"I hate you" John seethed as Sherlock calmly sat on the other side of the cab, ignoring the exasperated woman between them.
"You only have to be pleasant and chatty. It won't require you too much effort if you ask me..."
"But why I have to put my job at risk?" Annie asked, "Just tell us what are you searching for and wait outside!"
"It could be anywhere in that mansion, just let me do my work" Sherlock protested, "Not to mention it would be hard for you to visit a private bedroom during an interview"
"A bedroom" John stated with sarcasm, "I bet you're breaking in that house to see the decor"
"Surely it can't be for that reason..." Annie hoped.
"Oh, no. He's right. Good for you, John. You're catching up with my methods" Sherlock congratulated his friend.
"Oh, God. This will be a disaster"
"Just pretend you don't know him" John said, "It's useless to argue with Sherlock"
As the cab stopped in front of Stoke Moran's mansion where Miss Helen Stoner and her step-father were waiting for them, Annie felt anxiety rising in her belly at the perspective of meeting a potential murder.
And if Sherlock was right about his thesis, one of them had a venomous viper prancing around the place.
That idea made her ankles itch and thanked the detective when he suggested to wear boots. It wouldn't do any good against the long and sharp teeth of that beast, but at least she would feel a bit more safe.
John, who had to play the role of her boyfriend, had at first refused to be dragged in Sherlock's latest plan, but at last he felt compassion for the poor Annie, already terrified of breaking the law, when the viper came up.
The woman adjusted her hold on the purse she clutched spasmodically in her hands as she left the comforting warmth of the cab.
"Now, Miss Annie will take the lead. Just think about your work and keep the attention on yourself" Sherlock reprimanded her as the blonde bit her lip nervously, "For goodness sake! Stop your fidgeting, you'll appear suspicious!"
"Sherlock, why don't you go ahead and hide? Let me handle this" John politely pushed Annie away from the disgruntled detective and allowed her some space before the other man could once again be rude and unpleasant.
"Are you sure you remember what you have to do John? We can't commit mistakes"
"Sure, just do your work quickly and let me know when I can drag Annie away from that house. I noticed she's becoming rather pale" John commented, as the young woman paced in front of them.
"Don't let her hinder my investigation, John. If she slips up..."
"I know, I know. I learned the lesson after all the times you put us in trouble"
Sherlock grimaced at being compared with the blonde journalist, feeling a bit slighted, but shrugged it off and allowed his two accomplices to go ahead as he went to find a secondary entrance.
It was indeed lucky Miss Stone's step-father was the kind of misanthropic and annoyingly rude man that avoided hiring staff to clean up all the manor.
The windows were old and creaky, not to mention full of dust, so he put on his gloves and forced his way in what seemed to be a bedroom.
The wallpaper was very old fashioned and a bit detached in a couple of spots, uncovering a serious case of black mould in the corners of the high ceiling. It wasn't very much used, since there was no sign of movement on the dusty furniture, except for his own fingers as he analysed the surroundings.
Around the bed, the heavy tapestry on the canopy and a very old bell cord were threadbare and barely hanging, but he didn't attempt to pull it. There was no point in wasting time in there anymore.
He had to find out where the room of Miss Stone's deceased sister was, at least before one of the hosts decided to leave John and Annie's company, as he suspected Mr Roylott would do soon or later.
Sherlock could hear clearly the voices of the two women and John's almost one-sided conversation with the old man.
Leaving the bedroom, the detective found himself in a corridor barely lit by the weak light of the day coming from the sole window at his right.
As he proceeded to open every door and peek inside, the faint thud of footsteps coming his way startled Sherlock, who sneaked inside the first room he could find.
The slightly uneven pace was too heavy to belong to a woman and John's psychosomatic limp had never had this particular rhythm, not to mention it was almost absent lately.
Maybe it was Roylott as he was leaving his step-daughter to her guests, as he had predicted. This complicated his own work, but he supposed it was time to speed up and get out of there as soon as possible.
The bedroom in which he was hiding wasn't the one Sherlock was searching for, but he could recognize the woman in the photo, identical to the one Annie had showed him before leaving Baker Street.
Miss Julia Stone was smiling at the camera as she hugged her twin Helen at their graduation ceremony. They had the same blond hair and pale complexion, even their smiles matched perfectly.
Annie had told him the two sisters had had an argument before Julia died, but the famous designer was clearly very much attached to the memories of the past.
The bedroom was cleaner than the other one he visited, but the dreadful tapestry was still present and another bell rope hanged beside the bed.
Sherlock distractedly wondered how someone used to work on the runaway could live in such ancient environment, but he supposed it didn't matter too much for the investigation.
The only variation in that room was the presence of a vent placed in the highest part of the wall, partially hidden by the canopy and clearly useless if his knowledge of the house was good enough.
What was the point of wasting effort to create it when on the other side there was another bedroom?
Pushing a chair closer to the wall, his eyes fell on another curious particular just beside the vent.
The bell rope was indeed useless.
It was simply hanging from a hook, it wasn't truly connected to anything and at first he supposed it had been put there only as decoration.
But the noise of the grumbling individual he had heard before surprised Sherlock, who almost snickered as an image began to create in his mind.
Reaching for the grate, the detective pulled it as gently as he could. There was nothing inside, except a couple of dried shreds of leaves and the stench of black mould, but the discovery was enough to excite him.
He whistled softly into the vent and smirked when the man on the other side heard him.
It was time to leave Miss Stone's bedroom, he had all he needed to close the case.
…
"So? Found something in there?" John asked as soon as they met Sherlock outside.
"Definitely. There are all the elements to solve this case" the detective smirked in satisfaction, "And maybe it would be a good thing for you to stick around and write an even more interesting article on Miss Stone's future, Miss Annie"
"Well, it would be rude to write about her personal life without her permission" she protested.
"You write for a tabloid. Scandal is hardly a problem for you"
"But it's not the way I want to work on my articles, Mr Holmes" she replied stiffly, "Just because the Sun usually reports scandals or gossip, it doesn't mean all the journalists employed there aren't serious professionals"
"I'm sure he didn't mean..." John attempted to pacify his two companions, but Sherlock decided to exhibit all contempt for her profession in that exact moment.
"Maybe because you're still green and clearly too moralist to work on this field. Let's see how much time you'll last with this mindset in a couple of years" he said tartly.
Annie felt tears gathering at the corner of her eyes at the harsh words, even if she usually didn't pay much attention to people criticizing her. But the young woman was a bit more delicate lately, after the whole mess with her brother and Percy's death.
Being in Sherlock's presence, the man who contributed to find her fiance's murderer but also to unveil Joseph Harrison and his true intentions, still made her nervous whenever his icy blue eyes glanced at her with arrogance.
Just as she had done the first time they met, Annie decided to run, allowing him to bask in the satisfaction of having the last word in their argument.
The detective barely had the time to catch up with the consequences of his words as John reprimanded him for his lack of sensibility with Annie.
"I can't see why you are so rude with her. All the times you're in a room with her, she ends up in tears" John said angrily, "Just because I put up with your childishness, it doesn't mean she has to"
Sherlock watched with confusion his friend running away to join the girl, at least to apologize in his stead, when the man himself had barely understood what was the problem.