Chapter 12: The Red-Headed Janitor~
Moriarty smiled, and licked his lips, practically purring with laughter, as Sherlock waved the letter impatiently in the air.
"Oh, you really don't know? Well, ok, Sherlock, you're the genius, not me. Tell me, what you've deduced so far. Why you left your bike 3 miles from the jewelry store ,when you went to investigate the Curious Case of the Pilfered Onyx?"
John swallowed. So, that bit about walking, really hadn't been a Holmesian bluff to put off telling about his new bike,and make it a suprise, or to keep John from chiding him about not wearing his helmet and ,thus, getting snow in his hair. He really had been walking ,just as he had said.
Sherlock clearly was not amused. His lips formed the steel line they only did when he was dealing with Jim Moriarty. Maybe ,in real life, people might not have arch nemesises, but Sherlock's life hadn't been "real".So far it had been a nightmare.
"I had suspected for some time that our adopted-brother Lindor was not who we were supposed to believe he was. When I got the call, from Gavin-"
"Greg...My -my name's Greg.." the policeman corrected in a soft, breathless mutter.
"Oh, sorry. You know who, -when I was called in for the case I solved yesterday, I had ,actually,already solved it before I got there. I have ,admittedly, been more wary of all suspects since the days of my Hiatus. I had him give me detailed descriptions of everyone present on records ,the same evening as the crime. The description of the janitor stuck out to me. The bright red hair in the long braid, black nail polish, and indicative "red swan" tattoo ,under the left eye?. And the ring with the missing jewel, I had him describe it to me in detail ,as well. Golden band,stone missing was onyx, so naturally the police assume the black smudges on the band were dust from the damaged stone. But I had reason to believe it was the janitor- he would have been the only one present for long enough to weedle the stone free with just his fingers, which were painted black, without having to flee the scene in haste,and thus somehow damaging the stone. The case, was extremely simple ,therefore; there was no damage even to the jewel-case, and none of the other rings were compromised. But, of course, the janitor would know where the keys to the case were,and as -so the D.I. told me-, there were no scratch marks around the locks, I could assume they had not been picked. Something criminals never learn is-don't commit a crime if you have such a conspcious description! This-OBVIOUS!-criminal, also matched the description of my surrogate older brother, the murderer, who's execution was supposedly botched,and when he didn't die from it, they sent him away ,to make it seem as though he had. Which is why we never talk about it..."
He waved a dismissive hand at the tall, long red-haired, drunkard man in question,standing with the Moriarty's.
"So, when they arrested him,and I got to make my own conclusions visually, I determined that ,yes, this was Lindor, not only out in plain sight, but comitting a crime with the intention of getting caught. And why?Two reasons, he wasn't going to steal the ring he tampered with, which is why it was in the case. He was going to implant it with a lethal injection needle, to stick the policeman that touched it, and so make him suffer the same botched execution he had experienced, and survived, wrong dosage or some such. Has to matter..."
"Which is why you were so adamant I not touch the ring until you got there..."Greg whispered.
"Yes, I intended to remove such a needle as there probably was, if it was who I thought it was, and if it was the sort of crime the evidence was leading me to believe it would be...Being so chemically desensitized, I figured it would have a lesser effect on me,if I was stuck while trying to remove it, which it did- the needle is currently enbedded in my right index finger."
John flinched ,visibly, and Mary looked at him in concern. But Sherlock continued, "The other reason, was to declare his return ,in a way that would be obvious only to me. And why would he need to return? To bring about some sort of vengeance, apparently. Upon whom ,exactly? Began to look as though it were me? I had nothing to do with his conviction/ execution, the crime had been very cut-and-dry, some disagreement there had been between himself, and another man that worked for his employer, whom he, therefore, shot in the head...So, why come to get vengeance on me, unless he was the tool of someone else's vendetta? Someone who has ALWAYS had a vendetta against me...for whatever reason, why do you do anything you do? So the conclusion I had come to was that you were back. How or why wasn't so important, as making sure my family, abusive as they have been, weren't compromised. Because, horrible as they were, they were MI6 agents, and if they were compromised, MI6 was compromised, and Mycroft too was probably compromised, and so also were the Watsons. So, under the guise of Christmas shopping, I came to see what kind of rigging you had lined our house with. And come to find my "parents"weren't who they appeared to be either..."
Jim giggled,"Oh, honey! It gets ALOT better than that!"