Hey you awesome people! Everyone seemed to really like the last chapter which is awesome so thank you! I'm sorry too that my update was later than usual. I'm afraid that might happen again but I'll try not to keep you waiting too long! My life has just gone pretty crazy in the space of a few days so time to get on my computer is a bit limited but here is an update to tie you over for a while! Hope you like it! :)
It hadn't taken long for Mary to realise the mistake she had made. Only a short moment after she had got into the cab with Dale had she noticed the on edge look in his eyes and the nervousness of his voice and posture. The man had been practically silent the whole day but as soon as they were driving away from St Bart's, he was producing more small talk than she had ever heard. She had seen enough people in her past and done enough herself to know when someone was building themselves up to doing something they didn't want to do.
And then the text message that she and John had read on Dale's phone twigged in her mind. John had been right to suspect, there was no way that even Sherlock could have possibly figured out who that text was from. It must have been a different text that he had read, one that lured him away from the building and away from John and Mary.
It must have been the baby brain that made her ignore all the signs, all the things that were pointing to Dale being in on the plot and now as she sat in the cab, all doors around her locked, she was mentally cursing herself for her stupidity. She was better than that.
"Where are we going?" Mary asked, her voice clear enough that Dale could hear it easily through the glass partition. She could see him look at her nervously through the mirror.
"Baker Street wasn't it?" He asked and Mary nodded slowly.
"Yeah but where are we actually going? Where is Moriarty getting you to take me?" She asked and the calm tone of her voice seemed to throw the driver as he began to stammer out a response.
"Erm. I don't... I don't know what -."
"Don't play dumb. I figured out that you're part of his group so now you don't have to surprise me or apologise for what you're about to do. Just tell me where we're going." She interrupted and he immediately moved his gaze away from hers and fixed it on the road ahead.
"I can't say." He mumbled and Mary sighed and sat back in her chair, trying to draw on everything that she had learnt from her time as an assassin, figuring out ways of getting out of the cab or ways of pulling Dale out of the driver's position. It wouldn't take too much effort or time really, but then she remembered: She was pregnant and to risk herself would be to risk her baby and she knew that she couldn't do that.
And that complicated things a little.
It had been too long for Molly's liking since Moriarty had been in the room. She had been alone, she assumed, for quite some time and it unnerved he as she tried to imagine what game he was playing and what danger he was planning for Sherlock in his absence.
She had also been in the house far too long now. The walls were starting to feel like they were closing in on her, the happy memories of her childhood suffocating her and occasionally bringing fresh tears that she had to choke down to keep herself calm. The clock on the fireplace ticked but time seemed to move at a slower pace to it's constant rhythm. Time didn't appear to be on Molly's side today.
She had spent a lot of time thinking, trying to keep her thoughts fixed away from her childhood but the downside to that was that it meant her mind wandered to other places that she would rather not think about. Frequently, she scolded herself for not being a better judge of character. Part of her could hardly believe that she was now the prisoner of a man that she had once trusted and liked, maybe even liked a little too much. Moriarty was right even if she tried to deny it, he had had her exactly where he needed her and if it hadn't had been for Sherlock's brutal deduction, that at the time made her hate him, she probably would never have broke it off.
Molly laughed to herself at the thought. Sherlock had inadvertently saved her from Moriarty even when he hadn't been trying and yet here she was, actually in real danger with no sign of him anywhere.
Molly sighed, beginning to feel hope fade from her slowly. Her only hope was Sherlock but he had no idea that this place existed because he never took the time to get to know her and in turn, Molly never opened up enough to anyone so that they could truly get to know her anyway. She just hoped that there was something that he had noticed, something only Sherlock could pick up on, that would lead him to her.
A noise outside the door snapped her away from her thoughts and made her turn abruptly, her long hair flicking round her shoulders as she faced her back to the window to look at the entrance to the room.
"Still here then?" Moriarty's voice asked loudly from the next room before he walked slowly through the door and became visible to Molly, his hands in his trouser pockets and his head down and facing the floor as he moved. "You are an obedient hostage you know. It's like keeping a frightened little hamster trapped in a cage that never tries to gnaw it's way out." He shrugged and turned so that he was walking towards her. "Some people, lazy people, might say that it makes it easy for me but I just find it tedious." He looked up at her and she felt herself shrink again, his eyes on hers, all warmth that she remembered from when he was merely 'Jim' replaced by a cold darkness. "I mean seriously, you've not even tried to escape or fight back or plea for your freedom. What is wrong with you? Why don't you make it entertaining and just DO SOMETHING!" He yelled as suddenly as he moved, his face so close to hers that it didn't take much for her to do what her instincts made her do. The sudden shout in her face had made her jump and almost as if following his order, she swiped her hand to it hit him across the face, snapping his head to his side with a crack. The silence that followed made the realisation of what Molly had just done all the worse for her and the hand that had hit him flew to her mouth in shock as she hardly dared to breathe, watching his expression carefully and her stomach knotting as she saw him smile and turn back to face her slowly.
"Well." He paused. "That's better. At a girl." He said, his voice as dangerous as his expression and Molly wished that the house would swallow her and take her away from his gaze but it seemed that the sound of a message on his phone would be the lifeline given to her. He looked mildly irritated for a moment before groaning and stepping back away from her, pulling out his phone and looking at it as if it had just offended him.
"Really? Why does that always happen when it's just getting good?" He sighed and flicked his finger over the phone, his eyes scanning it before a small smile touched at the side of his lips. He looked up at Molly again and put the phone in his pocket before stepping back towards her. "I hope you enjoyed your blast from the past little Molly Hooper, because it's time for you to pack up and go."
The smell of coffee filled Greg's senses, making him inhale deeply to get as much of it as he could. He held his mug in his hand, wishing that it could make him feel both less tired and also magically make him have a super power that could help him find people. It had been about twenty minutes since Sherlock left and Greg had done the best he could, managing to find enough people who were willing to help him at such short notice. Norman had managed to search through Molly's records and found a name for her Mother. It was the start that they had needed but it was only a start and something was telling him that time was running out.
The phone on the desk rang and Lestrade walked over to it and placed his coffee down next to it before picking up the phone, his voice sounding more tired than he even thought he was when he answered it.
"Detective Inspector Lestrade."
"We found her Sir. It took some persuading and begging, especially considering how late it is but we found Diane Hooper. She currently lives in Aquitaine in France." A woman's voice said at the end of the phone who Lestrade recognised as one of the many members of staff he had woken up or disturbed that night.
"In France?!" Greg exclaimed, running his hand through his hair. "Well that's useful." He mumbled sarcastically. "Do we have her number?"
"We do. I'm emailing it over to you now." She replied and Greg sighed in relief.
"Well that's something. Thank you. I owe you big time." He said before putting the phone down and walking to his computer, clicking on his emails and opening the one he just received and the number he needed flashed on the screen. Without hesitation, he reached for his phone and dialled it, each ring that he heard making him more and more nervous that she wouldn't pick up and that they would be back to square one but soon enough, he heard a silence followed by the sound of a woman's voice that sounded just as timid as Molly's.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is that Diane Hooper?" Lestrade asked, clearing his throat beforehand and suddenly feeling a little nervous that he was speaking to Molly's mother. He hadn't figured out what he was going to say to her. Would he tell her that her daughter was in trouble or would that just distress her pointlessly? Especially considering that she was so far away.
"Speaking." She replied.
"My name is Detective Inspector Lestrade." He began before remembering that he was talking to her from a different country. "I work in Scotland Yard in London." He added a little uncertainly.
"Detective Lestrade?" She said his name as a question as if she recognised it. "Is this about Molly? She mentions you sometimes."
"Does she?" He asked before clearing his throat again. "Well, that's nice to know. But erm, yes I am, I am ringing about her."
"What can I help you with Detective? Is she alright?" She asked, beginning to sound a little worried and although Lestrade wanted to spare her any unnecessary panic, he knew that the quickest way to find out what he wanted was to tell her the truth.
"I wish I could say otherwise but I'm afraid not. I'm sorry to say that she is missing, Mrs Hooper." He replied and silence met him on the other end of the phone, prompting him to continue. "We have reason to believe that the man known as Jim Moriarty has her in your past home and I was hoping that you could give us the address so that we could find her. I am terribly sorry that I couldn't break this news to you in a more delicate way Mrs Hooper but right now, we need to find your daughter as quickly as possible." He held his breath, hoping that she wouldn't break down and that he wouldn't have to deal with a crying Mother when he needed to be searching for Molly.
"Jim Moriarty is that man from the television isn't he? The one that supposedly died a few years ago. What does he want with Molly?" She asked, her voice surprisingly calm but Lestrade heard a slight tremble in it that told him he had to tread carefully.
"We aren't sure Mrs Hooper." He lied a little, hoping to spare explanations and time. "But Molly's friend Sherlock Holmes thinks that she is in your old family home. She may have mentioned Sherlock to you and if she has then you know why we need that address. He is rarely ever wrong." He waited again as another silence met him but soon enough, she replied, the tremble in her voice worse and he knew that she was crying.
"Of course, of course." She mumbled before clearing her throat and letting out a sigh. "26 Ravenstone Street, Balham. That's the address. That's our old home."
"Thank you Mrs Hooper." He replied gratefully, eager to tell Sherlock straight away and to finally get Molly away from Moriarty but before he could begin his farewell, Diane spoke again.
"Please find her Detective. Even if I don't see her as much as I like, she is all I have and I can't lose her too." She said and Lestrade could hear her sorrow in her tone.
"I will try my very best Mrs Hooper. She means a lot to me and to everyone else who is desperately trying to look for her. We won't rest until we find her." He replied and the phone clicked as Diane ended the call. Without wasting another moment, Lestrade pulled out his phone and rang Sherlock and it didn't take long for him to answer.
"What have you got?"
"Well, we found Mrs Hooper and I have Molly's address. 26 Ravenstone Street in Balham." He said quickly, already using his spare hand to grab his coat off the back of the chair he was stood near.
"Brilliant! Meet me there and send a team over to 6 Bradburn Street. John will be there to meet you. That's where he's keeping Mary." Sherlock replied and Greg frowned as he heard the beep of the call ending in his ear, registering that now they had two people to worry about and not just one. Greg shook his head in disbelief before walking out into the main room where now only Norman stood as everyone else, as few of them as they were, seemed to have left.
"Where is everyone? I need a team to go to an address to get Mary." Lestrade said, annoyed and Norman shrugged.
"They all went home. Thought they were done for the day."
"I never said that." Greg sighed before shrugging the rest of his coat on. "Never mind, I'll get Donovan to go for Mary, we have to go and get Molly. I've got the address from her Mother." He said and walked to the door but stopped before he pushed it open as he realised that Norman was not following him. "Come on then." He pressed but Norman didn't move and the look on his face made Greg suddenly feel dread wash over him.
"I'm afraid we're not going anywhere Sir." Norman said coldly before he moved his hand that he had behind his back so that Lestrade could see it. His eyes widened and he sighed in exasperation at how blind he had been as he saw that Norman was now pointing a gun straight at him.
Kay, so put your hands up if you suspected Norman too! :P And Molly slapping Moriarty... completely not in the same way she slapped Sherlock, not as bad ass, but still! What do you think? Let me know! :)
