We got a cab and hurried to the house as quickly as possible. Holmes had started to tap his fingers on his knee, an obvious sign of impatience.
When we reached there, he and I slid past others crowded to see what was wrong. Holmes had to help me crawl through to the inside.
A policeman told us to go upstairs, when we got up to the room, we saw exactly what we predicted; Jennifer Moriarty, also known as Bianca Peppins, dead on the floor.
We gave each other a glance and nodded. I started looking at the floor for prints in one direction, him in another, but realized that there had been too many people in the room to ever identify those of the killer.
Holmes stood up after I did. "Too many." He muttered and looked at me for a verifying. I nodded and looked at the body. Anyone could see she was pretty, which I thought was probably the only reason Moriarty married her. Her hand was out and the rest of her was sprawled out. No blood.
Holmes went over and looked at the vanity. He stood straight up and asked for the maid to come up for interrogation. She had shook his and my hand when we were first let in.
"Mrs. Evans, did you move the comb from Mrs. Moriarty's hand?"
"Why, yes, how'd you know?"
"Your dusty fingerprint had been left on my glove. This room is very dusty, and the only thing slightly clean is the comb."
"I just wanted to make the room tidier before the police came. I run this house and I don't like anything messy."
On a hunch, I rolled up Jennifer's sleeve, revealing the same type of marks as Glassborough.
We looked around a little bit more and then were about to leave when I saw Holmes quickly and indiscreetly pick up the comb and wrap it up in his scarf. He handed it to me behind my back, and I put it in my satchel.
I asked Holmes to stop at the London library for a moment. I went in a borrowed a large armload of books and started home. When we got there, Watson was waiting.
"Where were you?"
"Investigating a murder." Holmes said carelessly. He sat down in his chair and I seated myself at the desk, starting to read.
I skim read every page, hoping the words 'purple bruises' would come up.
I can't remember ever falling asleep, but the next thing I remembered was being on the couch, wrapped in a blanket.
Sitting up, I found Holmes watching me from his seat.
"How long was I out?"
He shrugged, "Only an hour or two."
I blushed, "And how did I get here?"
"I carried you. You looked uncomfortable."
"Um, thank you." I got up and went back over to the table. After a few moments, I found what I wanted. "Eureka." I whispered.
"What is it?"
"I found how they died." I pointed to the paragraph. "The purple marks. It's this poison. Paralyzes the body."
"How can we prove it?"
"Glassborough was dead before he even hit the water, Perrins was on her back and looked like she had just fallen. Did you see the slight little hole in his head?"
"Yes. I didn't want to make you look *too* below me."
"Well, I did see it. It was the only way for it to get into his bloodstream."
"We have him, what about-"
"The comb, the points were filed to very, very sharp edges. I found traces of it on them."
"Motive? Who put it on there?"
I bit my lip. "Glassborough was asked to follow someone outside, they knocked him out, changed his clothes, and injected it into his scalp. But Perrins . ."
"How could Moriarty know that she was going to be using it if she hadn't been at the house in some time? It wears off after a while as it says here."
"Well, if Moriarty had the poison, then anyone could have gotten their hands on it."
"The maid?"
"It wasn't the maid." I said flatly.
"How do you know?"
"Trust me; I've gotten my man a few times that way."
He sighed. "All right. But who else could have done it? It had to be immediate."
We were quiet for a moment. "She did it," he said finally.
"To make it look like him and to make him pay for what he did to the man she loved."
"How can we prove it was him?"
I couldn't answer. I was able to get this far into it, but I couldn't do anything more."
Holmes stood up and got his deerstalker on. "I know how to."
I sprang up. "Holmes, no!"
I couldn't do anything, he was gone.


I woke Watson and we sat staring at the fire. This nagging feeling kept tugging at the back of my mind. *He has no idea what this man can be like.* I told myself. *I've read what he did, and Holmes could just as easily be part of the number that he killed.*
I got up to get my coat.
"Where are you going?" Watson asked me.
"Oh, some one's gonna owe me a favor after this one!" I said before leaving.

Aimlessly, I started to walk. I knew that it wasn't normal, and I knew that I didn't know where he was, but I was going to find him. Sir Arthur Canon Doyle would've killed me.
I walked towards a street, the name unclear due to the rain beating down worse than before.
And somehow I found him. He was there, limping from a wound in the left leg.
"Holmes, you can't go anywhere without my help, can you?"
"I suppose not." He answered with a grimace of pain.
"Here, put an arm, around my shoulder."
He stood to the tallest he could on one leg and looked at me indignant. "I most certainly will not!"
I shrugged. "Fine, limp all the way back to home and then collapse before you get there, dyeing from loss of blood. See if I care."
"Fine. "
We cumbersomely made our way back home, and when we were almost there, a weasel-like looking man stopped us. "You is Mr. 'Olmes?"
"Guilty." He said through gritted teeth. The pain must have been really bad.
"I gotta message from my boss, says that you betta watch what you do, otherwise 'e's gonna get you."
"I will, then. Thank Mr. Moriarty for me."
The small man shook. "'Ow'd you-" he never finished the question before he was racing up the street.



I got him inside, and Watson and I took a look at the leg. I got a cloth and cold water for his fever, and Watson went to work stitching the wound back up.
"Bloody git took a knife out of nowhere and stabbed me in the leg, then downward, ah," he winced. "Didn't even see that one coming."
Watson soon gave him a sedative, and he slowly went to sleep.
Little did I know that that would be the most peaceful time experienced in the next few days.