"Molly?" Sam questioned again.
"Yes, Molly Hooper, small gal, long brown hair, large brown eyes, small mouth, slightly clever, but then I compare everyone to my own infinite cleverness."
"You mean Aspen?"
"No, I mean Molly."
"It sounds like Aspen."
"Aspen is not as clever as Molly, and she has a different nose, oh yes, Molly's nose, quite straight while Aspen has a bit of an upturn."
"Never mind, I do not know any Molly, and why do you need to know, and what does this have to do with me?"
"I have not quite figured that out yet, I am only following the lead. The clues led me to this God forsaken part of the world. There is a cabin, of which you have been fortunate enough to inherit. You are not altogether sure why you have inherited this domicile, but you needed to move on and there it was, almost fate would you say. What I do know is that this cabin has, shall we say, vast stores of chemical weapons underground. You have just begun remodeling, so you have not imagined anything nefarious in your midst, but it would only have been a matter of time before you found the passageways. The person responsible for said weapons has taken Molly and your cabin is a likely place to hide her away. My brother has exhausted all possible places in the United Kingdom and the Middle East, so that brings us to your mountainous region of North Idaho. Selkirks and Purcells all very lovely, but I imagine cell phone coverage is lacking."
Sam looked on in disbelief as Sherlock spouted one sentence after another without seeming to breathe. "My cabin?" was all he could retort.
"Yes, your cabin, but why you? You have no ties to crime syndicates and have led a fairly boring life with two relationships that ended badly and no family to speak of, parents dead and only that one uncle who left you a cabin in the middle of nowhere. He could somehow be the connection, but I have not discovered it yet. He was a bit of a survivalist and was most likely the builder of the underground passageways, but the arrival of the weapons was sometime between his death and your arrival. The accident, Aspen, you, Molly...it all has to tie together somehow."
The throbbing began anew in Sam's temples. He closed his eyes and groaned. Sherlock seemed unaware or did not care about Sam's pain and continued to pace in the room and mumble to himself. "I need to talk to Aspen, but she has been a tad bit loopy of late and my appearance will only send her into fits again. You need to speak to her and find out as much as you can about the last month. She may be the missing connection."
Sam only nodded. He was not intending to interrogate Aspen, but he had to do something to get this mad man out of his room.
"Very well then, I will return tomorrow. Say, do you have a key for the cabin? Never mind, I imagine entrance will be easy enough. Remember, talk to Aspen." He exited as quietly as he had entered and left Sam wondering what in the hell was going on.
Author's note: Yes, a very short chapter but these mere 550 words took a while to write, and I am a bit spent. Dialogue is not my forte, but I do try. Sorry for the lack of a Sherlock/Molly scene, but I will try to make up for it next weekend. Yes, next weekend. I am back to work tomorrow and probably won't have time/energy to write in the evening after teaching children all day. Thank you for continuing on this journey with me. Let me know what you think/like/want more of... Happy President's Day!