Okay guys… this is it… no more it's all done … for now anyways, I may come back and expand here or there if I get the chance yet right now i gotta deal with finals, so once again thanks to all you loyal readers!

… Hope you all like it.

Once our brows descended from our hairlines we turned to Holmes looking for an explanation.

"Doctor, Mycroft, this is Katherine. She was one of my students. Quite the bright star when it comes to mathematics she is. Katherine, this is my brother Mycroft and my friend Dr. John Watson." He gestured towards each of us respectively, in his hand the cigarette case gleamed in the sun.

Katherine's eyes momentarily resembled saucers and were entranced by the glimmering metal, but soon a mischievous look replaced the awe.

"Oh I'm so happy you're back! You must come down to visit us. Come, you and your friends, Sister Ruth would be so happy to see you. Stay for lunch, please!" The perky lass lead us down the path into the village, never once allowing the serene silence of nature to bare down upon us.

Surely Holmes could not put up with such a woman for nearly three years, the man who neither trusted nor acknowledged a member of the female persuasion, had befriended a mathematical prodigy and a twit.

At the conclusion of a light lunch we sat around enjoying another of Katherine's stories. Now from his own pocket Holmes produced the silver case. Opening it, he presented it to the tottering girl-woman to his left. Again a strange air came over her as she greedily reached for the case. Seemingly unaware to her peculiar mood swing, Sherlock snapped the case shut, Cheshire grin firmly plastered to his face.

"Tut tut Katie, not offering one to your guest first, it's no wonder no man will have you. Such poor manners for a host," he teased. Giving her an affectionate squeeze, he flipped open the case again and offered one to Mycroft and myself. Returning to the Blonde, he produced one for her and proceeded to light it. I must admit with some satisfaction that she gave to a fit of coughs after her first drag.

"Potent stuff," she wheezed but continued.

"You might say that," Holmes replied.

The conversation drew on a bit longer, Katherine hastily burned through the rest of her cigarette. Holmes tossed the case onto the counter and lounged back, with the same inane smile upon his thin lips. As if in tandem, Katherine eagerly jumped, out of her seat.

"Oh my James, you're quite right. Where are my manners? Allow me to bring out the biscuits." her voice irritatingly saccharine, "Excuse me one moment gents… oh no need to get up I shall be right back."

Mycroft trying to come to terms with whom his brother had become, asked how long he and Katherine had been courting. Holmes' response that they were merely friends had seemed to put the large man at peace.

The clatter of shoes signaled the return of Katherine. We stood as she entered.

"No fast moves gentlemen," it was now my turn to imitate a tea-ware. Katherine stood in the door way straight faced and lips pursed. The cigarette case securely tucked into her belt, and more importantly, a revolver in hand.

"Ah, my poor boy. You fool. I almost wish that you had your memory. It would make this moment all the more satisfactory. Alas, one cannot ask for the world now, can she? You see, these men are right, you're name is not James Moriarty, but Sherlock Holmes, the great detective." For such a small stature, her voice bellowed with hatred, she continued, "The genius to whom no mystery is unsolvable, the murderer! You don't deserve to even assume his name, the name of a Moriarty." The gun rattled in her hand as she cocked the barrel.

"He was obsessed with you, his equal, everyone paled in comparison to you, even me! His own daughter! You ruined everything, all those years of planning all his notes; it would have been the perfect crime, one for the ages, a true show of his intellect."

"He stole them!" She shouted at me, waving the pistol in Holmes direction, "He stole them from my father and hid them in this little case, and then killed him! But I'm going to kill you and change all of that now; I have the plans, the funds and soon, no meddling little detective to muck things up. I'm going to finish what my father started; it would seem that you have indeed lost to a Moriarty Sherlock. Goodbye."

Shock kept me rooted in my place. This annoying twit, was in fact the progeny to James Moriarty? It was in that moment the pieces fell into place. She had poisoned Kelly and most likely instructed him to send the letter. She needed the silver case, which she had deduced was in my possession, to finish her father's work and reclaim the throne as the heir to the king of crime.

My thoughts were once again interrupted.

"Well done Katherine," it was Holmes who languidly arose from his seat. "You were correct in most of your assumptions, but not all of them. You see the case at one point may have indeed contained your father's heist plans, yet as far as I can remember and yes, I do remember, it seems to me we all but polished them up after lunch today."

The blonde's eyes darted back and forth as Sherlock's words sunk. We had burnt the plans, unwittingly, and she had helped! Her fierce rage was tangible,

"This is not over Holmes!" without warning she blindly shot off three rounds and fled.

In the unnatural quiet that followed the shots, we three hastily checked to see if we had gotten in the way of the stray bullets. A hiss revealed that Holmes had not been as lucky and Mycroft and I. Upon my inspection, I was thankful to find it had merely grazed his side. I looked down at Holmes as he sat back down to take one last drag from his cigarette.

"Holmes, Sherlock? Is it truly you? How, how did you know?" I stared at him baffled.

Sighing, he blew a smoke ring, and rubbed his chin as if in deep thought. A sly smirk appeared on his face as he said, "That my dear Watson is elementary."

But that is a story for another time.

FIN

Well… that's all she wrote! I hope it was enjoyable and everyone had a good time! So until next time detectives … ta-ta! Nite