leave John out of cases, but you can not leave me out of this!" She yelled at him. He stared blankly up at her, completely startled.
"If you wanted the laptop, all you had to do was ask." Sherlock said evenly. Ariel sagged a bit as she realized she had over reacted. She snatched the laptop from Sherlock and flipped it open. Thankfully, it was unlocked.

Ariel scrolled through the seemingly endless documents that were cluttering the screen of Sherlocks laptop. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything she could see that was relevant to the case. She shut the laptop, putting her head in her hands. Today was not her day.

After a minute she looked up at Sherlock. His eyes were closed, fingers steepled under his chin, deep in his mind palace. Ariel realized he could be in there a long time, so she decided to go for a walk.

Pushing her way out the front door of the inn, she was hit by the heavy sea air. She stopped to revel in the beautiful freshness of the air. Ariel walked out of the inns garden and along the road. She had no idea where she was going, but she just wanted to walk. Marcus had told her about this great little coffee shop ten minutes down the road, maybe she'd go there. Marcus. The name hurt to think about. Ariel dismissed it and kept walking.

She drew in breath after breath as her fast walk turned into a light jog. She stopped just short of the coffee shop. She sighed and decided a good coffee couldn't hurt.

XXXXXXXX

Sherlocks eyes blinked open. He was alone in the room. The remnants of sunlight shifted through the closed curtains. Thankfully, the hangover had lifted enough for him to think properly. He had a few things now that he could investigate.

Sherlock looked around the room. The golden glow of late afternoon sun pooled around the closed curtains. Ariel was missing, but that didn't surprise him. The room was tidy and comfortable, even though it was a bit small. The bed Sherlock was sitting on was a disaster, although the other one in the room hadn't even been touched.

All this information flooded Sherlocks mind. He blinked. When he had gone into his mind palace, it had been about 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Now, it was about 4 or 5. Had Ariel been gone the whole time? And if she had, where was she?
Sherlock found himself worrying about her well being.

John had told him after all to look after her while they were on a case. "She's a woman and she needs you to be a gentleman and CARE, just a bit, about her safety." John had said, repeating and rephrasing the same idea more than a dozen times before leaving for Singapore. Sherlock had rolled his eyes and dismissed John several times before being forced to promise John he would take care of her.

Sherlock grabbed his phone. Opening it, he noticed a new text.
"Hey. I'm just out getting a coffee and a walk. Be back later. -AH" Sherlock looked at the time stamp. 2:48pm. Sherlock looked at the current time. 4:54pm. She'd been gone over 2 hours. Sherlock considered briefly the thought that she might be in danger, but quickly dismissed it. She was a capable woman. She could take care of herself. But...
Sherlock sighed. For Johns sake. He thought. He quickly typed and sent Ariel a text.

"Where are you? I have some investigating to do. -SH"
The response was almost immediate.
"Down in the lobby. Meet me at the front desk. -AH"

Sherlock smiled a bit. She was fine. Sherlock jumped up to grabbed his coat from the bed and clutched his head and stumbled back, head spinning. He had totally forgot about his lingering hangover.

XXXXXXXX

"So, what are we investigating?" Ariel asked as Sherlock strode up beside her.
"The murder if two people." Sherlock said flatly. Ariel shook her head. That wasn't what she had meant.

"Where are we going?" She tried again. Sherlock had his back to the desk, watching people come and go.
"We are not going anywhere. I am going to investigate. You are going to make dinner plans with Marcus." Sherlock said.

"What?!" Ariel croaked out. This was not going to end well for her.
"Don't be an idiot. We need to ask him a couple questions about his lover. And you are a much better candidate for getting that information then I am." Sherlock looked at Ariel as he finished speaking.

Ariel saw something resembling resentment and displeasure. Good, he doesn't like this plan either. Ariel thought. She let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine. Flirtatious or just friendly?" Ariel asked before she had really thought about what she was saying. She smirked at the completely confused and distressed look that Sherlock now had on his face.

"Never mind." She said, pushing off the counter, putting on her best smile and walking towards the kitchen.
Here we go again. She thought.

Love it? Hate it? Suggestions? Write a review! Tell me what you thought!