A STRANGER AT THE DOOR- CHAPTER 29- THE COST

Daniel was a man who never let an opportunity pass by without seizing it. When he saw Violet and Holmes in pursuit of the kitten, he knew he had a chance to get his hands on the young woman once more. This time he was determined that she would not get away from him.

He grabbed Blue Eyes and ducked in an alley waiting for Violet and Holmes to pass by.

The search for the kitten was both comic and frantic. Every time Violet stopped to look down a darkened alleyway, Holmes would bump into her because he was literally on her heels.

Finally she had enough of him following her so closely. "Mr. Holmes, would you please stay a few feet behind me? I do not want a repeat performance of what happened on the sidewalk a few minutes ago. I can only imagine what sort of stories are circulating about it already."

The detective backed away a few inches to comply with her request. "Is this better?" he huffed.

"Yes, much better. Now let's move on." She took off walking rapidly, managing to weave her way around the people on the crowded sidewalk. Not looking back, she was unaware that Holmes was no longer closely following her. A cluster of young boys fighting in the middle of the sidewalk blocked his way and he lost sight of her.


Violet stopped periodically to ask people if they had seen the kitten. Most of them were busy and barely responded to her question. A few kind souls told her "no". She continued on, determined to find Blue Eyes.

The sound of pitiful mewing caught her attention. She looked around to see where the sound was coming from and stopped in front of yet another darkened alleyway. Although the memory of what had happened to her the previous time she had stepped into an alley, she entered it anyway. She was desperate to find Blue Eyes. She had saved the kitten from destruction once and would do it again.

The deeper down the alley Violent went, the louder the mewing became. She must be on the right path. Suddenly a little ball of gray fur limped toward her. It was Blue Eyes! Her joy at finding the kitten blinded her to the other creature approaching, Daniel; the dark haired man who had tried to harm her before. He was the man in her dream that had chased her through the woods. The one she slashed on the face with a knife to defend herself and get away from.

Violet was kneeling on the ground murmuring comforting words and petting the kitten. As she scooped Blue Eyes into her arms, she noticed a shadow of a man approaching her. When she looked up and saw it was Daniel, fear overtook her and she froze in place. He grabbed her arms so hard and jerked her off the ground that she could not help but drop Blue Eyes. The kitten scampered away down the alley and out to the sidewalk.

As terrified as Violet was, she was thankful that the kitten had gotten away from Daniel. Daniel, who for reasons not quite clear to her, personified evil. She struggled to remember anything more about the man, anything that could at the very least help her get away from him.

He pulled her deeper into the alley until he was at a dead end. "Now that I have you again, you stupid gal, I'm going to finish you off once and for all. All the secrets you know are going to the grave with you. But first, I want you to suffer the way I did when you cut my face. "Daniel made a tiny cut on her right cheek. She whimpered and struggled to get free from his grasp. Blood trickled from the wound down her cheek and onto her neck.

"No, no!" he hissed in her ear. "Don't tempt me to slit your throat now. You'll deprive me of the pleasure of hearing you beg for your life and I do not like being deprived." He laughed at his next thought. "Maybe before I dispatch you for good, I'll have your body for my pleasure." His fingers tore at the buttons on the bodice of her dress, exposing the corset and chemise underneath. She struggled against him once more and he slapped her on the mouth so hard that her lower lip burst open.

"Daniel Rutledge what do you want from me?" she whimpered, not realizing she had finally remembered his full name.

"I want you to pay Roni. Pay for what happened to Henry." He slapped her again, this time on her left cheek.

Violet was terrified, in great pain and confused. "What happened to Henry? Tell me, I don't remember."

"Because of you, he gave away our secret!" He reached out to strike her again, but gave her another nip on her right cheek with the knife.

Violet tried not to whimper or cry out again, but she could not stop herself. "What secret?" she asked him, blood oozing from her lip with every word she spoke.

"Don't play stupid with me!" He reached out to strike her again, but instead threw her on the ground. Her head hit the ground with such force that she almost passed out. When Daniel reached under her skirt and started pulling down her underpants, she wished she had passed out because she knew what he was about to do to her. She was afraid to beg him to stop knowing it would only bring more slaps and cuts to her face.

A thought came to her mind. She relaxed under his weight, letting him think he was about to have his way with her. Then she slowly pulled up her right leg. Knowing she had nothing to lose in the attempt, Violet kneed him hard in the groin. He rolled off of her cursing, curled up in a ball of pain. She edged away from him and sat up. He grabbed for her and caught the hem of her skirt, pulling on it until it had almost completely ripped away from the bodice. She managed to get free and began to run down the alley toward the sidewalk and daylight. He finally was able to get up and start chasing her.

Violet didn't look back to see if he was gaining on her, she kept running until she ran into someone with such force that it knocked the breath out of her. Arms closed around her and she began to struggle against them. "Let me go! For the love of God, let me go!"

"You are safe, you are safe." The words were said with such tenderness, that she hardly believed that they came from the lips of Sherlock Holmes. Violet relaxed and let her body sag against him. When he saw her bloodied face and the state of her clothes, he picked her up and ran, only stopping long enough to tell a police constable to search the alley that Violet had emerged from.


Mrs. Hudson and Watson were waiting at the front door of 221B when Holmes rushed in carrying Violet up the stairs to the sitting room. One sight of the state she was in was enough to send Watson off to get his medical bag and Mrs. Hudson running for hot water and towels.

Holmes gently laid Violet down on the settee. He had not noticed the state of her dress until then. He pulled off his coat and covered her up quickly.

Watson entered the sitting room with his medical bag in hand. He removed Holmes' coat and handed it to him. "I cannot attend to her injuries with this thing on her. If you are uncomfortable by her state of undress, I suggest you leave the room."

"Or at the very least Mr. Holmes, remove yourself to the other side of the room," Mrs. Hudson added as she entered the sitting room with a bowl of hot water and several towels.

The detective went and stood in front of the fireplace. He could hear what was happening, but could not see it. Although Watson and Mrs. Hudson were gently cleaning Violet's wounds, she couldn't help but whimper and cry out periodically. Holmes clutched the mantle at every sound she made.

Once she was cleaned off, the doctor went to work stitching up the two cuts to Violet's cheek. He had given her a sedative before he started, but it only dulled the pain of the needle piercing her skin. She cried out so loudly that Holmes was forced to go outside until the doctor was finished. Her suffering had touched him unlike anything he had felt before.


When Mrs. Hudson called Holmes back inside, Violet was asleep. She was covered with a blanket from his bed. "Watson," he whispered. He hesitated to ask the question that was on his mind.

"What is it Holmes? I am your friend, you can ask me anything."

"The extent of her injuries; are they confined only to her face? You saw the state of her clothing, did you not?"

Watson put his hand on his friend's shoulder. He finally understood what Holmes was trying to ask him. "They are not of more intimate nature. I asked her and she assured me that the man did not get that far in his assault on her."

Holmes could not contain his relief. Watson saw it in his eyes.

"Holmes? Where is the kitten?"

"Here, Watson." The detective pulled the sleeping Blue Eyes out of his vest pocket. "She said she would not abandon the kitten and she kept her word at the cost of nearly losing her life."

Violet said she wouldn't abandon Blue Eyes. She found the kitten, but it nearly cost her life in the process.

Poor Holmes! He will probably even more protective of Violet than before and she will probably resent it.

Thank you for reading this story! I appreciate your support!