XXI
Flash in the Pan
"Well, that was…"
"What?"
"Actually, I don't believe I have a word for what that was – it was so utterly dull my brain seems to have forgotten about it already."
"Oh. Good to know that the quickest-solved case is so unworthy of your attention."
"It was unworthy of my attention!"
"Then why did you bother in the first place?"
"I didn't bother, I got dragged into it—"
"Oh, no, you did bother. I remember you bothering. You had the case file and everything."
"Fine. Okay. I bothered."
"Why?"
"Because I thought it looked interesting."
Sherlock strode on ahead, moodily.
Out on a Limb
John watched with an awestruck expression as Sherlock perched himself in the uppermost parts of the tree.
"Are you're bloody insane?"
"Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate."
"On what?" John paced around the base of the tree.
"I don't know yet; I'll let you know when I spot it."
"Oh, that's great." He stuck his hands in his pockets and waited.
And waited.
"What can you possibly do up a tree that you can't do with two feet on the ground?" John shouted after several minutes.
Sherlock peered down from his leafy roost.
"I can see what the murderer saw."
Out of the Blue
"How long is this going to take?" John asked, watching Sherlock add a solvent to the solution in the beaker.
"Be patient."
"I am being patient. I've been patient for—" John checked his watch – "twenty-six hours."
"Then go to bed."
"Oh, no. I want to see how this ends."
"I told you, you don't have to wait up. This process takes time."
"What process? All I've seen you do all day is mix… stuff together!"
Sherlock spun his chair around. "It's not stuff," he said. "I don't do stuff."
Suddenly, the solution turned blue.
"Aha! I've got you now."
Wet Behind the Ears
Molly had been taken with him from the moment she laid eyes on him. When she looked back from that first meeting in her lab, she knew that she should have known better. He only pretended to like her because he wanted something from her – usually access to dead bodies or an autopsy report. She tried to ignore him; he always spoiled everything. But still, she couldn't help it. If she refused, he would just smile at her or say something about her hair and then she'd be head over heels again…
She was stupid to fall for Sherlock Holmes.
Heat of the Moment
"Oh my God, I'm surrounded by idiots!"
Those had been the immortal first words that Sergeant Sally Donovan had ever heard out of Sherlock Holmes' mouth. She had been completely taken aback by this mad stranger who had no business being at the crime scene and who had managed to insult the entire squad. When she asked Lestrade about it later, he said that it had been a heat of the moment thing and that it probably wouldn't happen again.
Lestrade was wrong.
By now, Sally thought she had heard every single possible variant of the "surrounded by idiots" line.