Chapter 13: I Welcome Death
Mrs Hudson's house was in full-scale panic; Holmes had gone straight to his room. Holmes had spent hours combing the opera house for any indication of where Nancy had been taken; he knew it was this mad man, but he needed to know who this mad man was. He paced backwards and forwards; his mind refusing to work properly all he could think about was Nancy. Watson and Mary were downstairs, poor Mary had been questioned again and again by Lestrade, Holmes knew she wouldn't be able to help, Mary was unconscious before she could even register the situation how was she supposed to identify a masked man who attacked her from behind. Holmes' pacing continued and his anger grew until he couldn't stand it he picked up a gun and fired shots at the wall, but it didn't ease his torment, he couldn't stay in this room, he grabbed his coat and slammed the door behind him, Mary and Watson were by the door about to leave, Watson spoke first;
' You're going out again? You don't even have a lead as to where she might be?'
' Then I shall find a…' he stopped mid sentence, he stared at the neckline of Mary's dress, her gaze dropped to wear he was staring, as did Watson's, on the neckline of Mary's pale blue dress was a deep red stain, no one had seen it until now because her hair was covering it, Holmes reached out and rubbed the material between his fingers, he smelt the substance first, stared at it a moment longer before tasting it, Mary recoiled,
' Holmes, you don't know what that is'
' Good thing there is a highly prestigious doctor here then' Holmes said a smile creeped onto his face,
' Where are we going then?' Watson said, in full knowledge that Holmes had just found his lead.
Nancy stirred, her head was pounding as she tried to adjust her eyes to her new surroundings, she realised she was lying down on a bed, she tried to move her arm and realised it was chained to the bed frame. The realisation of her situation hit her as it all flooded back, the opera, Mary, the masked man, her head began to pound as she sat up as best she could, she looked around the room, it was dark and the air was filled with a strange smell, it was a damp, musky smell mingled with smoke and something else that she couldn't work out, but it smelt awful, Nancy felt as though she would vomit if she breathed anymore of it in. she listened for any sounds, but the only noise she could hear was water dripping, explaining the damp, then she heard them, rapidly approaching footsteps coming from somewhere, she took a deep breath, there was no use in her panicking, what could she do she was handcuffed and still feeling weak. Nancy waited as she heard the footsteps halt, she heard the sound of clinking metal and the sound of a key turning in a lock, the noises were coming from behind her, she turned to see a door opening, and the man walked in. He wasn't wearing his hat or scarf, instead he showed his face to her, she remembered every inch of his face, though most of it was covered in a scar. She continued to watch him, without the masking clothing or her childhood fear pumping through her veins this man didn't seem threatening anymore, in fact he looked completely the opposite, he seemed weary as he rubbed his face and he had more of a lithe build to him. He looked at her, he was playing with something in his hand, Nancy's eyes flashed quickly to his hand, he had a knife, so he was going to kill her, probably in a prolonged, torturous way. He stood next to Nancy and cut swiftly through the strap of her dress, he carefully peeled the strap down, just enough to see the scar he had inflicted years ago, he gently ran a finger of the scar then pulled his hand away as though her very flesh burned him. She watched as he slumped down next to her, and she heard him murmur something incoherent;
' What did you say?' Nancy said, surprised at how hoarse her own voice sounded,
' I said no more' he finally spoke,
' No more what?'
' I won't do this anymore, I won't hurt anyone else for him'
' For him? For who?' he had moved and was searching his pocket, he pulled out a small key and unlocked the cuff that was restraining Nancy to the bed frame,
' You have to go'
' Tell me who's making you do this?'
' I can't but please, you have to know, I didn't hurt your family, and I didn't want to hurt you that night, he made me, he threatened my family and I couldn't lose them'
' I don't want you to lose them, just tell me who he is?' he let out a dark, cold laugh at that,
' I already have lost them, he killed them before he came for you and your family, he cares for no one, he's deceitful and immoral, and if you don't believe me and you want more proof of what he's capable of, take a long look at my face, cos' he'll do worse to you if he ever gets his hands on you'
' He did that to you?' he nodded, a pained expression on his face,
' He takes great pleasure in hurting others, but he gets more pleasure seeing the torment he's inflicted reflected in others' eyes'
' Why me? Why my family? I don't understand any of this'
' I don't know any of the answers you want, I'm sorry…I truly am for everything I've done to you, but let me redeem myself slightly in your eyes and get out while you can' Nancy stared at the man who had haunted her dreams, his eyes held years of pain and guilt as he pleaded with her to leave,
' What will happen after I go?'
' He'll find out I had you and I let you go and then…' Nancy watched him drag a finger across his throat; she finally let tears slip from her eyes,
' Don't waste tears on me, I've done awful things, I'll be getting what's coming to me'
' But – '
' No buts, believe me I welcome death, anything's better than this' Nancy didn't know what to say, she stared at him, before he quietly whispered;
' Go'.