Young Writers Society

Eli flipped the couch cushion over again, expecting a different result. Where was her phone? She remembered texting that cute guy she met at the coffee shop then plugging it in before bed, but after that she couldn't remember moving it. Maybe Sheri knew what she did with it. Eli decided to ask when she got ba-

The sound of the front door closing resonated down the paper-thin walls. Eli stumbled over herself to get to the door and check. She poked her head around the doorway of 4A and saw the woman walking to her apartment. She was dressed in a lavender dress that had a long tear on the bottom edge and her brown wig crumpled in her hand.

"Good Morning, Watson." Sheri sighed.

"Morning." Eli said, looking for a sign of open wounds. "Where'd you run off to?" Sheri smiled back at her.

"Perhaps when I have nothing left to loose, I'll tell you." Eli rolled her eyes. "Still can't find your phone?" Sheri said cooly.

"No, do you remember me bringing it with me yesterday?" Sheri shook her head.

"I haven't seen it since you and that banker were texting in the car."

"How'd you...?" Eli almost asked, "Never mind, I'll just try to remember I have no privacy when you're in the room."

"Watson, I know what you've done when I'm not in the room. You're not very good at keeping secrets." Sheri leaned against the wall. "So, just as a formality, what happened after I was knocked out?"

"I may have shoved his rag in his mouth with my last conscious breaths." Eli said proudly. "He fell backward and must have slammed the door shut by accident." Sheri nodded.

"Impressive...for you."

"I didn't see you doing that when you were attacked." Sheri gave one muffled laugh.

"Blinding light and surprise can take your guard. You had more time to react, and the protection of a body in front of you. Clearly if I had been in your position, I would have done more than knocked him out."

"Sure you would have."

"I do have more experience than you." Sheri's phone rang, with the song "Na Na Na" by My Chemical Romance. She shoved her hand in her pocket and pulled the phone out. "Sorry, I would have called, but- What? What do you mean he confessed? You didn't even know it was-. What do you mean 'Watson told you'?...Okay, well I guess I'll be there in fifteen minutes, don't let Mark near that guy!" she hit screen to turn it off and put it in her pocket. She looked up Eli with fascination.

"They were talking about you not being dedicated to your work and I panicked..."

"No that's fine." Sheri said, not blinking. "We have a suspect to question."

"Good, let's go." Eli began walking to the door.

"Watson?" Sheri said.

"Yeah?" Sheri nodded to Eli, Eli looked down and realized she was still in her unicorn pajamas. "Oh."

***

"I want you to tell me who offered you the cash?" Mark said, sitting across from an officer named Tyler Walsh. "Who bribed you?" Tyler didn't move. He just sat, arms crossed, watching Mark. "Who told you to kill Xavier?"

Sheri ran down the hallway of the police station to the questioning room. She slammed the door open and walked in. Her heels clicking and her torn dress covered in navy-blue wool. "Get out!" Sheri said to Mark, pointing at the door

"I'm in the middle of something here, Sheri." he said motioning toward Tyler.

"So am I, and I have more riding on this case. So get out." Mark leaned back in his chair with a stern look on his face. "Fine." she said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out of the chair. She tossed him out into the hall, and before he could open it, she shoved a chair under the doorknob. The cops still in the room, pulled their guns out on her, but she pulled a knife under both their necks until the lowered their weapons. "Drop the guns."

They dropped the guns and she kicked them across the room and lowered her pocketknives. Someone outside banged on the door and yelled her name. Sheri's face was clear of any emotion.

"Now, I'm going to question this guy and you're not going to make one move. Or I will not hesitate to-" One of the guards tried to kick her in the knee while she was looking at the other, but as he moved she turned and slapped him in the face. He hesitated for a second, giving her enough time to punch him in the gut so hard that he doubled over clutching his abdomen.

The other guard swallowed. "Incapacitate you in anyway necessary." She finished.

She walked to the empty chair in front of Tyler and sat down. His eyes finally moved from the officer who was still curled in a ball on the floor. "You know that's a crime right?" he asked.

"So is murder and assault." she responded, "Do we really want to be questioning morals?" he shook his head. "So, who is this Moriarty guy? How many people does he have in here?"

"I don't know," he said, biting his lip, "I know it's more than just me and Peter, but he doesn't tell any of us who the others are. And none of us were contacted in person. He does everything by videos, or currier, or post. All I know is that one day I was on the street and the next I was in the force with high recommendations." Sheri's eyes scanned him up and down.

"Who does he have?" she asked softly. Her eyes filling with hate.

"He said my kids would be dead in seconds in I didn't go along with what he asked." Sheri nodded.

"You did the right thing, for your family anyway. I don't think the other officers' families will be thanking you anytime soon." Tyler's head lowered guiltily.

"I don't want anyone to go through what I-" there was a loud bang. A gun shot. Sheri's ears rang, but she was already on her feet. Tyler was on the floor with a hole in his head. Sheri's head spun around and the officer who was not crouching in pain had a smoking barrel to his head.

Sheri was a blur of navy blue running to pull the gun out of his hand, but she was too late. The gun went off again and the officer crumbled on the floor, blood seeping from his skull. All Sheri could do was stare. Her last chance for information was on the floor, still warm. His eyes glazed over and rolled back in his head. Despite the horror she knew she should be feeling, Sheri could not help the feeling of awe. The beauty of the planning, blackmail, and raw flesh was almost enough to bring her to tears.

Sheri almost reached out and touched the slowly draining flow of blood, but thought batter of it and decided to pass off the motion as her closing his eyes. Then she went back to Tyler, who was dangling half in his chair and half kept up by the cuffs keeping him attached to the table. She closed his eyes too and went over to the officer she had punched before. He was squinting through the pain, his eyes following her and slowly he leaned up against the wall.

She kneeled down next to him. "I believe I punched the wrong officer." she said quietly. He nodded weakly through the sound of banging on the door. She held out an arm and helped him up. The two of them made their way to the door, and Sheri pulled the chair out of the way with her foot.

The room filled with cops. Someone pulled the crippled officer from her grasp and another officer pulled her out of the room by her upper arm.

***

Sheri was poker faced as an officer let her out of the holding cell. Lestrade and Eli were waiting for her, both of them watching with a mix of concern and disappointment. She held out her cuffed hands to Lestrade to unlock, but he didn't move.

"I'm not apologizing." she said.

"I tried to tell him." Eli said. Sheri nodded at her.

"Good to know that one person hasn't been working against me today." Sheri glared at Lestrade.

"May I speak to you alone, Sheri?" Lestrade said. Eli looked back and forth between them awkwardly.

"I'll just...yeah." Eli backed away, motioning for officer Abbott to follow. The door clicked shut and Lestrade sighed.

"I'm trying to catch him, he's just got three steps ahead of me." Lestrade rubbed his tongue against his front teeth. "I thought if I went to extremes his planning wouldn't be able to catch up."

"Was it that?" Lestrade yelled, "Or was it you thinking that you don't have to follow rules!?" Sheri rubbed her ear.

"If you were going to yell I don't see why Watson couldn't be in the room."

"Really Sheridan? Is that the first thing on your mind because I have an entire station full of officers who want you to be in the electric chair right now! And I'm not sure I should be letting you go free!" Sheri, for once, didn't have a snarky comment to throw back. All she could do was watch and calculate, her one instinct, was to observe, and by god she was watching for one way to change his mind.

"I need to know that I can trust you." he said, and Sheri sighed.

"I know this is probably not what you want to hear," she said, "But I am a psychopath." Lestrade glared at her. "I'm a psychopath who knows who needs to die."

"Not exactly helping your case."

"I mean the only person I'll be killing is Moriarty. I'm sorry if that sounds like I should be locked up, but if you would just trust me-"

"It'd be easier to trust you if you told me what you were about to do." Sheri breathed out loudly, and put her hands over her head. She paced for a second then stopped.

"This is exactly what he wants!" she yelled, "To get us bickering and back me into a corner so I can't stop him! I have to-!"

"No, you have to explain what you know when you figure it out so I'm not forced to lock you up!" Sheri bit her lip hard then ran out.

***

Eli sat in her purple armchair, curled up with a Percy Jackson book. She sipped her milk and munched on a grilled cheese sandwich. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Eli put her bookmark in and set her sandwich down. In only an oversized christmas sweater and gray sweatpants she opened the door.

A woman in a navy blue, knee-length dress was standing there waiting for her. Her wavy black hair was pulled over one of her pale shoulders and her eyes were lined with black. In her hands was a black violin case.

"Sheri?" Eli asked unsure.

"Who else would I be?" she said.

"Why are you all dressed up?" Eli brushed crumbs off her face.

"Lestrade's party is tonight. I thought we were going."

"Aren't you and him fighting?" Sheri adjusted her necklace clasp.

"I don't remember that."

"It was two hours ago."

"And his party starts in twenty minutes ago." Sheri grabbed Eli's hand and dragged her out the door.

***

Sheri rang the doorknob of Lestrade's house. Jingle Bells filled their ears as the door opened. Lestrade was laughing when he answered the door, but when he saw Sheri he frowned.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was invited." Sheri said blandly.

"I thought you didn't like people."

"I figured I should come and apologize for no reason. I brought my violin." she held it up.

"And I told her this was a bad idea." Eli said, handing him one of the boxes Sheri had her carry.

"You know you could have dressed up, right?" he said grabbing the present.

"Just be glad I decided not to wear pajamas when she told me we were coming. Merry almost Christmas."

"Well, if you're already here, come inside before you freeze to death." He got out of the way so they could come in. The house, which looked to be small and cream colored on normal occasions, was covered in green and red on every available inch and people were squeezed into the tiny kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Sheri's heels clicked on the tiles of the entryway and Eli's boots squeaked obnoxiously. Both of them shivered and brushed the snow out of their hair.

"Sheridan!" A woman squealed from the dining room and ran up to hug her. Sheri accepted the hug with a slight smile, despite the fact that she was shedding red and green lint from her christmas sweater and her large belly made it almost impossible to hug her fully. "Oh, it's so nice to see you." she said letting Sheri go from her bear hug.

"Nice to see you too again, Mrs. Castro. Plus one?" Lestrade's daughter felt her belly. The pregnancy was definitely showing.

"A few more weeks, then I can get this kid out of me." she smiled so broadly her ears went up slightly from the stretch. She had dirty blonde hair and green eyes so bright they rivaled Sheri's.

"Well congratulations on increasing the already unsustainable population." Castro smiled and rolled her eyes.

"A pretty girl like you and no man? That's the real crime." Sheri nodded, obviously not ready to get angry at a pregnant woman. "And is this the infamous Eli Watson?" she said, giving Eli a big bear-hug. "I've heard so much about you." she let Eli go before she stopped breathing. "Love the blog, by the way. I couldn't sum up Sheri any better myself."

"Journalist." Sheri whispered to Eli so the comment didn't seem egotistical.

"Yo!" Castro yelled to two guys pigging out at the dessert table. "Come over here, Greggy! It's Sheri! And bring me some cake!" the two guys ran over and hugged Sheri too.

"Sheri! It's been way too long." one of them said, frosting all over his face, and a little bit in his long black hair.

"I've had a lot to do lately, and you haven't been exactly driving distance. Your husband?" she motioned to a tall guy in a green vest and white dress shirt.

"Just last year at least." He looked at the man, smiling like he was the only man in the world.

"Gay." Sheri clarified for Eli.

"Logan, this is an old family friend, Sheridan Holmes."

"The internet detective?" he asked, shaking her hand.

"Consulting detective." she corrected, "And this is Watson, my apprentice monkey." the two men couldn't help but to smile.

"Forensics assistant." Eli sighed.

"Is there any wine?" Sheri asked, looking over the shoulders to the kitchen.

"Not for you, there isn't." Lestrade responded, setting down the gold rapped box.

"Not for me!" Sheri insisted, "Alcohol is disgusting. I was asking because Mark is here and we wouldn't want to ruin his sobriety." Mark walked into the hallway, a cookie hanging out of his mouth and three more sitting in his hand.

"What's she doing here?" he asked in a non-professional tone.

"Watson was invited." Sheri said, ignoring the fact that he was talking about her "The more important question is why..." she paused to sniff him invasively. "You smell like alcohol." Mark turned slightly red.

"Someone spilled some on me." he lied very awfully.

"And I suppose that the slur in your words can be explained by the tooth-fairy smacking you in the face." Mark glared at her.

"Why don't you play some Christmas carols?" Lestarde asked, trying to keep the bickering between the two of them to a minimum.

"Okay, but if you start hearing Imagine Dragons, do make sure I didn't fall asleep." Castro smiled even wider, if that was possible.

"I will if I don't like the song." Sheri opened up her violin case and pulled out the chestnut violin.

"Just give me a second to get ready." Sheri waited until everyone, but her and Eli were not in the living room. "Watson." Sheri said quietly.

"What?" Eli asked, not sure what Sheri was about to do.

"The little purple box." Sheri thumbed one of the strings. Eli opened the little purple rapped paper. It was an iPhone box.

"Why...?"

"I assume you won't find your phone and you have been very helpful to me lately." Sheri zipped up her Violin case and began strumming her strings softly.

"That was very kind of you." Eli said after a moment.

"Well, I had to considering what happened to your old phone."

"What happened to my phone?" Sheri paused for a second, trying to decide whether she should say or not.

"You remember a few days ago when I had that body rolled in?" she finally decided.

"You did not!"

"Turns out you can't rip someone's guts apart by calling the phone their stomach. If you could even get it down there without them choking. The stomach acids corrode the microchip before you have a chance." Sheri began to play "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and walked into the free space of the living room.

"You are paying for the data plan, right?" Eli asked, but Sheri was not listening.

Eli wanted to go listen to Sheri, but there was no room in the living room, so she sat at the kitchen table and played with her new phone. As soon as it was set up, and on the home screen, the phone vibrated and a new text message appeared on the iMessages box. She tapped it and opened up new conversation with an unknown number.

"...And a happy new year-M." it read. Then the phone buzzed again and a new message appeared.

"I'm at the bank, Watson, want to guess what I'm doing there?-M" then a picture appeared beneath the message. It was a picture of a bank teller, bloody and tied up at the bank. Eli knew she had two choices. To tell Holmes now and risk the girl's life with the full force of the police, or to go alone and risk her own life.

In the middle of "Christmas Shoes" Sheri heard the door open and close. She stopped playing immediately and saw, through the window, her red mustang pulling out of the street. And then her phone rang.