The second time that Sherlock met Death was on purpose.

The cat wriggled spiritedly in the young boys arms.

Half an hour ago, the ginger tom was wandering down the aisle in the passageway with a melancholic air when Sherlock abducted it. Several scratches later, the boy was brooding on the rashness of his decision. Soft murmurs from the bedroom down the hall indicated that the priest was still listening to the final confession of his ailing parishioner, Liam O Brian (84), head gardener of the Holmes Estate. His relatives were milling around the modest cottage, some whispering amongst themselves and others just staring into space. The same dreary, everyday sounds of a busy household now made a little quieter with the presence of the unwanted yet expected Visitor.

No one knew that they had another unwanted and unexpected visitor hiding in the spare closet.

The ginger tom suddenly ceased cleaning himself and began to purr loudly.

Everyone knows that animals can sense the supernatural. As Sherlock powered up his paranormal detection monitor, a wave of delicious excitement flooded his veins from the lethargy of the long wait. The AC magnetic field LED screen entirely failed to light up while the cat still purred loudly. A modicum of doubt infested the boys mind for the first time since he began this ambitious enterprise. The future boded ill with repeat lectures on Inappropriate Social Behaviour and Breaking and Entering slipping in cat napping for good measure. What a waste of a perfectly good afternoon,he thought sighing with disappointment.

A second, deeper sigh joined him a moment later.

WELL THIS IS AWKWARD

Sherlock jumped, twisting around in the dark like an adagio dancer and incidentally knocking over a bucket and mop to the floor making the cat yowl in terror.

HELLO AGAIN

"- !"

Which was not what Sherlock meant to say, but he had been caught by surprise. He felt a little light headed as he watched the cat curl its way around the bony ankles hidden by opaque dark robes. A bony hand dug into a hidden pocket and produced kitty kibble.

THERE'S A SATISFACTORY FELINE NO..NO ONLY ONE TREAT PER KITTY. IT IS THE RULE.

"You don t register on the magnetic field"

OH NO

"-and yet the cat picked up on your presence. Ah ha...you carry an expensive brand of cat food which rules out hallucination and addresses the fact that you are the caretaker of at least six individual breeds of cats not the pedigree variety, definitely mange on two of them judging by the scanty hairs on the ankles and the smear of lime sulphur-"

Death snapped his fingers. Sherlock tried speaking again and found he has lost his voice.

THAT IS BETTER. NOW CHILD ATTEND! YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST TO TRY AND LURE ME HERE FOR YOUR OWN PURPOSES THOUGH I COMMEND YOU ON THE ORIGINALITY OF THE METHOD. HUMANS TEND TO USE DRIBBLY CANDLES AND OUIJA BOARDS AND OTHER USELESS FLIPPERY.

He paused before adding with as much dignity as the sentence itself deserved. AND I HAPPEN TO LIKE CATS

Sherlock rolled his eyes and found he could speak again.

"Is that why cats can see you? dull."

SO SORRY FOR NOT MEETING YOUR HIGH STANDARDS OF ALTERNATIVE DIVERSION

"And you're still not scary. I don't understand the fuss everyone makes about you."

Death gazed at him levelly as Sherlock stared back. The standoff was evenly matched.

NO YOU WOULDN'T. NOT YET.

"What does that mean?"

AT WHAT POINT DOES THE SUPPLY OF OXYGEN IN AN ENCLOSED SPACE FAIL TO SUSTAIN THE HUMAN MALE?

"Well, it depends on - oh!"

When Sherlock came around, he was supported by strong arms and hysterical female voices in the background moaning about catnapping and cruel and shameless children of all things. Wasn't there a dead man in this house?

"What was the time?" he asked tonelessly, dispensing with the social niceties and giving in to blatant curiosity.

"Tis past 4:30"

"No, no" he said irritably. "Your father. What was the time of his death?"

This earned him a curious look from Samuel O Brian, (Liam O Brian s eldest of five builder by trade father of three and chain smoker by age eighteen). The hairs on Sherlock s neck stood as he sensed a presence walk out of the corner of his eye. He could have sworn he saw the blue spark wink.

"Lad, my father's fine never felt better he says. As fer you. Well, its no been a picnic being holed up in a closet with a deid cat now hasn 't it?"