John and I looked at each other in shock, "No…really?" Sherlock nodded as the pink cell phone rang and he placed it on speaker phone, "Oh, well d-done you. Come and get me." Sherlock leaned towards the phone, "Where are you? Tell us where you are." After she gave us her address we hailed a taxi. On the way I called Lestrade to let him know that Sherlock had solved it and we were on our way to the woman's location. Soon the bomb squad had arrived and safely got the woman out of her car. She thanked Sherlock as they led her to an ambulance. Lestrade told us that we needed to come over to the office in the morning. Now that we were on our way home to sleep, Sherlock was silent. I leaned over towards him and placed a hand on his, "Thank you Sherlock. For saving her." He looked at me unsure of how to respond at first, "Of course."
I hesitated before walking into my flat but a reassuring nod from John helped me take the first step in. I slowly made my way over to the couch and sat down. Everything was still in its place, it's just memory image of those shoes that kept haunting me. What if he came back? I made myself some tea and then fell asleep on the couch. It was about 8 o'clock when I woke up. I made myself something to eat, showered and changed into some clean clothes. When I walked out, I heard John and Sherlock coming down the stairs. I met them at the base, "Good morning, John. Sherlock." I gave a tiny smile as John opened the door for us to go out, "Good morning, Klayre." Sherlock nodded, motioning for me to exit in front of him, "Morning. How did you sleep?" John called for the Taxi as I answered, "Oh, not to bad actually. It still weirded me out a little, but I'm sure I'll get over it soon." The car ride was silent and Sherlock practically ran out of the taxi while it was still moving once we arrived.
Lestrade was drinking a coffee as we entered, "Ah, she lives in Cornwall. Two men broke in wearing masks, forced her to drive to the car park and decked her out in enough explosives to take down a house. Told her to phone you, "He leaned over his desk, "Check the read-out from this pager. Well, if she deviated by one word, the sniper would set her off." John sat down as he read it, "Or if you hadn't solved the case." I sat down in the other chair and looked at it as well. Sherlock put his hands together as he walked across the room to look out the window and said softly, "oh…elegant!" I raised an eyebrow at John, "Elegant?" Lestrade interjected, "What was the point? Why would anyone do this?" Sherlock answered, "Well, I can't be the only person in the world that gets bored." His phone beeped as he finished the sentence; we all turned to look at him *you have one new message. * Four Greenwich pips signaled, "First test passed, it would seem."
He held out the phone to Lestrade, "Here's the second." On the phone was a photo of an abandoned car, Lestrade grabbed it, "I'll see if it's been reported." Another phone had gone off simultaneously and in walked the inspectors partner, "Freak, it's for you." Sherlock followed her into the other room to take the call. I touched John's shoulder as I watched the phone call, "Something's wrong." He got up and I followed him out to the waiting area so we could hear what was being said. Lestrade yelled, "We've found it." On the way, Sherlock filled us in on the phone call, there was another hostage and we only had 8 hours this time. Lestrade started talking when we got out of the car, "The car was hired yesterday morning by an Ian Monkford. Banker of some kind. City boy, paid in cash. Told his wife he was going on a business trip and never arrived." Near the car Donavon, the inspectors partner, came up to us, "You're still hanging around him." John spoke, "Yeah, well…" She quipped, "Opposites attract, I suppose." John responded as he looked at the back of the car, "No, we're not…" She spoke over him, "You should get yourself a hobby. Stamps, maybe. Model Trains, safer." With that she walked over to Lestrade. I spoke without thinking, "What's up her ass? I mean why doesn't she like Sherlock?" John then told me about the time when Sherlock exposed her affair with one of the other detectives. I nodded as we approached, "Still…" He gave me a knowing look.
Lestrade leaned into the car, "Before you ask, yes, it's Monkford's blood. DNA checks out." Sherlock got back out of the car, "No body?" Donavon answered, "Not yet." Sherlock began to walk around to John and I, "Get a sample sent to the lab." Lestrade nodded and then turned towards Donavon. He didn't say anything but she knew what he wanted, she huffed and walked away. Instead of stopping at John and I he went straight passed to a woman who seemed upset, "Mrs. Monkford?" She answered while she looked over at the car, "Yes. Sorry, but I've already spoken with two policemen." John joined him, "No, we're not from the police, we're uh…" Sherlock interrupted, "Sherlock Holmes. Very old friend of your husband's." He faked being upset, "We, um, we grew up together."
She shook her head taking his hand, "I'm sorry. Who? I don't think he ever mentioned you." Sherlock faked being even more hurt, "Oh, he must have done. This is…This is horrible. I mean, I just can't believe it." I had to grab onto John's shoulder and bite my cheek to keep from laughing at Sherlock's acting ability. He continued, "I only saw him the other day. Same old Ian. Not a care in the world." She looked really upset, "Sorry…my husband had been depressed for months. Who are you?" Sherlock didn't let up, "Pretty strange that he hired a car. Why would he do that? It's a bit suspicious, isn't it?" She put up a defense, "No, it isn't. he forgot to renew the tax on the car, that's all." He played it off, "Ah, well! That was Ian. That was Ian all over." She argued again, "No, it wasn't." Sherlock then gave up the act and started speaking normally, "Wasn't it? Interesting." Then he walked away, I had to jog to keep up, "Why did you lie to her?" Sherlock lifted the tape for us, "People don't like telling you things. They love to contradict you. Past tense, did you notice?" John answered, "Sorry, what?" He continued, "I referred to her husband in the past tense. She joined in; bit premature. They've only just found the car." I asked, "You think she murdered her husband?" Sherlock looked over at me and then back to where he was walking, "Definitely not. That's not a mistake a murderer would make." I replied, "I see…no, I don't. What am I supposed to be seeing?" Donavon yelled out yet another hobby for John to pick up, "Fishing." John ignored her, "where to now?" Sherlock answered while reading it off a paper he was holding, "Janus Cars. Just found this in the glove compartment." I looked at my watch and whispered to myself, "Only six hours."
The man we talked to was a real jerk, "I can't see how I can help you gentlemen." John then began, "Mr. Monkford hired the car from you yesterday." The Mr. Ewart answered, "Yeah lovely motor. Mazda Rx8. Wouldn't mind one of them myself." Sherlock pointed out a car photo on the wall, "Is that one?" He turned to look at it, "No, they're all Jags. I can see you're not a car man, eh?" Sherlock nodded, "But surely you can afford one. A Mazda, I mean." He nodded leaning back into his chair, "Yeah, that's a fair point. You know how it is. It's like working in a sweetshop. Once you start picking at the licorice Allsorts, when does it all stop?" I asked another question, "But you didn't know Mr. Monkford?" He gave me a half smile, "No, sweetheart, I didn't. he was just a client. He came in here and hired one of my cars. I've no idea what happened to him. Poor sod!"
Sherlock spoke, "Nice holiday Mr. Ewart?" He looked over at him, confused, "Eh?" Sherlock continued, "You've been away haven't you? He flustered up an answer, "Uh, the…no, it's sun beds, I'm afraid. Too busy to get away. My wife would love it though, bit of sun." Again, out of nowhere Sherlock asked a weird question, "Have you got any change for the cigarette machine?" Mr. Ewart was having a hard time keeping up, "What?" Sherlock cleared his request up, "Well, I noticed one on the way in, and I haven't got any change. I'm gasping." He offered him some money for to be exchanged. Mr. Ewart then dug into his back pocket for his wallet and checked, "No, sorry." Sherlock shrugged, "Oh, well! Thank you very much for your time, Mr. Ewart. You've been very helpful. Come on John, Klayre." John pulled out his wallet, "I've got change if you still want to- Sherlock shook his head, "Nicotine patches, remember? I'm doing well." I gasped, "So, what was that all about?" Sherlock responded as if it was obvious, "I needed a look inside his wallet. Mr. Ewart's a liar." I looked over at John, "So he did go on vacation!"