11
To Sherlock's surprise and relief, it was Molly who spoke and cunningly answered John's question with another question that had nothing to do with what their dear Dr Watson wanted to know.
"John, would you like to have breakfast with us?" she asked softly, blush gone from her cheeks. "As you can see" she added grinning and pointing to the tray on the coffee table where the cups of tea Mrs Hudson had brought over an hour before had been forgotten, "We haven't had a chance to have it yet".
John was taken aback that Molly turned a deaf ear. It was not like her to pretend not to understand, quite the contrary she usually faced situations and issues openly and didn't hide behind a finger. It was likely she didn't feel comfortable telling him that she and Sherlock were together, or maybe…they weren't together yet, despite their body language.
"Why don't you two sit back while I get something ready?" she went on, emphasizing her words by patting the back of John's chair, "I'm sure you want to know all about Stapleton's case before you and Sherlock go to his house, John" he thought he caught a slight controversy in her voice so he turned a questioning look at Sherlock standing not far from him.
He saw his friend open his mouth to say something but was promptly interrupted by a further scolding from Molly, "Oh, don't forget to ask him about Eurus' drawings!" she pouted and turned away stopping in the kitchen's doorway, "Sorry, John, do you prefer tea or coffee?" he cleared his throat and said "Coffee, thanks Molly", then he glanced at Sherlock and went to his chair, immediately followed by his friend.
"What have you done?" John mouthed taking a quick glance towards the kitchen, "I'm trying to protect her" Sherlock mouthed back rolling his eyes, "From what? Who is this Stapleton? I read his name somewhere these days…And what Eurus' drawings have to do with Molly?" John asked in a normal voice as he leaned back and stretched his arms over the armrest.
Sherlock took the same position as his friend in his chair and began to explain to John both what the old Molly's case was about and what was the topic of Euros drawings in the last days. Molly as she busied herself in the kitchen, heard everything the two friends were saying.
She was annoyed with Sherlock. She knew his being bossy meant that he cared for her, that he wanted to protect her. But she didn't feel like a damsel in distress and didn't want to be put aside especially if it was her reputation at risk. It wasn't her intention to discuss it in front of John, so she would let the two of them get on with their normal detective work, but as soon as Sherlock got home she would bring it up with him.
An hour later Sherlock and John were at Martin Stapleton's house, more specifically in his basement, "My wife won't let me keep this stuff in the house. She says I have to accept Winston for who he was and stop looking for evidence of his innocence" he explained as he opened the door to the dimly lit room.
John couldn't hold a "Wow!" of surprise. There were anything and everything hanging on the largest basement's wall. From newspapers articles about the fire, Vanessa's death, Winston's arrest and trial, to actual photos of places and people involved. And even maps, timetables for all form of transport, weather reports. It was clear Martin Stapleton had gone to great lengths, eventually tailing both Lestrade and Molly.
Molly's pictures were recent and showed her at different moments in her daily life, such as walking to work or going food shopping or coming back in Baker Street. One in particular caught John's attention so much that he got close to the wall to get a better look at it.
It had been taken at night. Molly was standing outside a fish shop. John recognized from the sign that it was the one just off Marylebone Road, Sherlock's favourite. Molly had a huge paper cone in her hand and in front of her was precisely Sherlock , also with a paper cone. They both had huge smiles on their faces and Sherlock's right thumb was touching lightly the right corner of Molly's mouth to brush off a stain of ketchup.
Sherlock hastened to remove Molly's pictures and slip them into the pockets of his Belstaff, giving Martin Stapleton a stern look. Then without saying a word he devoted all his attention to the wall. "What's this?" he said after going through every inch of the board, pointing to some sort of map of the street where Vanessa and Molly's boarding house was located. Three dots in different points of the road marked by three different names and a note on which was written 'black SUV'.
"People who were in the proximity of the boarding house that day" the man explained, "I got in touch with them by phone and one of them, Noah Miller, told me he saw a black SUV parked across the street with a man inside", "Mm" Sherlock muttered as he pulled the map off the wall, "Do you think you can prove Winston's innocence, Mr Holmes?" the man asked in a hopeful voice.
"What I believe is, Mr Stapleton, I can prove what the truth is. But that doesn't mean your son is innocent" he said firmly, and the elderly parent nodded sadly "If he turns out to be guilty, I'll endure it and I'll let it go". Sherlock looked at John and then again at the man "Well, Mrs Stapleton" he said holding out his hand, "We have a deal, then" he looked up at Sherlock and nodded.
Once outside Stapleton's house, while they were waiting for their cab to arrive, John let out a sigh "That man is totally crazy. Demonstrating his son's innocence is an obsession for him! Did you see how much stuff he put together?" he shook his head in disbelief, "Spy on Molly, then! What's the point?", "Make her feel guilty and push her to review the case" ruled Sherlock opening the cab's door and gesturing for John to get in.
"Now I understand your concern for Molly" confessed John with a thoughtful expression as Sherlock quickly texted Lestrade on his phone, "Thanks for backing me, John" he said with a chuckle. "Do you think this story is somehow connected to your sister's drawings?", Sherlock leaned back closing his eyes "I don't know…there's something I'm missing. And you know how much I can't stand not understanding" he said putting his hands in prayer position and falling silent.
"The wall" Sherlock whispered after a few minutes opening his eyes, "There were empty spaces as if something had been removed" he went on following the train of his thoughts "But what?", John shrugged "No idea, mate". Sherlock closed his eyes again to open them wide shortly thereafter "There were no pictures of Winston" he said a little annoyed at himself for not having notice it right away, "There were photos of Vanessa, Lestrade, Molly, witnesses, the trial's judge…but none of Winston".
John frowned in bewilderment "Why should Stapleton take them off?", "So we can't see his son's face?" Sherlock speculated, "For what purpose? Winston died a year and a half ago…" John pointed out as the cab finished its run in front of the entrance to the Scotland Yard's building.
Sherlock got out shaking his head "I need to think" he said beating an irritated fist on the cab's roof, "Let's go up to Lestrade" he suggested taking a deep breath, "And see what he found on the three men who were at the crime scene", having said that Sherlock turned his back on John and walked inside.
As they climbed the stairs, John saw his friend take his phone from his Belstaff's inside pocket and slow down. John watched him sideway bring the device to his ear and wait for someone, presumably Molly, to answer the call.
He saw him bite his lip, mouth the words "Come on, pick up!" and then close the call with a roll of his eyes. John smiled slyly as he noticed once again the power the shy pathologist had over the great consulting detective without even making an effort to have it.
"What?" Sherlock asked annoyed as he wrote a text, John gave a dismissive shrug but couldn't help saying "I'm glad you finally got your head out of your ass. She's really the one for you", Sherlock put his phone away, "Yeah, well, until I screw everything up!" he said angrily at himself. "Why should you?" John asked increasing his pace to catch up with him, "Because I always do, John" he stated without looking his friend in the eye and walking quickly towards Lestrade's office.
"I already took a risk last night because of Janine and my stupid games!" Sherlock said through gritted teeth. John grabbed his coat's sleeve to force him to stop "What the hell are you talking about? Janine Hawkins? Where did you see Janine? And what did she do to endanger your relationship with Molly?" he asked astonished to hear the name of Sherlock's former fiancé and friend of his Mary.
Sherlock snorted and briefly summarized the events of the night before. "Did you handcuff her to your bed and leave?" John repeated what Sherlock had just said, bursting into laughter, as his friend gave a self-satisfied giggle "I hope this makes it clear to her I don't give a damn about her" he concluded and turned his heel waving his hand to Lestrade who was waiting for them in the doorway of his office.
It was the sound of the doorbell that forced Molly out of the deep sleep she had slipped into after cleaning up the mess in Sherlock's kitchen. The long bath and Mrs Hudson's excellent chicken soup had done the rest.
No matter how hard she tried to stay awake and continue reading one of her favourite book, but after lying on the bed in John's former bedroom, she couldn't keep her eyes open for more than ten minutes, so she dozed off with 'Sense and sensibility' in her hand and the main male character's words in her mind 'I felt that I admired you, but I told myself it was only friendship, and till I began to make comparisons between yourself and Lucy, I did not know how far I was got'.
Keeping her eyes closed she rolled from her side to her back, trying to keep vivid in her head the dream she had had in which Sherlock had turned into Edward Ferrars and she into Elinor Dashwood. She smiled foolishly to herself, briefly hiding her head under the pillow, annoyed by indistinct noises coming from the floor below.
Was it an opening door? Female voices, firm footfalls on the stairs…high heels, maybe? Again a woman's voice…annoyed? A door closed with energy and more footfalls…slower that went with a muttering not exactly whispered.
"Ooh ooh!" chirped Mrs Hudson knocking softly on the door which Molly had left knowingly open, "Molly darling, are you awake?" she asked in a whisper. Molly lazily opened her eyes and stretched her arms "Yes, I am. Are we late for physiotherapy?" she asked rubbing her eyes and throwing her legs out of bed to sit up.
"Oh no, dear! On the contrary! Julian called he has to cancel for today…family issues" the elderly woman informed her, "I went up to tell you I'm going to play Buraco with Mr Chatterjee" Molly nodded barely listening to her as she noticed the notification light on her mobile phone was twinkling.
"The two of us are going to stay out for dinner, so if you and Sherlock get hungry later, you can come down to my flat and get whatever you want from my fridge" she rattled on as Molly was reading Sherlock's text, "There's some food ready and more than enough for three" the landlady ended as she gathered her hands on her lap.
Molly stood up shoving her phone in the back pocket of her jeans "I don't think John is stopping for dinner. You know he tries to have dinner with Rosie when he can", Mrs Hudson chuckled putting her hand to her mouth, "Oh! I didn't meant John, my darling!".
Molly frowned and gave her a startled look "And who should stay for dinner, then?", the old lady took few steps inside the room and lowering her voice as if to reveal a secret to Molly, she said "Sherlock's friend. I told her he's not here". Molly's heart was pounding in her chest as she wondered if she really had the nerve to show up, "Never liked this…Janine" she added shaking her head, "Never understood what Sherlock found in her".
Molly put her hands on her shoulders and staring straight into her eyes asked "Where is Janine now, Mrs Hudson?", she pointed downstairs with her finger "At Sherlock's. She said she knows the flat like the back of her hand and can wait for him on her own".
"My arse!" boomed out Molly as she passed Mrs Hudson with a warlike stride, "I've had enough! If this chick thinks she's frightening me with these stupid psychological games, she doesn't know Molly Hooper yet!" she railed, going down the steps two by two.
