It was gone six o clock when Ida burst into the kitchen at Mrs Beech's boarding house, out of breath from running most of the way back. But the exhilaration of her adventure dulled any feeling of fatigue, and she rushed straight through to the hallway, desperate to share what she had discovered with Holmes and Watson…

'…decided to make an appearance, then?'

Ida skidded to a halt, and turned to face Prudence. She was standing at the foot of the stairs, carrying a tea tray. Anger radiated from her eyes.

'I…'

'Where the hell have you been?'

'Prudence, I'm sorry, I…'

'I sent you out for the sugar four hours ago!'

'Prudence, I'll make it up to you, really I will, but…'

'You know how much work this place is, Ida…'

'…I do, of course I do, and I didn't mean…'

'Ida, I really thought we were friends…'

'…of course we are!'

'…but nevertheless, consider this your last chance.'

'…what?'

'Do something like this again and I'll tell Mrs Beech. And you'll be out of a job.'

Ida stood, speechless, for a few seconds.

'I don't like to do this, Ida,' said Prudence, and there was a tremor which threatened tears in her voice, 'but…'

'…is that tray to go up?' Ida interrupted, harshly.

'Yes, to Mr Holmes's room…'

Ida took it from her, and wordlessly mounted the staircase.

………

At the door to room number 5, Ida took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, then called

'Tea, sir,'

She was preparing to execute the usual balancing act in order to open the door, when the door swung open to reveal Dr Watson.

'Good evening, Miss Greene,' he said

'Good evening Doctor. Is Mr Holmes awake?'

'Yes. Come in.'

Ida entered the room and set the tea tray down. She turned to face the bed, where Holmes was sitting up. She couldn't help but notice that the cardboard boxes she had seen in the suitcase were spread out in front of him.

'Mr Holmes?'

He didn't respond, instead continuing to examine a small object which he had in his hand.

'Mr Holmes!' Ida burst out, unable to contain herself, 'Mr Holmes, I must tell you, I've been to the Fortescue house, I've…'

He looked up, fixing her with a stern glare,

'You've been to the Fortescue house?'

'Yes, and I…'

'Miss Greene, explain yourself. From the very beginning…'

'…but…'

'…Miss Greene, tell me exactly what happened to lead you to the Fortescue residence.'

'But sir, I…' Ida's words died away in the fierce attention of his stare. She took a deep breath and tried to gather her thoughts.

'This afternoon…I went out to get some sugar…'

As Ida proceeded to outline the events of the afternoon in as much detail as she possibly could, unable to meet either of their eyes as she described dropping the doctor's story at the feet of Horace Fortescue, Holmes' expression grew more and more serious. At least twice she thought he was going to make some exclamation, but instead he only sighed heavily. This wasn't the reaction she had been expecting, and as she neared the end of her narrative she was speaking almost apologetically. When she finally reached the end, she stood, shuffling her feet and waiting nervously for Holmes' response.

He tilted his head back so that the crown of his head rested against the wall behind the bed, and stared at the ceiling. Then, slowly bringing his gaze back towards Ida, he looked along his nose at her and said

'Miss Greene, that is the most…childish…display of play-detective work I have seen in a long time.'

Ida stared at him, speechless.

'Your little adventure today has done nothing to further this investigation, and potentially a great deal to harm it.'

'But Mr Holmes, I…'

'…when I gave you the doctor's notes, did I tell you to do anything other than read them?'

'No, but I…'

'I realise I was lax in that I did not impress upon you the necessity to keep that particular document out of the hands of the very man we suspect, but I did credit you with a little intelligence…'

'...Mr Holmes, I'm sorry about…'

'…No, I'm sorry. It was a huge error of judgement on my part to involve you. Pray, return what remains of the doctor's notebook, and…'

He swung his head forward to meet her eyes directly

'…be sure to steer well clear of this affair from now on. Under no circumstances return to the Fortescue house. That would put both you and the continuing investigation in grave danger. Do you understand, Miss Greene?'

Ida gulped, feeling sick. Anger and disappointment churned in her mind.

'Do you understand?'

'I understand.'

Ida pulled the notebook and the crumpled loose pages out of her pocket and threw them onto the coverlet of Holmes' bed. She turned to Doctor Watson

'I am sincerely sorry about losing some pages of your story, Doctor.'

He nodded his acceptance, and gave her a wan smile, though his eyes remained serious.

Sniffing, Ida turned back to face Holmes.

'Will that be all, sir?' she asked forcefully

He made no immediate reply, so she turned on her heel and marched to the door, letting it slam behind her.

… … …

Her vision blurred by tears, Ida began to descend the stairs, when a sudden idea struck her. Clenching her teeth, and almost enjoying the masochism of it, she crept back towards room number 5, and pressed her ear to the door. She might as well hear the worst of what they had to say about her.

'What were you playing at, Holmes? Involving a young girl like that! She was in very real danger…'

'She was a damn fool.'

'Well…now, she was very brave…'

'No, Watson, she was very stupid. But so was I. I should have had more foresight.'

'…you couldn't have predicted this, Holmes…'

'…no, but I could have predicted that she was an impulsive, impetuous, irrational…'

'…female?'

'Precisely.'

There was a pause. Ida glared furiously at the floorboards. Then Watson spoke again,

'Still, we do know that Grimshaw is being kept prisoner, Holmes, shouldn't we contact the police?'

'Oh, of course Grimshaw's being kept prisoner at the Fortescue house,' said Holmes, irritably, 'that much was obvious from the cufflink and your description of the scene…'

'…well, if you say so…but anyway, shouldn't we…?'

'This isn't just about Grimshaw, Watson. Nor Horace Fortescue. There are higher intellects than that behind this affair...'

'…well, I'm sure you're right, but…'

'We cannot hope to bring them to justice if we are too…crude…Watson. For now, I think it best if Grimshaw remains a prisoner. I do not believe he will come to harm…'

'…are you sure? After all, if it was this Horace who was behind the attack on you, then…'

'Watson, this case has been jeopardised enough by Miss Greene's antics. Please, just do exactly as I say.'

'Very well, Holmes.'

There was a long silence. Ida shifted her crouched position slightly, and wondered whether it might be best to make a move, when all of a sudden there was a crash from inside the room

'Holmes! What the devil…?'

'It's all wrong, Watson!'

'Holmes, those are very delicate! And they aren't even our property, it's one thing to chuck your violin about, but…'

'Leave it, Watson.'

'Hang on…I'll check if…'

'It's a fake, Watson.' His voice betrayed a bitter sort of weariness.

'Holmes?' said Watson, incredulously,

'They're all faked.'

Thanks for the reviews of chapter 5 guys, I've managed to get my act together to post this one a bit quicker than last time, hope you enjoy...