Part 13: In which John sighs and Miss Hudson takes charge.
As Lestrade hustled the criminal into a police car, Sherlock and Moriarty slowly turned to face each other. Eyes were narrowed.
"I can't believe," Moriarty murmured, "that you missed Miss Stevenson's involvement. I would have thought it was -heh- obvious."
"You were hardly quick to spot or identify the stain on her blouse."
"Perhaps if you spent less time writing and publishing obscure treatises that – newsflash! - no one actually reads, you could take a few lessons in understanding basic human behavior!"
John quickly stepped out from the room, so as to avoid agreeing with Moriarty. He turned to Sebastian, who had joined him in the kitchen. "I thought they were getting along!"
The other man shrugged. "It's just like cats. They can only tolerate each others company for so long before they start hissing and trying to claw out eyeballs."
John sighed.
"Boys?" Miss Hudson raised her head from were she had been ineffectually dusting the cabinets and quite effectively eavesdropping. "Is there a problem?"
Feeling as if he were tattling to his kindergarten teacher, John confided, "Sherlock and Moriarty are fighting again."
Miss Hudson pursed her lips. "Right."
Her shoulders set with determination, she entered the adjoining room where Moriarty and Sherlock had progressed to a spit-fire intense round of jabs and retorts. "Boys! That's enough!"
They looked up. Sherlock considered telling her to shut up. Moriarty eyed her curiously and considered things that would probably place him back in jail.
In the end, both decided not to, perhaps due to the rather frightening way she was brandishing a cooking pan.
"As I've heard it," Miss Hudson said, "this whole mess began when Mr Moriarty changed jobs. So I think it not unreasonable to ask that he change back."
Both men considered her suggestion. Then Moriarty scoffed. "Detecting's bo-oring anyway. Come on, Seb. Let's blow this joint."
Sherlock picked up his violin and pointedly began playing a screeching melody to usher them out.
Miss Hudson smoothed down her hair and resumed her dusting.