Ex army doctor John Watson meets the Consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his adopted brother Lorenzo Holmes. The two drag the doctor on a case to find a serial killer within hours of knowing him.
"I'm a psychopath, I know shocker!"
"What a bor...
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Lorenzo's attention was immediately drawn to the fact that scratched into the floorboards near the woman's left hand was the word, "Rache." His eyes flicked to her fingernails where the index and middle nails were broken and ragged at the ends, the pink nail polish chipped in stark comparison to her other nails which were still immaculate.
The woman's index finger rested at the bottom of the 'e' as if she was still trying to carve into the floor when she died.
Left-handed.
RACHE: German (n.) revenge WRONG.
Lorenzo instantly shook his head in a tiny dismissive movement and the suggestion disappeared.
He looked at the carved word again and overlaid the five letters with a clearer type. Next, to the 'e' a rapid progression of letters appeared and disappeared as he tried to complete the word, then the correct letter settled into place to form the word: Rachel
Sherlock kneeled down beside the body aswell and ran his gloved hand along the back of her coat, then lifted his hand again to look at his fingers: wet. He reached into her coat pockets and found a white folding umbrella in one of them. Running his fingers along the folds of the material, he then inspected his glove again: dry. Putting the umbrella back into her pocket, he moved up to the collar of her coat and ran his fingers underneath it before again looking at his fingers: wet.Reaching into his pocket he took out a small magnifier, clicked it open and closely inspected the delicate gold bracelet on her left wrist... clean... then the gold earring attached to her left ear... clean... and then the gold chain around her neck... clean... before moving on to look at the rings on her left ring finger. The wedding ring and engagement ring flagged a different message to him: dirty.
Sherlock blinked as a rapid succession of conclusions appeared in front of his eyes: married, unhappily married, unhappily married 10+ years. Carefully Sherlock worked the wedding ring off the woman's finger and held it up to look at the inside of the ring. While the outside of the ring was still showing dirty the inside registered as clean.
As Sherlock lowered the ring and put it back on the woman's finger, he had already reached a conclusion about the ring: regularly removed. Lifting his hands away from the woman, he looked down at her and made his final deduction about her: serial adulterer.
Sherlock smiled slightly in satisfaction, when he looked up he instantly noticed his brothers eyes on him every time he got something from the dead woman, Lorenzo would read it from his body. He didn't need to inspect the woman; he only needed to observe him.
"Got anything?" Lestrade asked.
Sherlock answered nonchalantly, "Not much." Standing up, he took off the gloves and then got his mobile phone from his pocket and began typing on it; from the corner of his eyes, he noticed the brown haired boy walked to his side.
"Cardiff." Lorenzo said making him stop using his phone.
Anderson appeared to be leaning casually against the doorway, "She's German. 'Rache': it's German for 'revenge'. She could be trying to tell us something..."
While he was speaking, Lorenzo had walked quickly towards the door and began to close it in Anderson's face. He spoke sarcastically, "Yes, thank you for your input." slamming the door shut, he turned and walked back into the room.
"So she's German?" Lestrade asked.
Lorenzo scoffed then continued, "Of course she's not. She's from out of town, though. Intended to stay in London for one night before returning home to Cardiff." he smiled smugly, "So far, so obvious."
John blinked confused and in disbelief, "Sorry - obvious?" he said looking bewildered.
"What about the message, though?" The inspector asked wanting to know more.
The brothers ignored him and looked at John, "Doctor Watson, what do you think?" Sherlock asked.
"Of the message?" The doctor asked confused.
"Of the body." Sherlock replied, "You're a medical man." He stated.
Lestrade shook his head, "Wait, no, we have a whole team right outside."
Lorenzo looked at him annoyed, "They won't work with us." he said.
"I'm breaking every rule letting you in here." The inspector replied sighing.
Sherlock nodded, "Yes... because you need us." He said knowingly.
Lestrade stared at him and then the teenager for a moment, then lowered his eyes helplessly, "Yes, I do. God help me." He whispered but everyone still heard him.
"Doctor Watson." Sherlock called him.
John looked up from the body to Sherlock and then turned his head towards Lestrade, silently seeking his permission, "Oh, do as he says. Help yourself." Lestrade answered a little tetchily; he turned and opened the door going outside, "Anderson, keep everyone out for a couple of minutes."
John walked over to the body. Sherlock kneeled down on one side of it and John painfully lowered himself to one knee on the other side, leaning heavily on his cane to support himself.
"Well?" Sherlock asked waiting.
John sighed and spoke softly, "What am I doing here?"
"Helping us make a point." The psychopath then answered with the same tone.
The doctor shook his head, "I'm supposed to be helping you both pay the rent." He said looking at them.
"Yeah, well, this is more fun." Lorenzo replied shrugging.
"Fun?" John asked looking skeptically at the boy, "There's a woman lying dead."
Lorenzo nodded pursing his lips, "Perfectly sound analysis, but we was hoping you'd go deeper."
Lestrade came back into the room and stood just inside the doorway, and John dragged his other leg down into a kneeling position and then leaned forward to look more closely at the woman's body. He put his head close to hers and sniffed, then straightened a little before lifting her right hand and looked at the skin.
He kneeled up and looked across to the Detectives, "Yeah ... Asphyxiation, probably. Passed out, choked on her own vomit. Can't smell any alcohol on her. It could have been a seizure; possibly drugs." He said.
Sherlock nodded, "You know what it was. You've read the papers."
"What, she's one of the suicides? The fourth...?" John asked unsurely.
Lestrade interrupted him, "Sherlock, Lorenzo- two minutes, I said. I need anything you've got."
