Annie Harrison wasn't used to be scrutinized so much during her own job, but she supposed it was her fault when her boss had warned her about the man she was going to interview and she ignored him.
The bright blue eyes in front of her were almost mocking her as soon as she pulled out her notepad.
"I hope we won't waste too much time with this, Miss Harrison" he scoffed, ignoring his friend's glare when the young woman blushed nervously and tucked her blond hair behind an ear, attempting to avoid the bored detective's inquisitive stare.
"Ignore him" John Watson said kindly, "He woke up cranky today"
"Oh, please. I'm being used as stepping stool for her career, the least she can do is bear with it" Sherlock Holmes replied, "Now tell me, what exactly possessed you to come here and ask about an ongoing case?"
"I..."
"Spare me the details" he stopped her, "This is tedious"
"If you want an answer then let her speak, Sherlock" John reprimanded him.
"It doesn't really matter"the other shrugged.
Annie didn't know what to do with the insufferable man in front of her and if it wasn't for her shyness she would at least replied to his discourtesy in equal measure.
Sherlock turned his attention to the blond younger woman sat in the middle of the room and decided to cut short the chase, facilitating himself to get rid of her quickly.
"You came here to interview me on an hunch, mainly because you thought I would be involved in the recent murder that upset the good people of London. Sadly you made a mistake, since I refused to accept this particularly boring case. So you are wasting your time, and more importantly my own, with your presence here"
"Sherlock..."John attempted to stop him, seeing the girl paling and her eyes filling to the brim with tears.
"Recently you came out of a long-term relationship, as I can deduce from the nervous tick that lead you to find some comfort in a ring that right now you aren't wearing. This fact leads me to think that he left you for some reason, maybe for another woman, seeing how your frigid shyness discourages even John, who's always ready to flirt with whoever passes in front of him. And now you're attempting to go back to work as usual, but your attention always deviates to something else, so I suppose you're failing in that field too"
"Sherlock, for goodness sake..!"
"Now tell me. Am I wrong?" the detective ignored his friend, as Annie almost trembled under his cold blue eyes.
The woman had no wish to continue with the interview and guessed it would be better to avoid mention anything else, seeing the poor treatment she was receiving, but she couldn't let him have the last word.
"Yes, you are. Percy died the day after he proposed, assassinated in his own home, but as you eloquently just said, you know nothing about him, since the case wasn't interesting enough for the great detective Sherlock Holmes" she said in one breath, knowing that if she stopped the pain would overwhelm her.
Annie picked up her purse and ignored John's attempt to apologize, not caring even when Sherlock stood up abruptly.
The woman rushed out of the flat, leaving the detective stunned and the doctor angry with his friend.
"Are you happy now? There was no need to rudely dissect her life"
Sherlock suppressed the slight guilt he felt when they saw the blond woman wiping her tear-stained cheeks with the sleeve of her blue jumper as she climbed in the cab.
The detective didn't say anything, much to John's displeasure, and returned to his violin, apparently forgetting about Miss Harrison and the bad impression they made for the next few days until Mycroft Holmes appeared in their flat.
"I have a case for you, little brother" the older Holmes said as soon as Sherlock 'welcomed' him, "Have you heard of Percival Phelps?"
"He was an employee of the Foreign Office killed two weeks ago in his house. We met his fiancee here"
"I know. She ran out of your flat in tears"
"As usual your men have ears and eyes everywhere" Sherlock shrugged, "I simply behaved as I always do with my clients. If you run at the first sign of disagreement, then you're not really interested in my help"
"And as usual I had to do some damage control. Her brother, one of my employees came to me demanding apologies on his sister's behalf"
John glared at Sherlock, who rolled his eyes and abandoned his back against the plush chair he occupied in the sitting room. As expected Mycroft was about to reveal the true reason why he had a case for his brother.
"I don't care about the murder. I want you to find a document stolen from his study. He was supposed to keep the treaty safe, but now it's gone and we want to avoid scandals if possible" Mycroft explained, "Needless to say, you'll both be sworn to secrecy and payed handsomely for the effort"
Sherlock was about to refuse, as usual when it came to Mycroft's requests, when John butted in and accepted the folder the older man was extending to the detective.
"I'm sure that girl wanted to ask for your help too. Unfortunately you're the only one capable of giving her closure about her dead lover's death and now with this case you can at least apologize for your rudeness"
"Joseph Harrison asked me to keep you away from his sister. Do whatever you want, but don't upset Miss Annie with your presence"
Sherlock rolled his eyes and grabbed the folder, under John's patronizing glare and begrudgingly opened the folder, where Mycroft had attached the photos of every single person with easy access to Phelps' house. There Annie Harrison was smiling shyly at the victim, hazel eyes lovingly staring at Percy Phelps as he presented a ring to her.
