Huge writer's block + hell breaking loose at work. Didn't want to let it unfinished, though. Made a promise to myself to finish stories, already have the end and all. Have to work my way through it, though. Feels kind of lost, but it will get better. Soon. Hopefully.
They arrived at the address the Baron had texted Sherlock and were guided to the top floor, where the Baron was waiting at the living room of the big apartment. Sherlock lead Irene in by the arm, making sure she would not try anything.
"I'm really glad you could come Mr. Holmes." the baron began when they were left alone by the security. "As I said before, I need your help and I would appreciated if this matter remained only between us. I really don't want the police or the press to be involved in this. Can we agree on that?"
"Of course." Sherlock said.
"And can I ask this of your associates also?"
"Certainly. This is my colleague Dr. John Watson," he said pointing to John. "And you probably know miss Adler." he said.
"I'm afraid not." The Baron said, kissing Irene's hand. "I'm certain I would remember such a beautiful woman. It's indeed a pleasure to met you Miss Adler."
"You're very flattering, Baron. Call me Irene, please." She said, lightly. "Sherlock was certain we had met before, but I assured him I'd never had the pleasure. He's stubborn, though."
"Please, call me Ivan" The Baron said amused, already enchanted by Irene's seductive ways.
"You might not know Miss Adler, Baron, but she knows you very well." Sherlock said sarcastically.
"Really, how so?"
Irene looked at Sherlock curiously. She could not be sure what kind of game he wanted to play. She considered he would prefer a quieter approach and a dramatic closing once he had proof of her crime, which she was sure he would not find.
She hadn't much choice either way. All she wanted was to get him off her back so she could run from the country before Moriarty remembered he had promised to hurt her. So the faster she proved to Sherlock she hadn't stolen the Diamond, the faster she would be able to run.
Maybe exposing herself would get faster results.
"You see, Ivan." She began leaning towards the Baron as if she was about to tell him an intimate secret. "You just called the best and most arrogant detective in London. He's so full of himself that he was sure he could solve your case even before coming here to see you."
"That would be really difficult, since I didn't even told Mr. Holmes what's is the case." The Baron said a little confused.
"The theft of your Blue Diamond." Sherlock said a little bored quickly realizing Irene wanted to discredit him.
"How do you know that?" The Baron asked surprised.
"As I said, he's really good." Irene said before Sherlock could answer. "But he's also a little paranoid, you see. He's sure I was the one who stole it."
The Baron stepped back looking shocked at Irene, then at Sherlock and John. "Is this some kind of joke?" The Baron said angrily, sure those three people were making fun of him. "You were highly recommended as a serious man Mr. Holmes. And you bring your friends here to make fun of me."
"This isn't a joke, Mr. Crozon." Sherlock said serious, a little annoyed by Irene's interference. He hated to have people's interest divided with her e he decided he would get everyone's full attention back. He had to focus on the case, not on her. "I know of the theft of your diamond because of the numerous rumors of your difficult financial situation, and because of her presence here in London. So far, you haven't denied that the case is about it."
"It is. I brought the Diamond here to secretly sell it, but it was stolen last night." Ivan admitted confused with the situation and those strange characters, remembering the despair of his loss. "And you say this woman is responsible for it?" he asked looking back at Irene with doubt.
"Yes. It's not the first time she tried to steal it." Sherlock said.
Irene snorted. "Ivan, please understand, Sherlock is wrong in his accusation, but most of all, he can't prove none of his paranoid theories. I agreed to come and see you so we could clear this misunderstanding quickly and he can focus on finding your diamond for you and I can go back home."
"Yes." Sherlock said impatient. "The quicker we solve this, the quicker we can both go home. Now, Mr. Crozon, could you please tell us exactly what happened to your diamond."
Ivan Crozon sighed and calmed himself. Still looking at the woman who might have in her possession his beloved diamond, he began to tell his story hoping that in the end, those people could tell him how she had managed to get the diamond and where it was.
"I brought the Diamond to London in a case that never left my possession. It was on my hand valise on the plane and when I arrived at this apartment, I kept its case always at my sight. Last night, after I had talked to one of the possible buyers and set a meting with him for this morning, I placed the case on a drawer inside the closet in my bedroom, so it wouldn't be visible when my buyer arrived."
The Baron walked them to the bedroom and opened the door to the closet he was referring to so Sherlock could see it. Irene also peeked inside curiously. It was a large closet with a few shelves and drawers, and which could be entered only by means of that door.
"Then what happened?" Sherlock asked.
"I locked the cabinet with this key." he showed them an old iron key. "Put it underneath my pillow and went to sleep. In the morning I received the interested buyer. When he requested to see the diamond before closing the deal, I opened the cabinet to take the case and show it to him and it wasn't there. The case had vanished with the diamond inside it."
"Was the cabinet locked?" Sherlock asked.
"Yes. When I woke up the first thing I did was check if the key was still underneath the pillow. And it was, so I didn't bother check inside. When I went to opened it was locked just as I had locked the night before, with two turns of the key."
"You never left this room?" John asked.
"No." The Baron cried knowing that there was no way to explain how the diamond had vanished. "I was here all the time. I slept and maybe someone entered the room while I was sleep and took it, but it would have to pass through my security, take the key from below my pillow, open the cabinet, close it again and put the key back underneath and leave the building without being seen."
"Are you a heavy sleeper, Baron?" John asked.
"Not particularly." the Baron answered. "But maybe I was drugged so I wouldn't wake. Maybe someone put something in my drink while I was dinning. I can't help but think it was one of the security guards. It's the only way someone could have come inside, without forcing the door open."
Irene held a condescended smile, although she knew the baron assumption was naive, when she realized Sherlock was looking at her while the Baron told his story waiting for some incriminating reaction.
"Don't you trust them?" John asked.
Sherlock walked through the bedroom looking for clues that weren't in the Baron's story. They were in the 21st floor. The apartment had no balcony and all the windows were closed from the inside. There was no sign of forced entry through them either.
"I don't know who to trust anymore. All I know is that one or all of them have to be involved." The Baron cried. "They all claimed they didn't leave their post for a second during the night and no one passed through them. But someone is lying. How else would someone enter this room and open the door of the closet?"
Sherlock just puffed annoyed and opened the closet door one more time entering it.
"The thief didn't open the door." Sherlock said absentmindedly climbing the drawers of the cabinet and punching the back wall and the ceiling. Irene sat on the bed and waited for Sherlock to finish.
"Of course it was." The baron retorted. "I personally put the diamond inside it and locked it. The only way to get the diamond was to open the door."
Silence was Sherlock only answer. He kept punching the wall and ceiling of the closet until he heard something hollow. Then he punched a little harder and discovered and small air vent of about 30 cm x 30 cm in the inner left corner of the ceiling, that was covered by a plaque that mimicked the ceiling cover.
"Or, to come through this vent." Sherlock stated with a satisfied smile. He looked victoriously to Irene, who remained with the same serene impenetrable expression.
John looked inside the closet to the air vent. "No one can pass through that thing, Sherlock, it's too small."
"Someone can, someone has. That's how the diamond was removed from the closet without taking the key and waking up the Baron." He walked to Irene leaning down to her leveling his eyes with hers. "That's odd, you didn't do it yourself. I assumed you would want to be the one to take it. You don't strike me as someone who would sit quietly waiting for someone to do your dirty job for you."
"I'm not." Irene replied, staring back at him.
"You're trying to tell me again you're not the one behind this?"
"I'm tired of that. I'll let you get to that conclusion on your own."
Sherlock closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. He had to stop letting her cloud his judgment. "Ok. I'll call your bluff. If you didn't do it than who did?" he said looking back at her.
"I don't know that, Sherlock." She said. "I was quietly sleeping in my hotel last night. As I told you a number of times I came here for a job interview, it didn't work out, and now I want to go back to the States, where I do have a life."
Sherlock studied her for some time. "No. Something isn't right. There's something you're not telling me."
She sighed impatiently.
"This is too interesting and you're not interested. The diamond you failed to steal two times, and you don't want to know who did what you couldn't do." He teased sarcastically and saw a flash of anger in her eyes.
She took a deep breath and calmed herself. She felt cornered and she and fear was beginning to lead her actions. She couldn't afford to let him do that. He was too smart and he would read her immediately if she let her guard down. He would soon figure out the right answer and she shouldn't be close when he found that out because that would be really, really hard to explain. Not to mention, really dangerous for both of them.