A/N: Ooo, death threats…  I can counter that now.  Also, I made reference to a hansom, not sure if they had those in the Sussex but let's just slip back into the world of pretend for right now…

Going After The Detective

Part 6

            "Martha?  Martha?  Come along now woman you can not do this to me!"  John's words drifted into my fog like a lighthouse beam.  "Wha…what?  John what is it?"  A smile lit his face as I tried to pull what had just happened back into their original places.  I really had to stop fainting.  It was making me look a bit too feminine.  Of course, since I was preoccupied in my thoughts I wasn't really listening to what John was saying.

            "…heard wrong…Mr. Colmes…is alive."  I froze.  "Sorry, could you repeat that?"  "The man just heard wrong.  He thought you said Mr. Colmes. It was he who was murdered this morning."  He grasped my hand, surprising me.  "He's alive Martha.  He survived the falls and he'll survive Scott too.  He's alive!"  I thought I saw his eyes glisten for a moment but when I looked again it had disappeared.  He pulled me up off the ground where I had been laid.  It had done him good to talk about Mr. Holmes; Mr. Holmes had done him good.  I squeezed his hand.  The three of us wanted, no, needed to be together.  We were a part of each other, stuck together in this crazy world whether we liked it or not.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't do us any good if we didn't reach Mr. Holmes in time.  I reached down and picked up one of my bags.  "Well, shall we call a hansom?"

I nearly knocked over a glass of some bubbling brew or other when there a knock came at the door.  From the sound of it, a man.  And from the sharp, quick knocks, someone with authority.

The Sussex constable force knew I was here.

Help us.

I stood up and opened the door.  "Ah, Jameston!  I thought you were patrolling London."  Jameston stepped inside.  "Well, I was sir.  But they thought I could do better down here."  "Yes, I see.  Do require my assistance in something?"  He fidgeted.  The news wasn't good.  "Would you like to sit down," I offered.  "If it doesn't trouble you Mr. Holmes."  We settled ourselves in our respective chairs and Jameston cleared his throat.

"You see, Mr. Holmes, a neighbor of yours was murdered just this morning…" I raised a hand.  "Jameston, I do not take cases of such 'garden variety' anymore.  I do believe that with the proper logic you can, and will, solve the case on your own."  His head snapped up from when he had glanced down with…was it a bit of shame I saw?

"Mr. Holmes, please hear me out!  This one is different!"

"Aren't they all?"  He took a deep breath and tried again.

"Mr. Holmes, I would not have come to you if I didn't think this was strange enough.  Mr. Colmes was murdered…"

Colmes… Where had I heard that name before?

"A week exactly after he pleaded his case to you."

I rest a hand on top of my gun and glance inside.  Good, that fool of a constable was trying to convince Holmes to look into the murder of one Mr. William Colmes.

A murder I had brilliantly pulled off.

I look inside again, still hiding, still watching.  I smile evilly.

Soon, revenge will be mine.  Soon the thirst I have so long had will be quenched.

I could have him now, but where would be the fun of killing him in front of his best friends?  Nothing could compare to that.

I pat the top of my gun lightly.

Soon.

Very soon.

A/N: Are you all happy that I didn't kill him?  Sorry this took so long, life got busy.  Anyway, any suggestions on what to do next would be appreciated.  And I know this was short but not only do I need some ideas, I'm rather busy at the moment but I wanted to update so here it is.  Now, if you don't want me to really kill Holmes off…you better read and review!