A/N Well, here is Chapter 10. I hope you enjoy reading it as
much as I did putting it together.
The Warning, Chapter the Tenth.
The mausoleum was a small one, but very well kept up.
As soon as you walked in, there were three steps down. The
mausoleum itself was made of marble. It was well-lit, and there was an empty coffin upon a catafalque just a few paces
later.
"That is Grandmama's coffin! But where is Grandmama?"
Miss Rossburn began to sob quietly.
A thorough search was made, but the missing corpse was not found. Lestrade thought that the corpse may never be found, but wisely opted to keep this thought to himself.
Holmes was looking at something by the coffin. "Lestrade, would you come here, please?" The little man did as he was bidden.
"Inspector, do you see all the flowers around here? I can easily count twenty vases of them. Perhaps we can trace these miscreants by finding out where they were purchased."
The blooms were searched for the accompanying card, but
no card was to be found.
"Apparently the people that we seek pay attention to detail," Holmes offered. "Well, I believe we have seen everything that there is to see here. Thank you for your cooperation, madam."
"You will look for Grandmama, will you not?"
"Of course we will,"Lestrade assured the distraught
woman. "Some men are to come out here with me later, and we will look more extensively, and let you know how we fare."
"Oh, thank you, thank you. This means the world to me. I just adored her before she died, and to think that....." She dissolved into more quiet tears.
Looking back as the growler departed, they saw her alternately crying into and waving her white handkerchief.
"Well, Holmes, what do you make of all this?"
"This promises to be an interesting investigation, Inspector."
"Oh, how is the doctor doing? Do you think he is up to giving me a statement yet?"
"Definitely. No matter what, he feels very strongly about the capture and punishment for this particular criminal. I think that he would happily do anything you need, if it would help."
"I don't blame him. I heard it was a particularly bloody assault. I want whoever did that behind bars, the sooner, the better."
"We are after the same people who perpetrated this horror."
"WHAT? " squeaked the smaller man.
"Yes. Watson was able to tell me that the man limped, and that his shoe was built up. Also, the cuts on his back were actually letters. Someone cut a warning telling us to stay away from this case into his back."
Lestrade's face was bloodless. "Oh, my good Lord," he said in hushed tones. What sort of a ghoul are we after, do you think?"
"We are after a right-handed man with a club foot. He is accompanied by two others. One of them is more well-to-do,
but it is the third one that interests me. By all the signs, it is a young woman.
Lestrade was shocked. "A woman—involved in such a ghoulish business as this—Holmes, are you sure?"
"Men do not usually wear high heels, Lestrade. And the fact that she accompanied these two men to such an outre crime scene tells us two things. One, that she is probably the brains in this, and two, that she does not trust them too far."
"Holmes, this is fantastical. I'd have thought that it might be something the Professor dreamed up, but he really is not in a position to do this, is he?"
"No, he is not, but this case sounds like something the late
Mr. Moriarty would have done. If he could..... Well, we seem to be back to our starting point, Lestrade."
They got out and hastened up the familiar seventeen steps to the sitting room.
Seeing Watson in his chair was a sight for sore eyes to both men, who worried about him more than they would admit to.
Before anyone had time to sit down, there was a tap at the door. Lestrade, who was closest, opened it and Mrs. Hudson came in bearing a lunch tray for three. There was a tureen of soup, steak and kidney pie, a roly-poly pudding, and a pot of tea.
"Mrs. Hudson, you are truly an angel among us," said Watson, looking at the tray intently.
"And you are a silver-tongued devil, Doctor", she said , smiling. "Thank you."
Serious talk was left until after the meal was over. The men gathered around the table and rendered ruthless and swift justice to the food before them.
After a pipe, when the dishes had been cleared and Mrs. Hudson had taken them down to the kitchen, Holmes filled Watson in on the very eventful day he and Lestrade had had.
After a moment, Lestrade spoke up. "Doctor, do you feel up to giving me a statement?"
"Of course. I've been hoping you had the time to take one today." He recounted for the little man just what had happened. Knowing that he would never ask, but still be burning with curiosity all the same, Watson took a deep breath, unfastened his shirt, and took it off. Then he leaned forward and motioned for Lestrade to stand behind his chair. "I don't know if you can still read it. It has been itching a lot lately, so something is going on back there. If you can't read it, Holmes can tell you what it said. Right, Holmes?"
"Oh, yes, old man." He leaned forward, looking intently at the doctor's back. "This spot here between your shoulders is very red, and it looks very painful."
"Oh, yes. It feels like there is a red-hot poker back there. I will mention it to Dr. Palmer when he comes today, but I am afraid that he will say that it is infected."
A/N- Well, that is chapter 10. As soon as I get five more reviews to inspire me, I'll send chapter 11 to Cat to be looked over. I hope that you had as much enjoyment reading this as I had putting it together. A bit of inspiration for this came from Eyebrows2. All of you who reviewed { and you know who you are }, thank you for your support.