18

Sherlock was petrified for a couple of minutes. His heart skipped more than a beat at the very thought he could hurt Molly. After all, that man had no qualms about killing Vanessa Cox, neither his friend in Sussex nor his own father. Because, now, Sherlock was sure that Martin Stapleton had been killed by his own son.

The poor man, according to his deductions, had managed to keep Winston's thirst of revenge at bay for some time, then something had happened, the situation had changed and the original plan went to rack and ruin.

He could hear Stamford's voice calling his name, but his mouth was so dry he couldn't answer. For a split second he thought about what his life would have been like without having Molly around, and he began to feel a wave of panic build up inside him. Sherlock felt as if he had been thrown back four months when he assumed he'd lost the love of his life forever.

Had he or not decided to give the two of them a chance because he felt Molly would be safer with him by her side rather than away from him? So what the hell he was doing? He had to get a move on and get a grip. Clear mind and cold-bloodedness, Sherlock told himself. This was what Molly would have expected of him in such a situation.

The first thing he thought was that if they couldn't find Molly anywhere inside Bart's, it meant she was no longer there because Winston had another place in mind to carry out his revenge. He had to find out how Winston had brought Molly out of the building without anyone noticing, and where he had taken her. Sherlock bit his lip pondering that Winston had a couple of hours ahead of him. There was no time to waste. He had to go to Bart's.

Sherlock roused himself from his moment of weakness and instructed Stamford for the guard to take care not to let anyone into Molly's office and above all he recommended nothing to be touched. When he closed the call, his eyes fell on the open file on the desk "Idiot! Damn stupid idiot!" he cursed loudly attracting the attention of Lestrade and Sally Donovan talking in the next room.

The DI and the sergeant looked at each other dumbfounded as the consulting detective was grabbing his Belstaff and cursed himself for the nth time, "What's up with you?" asked Lestrade, "Molly. She…she was kidnapped by Jordan Maddox" Sherlock whispered through gritted teeth, "Jordan Maddox? You mean…Winston Stapleton!" the cop said back as he entered his office followed by Sally.

A howl of rage escaped Sherlock's mouth, "Idiot!" he cursed again, barely refraining from throwing away, with a stroke of his hand, all the papers in the folder in front of him, "There it was! The something I was missing!" he exclaimed angrily pointing to some photos included in the folder. Greg walked over to the desk and took them in his hand observing them in turn, "I don't understand. What are you referring to?".

Sherlock threw his arms in the air impatiently, "The resemblance! The resemblance, for heaven's sake!". Meanwhile Sally had bowed her head to get a better view of the photos herself and as soon as Sherlock had said those words, her mouth formed on O of surprise and firmly stated "Maddox looks like the victim. He looks like Stapleton".

"Exactly!" Sherlock agreed, happy that someone was able to keep up with him, as he excitedly typed a text to John on his phone, briefing him on what had happened and requesting him to join him as soon as possible at Bart's. "Please Sherlock, explain yourself" asked the DI looking at him in confusion.

"Bart's, now! Have to find Molly. If either of you comes with me, I'll be happy to clear up almost everything" he answered as he took his step towards the corridor and the lifts. Both Lestrade and Sergeant Donovan didn't have it repeated twice and, once they grabbed their coats, they joined him.

"Last night I met Jordan, or rather Winston. I had the perception he reminded me of someone else…the way he talked and walked, his look…if only I'd been paying more attention!" Sherlock knitted his brow as he waited for the lift doors to open, "Maybe Stapleton wouldn't have died. And now Molly would not be in the hands of a murderer seeking revenge".

"Do you think he did all this to get revenge on Molly?" asked the DI, "No doubt" replied Sherlock pressing the button on the ground floor, "He planned it all out while he was in prison. He had found work as GP in Eastbourne even before he was released. Once he settled there, he looked around and made a friend of Maddox. A young man more or less the same age and same build, without relatives and a number of friends who can be counted on the tip of your fingers".

Sherlock put his hands in his pockets and added "He killed Maddox by throwing him into the open sea during their night out on the boat, then he dyed his beard and hair to assume his identity and waited until the following afternoon to sound the alarm by pretending to have slept all night and morning because he was drunk and not having notice his friend's disappearance".

Sherlock rattled on that Winston had left Eastbourne in a hurry, citing the excuse he was upset at his friend's death. Afterwards he had applied to Bart's and given Maddox's excellent resume no wonder they had hired him with their eyes closed. By then his primary purpose had been achieved because it was quite obvious Stamford would flank him with Molly, his best pathologist. All he had had to do from then on was win her friendship and trust. From that moment, every moment would be good to enact his revenge.

"You said if you had observed better, you would have exposed him last night" interjected Sally, and as Sherlock nodded, she asked "What made you not observe carefully? What distracted you?".

Sherlock opened his mouth to say something but the words died deep in his throat. Janine! Damn it! Sherlock had been so caught up in the thought he had to clear up the situation with her once and for all after what happened both in Edinburgh and in his flat and before she could screw it up with Molly, he hadn't paid attention to the alarm bells ringing in his mind.

"Oh, Sherlock" his brother's voice echoed in his head, "What do we say about coincidence?", he huffed and rolled his eyes as he murmured quietly "The universe is rarely so lazy" entirely aware of how Lestrade and Donovan were looking at him. He could concur it was a coincidence Winston and Janine had met as they lived five miles away from each other in Sussex. But their presence in London, in love and engaged…no, now Sherlock could see it clearly, it was no coincidence at all.

The urgent question now was, was Janine just a pawn in Winston's plan and was she in the dark about who he really was or was the brunette actively involved? On balance, she too had reasons for revenge.

"So, what?" Lestrade encouraged him, "Janine" Sherlock whispered reluctantly, "I had an unfinished business with her" he added feeling his cheeks blush slightly. "Janine…you mean Janine Hawkins?", Greg frowned revealing he didn't understand what Sherlock ex-girlfriend had to do with the whole story.

"Yes, that's her. It just so happens that she's Jordan…or, if you prefer, Winston's girlfriend" he disclosed as he quickly took advantage of the opening of the lift doors to get out of that confined space and escape the eyes of the two cops. "What do you think she knows?" Sally asked quickening her pace to keep up with him, "I honestly don't know. I have to talk to her. But now, first of all I have to go to Bart's" he answered stopping just beyond the Scotland Yard's entrance.

"I'll go talk to her" Sally offered herself, standing in front of him, "Look, I know you don't trust police in general and me in particular but I like Molly and I want to find her as safe and sound as you want. There's no time to waste so I think it will be good for us to divide tasks".

Sherlock looked up and down at the curly black woman. Sally Donovan had disliked him openly ever since Lestrade had introduced them. On the contrary, Sherlock had never cared about her, until she started insulting him labelling him such as freak or psychopath. And since then their heated verbal skirmishes had begun. Sherlock had certainly not spared her jokes or double meanings, especially about her illicit and not-so-secret affair with Anderson.

After his return from the 'dead' and his name was cleared, Sherlock was softer towards Lestrade's closest associates, especially after Donovan profusely apologized for considering him a fraud. "Ok" he said, "Ok?" she asked astonished he had agreed without objecting. Sherlock nodded back, "Good. I'll call you" Sally said pulling the service car key out of her leather jacket.

The Scotland Yard police sergeant quickened her pace as she called two backing patrols from the transceiver. Lestrade patted Sherlock on the shoulder "Sally will do a good job, you'll see" he said preceding him to his car. Sherlock bit his lip thoughtfully, "I hope so" he murmured to himself. Molly's life was at stake. No carelessness, no oversight, no hesitation was allowed. He had to find her. Bring her home. To him.

They arrived at Bart's after about twenty minutes. John wasn't there yet. Sherlock spoke briefly with the security guard and then went to Molly's office. Lestrade followed him in silence, he was used to Sherlock's way of working and interrupting him with questions or observations was not good.

Sherlock noted that in Molly's office nothing was out of place, apart from her handbag on the floor which he collected and rummaged through. Nothing was missing there either, there was even her phone, still dead. There was therefore no way to trace her through it.

At that point Sherlock asked to see video surveillance footage. The man in charge of this task had just started scrolling the images when John, accompanied by Stamford, entered the room. "Sherlock" whispered the doctor joining his friend who had his eyes practically glued to the screen, "He took her away, John. That wretch…I'll swear I'll kill him with my hands if he'll just lay a finger on her" he stated without turning his head towards John. His voice firm at first, but then it became filled with anger and frustration.

These latter feelings greatly increased when the images showed Janine stabbing Molly with a syringe in the neck and then the arrival of the man known to all as Jordan. Now Sherlock no longer had to wonder if Janine was a pawn or an accomplice. From how she moved around the man it was more than evident she was in love with him and happy to support him in his plan.

He could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on him, while he tried to keep himself as controlled as possible. With an apparently impassive look he observed Molly's body placed on a stretcher and carried outside Bart's, more exactly loaded on one of the ambulances in the parking lot. Sherlock made a mental note of the number plate and picked up his phone to call his brother.

Reluctantly he had to admit to himself that only Mycroft, Mr Government himself, could glance at the traffic cameras and find out where the two scoundrels had headed. Said phone call, however, had to wait because of that of Sally Donovan. "Janine is not here" he stated, "I confirm Winston Stapleton stole Jordan Maddox's identity. We found his ID card inside a wall socket. And…Sherlock?" she paused and he felt she was holding her breath.

All Sherlock would have expected the sergeant to tell him except what she said instead, "We also found another hidden ID card. It belongs to Janine. But her surname isn't Hawkins. It's…it's Moriarty".