Chapter Six; Motives for Murder
It took them all but a couple of hours to move all of Maria's things from her apartment to Baker's street. After returning, Maria retreated to her room to change clothes, she swapped her jeans for trackies, and to unpack her things and sort them out and also sign paperwork for Mrs Hudson. It was tedious but had to be done.
Sherlock however stood tall in the living room, playing his violin and thinking over the case, trying to follow the man to his untimely death, playing fast then slow, and high then low. It was hard for Maria to think with the noise, but she let him be, knowing that he was better undisturbed on a case. Besides she had a blog to write on and lots of paperwork to do.
She sat on the bed, her bung leg out straight the other folded back to lay her laptop on as she sat and typed out the events of last night and this morning. She found that, she had a lot more to type than she'd originally thought and without meaning to, she put so much of her thoughts and emotions into it. Of course, she decided to change a few things, like bleep out some important names and places here and there. But then again, she doubted that anyone would read her blog.
She smiled to herself as the sad tune Sherlock was playing echoed down the hall and into her room. She paused her writing for a moment just to listen before she continued typing. In some ways, this did make her feel slightly better, like writing down her emotions helped her to vent them. Not only that, she wouldn't go to Sherlock with them, he had a case on his mind and enough to deal with already.
That brought her mind back to the case and the vision of the man spread-eagled on the floor. And all that blood. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She had agreed to help and now she was a part of this case. She wasn't about to let Sherlock go running after some criminal on his own now she was back. But there was always the problem of her leg; but she came to the decision she would still continue to work-out, just to stay fit and to be able to keep up with Holmes.
Holmes. Speaking of him, the violin had stopped without her noticing. She snapped her laptop shut before placing it down and walking out into the living room.
"Sherlock?" She asked stepping out to him in lying on the couch silently, his hands held like as if he was in prayer. But Sherlock didn't pray, he didn't believe in God, he didn't even know the Earth revolved around the Sun, a fact she'd discovered to her horror in their younger days. He seemed to ignore her at first but then finally spoke.
"Repeat to me your finding off the man yesterday, I need to review the information." He said sitting up and looking at her expectantly. Maria blinked before repeating everything she could remember from yesterday.
"What about the paint samples? Have you tested them yet?"
"I did that just before. Found about thirty plus places in London that sell it, it'll be no use to us…" He said. "Though, it was a good thought on your part." He added and Maria nodded.
"They done a background check on the man yet?"
"No, not yet. The Yard is very slow." He said and Maria sighed.
"We're going to run Lestrade ragged working together again, we're already five steps ahead of the yard," Maria said with a small sense of realisation and a laugh. Sherlock blinked then joined her.
"That man is in for a ride. Remember all the cases we solved together back in High-school?" He asked looking at her.
"Oh the memories," She said with a chuckle. "But back to the case. Motive?"
"Could be a number of things, for fun is the main one. I sense that this is a serial killer though,"
"Because the body was in plain sight."
"Right. So we can decide the fact that they wanted some attention to be drawn to themselves. The painting as well as the body. Why leave the painting? Why paint the scene of the murder?" Sherlock asked as he stood up and paced slightly.
"Attention from the media maybe?" Maria suggested.
"The media hasn't caught news of this yet and Lestrade won't let them. It'll be a quiet removal as the gallery is funded through tax payer's dollars and they'll be a riot if they…"
"Find out a murder was committed there."
"Precisely. Now, we can safely assume that this is a serial killer who wants attention drawn to his paintings, which are precise as to how the murder happened." Sherlock stopped pacing for a moment.
"That's another thing; they would have to know what their victim looked like to be able to paint them."
"So they wouldn't just pick someone random, there would have to be a connection, there always is…I need to think, need more evidence…"
Maria nodded slowly, standing at the doorway, leaning against the frame, arms crossed. Sherlock glanced at her; she still had that military air about her standing around in trackies and a sleeveless shirt. He noticed she no longer had the thin and delicate frame she'd had once before, her arms were much more muscular, while still appearing quite feminine. Her eyes had changed as well, once she had been innocent and wide-eyed, she now saw the world for what it truly was, and she was guarded.
Then there were the dog-tags she still sported around her neck; were they a reminder of what she had gained or lost? There was only so much he could read about her and her eyes and her expression were giving away nothing, like usual. She had changed and so had he but yet, she still trusted him and guarded him, just like she had before.
"Sherlock you're staring…" Maria said, breaking through his thoughts. He blinked and quickly turned his head away. He had a case to solve, but at the same time there was Maria. He turned back to her but she had already wandered off back to her room. He shook his head then drew his vast mind back to the case. Maria sat back down on her bed and looked down at her dog tags for a moment she then sighed and picked up her laptop again and began typing.
It was a few hours before Holmes called her out of her room again. She found him in the living room pulling on his coat and scarf.
"We have business down at the morgue, then we're going to return to the crime scene, and then, I believe some dinner would be appropriate," He said sporting a tone that said, 'I know something you don't and I'm going to get away with it'. Maria frowned and raised an eyebrow before he threw her coat to her which she caught.
"You also may want to put another shirt on, it's quite chilly today," He suggested and Maria looked down at herself before agreeing with him and going to put on a long-sleeved shirt before her coat. She came back out to find him bouncing on his heels with a small sly smile on his face. She wondered what was going on in his mind; his eyes were giving nothing away.
"Tell me where we're going to dinner."
"You'll see."
