Chapter 13
The noise hits her first, before the pain. Her eardrums seem to explode with the sound, the waves vibrating off of her skin. Then her shoulder explodes. She hears screaming, only later realizing it's her own.
"Yes, yes it hurts. That's what happens. But think, now you and Daddy have matching scars… Although, I think his was on the other side, maybe I should…"
He cocks the gun again and she whimpers.
"You don't want to? Oh, but we must get it right. Well, maybe we can leave it be…if you say please." He poses the challenge. It is a display of his dominance, her pleading to him.
Part of her recoils at the thought, refusing. Part of her wants to beg, cry, plead, grovel, anything to end the pain, to prevent more.
"No, nothing?" He's disappointed, and anger flashes briefly in his eyes.
I know he's a prat, but don't let him shoot you again! Her father's voice yells in her ear. You need as many arms as you can get to escape. Go on. Do it now. Just remember to make him pay for it later.
So Sheryl screams, pleading with her eyes and writhes in the chair, even though it sets her wound aflame with fresh pain.
"That's better." He singsongs. He turns and nearly skips out of the room.
Sheryl is left alone. When the pain becomes too much, she blissfully passes out. In her dreams, she sees Hamish, carrying her to her room. He places a chaste kiss to her forehead. She whimpers when he walks away.
"I'm coming, Watson." He whispers.
Hamish eventually finds the blood on the ground. It's only when he notices the stuffing that he sees the clumps of dried blood in it. Oh my clever Watson, he thinks. She dropped the stuffing out of her pockets, begging someone to find it.
He deduces that they dragged her backwards and that the car was facing towards 221 B, heading east. In the trash, he finds a wadded up handkerchief and a broken medical vial. The handkerchief is soaked with blood, not quite dry. It's filled with miniscule hairs, either directly from the nose or facial hair. She broke an attacker's nose before they managed to drug her.
He leaves another note for his father and heads off in the direction of Bart's Hospital. He needs Molly to help him run a few tests.
"I'm coming." He repeats to himself, hoping illogically that she'll feel all his meaning behind those words; all of his hopes and dreams and wishes for her, for them.
He catches a cab for Bart's.