Chapter 5: Deductions
John had been Sherlock's roommate for about two months now, and he had started to consider the man as his friend. And as his friend, John had some concerns. First of all, who was Emily Smith? And why was Sherlock hiding her?
John had several pieces of evidence to support the theory. First of all, when they were working the Study in Pink case. He and Sherlock went to a restaurant, where a man named Angelo waited on them. When they had come in Angelo had thought they were a couple. John was too preoccupied explaining that they were not a couple to realize that Angelo had actually said, "Only the best for you and your date," he had paused then continued, "I see you have a type."
Then, when John had asked, "You don't have a girlfriend then?"
And Sherlock replied, "Girlfriend?" He had paused, "No, not really my area."
The pause was what was important, did it mean that he had had someone in mind, but didn't consider her his girlfriend?
Also, when Sherlock thought John was hitting on him, it seemed to make him uncomfortable, suggesting that there was someone else.
Moving on to John's second piece of evidence, obtained during the Blind Banker case. Sebastian Wilkes, an old acquaintance of SHerlock's mentioned someone.
"Sherlock Holmes," He had greeted.
"Sebastian," Sherlock replied.
"Hey, buddy, how long has it been, eight years since I last clapped eyes on you?" Sebastian said. He glanced at John with confusion, "Say, what happened to that woman you were always hanging around with? Emily Smith was it?"
Sherlock didn't even respond to that comment, and instead changed the subject, "This is my friend John Watson."
Sebastian then seemed too taken with teasing Sherlock to go back to the matter of Emily Smith, but after the case was over, John wondered.
John was sitting across from Sherlock in his chair while he was thinking about this. Something Sherlock was watching with amusement. When John looked up and saw the smirk on Sherlock's face, he asked, "What?"
"You're deducing me, aren't you?" Sherlock asked with mild amusement.
"I'm- no, I'm not-"
"Well go on then, what have you got?" Sherlock asked.
John narrowed his eyes slightly, he knew that Sherlock was hiding this information for a reason, but his curiosity got the better of him.
"Who is Emily Smith?" He asked.
Sherlock stood quickly and grabbed his violin. He started to rapidly play something, but it sounded terrible. Because his hands were shaking. He stopped, put down the violin and turned to John.
"Don't ever mention that name again," He said seriously. He then grabbed his coat and left the flat.
John stood there in shock, whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't... that. That was a violent and, dare he say, emotional reaction.
When Sherlock returned several hours later, he acted as if nothing had happened, so John went along with that, and tried to forget what had happened earlier that morning.
The next day, Sherlock left early in the morning to Minsk to go see a client there. Around noon that day, Lestrade came by.
"Oh, Greg. I wasn't expecting you," John said as Greg entered the flat.
"Oh, yeah, sorry about that John," He looked around, "Is Sherlock in?"
"No, he left for Minsk this morning remember?" John asked.
Lestrade nodded, "Ah, yes, I remember, well, I shouldn't be bothering you then," he said. And was going to turn to leave.
"Wait, would you like a cuppa?" John asked.
"Oh, sure, if you wouldn't mind," Greg said.
A few minutes later Greg and John were sitting and chatting about some of their odd cases when a thought came into John's mind.
"Say, Greg, you wouldn't happen to know anyone by the name of Emily Smith would you?" John asked him.
Greg gave him a peculiar look, "Why d'you ask?"
"Well, someone mentioned it the other day, and Sherlock got very... well... Sherlock."
Greg thought about it for a moment, "Emily Smith, was a violinist for the London Symphony. She... knew Sherlock," Greg said, choosing his words wisely.
"Oh," John said, "Knew, meaning she doesn't anymore?"
"No, not really," Greg told him. John was confused, but Greg seemed uncomfortable and didn't want to push his luck any further.
It was the next day when things once again became interesting.
"You like the funny cases, don't you? The surprising ones," Greg said as he lead John and Sherlock to his office.
"Obviously," Sherlock replied.
"You'll love this. That explosion-"
"Gas leak," Sherlock corrected.
"No."
"No?"
"No. Made to look like one."
"What?" John interjected with confusion.
"Hardly anything left of the place except a strong box, a very strong box, and inside it was this." Greg held out an envelope to Sherlock, who took it.
Sherlock looked at the envelope briefly before turning to Lestrade, "Is this some sort of joke Lestrade?"
"What?" Greg and John asked at the same time.
"This is..." Sherlock paused and looked at the envelope with confusion, "This is her handwriting."
"Her, you mean..." Lestrade started.
"Yes," Sherlock said, his voice wavering slightly.
"But that's impossible," Greg said.
"I know..." Sherlock spoke.
John was looking between the two men, growing more and more confused by the moment.
"Would someone like to explain to me what's going on?" John asked.
Sherlock bit his lip before turning to John, "The woman whose handwriting this is was in a car accident and has been in a coma for nearly two years. She couldn't have written the letter. It's impossible, but yet... this is her writing."
Greg had noticeably paled, "So this might have something to do with...?" Greg sort of asked about the 'accident'.
"Yes," Sherlock replied. He still hadn't opened the envelope.
"I'll call the care centre," Greg said picking up his phone.
"No, call Mycroft." Sherlock and Greg made eye contact, and Greg nodded before leaving the room with his phone in his hand.
"What woman?" John asked.
"My... my friend. Emily."
John looked at Sherlock with surprise, "But Sherlock-"
"I know," Sherlock cut him off. "We grew up together, she was... very important to me."
"I'm sorry Sherlock," John said, "I still don't understand, how could..." He trailed off and shook his head.
"I called it an accident," Sherlock said, and John looked at him strangely. "It wasn't an accident. There was a man in the back of her car, he had been waiting for her. I don't know exactly what he wanted, but he was holding a gun to the back of her neck. She crashed the car in a busy street. He shot her and ran. I..." Sherlock had to pause, "I never found who it was."
Before John could say anything else, Greg stormed back into the room, "She's gone Sherlock, she's not there!"
Sherlock didn't reply but opened the envelope.
In it was a bright pink phone. And so the game began.