(A/N) Yes, its short, yes it's quick, and yes, it needs editing. I felt bad about leaving you all with a cliffhanger.

With a gasp, I flung myself to the floor of my apartment, too exhausted to cry, surrendering unconditionally to the abyss that is mourning and regret.  Fighting deep misgivings, I pushed play on the tape recorder, evoking hollow voices that called to me from the echoing halls of the recent past.

Through the crackling static that separated past from present, I could hear voices raised in argument.

"What the hell did you have to go and shoot for? You might have killed her."

"Come off it. Who cares, we have to get out of here. The bitch didn't bring the money, and we have to keep the father."

Doors slammed, and gears shifted, the axles shrieking in protestation as the van reversed out of recording distance. Footsteps echoed, and raindrops smacked the ground as if in an executioners drum role, the downbeat accented by Holmes' fall to his knees.

"Watson!" My eyes closed at the sound of Holmes despairing cry, a tear leaked down my face, a solitary tribute to a fallen friend. "Watson! Call an ambulance. Dear God, call an ambule…"his voice drifted into inaudible sorrow. "Anne."

The undulating hissing of silence only impressed the truth upon me with its crushing density. Recalling the definitive portrait of injustice, Holmes prostrate before Anne's lifeless body, her features taught with surprise, frozen eternally. So, too was Holmes heart.

I remember thinking that, "she can't be dead, where is the blood, perhaps she is merely knocked out, yes, that's it…" I advanced to insure my thoughts were correct, that Holmes was mistaken. But as my footsteps advanced toward the two, his back arched defensively, and I knew it was I who was mistaken. A small red rose bloomed on her chest, marking this, her grave. Gently, he took Anne's hand in his and kissed it once before restoring it to rest on her motionless stomach, a proffered apology that would never truly be accepted, especially not by Holmes himself.

The darkness slowly pealed back to the scenery of my gray apartment in the twilight, eyes opened at Watson's words uttered hours before, shaken, "Come now, old boy, they have to take her to the hospital. You can see her later."

"Thank you for your assurances Watson, but there is not need to sugar coat it for my sake. I take full responsibility, it was my plan, my mistake…she was my client."

Holmes and Watson walked passed me, both a wreck, the former overcome by internal demons, the latter by their residence in his friend's soul. My eyes sought Holmes' to search for answers, reasons, anything. His head slowly turned towards mine, his eyes a searing beam of hatred, clearing them of any other emotion, and ridding his mind of any other purpose than to avenge Anne's death.

Pulling myself from the past, I looked to the window, but all I saw was a translucent reflection, a shell without purpose. The trickled down the window, an outpouring of emotion from the heavens, as down the cool glass slid the tears I could not cry.

~***~

I could not sleep, so, I wandered, thinking nothing in particular, but the burden of suppressing the events finally broke the dam of my resolve. When my mindless wanderings gave way to an ocean of thought, I found myself where the deed had been done. I pulled the tape recorder from my pocket, and brought my arm to above my ear, ready to smash it to pieces along with my future.  But then I remembered a sound, and sound that should not have been there.

Then, the clouds broke, and in the dawn the sun shone into the deepest depths of my mind, illuminating the critical clue.

To Holmes!

I made for the street, sailing upstream of the typical pedestrian current, I emerged a tousled mess from the crowd. Balancing precariously on the curb, I delicately regained my composure; the rush of discovery was tucked gently under the weight of my purpose, and hailed a cab to Baker Street.

(A/N) What is this clue that Callie has discovered? Will Holmes be able to move passed his failure? Find out in the next exciting installment ( insert "dramatic music from Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock" here.) Ah yes, a suggestion, if you have not seen the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Movies, I highly suggest you do so.