Kitty Riley had been expecting a request to meet with the newspaper's publisher.
She did not expect the publisher to have solicitors with him.
"Please sit down, Miss Riley."
After a morning of preening over her exclusive on Sherlock Holmes and her shared byline on his suicide, Kitty was not cowed as she sat at the long mahogany table. Her reporter's instincts took over, and she cataloged the gentlemen at the table. The publisher was wearing a suit that surely cost more than a month of her salary, his white hair coifed more carefully than the Queen's. Her editor was in his traditional button-down, but his tie was knotted appropriately for a change. Two solicitors, most likely lead and assistant due to slight difference in their ages, but both old enough to take point in their own right, Mont Blancs and laptops ready to go.
Putting on a show.
The afternoon light was bright enough that Kitty almost did not notice the other people present. On the couch by one of the windows that looked over the London skyline, one man and the only other woman in the room sat, seemingly just observing the proceedings.
Kitty decided to make the first move. She smiled winningly. "What can I do for you, gentlemen?"
Her editor responded. "Kitty, we're here this morning to make sure that we have all the facts on your Richard Brook piece."
"You may ask anything you like." Kitty was not intimidated. She had done nothing wrong.
The publisher chimed in next. "Miss Riley, our solicitors will be asking you a few questions."
"Before I answer, may I ask why you've brought in the legal team?"
The publisher and editor both shifted in their seats, then the editor said, "Because Sherlock Holmes killed himself, we want to make sure that there was nothing in your piece that can be construed as libelous."
The publisher added, "And his colleague, John Watson, may be looking for retribution, so we want to make sure we leave no stones unturned."
Kitty smirked. "I would think the suicide absolved me of blame and assured us of Holmes' guilt. As for Watson, I'm not so sure colleague is the correct term. They never incorporated as business partners, nor did they ever file for a civil partnership. Seems to me Watson was in on the fraud, and the lack of paperwork keeps his finances from being entailed." She settled comfortably into the leather chair, satisfied with her explanation of the facts. "I'll be after him next."
The older of the solicitors spoke up. "How did you come into contact with Richard Brook?"
She turned her head until she was meeting his gaze directly. "I was putting feelers out, wanting to do an exclusive on the Reichenbach Hero. I'd even asked Holmes himself if he would cooperate. He turned me down, quite rudely, but I kept asking around to see if anyone else wanted to give me an interview. A few months back, I received a phone call from Brook on my work mobile."
She observed that the assistant solicitor and the female on the couch were taking notes and resigned herself to parting with her phone records. She starting making a mental list of personal details that she'd need to disappear.
"How did you verify Brook's story?"
"He knew things about Holmes that were not part of public record, but that I managed to verify. I was able to determine that he did contact the police during the original Carl Powers investigation. Also that Holmes got his start as a so-called consulting detective at uni while investigating the death of a friend's father. I got in touch with this man, Trevor, and confirmed this as well as the nature of their friendship. Details like this, as well as the DVDs, headshots and articles about Brook as an actor, convinced me of Brook's story."
"When was the last time that you were in contact with Richard Brook?"
Kitty hesitated. She did not want to reveal that she had formed an unprofessional attachment to Brook. She also did not want to admit that Holmes and Watson had been in her home while evading police, afraid that she could be accused of harboring fugitives. So she gave the most truthful answer she could, without giving any specifics.
"I had my last contact with him the night before the story was published."
"The night before Holmes killed himself?" asked the lead solicitor.
"Yes."
"Have you attempted to contact him since?"
Taking a deep breath, Kitty replied, "Yes."
"With no success?"
"Yes."
"Do you have any idea where Richard Brook is now?"
"No." Kitty hoped that her discomfort did not show. She was worried about Richard, not only as her lover, but as her source for this and hopefully more exclusives.
"Are you absolutely sure that you have no idea where he could be?" pressed the solicitor, as her editor and publisher kept their eyes focused on her.
"Yes." Her breaths started to come more quickly and shallowly, annoying Kitty. Why were they so focused on finding Brook? She had not committed any misconduct, so why was everyone else at the table nervous?
"Gentlemen, allow me to assist you in your questioning." The man who had been sitting by the window rose and approached the table. His umbrella tapped along the floor with each confident stride. "If you'll just leave us, I'm sure I'll be able to coax more details from Miss Riley."