It felt strange, for Jo, being in the presence of the dead again. She'd forgotten what seeing a dead person had been like. She'd forgotten how it had hit her like a hammer whenever she saw a dead person. A lifeless bag of meat lying on the ground before her. Jo ran her hand through her chocolate brown hair and sighed loudly.
Sherlock approached the bodies silently, dug his his hand into the pocket of his leather jacket and removed a pair of medical gloves and put them on his hands. He glanced and Lestrade quickly and knelt down by the bodies that lay on the centre of the empty room.
One good look. That was all Sherlock Holmes needed.
Three dead bodies, all male, arranged in a small row; tallest on the left, shortest on the right.
All shot directly between the eyes but no blood splatters or stains on the body or in the area. Hair cut short, quickly and close to the head.
(Executed away from here, bodies cleaned of all blood marks, hair cut [To hide identities?])
Mud on knees, a shoddy attempt made to clean it off.
Shiny, new black boots.
(Executed away from here [shot while kneeling on mud], bodies cleaned of all blood stains, hair cut [to hide identities?], shoes replaced [why?])
"They weren't killed here that's for sure." Sherlock said without displaying any emotion "And they weren't just shot they were executed. When they were executed they were kneeling down on mud. Then they were shot in the same place, directly between the eyes, and after that their hair was cut and their bodies were washed of all blood traces."
"Wow..." Jo blurted out and Sherlock and Lestrade turned to look at her "Sorry."
"Their shoes were replaced after they were shot. True they could have been dragged to where they were forced to kneel but they don't have any muddy drag marks on their trouser. So that means they had to walk to where they were forced to kneel down. Their shoes should have the same mud marks on them as their knees do but they don't so..." Sherlock continued "That means their shoes were taken from them after they were executed and replaced with these boots."
"Hang on..." Jo said. She'd noticed something she'd seen before. Something else she'd seen while in the army "the bodies are arranged like the dead of the army. In a row, tallest on the left shortest on the right. What is that a message?"
"It could be a message..." Sherlock mused "Or just coincidence. Do we know what gun the bullets used to kill them came from?"
"Why?" Lestrade asked. Sherlock raised an eyebrow, "No, not yet. I reckon we'll have it by tomorrow."
"Let me know what gun these bullets came from the minute you get the ballistics report." Sherlock ordered and he stood up. He took one last look around before saying "Don't keep worrying about your wife having an affair Lestrade." Sherlock turned to the door "Here's your answer: she is. See you can stop worrying now!"
Sherlock opened the door and called back as he left the library, closely followed by Jo, "Laters!"
Sherlock and Jo grabbed a taxi to head back to Baker Street as soon as they left the crime scene. It was starting to rain.
"Nice work in there" Jo complemented.
Sherlock looked at her strangely. If he felt any emotion towards this remark he didn't display, as per usual today.
"Th... Thank you" Sherlock said a little uncertainly.
"But if that was library where were all the books?" Jo asked.
"The library's being shut down and demolished to make way for a block of flats." Sherlock replied "So they cleared everything out."
"How did you know about Lestrades wife having an affair?" Jo asked.
Sherlock stared at her for a moment. "His wedding ring. He wasn't wearing it but there was a faint tan line around where it should be. There are bags under his eyes; a sign of stress. The rest was just... Elementary."
"Hang on..." Jo said "You only got the fact that he thought she was having an affair. You don't actually know she is!"
Sherlock chuckled "I may be brilliant. But I'm not that brilliant. She probably is having an affair though..."
The taxi arrived back at 221b shortly after and they climbed out quickly as the rain began to fall from the sky in thick lashings. They headed for the door and Sherlock retrieved a set of keys from his pocket. He unlocked the door and they rushed inside. Waiting for them was a large pile of boxes and suitcases.
Jo looked at Sherlock and Sherlock looked at Jo.
"Have fun dealing with, won't you" Sherlock smiled "Your rooms the first one on the left at the top of the stairs." Sherlock indicated the door in the wall to the left of the wooden staircase that faced the front door "If you feel peckish the kitchens through there. We don't have anything in though. Just go look at the fridge and... Imagine yourself eating something." Sherlock took off his jacket and walked into the living room, slumping himself onto the sofa.
4 hours later
Jo liked her room. It was a large, square shaped room at the back of the house with a window looking out into the small back garden in the back wall. There was a bookcase built into half of the right wall and Jo had placed the bed which had been left for her against the window facing away from the garden. The floor was wooden but cleaner than any of the other wooden floors Jo had seen in the house and the walls had a floral red wallpaper lining them. Jo had filled her wardrobe that was built into the right wall but still had a large pile of boxes sitting by the door to the room.
Eventually admitting defeat and concealing to leave the battle of organising her new room tomorrow. She decided to change into her pyjamas and went back downstairs.
Upon arriving in the living room she found Sherlock sitting on the sofa in nothing but a pair of track suit bottoms. He was staring out of the window again and looked to be in deep thought. It was only without his top on that Jo could see the array of body art that adorned Sherlock. There was an intricate tattoo of a dragon running along his shoulder and down to the centre of his chest. There was a large rose drawn onto his back which was pressed against the leather of the sofa.
"You alright?" Jo asked.
Sherlock's head snapped round and he met her eyes "I'm fine have a seat."
Jo sat down next to Sherlock and asked a quests that had been bugging her since she'd returned to the house.
"Why don't you have a TV or a dining table and why is the living room almost empty?"
"Oh... Didn't daddy explain?" Sherlock said grumpily "I recently came out of a bad drug habbit which thereby means that I've been in a drug rehabilitation facility for the past 9 months. Dad took all my stuff in storage and I'm waiting for it back. Three weeks I've been out of rehab, or as I call it Junkie Jail, and all I've had back is my books, my bed and my DVD collection of HOUSE"
Jo was confused "You watch HOUSE?"
Sherlock chuckled "Only to make fun of him."
"If you want I could email your father and ask him for the rest of your stuff" Jo smiled.
Sherlock spoke, a confused note appearing in his own voice, "Why would you do that for me?"
"Because I'm here to help you get back from your rehab life to normal life. I'm here to help. Or at least I will be for the next 3 months. I promised your father I'd do anything to help you out." Jo answered.
"Dad doesn't care that much. Believe m..." As Sherlock was speaking there was a loud beep. Sherlock retrieved his iPhone from his pocket and took a good look at the screen, "The ballistic report came back early."
Jo noticed his voice had turned cold and his eyes had narrowed.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"The bullets used to execute those people came from a Browning L9A1 pistol" Sherlock said quietly, his voice almost a whisper. He turned to look Jo straight in the eyes. She knew what was troubling him to. "That's the standard issue pistol for people serving in the British army."
TO BE CONTINUED
This is such an improvement to last time, your spelling is perfect, you grammar is improved, the story line is logical and your characters are so funny. I enjoyed this even more than the first part, this story is coming along really well. The most annoying little mistake for me was the use of the word "concealing" when you meant "conceding". There were a couple grammar mistakes too, mostly you missed out a word here and there, but nothing major and nothing that distracted from the story. Keep up with this- I need to know what happens!
Thanks for that wonderful comment.
I'm glad you enjoyed this and I agree with the conceding mistake. That was rather silly of me.
I'm planning to have the next part released either today or tomorrow to help introduce you to my own Holmes and Watson.
I'll let you know when part 3's released
Sounds good.
I'm a fan of Sherlock Holmes story's, who's not? But I'm not a fan of this version,
I'm a VARY big fan of this version that you created!
I like the style of writing your doing here, it's modern, fast paced, and one can understand the plot vary quickly without getting confused. And I only see a few grammar hiccups here and there thru out the story, but it doesn't effect the enjoyment of this read at all.
Keep on writing Captain, I cant wait for part three!