Chapter 2
The dizziness was starting to wear off from the collision and so was the throbbing pain all over my body. As we got back to Baker Street john murmurs to himself as he hangs his coat up, "That was ridiculous. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever done."
"And you invaded Afghanistan," was my witty comeback. Both John and dad laugh. Their laughs are completely different, Johns being very high pitched and dads being very deep.
"That wasn't just me. Why aren't we back at the restaurant?"
"Angelo can keep an eye on it for me, it was a long shot anyway." Dad answers.
" So what were we doing there then?"
"Oh, just passing the time… and proving a point."
"What point."
"You." At this point I had noticed the absence of Johns walking stick, and also how he had run through the streets of London without it.
Dad yells to Mrs. Hudson with a smirk, "Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson will take the room upstairs." I smirk too, because John is completely clueless.
"Says who?" he asks.
"Says the man at the door." And as if on cue, Angelo knocks on the door. John investigates who it is and me and dad continue to smile at each other. "You alright now?"
I smile, "Yep!" I say popping the 'p'.
Mrs. Hudson comes rushing out of her apartment with a terrified look on her face.
"Sherlock, what have you done?" she asks alarmed.
"Mrs. Hudson?" he looks at her concerned.
"Upstairs," she says simply and motioned with he arm. She looks at me and sees the dried blood on my face, "Oh my god!" she cries. I grab her arm and lead her to her front door.
"It's okay Mrs. Hudson, I'm fine. Nothing has happened much." I comforted. She nods and I run up the stairs after dad.
I walk in to see Lestrade sitting in dads chair, legs crossed and extremely comfortable, smirking at dad.
"What are you doing?" I ask, slightly annoyed.
"Well I knew you two would find the case, I'm not stupid. What happened to you?" motioning to my face.
"Nothing," I snarl back at him, "you can't just break into our flat!"
"And you," he motioned to both me and dad, "can't withhold evidence, and I'm not breaking into your flat."
My anger begins to bubble up inside me, "Well, what do you call this then?" I yell.
Lestrade looks around, "It's a drugs bust!" he smirks.
I shake my head and head over to sit in the windowsill.
"Seriously, this guy a druggie? Have you met him?"
"John," I warn, he doesn't want to go there.
"I'm pretty sure you could search this flat all day and you wouldn't find anything you could call recreational."
"John, you might want to shut up," I warn again. He look at me then turns to dad.
"No," he says in disbelief.
"What?" dad answers shortly.
"You?"
"Shut up," he turns to Lestrade, "I'm not you sniffer dog."
"No Anderson is my sniffer dog."
Anderson?
"Anderson?," dad turns to see Anderson emerge from out the fridge, "Anderson, what are you doing on a drugs bust?"
"Oh, I volunteered," he smile evilly and waves at me. I ignore him and stare out of the window.
Someone walks over to me while dad is having an argument with Lestrade and Donovan.
"Excuse me, I'm going to have to ask you to move, while I check the windowsill."
I smile at him, "Well, I decline," and I stare out the window again.
"Miss, if you don't move I will have to move you by force," he threatens.
I smirk and lean closer to him, "go on then, I dare you" I whisper to him. He tries to pick me up, but I block his arm and slap his face. The room falls silent. Although, dad doesn't intervene much.
"Kate, what was that for?" Lestrade asks.
"He was going to move me by force, and I really don't like being man handled so I slapped him." I shrug.
Lestrade turns to the police officer. "Is it necessary that you check that window?"
"Well, it is a drugs bust sir, I assumed we check the whole place out."
"That being said, the rules state that you can't move someone, especially a young woman, against their will, especially by force. So I think you owe someone an apology."
The policeman turns to me sulkily and murmurs an, "I'm sorry." But I liked to embarrass him more.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that?" the policeman scowls at me, but Lestrade coughs and the Policeman apologizes louder. I smirk and stare out of the window once more, but I tune into the other convocation
"Sherlock, this is our case and I'm letting you in but you do not go of on your own, clear?"
"What, so you set up a pretend drugs bust to bully me?"
"It will stop being pretend if they find anything," mocking him.
"I am clean!" dad states rather annoyed.
"Is your flat?"
"I don't even smoke,"
"Neither do I. So it's this way together… We found Rachel." The argument dies down.
"Who is she?"
"Jenifer Wilsons only daughter."
"Daughter? Why would she write he daughters name? Why?" annoyingly Anderson steps in.
"Never mind that, we found the case. According to someone the murderer has the case, and we find it in the hands of our favorite psychopath."
Idiot.
"I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high functioning sociopath. Do your research." He turns to Lestrade.
'You need to bring Rachel in and you need to question her, I need to question her."
"She's dead, "Lestrade states grimly.
"Excellent, how where when why, there has to be a connection."
"Well I doubt it since she's been dead for fourteen years. Technically she was never alive. Rachel was Jenifer Wilsons stillborn daughter."
"No… that's not right… why would she do that, why?"
"Why would she think of her daughter in her last moments, yeah, sociopath, I'm seeing it now." Andersons voice full of sarcasm.
Idiot.
"She didn't just think about her daughter," I say, "She scratched her name on the floor using her fingernails. She was dying, it would've take effort and it would've hurt." He looks at me in horror.
"You said that all the victims took the poison themselves, that he makes them take it. Well maybe he used the death of her daughter somehow?" John suggests.
"But that was ages ago, why would she still be upset?" dad says. A silence falls in the flat.
Dad notices and turns to John, "Not good?"
"A bit not good, yeah."
"But if you were dying, in your last few seconds what would you say?"
"Please god let me live."
"Come on, use your imagination John."
"I don't have to."
"Yeah, but if you were clever, really clever? Jenifer Wilson with all of her lovers, she was trying to tell us something," he was now getting frustrated.
Mrs. Hudson appears at the door, "Isn't your doorbell working Sherlock? your taxi is here." Dad paces quickly around the room, "I didn't order a taxi, go away!" she ignores him.
"Oh they're making such a mess, what are they looking for?"
"It's a drugs bust," John answers her.
"But they're just for my hip, they're herbal soothers." She whispers.
Dad explodes, "Shut up everybody! Shut up! Don't move, don't speak, don't breath! I'm trying to think! Anderson, face the other way you're putting me off!"
"What, my face is?"
Lestrade takes charge, "Alright everyone, quite and still. Anderson turn your back"
"Oh for gods sake…!"
"Back. Now. Please." The silence that follows give me time to think too.
Think, Kate. Think. Why her daughters name. Her phone. She worked in the media, so it's most likely she would have had a smart phone. Smart phone, emails, maps, texts, social networks, Internet, 3G GPS… AHHH, that's it!
"I've got it!" I yell.
Dad turns to me.
"Phone" he says.
"GPS" I say.
We both smile and say simultaneously, "Password!"
He turns around to all of the rest of them, "Yes, she was clever, she is cleverer than all you lot and she's dead don't you see? She didn't loose her phone, she never lost it."
"She planted it on him," I finish for him. "when she got out of the car, she knew she was going to her death. She left the phone in order to lead us to her killer."
"How?"
What?
"What do you mean how?" dad asks.
"Rachel!" we both say.
We are met with blank confused expressions. He tires again.
"Don't you see… Rachel!"
Another wall of blank faces. He turns to me.
"Look at them, all so vacant. Do you reckon it's nice not being smart?" I say humorously, "Rachel is not a name!" I tell them. John is visibly getting frustrated.
"Then what is it?" he says slightly angry.
Dad turns to me. "Kate, the email address on the case."
"I'm on it," I say reaching for the case and opening the label.
" .uk," I read and dad goes to the laptop and types out the address while talking to himself.
"I've been to slow. She didn't have a laptop which means she did all of her business on her phone. It's a smart phone, its email enabled, so there is a website for her account. Her username is her email address and all together now the password is…"
"Rachel!"
"So we can read her emails, so what." Anderson says stupidly.
"Don't talk out loud Anderson, you lower the IQ of the whole street. We can do much more than just read her emails. It's a smart phone with GPS, so that if you loose it you can locate it online. She is leading us directly to the man who killed her…
"Unless he got rid of it…" Lestrade inputs.
"But we know he didn't."
Mrs. Hudson hurries up the stairs again and tries to say, "Sherlock dear, this taxi driver…" but dad cuts her off, "Mrs. Hudson, isn't it time for your evening soother?" sarcastically.
I look over Johns shoulder to see where it is. Its here. In 221B Baker Street.
"Dad, it's here. How can it be here?"
I begin to pace around the room while dad stands still questioning himself.
"Well, maybe it was in the case when you brought it back and it feel out."
"Are you implying that me nor dad would notice that? Us of all people?" I question, "Anyway, we John texted the number and it rang back." Lestrade seems to not believe me. He says to his officers, "Alright, we're also looking for a phone somewhere." I think and pace.
Think! Who do we trust, even though we don't know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who Hunt in the middle of a crowd? Who would be the only person who would be at all of those places.
Oh! Oh! How could I have been so stupid? The phone is here but none of us has it. The taxi driver outside. The cabby. How clever, no one would suspect him. I hadn't been listening to anything else due to my concentration. When I snap out of my thoughts, I am about to tell dad what I knew, only to find he wasn't there.
"Where's dad?" I ask.
"He went to get some air."
"The taxi driver!" I suddenly realize. My dad was in the company of a murderer. I run out the door and down the stairs. I only narrowly miss him, the taxi speeds off as soon as I reach the door. I growl in frustration. All of the murders were in random places, he could be taking him anywhere.
I run up the stairs and walk towards John, "Try the search again, please."
Lestrade walk over to me, "What's going on Kate?"
"Think about this, all of the murders were random and at random places. The only think that links them is the drug and they're suicides. So the killer is killing at random. They were all taken from crowded places. What do most people get from a crowded place?" he still doesn't follow.
"A cab! The murderer is a taxi driver! He can look inconspicuous in a crowd. That's how he goes unnoticed. My dad just got in the killer taxi drivers car."
"So the taxi that hit you, it was the driver and not the passenger?"
"Yes!"
Lestrade interrupts us, "You got hit by a taxi? Is that what the blood on your forehead is?
"yes, that's not important. I need to find my dad. Where is he going? "
Sargent Donovan interrupts me, looking at her boss strangely.
"Are you really going to listen to a child? She is young and her imagination is probably getting the better of her. She is just as much a freak as her dad. She is wasting our time." She says. I stay silent.
"Ok everyone, we're done here," Lestrade declares and walks out, throwing an apologetic smile at me. Just before Donovan leaves I grab her by her arm and talk quietly but threateningly to her.
"I'm right here you know. I can hear what you're saying about me. I'm not deaf. But if you don't listen to me you will be inspecting another body. And if that happens, I will hold you responsible and you will regret the day you didn't listen to this child." I hiss at her. I let go of her arm and she hurries out of the house.
The laptop rings to tell us that the location has be found. Both me and John look at it.
"The Roland-Kerr further education college, a nice quiet spot for a murder." I observe while I grab my coat and John grabs his. I run down the stairs and hail a taxi. The ride to the college was filled with worry. I hope we can get to him in time. When we arrive, there are two dark buildings. We need to find him.
"We'll split up, I'll go in this building you go check this one. Okay?"
"No, he is a killer I'm not letting you walk into the wrath of a murderer on your own."
"Honestly John, I can look after myself, I'll be fine. But if we don't hurry, he will kill dad. I'll go in this one, okay?" I don't bother waiting for an answer. I run of into the dark school. I am met with room after room of emptiness. Finally, I see a beam of light coming from one of the classrooms. I peer through the glass on the door to see the back of a mans head and dad facing him. Dad sees me looking at him and he flicks his head making it look like he was flicking his hair out of his eyes, telling me to go away. I shake my head. I look on the table and see two bottles both with a tablet in.
The cab driver notices dad looking out of the door window, and turns around to see who it is. I duck and the cab driver fails to see me. I listen through the door.
"The two bottles, explain."
"There's a good bottle and a bad bottle. You take the pills from the good bottle you live, take the pill from the bad bottle you die."
"Both bottles are of course identical."
"In everyway."
"And you know which is which."
"Of course I know."
"But I don't."
"Well, it wouldn't be a game if you knew. You're the one who chooses."
"Why should I? I've got nothing to go on. What's in it for me?"
"I haven't told you the best bit yet. Whatever bottle you choose, I take the other one. And then together we take our medicine. I won't cheat, it's your choice. I'll take whatever pill you don't. Didn't expect that did you Mr. Holmes?"
I need to move fast. I run down the dark corridors and fumble for my phone. I call Lestrade on his mobile.
"Hello?"
"Lestrade, I need you to come now! We're at the Roland-Kerr further education college. The murderer is here." I hang up and run into the next building, looking for John.
When I find John, he is looking through the window at dad and the murderer.
"John! I called Lestrade and he's on his way. I found the room dad is in. There are two pills, one is the suicide pill and one is a placebo. He is making dad choose and he will take the one dad doesn't." I stop and pause for breath. I have known that John has a gun stuffed down his trousers for a long time.
"John, I think I had better remind you that you have a handgun on your person. Stay here, and I dad shows any signs of taking that pill I want you to shoot the murderer. He is my dad, I don't want to loose him," and with that, I run to the other building again. I run to the door and briefly see dad walk towards the door, saying, "I look forward to the court case." He gets to the door and I just about to turn the cold handle, when the murderer says, "before you go did you figure it out, which ones the good bottle?" I knew dad, he wouldn't be able to resist the right answer. He let go of the handle and stepped away from the door.
"Of course. Childs play." I wish he would walk away, like any other human being.
"Which one is it then?" he was playing a game, getting dad to play. "Just so I know if I could've beaten you. Dad walks over and picks up the bottle closest to the murderer.
"Oh! Shall we?" The murderer taunts as he unscrews the cap and lifts the pill up to his face. He taunts dad further, "What's the good of being clever if you cant prove it? Can you beat me?" I look through the window and see dad lifting the pill closer, and closer to his mouth. I hold my hand up to my mouth to stop my ragged breaths, but its no use. I can't help myself. I run through the door and shout, "NO!" They both turn to me alarmed. Then, a gunshot goes off. I let out a little yelp as the taxi drivers blood splatters on my face. I remember Johns gun and I realize that dad doesn't know it was him. I see him rush over to the window to see who it is. When he doesn't see anyone, he rushes back over to the injured taxi driver.
"Was I right? I was wasn't I? Did I get it right?" when he gets no reply, he throws the pill in frustration at the taxi drivers face.
"Okay, but tell me this. Your sponsor, who was it? The one who told you about me, my fan? I want a name."
The murderer let out a shaky "no."
"You're dying, but there's still time to hurt you. Give me a name," he says severely. The cab driver shakes his head feebly. Dad steps on his wounded shoulder. He lets out a painful cry.
"A name, now! The NAME!"
"MORIARTY!" he yelps before his body lies limp in a pool of his blood. Dad looks around and murmurs the name to himself before standing up straight and walking over to me.
"Are you alright?" he asks worriedly.
"Yeah, you?" I ask worriedly. We both worry about each other. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and walks us towards the exit.
We are met by a wall of policemen standing around behind a piece of police tape. Lestrade jogs over to us and immediately see the blood on my face, "oh my god, what happened?" he asks. While dad talks Lestrade through what happened, I went to see John.
"Thanks John." I quietly say.
"No problem," we smile at each other for a split second.
"Oh, by the way, dad doesn't know you shot him, so act innocent when he asks. He always falls for my innocence," I say before a police officer ushers me away to get the blood cleaned off my face. While I was in the ambulance, the paramedic looked at the cut on my head from when I got hit by the taxi. When I was done, I look and find dad sitting on the steps of the ambulance. A man comes and drapes an fluorescent orange blanket over his shoulders, when Lestrade comes over.
"Why have I got this blanket? They keep putting this blanket on me."
"Yes, its for shock" Lestrade says, but I think that's not the only reason.
"I'm not in shock"
"Yes, well, some of the guys want to take photographs." I roll my eyes. Typical.
"So the shooter, no sign?" dad enquires.
"No, cleared off before we got here. But a guy like that would've had enemies I suppose, one of them could've been following him. But, we've got nothing to go on." Few, John won't get suspected.
"I wouldn't say that." Crap. Lestrade rolls his eyes.
"Okay, gimme."
"The bullet they just dug out of the wall was a handgun. A kill shot over that distance with a weapon like that, that's a crack shot your looking for. But not just a marksman, but a fighter. His hands couldn't have shaken at all, so they're acclimatized to violence. He fired when I was in immediate danger, so strong moral principle. Your looking for a man probably with a history of military service…" he looks over to John, "and… nerves of steel…actually, you know what, ignore me."
"I'm sorry" a surprised Lestrade asks.
"Ignore all of that, its just the… the shock talking," and he begins to walk away.
"Where are you going?"
"I just need to talk about the… the rent" dad lies rather poorly.
"I've still got questions…" Lestrade tries before being cut off.
"Oh what now. I'm in shock, look I've got a blanket," he says as he waves the corner of the blanket in Lestrades face. Lestrade starts to protest, but dad interrupts him again.
"And I just caught you a serial killer…more or less."
Lestrade sighs, "Okay, I'll question you tomorrow, off you go." And dad walks over to John.
I smile apologetically to Lestrade before following, but Lestrade stops me.
"I apologize for not believing you, and I will get Sargent Donovan to write an apology to you."
Thanks," I smile and try to walk away, but I get stopped again.
"How did you know?" he asks.
"Well, the phone was in the house and I would definitely have noticed if it dropped out. I know you trust your police force and that none of them would have it. Earlier on this evening dad was figuring out who hunts in the middle of a crowd. The only person I could single out was the taxi driver." I say simply.
"OK, but I want you in for questioning tomorrow morning, okay?"
"I have school." I say flatly. I would rather be at Scotland Yard but it's my last year and I wouldn't want to miss anything. Even though I know it all anyway.
"Oh yeah, I'll pop round your house after school, ok?"
"Ok, see you then," and I walk towards dad and John. They begin to talk and I tucked my hands in my pockets and walked beside them. It was nice, listening to dad have a friend, for him to be happy for once. Then one of John's questions took me by surprise.
"You were going to take that pill weren't you?" I was eager to find out his answer.
"Of course I wasn't, I was biding my time. I knew you would turn up. I knew Kate would definitely turn up. she never misses anything, she's just a bit slower than me." He smirks
"I am right here you know," I smile, causing as all to laugh a bit.
"Shhh, we can't giggle, it's a crime scene!" John giggles and a hushed voice.
"You're the one who shot him," dad says before turning to Sargent Donovan, "Don't mind me."
"Its just nerves I think," John adds. We stroll down the street in silence and smile.
"Dinner?" dad asks us, breaking the silence. I suddenly realize how hungry I am. My loud stomach rumble sends the two men into fits of laughter.
"Did that answer your question?" I chuckle. "At the end of Baker Street there's a good Chinese, you can always tell a good Chinese by the bottom third of the door handle." Don't ask me how.
AS we walk away, Johns body tenses, "Sherlock, that's the man. The one I was telling you about earlier." Dads face drops the moment his eyes look upon him.
"I know exactly who that is." He murmurs as we walk towards the shiny sleek Mercedes, with uncle climbing out of it. That spoilt the look.
"Another case cracked, how public spirited. Although that is never your motivation, is it?" uncle calls to us.
"What are you doing here?" dad asks coldly, not making eye contact.
"As ever, I am concerned about you."
"Yes, I've been hearing about you concern." Uncle chuckles at him.
"Always so aggressive. Has it ever occurred to you that we belong on the same side?"
"Oddly enough, no." In my opinion, they are both as bad as each other.
"We have more in common than you like to believe. This petty feud between us is simply childish, people will suffer. I wouldn't want my dear niece to get hurt," he says whilst glancing in my direction "And you know how it always upset mummy."
"I upset her? Me? It wasn't me who upset her Mycroft!" I could tell dad was getting irritated now. At this point John still had no idea who he was.
"I'm sorry, what? Mummy? Who's mummy?" John was now utterly confused.
"Mother, our mother. John, this is my brother Mycroft."
"So, he's not…" he trails off.
"Not what?"
"I don't know… criminal mastermind?"
"Close enough," dad murmurs.
"for goodness sake, I occupy a minor position in the British government." He states in a rather matter-of-factly way.
"He is the British government when he is not being the British service or the CIA on a freelance basis." Dad informs John before turning back to uncle Mycroft, "Good evening Mycroft, try not to start a war, you know what it does to the traffic."
When I was younger, I made a note not to get involved with their arguments. I never actually had a proper convocation with Uncle Mycroft, but I see him often.
As we walk away John turns back to uncle Mycroft and asks "So when you say you're concerned about him, you really are concerned?"
"Yes, of course."
John nods and follows us.
Aw we walk to the high street, I link my arms into dads and I yawn. He watches at me and smiles.
"What?" I ask, with a curious smile on my face.
"I think when we get home, this little girl need to go to bed," he smiles mocking me. He knows I don't like it when he talks to me like I'm two, but we joke around.
"I'm not two you know?" I laugh and he shrugs, "And what about the Chinese. I can't sleep if I haven't eaten." My puppy dog eyes always work on him. He chuckles at me.
"Oh alright then," he smiles, and we walk back home.
Home.
That's sounds nice.