I was alone in a dark room and all around me I could hear the evil laugh of
my old math tutor, Patricia Donleavy, who tried to murder me and Holmes.
(A/N: see 'The Beekeeper's Apprentice) I tried to find an exit out of the
room, but found none. Then suddenly, a light went on and shone on the
hanging body of Lily Woodhouse. Her face was purple and her bloated tongue
stuck out of her mouth, but something was very wrong with her face. Her
eyes were actually blinking and then her mouth opened and she began to
speak. I couldn't hear what she was saying, however, and I did not wish to
step closer to her to find out. It seemed as if she were naming her
murderers and I badly wanted to hear their names. Then, she began to cough
and lifted her hand.
"Help me, Miss Russell," was all that I heard before her eyes ceased to blink. But that was not the end of the dream. I was back in time to 1914 in California, in the car with my parents and my brother. It all happened again; me yelling at my brother, my father turning around in his seat to make us be quiet, a car hitting ours, and me being thrown out of the car as it fell over the edge of the cliff and exploding.
"No!" I cried as I sat up in bed.
The whole thing had been a dream.
"Good God, Russell! Are you alright?" Holmes said worriedly, sitting up and staring at me with wide eyes.
I crawled out of bed and put on my dressing gown. "I'm fine, Holmes, go back to sleep. I'll just go get a cup of tea."
He moved to follow me, but I stopped him. "I'm alright, really. It was just a dream, Holmes, only a bad dream." With that, I left the room and went downstairs for a cup of tea. I was unable to sleep after that because I didn't wish to close my eyes and see my dream again. So I made good use of the time by writing down the facts of the case and trying to make some sense of them. Times, people, and events were placed in order and when I put my pen down, I felt as if I finally had some grasp on the facts. At about four o'clock, I heard Holmes get out of bed and enter the small room that I used for much of my work. He stood behind me and looked at my writing.
"Was your dream so bad that you cannot go back to sleep?" he said quietly.
"It was the Dream, Holmes, I saw my family die again, only this time, the dream began with Lily hanging there and telling me the names of her murderers, only I couldn't hear her and she died," I looked up at him and saw myself reflected in his stormy grey eyes. "Holmes, it was horrible. I've never had a dream worse than that before."
Holmes put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly.
"Don't worry, my dear Russell, we should be finished this case soon, then we can go home. Come, you should get some sleep. The dream shouldn't return now," he said, taking my hand and pulling me up from the chair. "We will both need the rest for tomorrow. I think that everything should come together then."
I allowed him to lead me back to bed and, as always, he was right, for I slept peacefully for another three hours, until I was rudely awoken. Holmes shook my shoulder hard and commanded me to wake up. I groaned and pulled the blanket over my head. He then pulled the blanket back down and put his mouth to mine in a full kiss. I immediately was awake, but I didn't want to push him away. After a long moment, he lifted his head.
"Are you now awake?" he said with a smile.
"Yes," I replied as I sat up ans threw back the covers.
"Good, because it's nearly time for you to go the college and I need to catch the train to London," he said moving over to the mirror, where he fixed his hair.
"Holmes," I said, "Why did you wake me up that way? Before it was usually a hard shake or some loud noises or something of the sort."
"It woke you up did it not?" was all he said as he looked at his watch.
I sighed at the unromantic feelings of my husband and got myself ready for the day. Would I ever understand him, I thought as I got dressed. Probably not, a voice in my head said, and personally I agreed with it perfectly.
~ * * * ~
At nine o'clock, I saw Holmes off on the train and travelled to the college, where I would immerse myself for the day to discover more about one of Lily's murderers. The job wouldn't be very easy, but I would try my best at it. The first thing that I did was to make my presence known to a large part of the college by walking through the halls and asking questions of the students and lecturers about of two nights ago. Many had rooms in a different section of the college from Lily, and therefore heard nothing out of the ordinary. However, some of the young women who had rooms down the hall from Lily had some interesting things to tell me.
"Well," one of them said, "I'm sure that I heard a man's voice in the hall, but, you know, I could have been dreaming or something."
"At about midnight," another told me, "I heard people walking in the hall, but I didn't feel like getting out of bed to tell them to be quiet."
The third young woman I spoke to was more helpful than the first two.
"I had a science paper due the next day, so I was up past midnight trying to finish it. Just when I had finished and turned out the light, I heard soft voices in the hall. One of them I was sure was a man's, and they aren't allowed in here after hours, so I poked my head out into the hall to see what was happening. It was dark, so I didn't see much, but two people were there; one was tall and looked like a man, while the other was short and looked like a woman, most likely one of the dons from what I saw. They disappeared into one of the rooms down the hall and I went to bed."
"Thank you very much," I said, "This helps quite a lot, you know."
With an idea of what happened that night, I went to the Senior Common Room to speak with the dons and find out the identity of the murderer. Miss Small, the dean, and the Warden were all there as well as some of the lecturers. I obtained a cup of tea and sat down among them.
"Well, Miss Russell," Miss Small said, "I hope that you're clearing up our little problem here."
"It is rather disturbing to have such a thing happen," said the dean.
"I have found out quite a bit about the identity of at least one of the murderers," I said calmly, "And my husband has gone to London to look up on the other person who was, I must add, a man."
"What about the other person, Miss Russell?" asked the Warden.
"She belongs to this college and is most likely a don because she had some sort of authority to get the man into the college after hours. One of the students saw them in the hall and others heard them. Also, footprints and other evidence in the room helped us to get a rough description of the assailants," I replied watching the looks on all the women's faces.
Miss Small looked uncomfortable. "Well, will you tell us who it is then? I would like to know who the traitor in our midst is, Miss Russell."
I looked at her rather sharply. "I will not say until my husband returns and we gather enough evidence to properly send these criminals to justice, Miss Small. I'm very sorry to ruin your fun." I put down my empty cup. "I must be off, good afternoon."
I left the room and was hurrying across the quad when I heard a voice calling my name. Turning, I saw Harriet Vane running up to me.
"Miss Russell! May I speak to you for a moment, please?"
"Yes, of course," I replied.
"Not here, though, maybe in the library," Harriet said, "It's very important."
I knew fully well that this could be a trap, but something told me that it wasn't.
"Alright," was all that I said as I followed her into the college library.
When we sat down at a table, Harriet began to quietly speak.
"As you probably have guessed, Lily and I were not close friends. It was through Evelyn that I met her. However, I do know one thing that may help you find out who her murderer was."
"Why didn't you say anything before?"
"Evie made me swear never to tell anyone, but now I think that it would help find out what happened to Lily that night," she replied, then stopped.
"Please, Harriet, if it will help me, please tell me," I said urgently.
"Lily was engaged to be married, that's where the ring came from."
I suddenly remembered the ring that had been found in Lily's room and kicked myself, metaphorically of course, for not remembering the object that obviously was quite important to the case.
"To you know to whom she was engaged, Harriet?" I asked.
"To her brother's friend, Robert Parker, who is an art dealer in London."
"And, may I ask, does he have a limp on his left leg and is rather muscular?"
"Yes he is, how did you guess, Miss Russell?"
"I have my ways, now, tell me this, do you know if he would inherit anything if Lily died?" I asked her, my heart beating quickly as my mind put all of the facts together.
"As a matter of fact, Lily did mention something once about it. Being an orphan with no close family and leaving everything to Mr. Parker if she died," Harriet replied.
I sat silent for a moment, then thought of something. "Harriet," I said, "You should be careful of yourself until the murderers are caught because I can't be sure if anything will happen to you."
"Do you think that something will?"
"I'm not sure, Harriet, but it's always good to take a precaution," I replied, then got up to leave. Harriet got up also and walked me out into the quad.
"Good luck, Miss Russell," she said as we parted and I left for the telegram office for I had some very important information that Holmes should know about. I just hoped that he hadn't found out about already, but as I was soon to find out, he had.
"Help me, Miss Russell," was all that I heard before her eyes ceased to blink. But that was not the end of the dream. I was back in time to 1914 in California, in the car with my parents and my brother. It all happened again; me yelling at my brother, my father turning around in his seat to make us be quiet, a car hitting ours, and me being thrown out of the car as it fell over the edge of the cliff and exploding.
"No!" I cried as I sat up in bed.
The whole thing had been a dream.
"Good God, Russell! Are you alright?" Holmes said worriedly, sitting up and staring at me with wide eyes.
I crawled out of bed and put on my dressing gown. "I'm fine, Holmes, go back to sleep. I'll just go get a cup of tea."
He moved to follow me, but I stopped him. "I'm alright, really. It was just a dream, Holmes, only a bad dream." With that, I left the room and went downstairs for a cup of tea. I was unable to sleep after that because I didn't wish to close my eyes and see my dream again. So I made good use of the time by writing down the facts of the case and trying to make some sense of them. Times, people, and events were placed in order and when I put my pen down, I felt as if I finally had some grasp on the facts. At about four o'clock, I heard Holmes get out of bed and enter the small room that I used for much of my work. He stood behind me and looked at my writing.
"Was your dream so bad that you cannot go back to sleep?" he said quietly.
"It was the Dream, Holmes, I saw my family die again, only this time, the dream began with Lily hanging there and telling me the names of her murderers, only I couldn't hear her and she died," I looked up at him and saw myself reflected in his stormy grey eyes. "Holmes, it was horrible. I've never had a dream worse than that before."
Holmes put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly.
"Don't worry, my dear Russell, we should be finished this case soon, then we can go home. Come, you should get some sleep. The dream shouldn't return now," he said, taking my hand and pulling me up from the chair. "We will both need the rest for tomorrow. I think that everything should come together then."
I allowed him to lead me back to bed and, as always, he was right, for I slept peacefully for another three hours, until I was rudely awoken. Holmes shook my shoulder hard and commanded me to wake up. I groaned and pulled the blanket over my head. He then pulled the blanket back down and put his mouth to mine in a full kiss. I immediately was awake, but I didn't want to push him away. After a long moment, he lifted his head.
"Are you now awake?" he said with a smile.
"Yes," I replied as I sat up ans threw back the covers.
"Good, because it's nearly time for you to go the college and I need to catch the train to London," he said moving over to the mirror, where he fixed his hair.
"Holmes," I said, "Why did you wake me up that way? Before it was usually a hard shake or some loud noises or something of the sort."
"It woke you up did it not?" was all he said as he looked at his watch.
I sighed at the unromantic feelings of my husband and got myself ready for the day. Would I ever understand him, I thought as I got dressed. Probably not, a voice in my head said, and personally I agreed with it perfectly.
~ * * * ~
At nine o'clock, I saw Holmes off on the train and travelled to the college, where I would immerse myself for the day to discover more about one of Lily's murderers. The job wouldn't be very easy, but I would try my best at it. The first thing that I did was to make my presence known to a large part of the college by walking through the halls and asking questions of the students and lecturers about of two nights ago. Many had rooms in a different section of the college from Lily, and therefore heard nothing out of the ordinary. However, some of the young women who had rooms down the hall from Lily had some interesting things to tell me.
"Well," one of them said, "I'm sure that I heard a man's voice in the hall, but, you know, I could have been dreaming or something."
"At about midnight," another told me, "I heard people walking in the hall, but I didn't feel like getting out of bed to tell them to be quiet."
The third young woman I spoke to was more helpful than the first two.
"I had a science paper due the next day, so I was up past midnight trying to finish it. Just when I had finished and turned out the light, I heard soft voices in the hall. One of them I was sure was a man's, and they aren't allowed in here after hours, so I poked my head out into the hall to see what was happening. It was dark, so I didn't see much, but two people were there; one was tall and looked like a man, while the other was short and looked like a woman, most likely one of the dons from what I saw. They disappeared into one of the rooms down the hall and I went to bed."
"Thank you very much," I said, "This helps quite a lot, you know."
With an idea of what happened that night, I went to the Senior Common Room to speak with the dons and find out the identity of the murderer. Miss Small, the dean, and the Warden were all there as well as some of the lecturers. I obtained a cup of tea and sat down among them.
"Well, Miss Russell," Miss Small said, "I hope that you're clearing up our little problem here."
"It is rather disturbing to have such a thing happen," said the dean.
"I have found out quite a bit about the identity of at least one of the murderers," I said calmly, "And my husband has gone to London to look up on the other person who was, I must add, a man."
"What about the other person, Miss Russell?" asked the Warden.
"She belongs to this college and is most likely a don because she had some sort of authority to get the man into the college after hours. One of the students saw them in the hall and others heard them. Also, footprints and other evidence in the room helped us to get a rough description of the assailants," I replied watching the looks on all the women's faces.
Miss Small looked uncomfortable. "Well, will you tell us who it is then? I would like to know who the traitor in our midst is, Miss Russell."
I looked at her rather sharply. "I will not say until my husband returns and we gather enough evidence to properly send these criminals to justice, Miss Small. I'm very sorry to ruin your fun." I put down my empty cup. "I must be off, good afternoon."
I left the room and was hurrying across the quad when I heard a voice calling my name. Turning, I saw Harriet Vane running up to me.
"Miss Russell! May I speak to you for a moment, please?"
"Yes, of course," I replied.
"Not here, though, maybe in the library," Harriet said, "It's very important."
I knew fully well that this could be a trap, but something told me that it wasn't.
"Alright," was all that I said as I followed her into the college library.
When we sat down at a table, Harriet began to quietly speak.
"As you probably have guessed, Lily and I were not close friends. It was through Evelyn that I met her. However, I do know one thing that may help you find out who her murderer was."
"Why didn't you say anything before?"
"Evie made me swear never to tell anyone, but now I think that it would help find out what happened to Lily that night," she replied, then stopped.
"Please, Harriet, if it will help me, please tell me," I said urgently.
"Lily was engaged to be married, that's where the ring came from."
I suddenly remembered the ring that had been found in Lily's room and kicked myself, metaphorically of course, for not remembering the object that obviously was quite important to the case.
"To you know to whom she was engaged, Harriet?" I asked.
"To her brother's friend, Robert Parker, who is an art dealer in London."
"And, may I ask, does he have a limp on his left leg and is rather muscular?"
"Yes he is, how did you guess, Miss Russell?"
"I have my ways, now, tell me this, do you know if he would inherit anything if Lily died?" I asked her, my heart beating quickly as my mind put all of the facts together.
"As a matter of fact, Lily did mention something once about it. Being an orphan with no close family and leaving everything to Mr. Parker if she died," Harriet replied.
I sat silent for a moment, then thought of something. "Harriet," I said, "You should be careful of yourself until the murderers are caught because I can't be sure if anything will happen to you."
"Do you think that something will?"
"I'm not sure, Harriet, but it's always good to take a precaution," I replied, then got up to leave. Harriet got up also and walked me out into the quad.
"Good luck, Miss Russell," she said as we parted and I left for the telegram office for I had some very important information that Holmes should know about. I just hoped that he hadn't found out about already, but as I was soon to find out, he had.