Sheridan Holmes: A Cold Case PART 6

Eli and Sheri were in the middle of a case the next month. As usual Eli was guilted into staying up late to study the pictures they took at the crime scene in order to figure out what information Sheri refused to tell her. She fell asleep on the coffee table with her face pasted to the pictures. Meanwhile Sheri was half focusing on figuring out the case, which was as clear as glass to her, and half focusing on what the bus driver had told her while he was coughing and sweating like a pig. Such a pity he would be in a coma indefinitely.

"His name is Moriarty. Now please help!"

Sheri shifted her sleeping leg as she meditated on the name. Before long it was morning and Sheri had the answer to the case she was currently on. Checking her internal stop watch she could see that it only took five hours. She was getting slow, but she did give herself the benefit of forgiveness because she was focusing on a much bigger picture.

She checked her real watch, it was 9:35 AM, and Eli was still sleeping on the case pictures. Sheri smiled and got up from the couch and went to go take a shower. She hated to admit it, but Eli's life was very enviable. Her tiny intelligence and mindless rituals. It must be so relaxing, Sheri thought as she walked to the bathroom, making no sound as she did. No worrying about how right you are, or how angry you get. The benefits of normality. Yet the draw backs...

The bathroom, unlike the rest of the apartment, was pristinely clean. The white tiles and porcelain utilities shined with brightness. The soaps and shampoos were all organized and hung on the wall rack. In the cabinet above the sink, where she knew Eli would have kept her make-up and burn medication, was a large collection of medicines and drugs organized in alphabetical order.

Sheri took her cleanliness very seriously.

She folded up her clothes in a pile and set them on the toilet before she took a warm shower followed by a minute long burst of cold water. Then she dried herself off and opened the dresser she kept in the bathroom. Unlike most people it was actually safer for her to keep dresser in her bathroom. If she were to keep it across the hall her clothes would have caught fire a long time ago. She pulled a fresh pair of black leggings and a skirt as well as a black V-neck and a leather jacket.

Most people would call her goth, but Sheri wouldn't have cared. She'd given up wearing her mother's pink dresses a long time ago, and when your skin is as fair as hers you tend to cover it up.

After inspecting the large array of scabs on her leg from the broken glass, she pulled on her clothes and brushed her hair out into it's flat state.

She did have make-up, but she kept it in a box under her sink. Unlike the carefully applied glosses and powders on Eli's face, Sheri never used make-up unless she was in disguise. She'd never liked the way it made her skin feel and she'd never truly felt any prettier with it clumping up her pores.

After she was done she went to the main room, which was a conjoined living/kitchen space. She searched the refrigerator for something to eat and ended up making an omelet. It would be the first thing she'd eaten since starting the case. Sheri had a habit of never eating when she had to think as she believed that it slowed down her thinking process. She had once spent two weeks on a diet of only water and tobacco smoke. Admitably not the best idea, but at the time she didn't even notice how long it had been until she finished.

Despite her constant fasting, Sheri was actually a very good cook. She'd learned from only the best in Paris as her mother believed that it was a good quality for attracting rich men. Sheri thought of this talent as a stepping stone to chemistry and good bait for poison.

When Eli finally looked up from her table pillow, Sheri was finishing cooking a stack of pancakes for her. Sheri set it on the small dining table for her and went on to clean up the kitchen.

"You finished the case?" said Eli, knowing that Sheri never cooked unless she was poisoning someone or eating again. She sat down at the table and began to eat the fluffy pancakes. "Who was it?" she said in between bites.

"The wife did it. Kind of obvious really." Sheri swiped flour off the counter.

"Of course it was." Eli shoved a bite of pancake in her mouth. Sheri finished her cleaning and went to put the pictures back in their folder.

"You drooled on the evidence." Eli turned to look, a piece of pancake was sticking out of the corner of her mouth. "I'm trying to look professional Eli."

"Said the girl wearing a leather jacket and leggings." Sheri looked at her dryly.

"Unicorn pajamas." That was all she had to say. Eli sighed and finished up her pancakes. She hated to admit it, but Sheri's food was really worth all the insults.

"They were on sale."

Sheri touched her forehead. She suddenly felt a little dizzy.

"I mean it's not like scary biker vampire is going to impress any guys."

Sheri tried to steady herself on the counter and prepared her head for impact. It wasn't the first time she was about to faint, and here Eli, the doctor, was just stuffing her face and talking about guys.

She made a mental note to yell at Eli later for that.

"Have you ever actually had a boyfriend?" There was a thump as Sheri hit the ground. Eli looked up and saw Sheri unconscious in a pile of flour on the floor. "Sheri?"

***

"I'm telling you I'm fine." Sheri said after finally being awoken in the hospital. She was even paler than usual, and her breathing was ragged.

"You just spent three hours unconscious in the emergency room." Sheri rolled her eyes. "Sheri take this seriously, this is a warning. Your lifestyle is not healthy, maybe you should try to eat sometime."

"Right, like McDonald's and Kraft Mac n' Cheese is any safer." Eli wanted to respond, but before she could the Doctor knocked on the door. He was an older gentleman with gray hair and a portly stature for a doctor.

"Hello girls," he said kindly. Sheri crossed her arms in the hospital bed and looked as if she wanted to snap one of his arms. "Miss Watson may I talk to you in private?"

"Of course." she stepped into the hall with the older doctor. "What is it?" she said as she pulled the shades closed and closed the door because she knew all too well that Sheri could read lips.

"You said that you are Sheri's good friend."

"I know her well enough."

"We ran some tests while she was unconscious and she had a very low glucose level and a rather extreme quantity of drugs in her system."

"What kind of drugs?" the doctor handed her a sheet of paper with the list of drugs. Almost half the page was filled was filled with drug names. "That's a bit unsettling."

"That's what we said, we just wanted to know if you knew anything about this." Eli handed the sheet back to the doctor.

"No. I mean her sister said something about her habits, but I didn't know how serious this was."

"We don't mean to concern you, Miss Watson, but Sheridan here has been victim to a drug overdose. We already called the police to search her apartment for drugs, and we found this." he handed her a bag of medicine bottles that was resting on the wall. Eli stared at the plastic bag with odd fascination.

"Is half this stuff even legal?" he shook his head.

"Tell me, do you have any idea why she's been taking all these?"

"I don't know, but she doesn't seem like the type."

"They never do. Is there anything odd that you did notice? People who take drugs can be different when they are high." Eli thought for a second, trying to narrow down the long list.

"She never eats during a case. Sometimes she goes for weeks without a bite because she thinks it helps her think. Maybe this is another one of her habits?" Now that she thought about it she did notice sometimes that Sheri seemed to be a bit out pf it when she was in the middle of a meditation.

"Just keep an eye on her. Ah officer." Eli looked behind her to see officer Lestrade walking toward them.

"Afternoon."

"Lestrade...?" Eli felt a little sickened.

"How is she?"

"Alive." Lestrade silently motioned to the door as if to ask if he could come in.

"Go right in." Lestrade and Eli both walked in as Sheri was trying to grab a tray of IV's someone accidentally left in her room.

"Oh thank god," she said slowly, "Someone interesting."

"Sheri, what is wrong with you?" Lestrade asked loudly.

"What specifically?" Lestrade closed his eyes and tried to calm down. Failing.

"You were six months clean!"

"That's what you thought." she grabbed an IV bag and moved it around in her fingers.

"Wait, you knew about this?" Eli asked, pulling the plastic bag out of Sheri's hands.

"Of course. It's part of the reason she failed her exams." Lestrade looked angrier than he ever had, and he put up with Sheri longer than anyone.

"I failed because they thought I was cheating!" Sheri rubbed her forehead dizzily.

"It was a simple crime scene. All you needed to do was tell them about the evidence." Sheri shook her head.

"What exams?"

"Her police exams." Lestrade glared at Sheri.

"You mean she applied to be on the force?" Eli suddenly realized.

"They said she was unstable and a danger to everyone around her and herself." Lestrade said grinding his teeth a bit.

"They were slowing me down." Sheri rolled her shoulders as she tried to sit up. "Besides it wasn't the drugs." Lestrade still looked like he was going to rip her head off.

"What do you mean?" Eli asked stupidly.

"I was poisoned." the two non-drugged people in the room looked at each other skeptically. "Look, I may have used a lot of drugs, but that was ten hours ago when I got home. And even then, the quantities were very small. I made them all myself, nothing dangerous about them."

"Obviously not." Lestrade said sarcastically.

"Anyway!" Sheri said almost grinding her teeth, "I had no drugs this morning, and the poison couldn't have been inserted into the pill bottles. So it's a fast acting poison, narrows down the list of possibilities. It would have been taken by consumption. It couldn't have in any of pancake ingredients, because Eli's okay-"

"She made pancakes for you?" Eli nodded, "She used to make the most amazing ribs to show off at the Police barbecue-"

"Going on! The only ingredients that were in my omelet and not in the pancakes are the sausage, vegetables, cheese, and my special New Orleans sugar."

"You put sugar in an omelet?" Eli asked.

"She puts sugar in everything she eats." Lestrade answered with a smile. It reminded Eli of a smile a dad would give to his young child.

"It couldn't have been the meat, veggies, or cheese because Linda brought those in fresh last night. Not enough time to introduce the poison. So it must be in the sugar."

"Why would anyone want you de-" Eli started, "No never mind."

"Thank you Watson, now the question is why they didn't account for you being in the room when I took the poison."

"Our first case, 'A Study in Red'." Eli decided after a minute of thought.

"What?" Sheri asked.

"A Study in Red, that's what I'm calling it. There was a lot of red, Susie, the fire, even your sis-" Eli stopped there before she talked about Myka.

"It was more of a Scarlet, Eli."

"So, A Study in Scarlet? That has a good ring to it."

"Are we done discussing the title of the case?" Lestrade said looking between the two girls, "What does it have to do with the supposed poisoning?"

"Eli was right. If they were to see my Eli disguise they might think that Eli is just a costume and not expect her to be there to help me."

"So who ever poisoned you doesn't know Eli was your friend?"

"Didn't. After the ruckus she made over me they're bound to know. And be sure to factor her into the equation next time. Sorry Eli."

"What? Why?" Sheri looked around the room guiltily. "Sheri?"

"Naturally they'll try to eliminate you first. You are the easier target." Eli's eyes widened in fear, "Don't worry it will most likely be quick and painless."

"Not helping, Sheri."

"Would you rather drawn-out and painful?" she turned to Lestrade, "Now come on, you didn't come here to talk about my condition. What's the problem?"

"Professor Lane Sipps, known as Sippy to his friends, viciously murdered by the side of the road in Clarence." he said, handing Sheri a manila folder.

"The suburbs filled with the snobby rich people?" Eli asked.

"Yeah. Sipps was a Biology teacher at UB."

"Oh I remember him, he had a research project on...uh..." Eli snapped her fingers as she tried to remember what it was.

"The cure to the common cold."

"What a nutter. The cold is a variety of different viruses there's no way to cure it."

"Well, Sipps did." Lestrade said. Sheri looked up from the pictures in the folder, "Or at least that what he claimed. He was on his way to a press conference when he went missing. Two days later he was found next to an alpaca farm covered in blood and all his data gone."

"Interesting." Sheri muttered, "Let's go." she began to got out of bed, but Eli pushed her back in with one hand.

"No!" she commanded.

"What?" Eli stared at her without mercy. It was a look Sheri would never have been able to place on the purple loving doctor's innocent face.

"You are staying here until the doctors say you can go." Sheri tried to get up again, but the stain of pushing against Eli was obviously too much for her.

"How am I supposed to see the crime scene without going to it?"

"Lestrade may I borrow your phone?" Eli held out her hand for the officer's iPhone. After unlocking it and searching through the apps she opened up FaceTime. "I'll FaceTime your phone and then you can see all the evidence you need."

"I'm not staying here all day. What am I going to do in the meantime?"

"Sleep." Sheri sneered and pushed up against Eli's arm, trying to get the upper hand by insulting Eli with some choice words. This went on for a total of five minutes before Lestrade finally got bored and started looking around at the drug baggie.

"Hey, Eli?"

"Yeah?" Eli said barely struggling against Sheri's weak attempts to shake her off.

"Benzodiazepines, that's a soporific right?" Eli smiled wildly as Sheri's eyes widened.

"No!" she groaned flailing against Eli's chicken arms, "If you drug me I swear I will draw a mustache on you when you sleep." Lestrade uncapped the pill bottle and pulled one out. In desperation Sheri did the one thing she was perhaps least proud on that day. She licked Eli's arm.

"Sheri!" Eli said as her arm instinctively retracted, "Gross!" Sheri rolled to the other side of her bed and fell off the side with a thump. Quickly as she could, she crawled, with her hospital blanket tailing her, across the floor. But before she could even make it to the closed door, Lestrade and Eli pulled her by her arms back in bed.

"You can't do this to me!" she said as the two wrestled her into her bed and tried to shove the pill in her mouth.

"It's for your own good." Sheri closed her mouth as well as she could but they managed to get the pill down with a forced swig of water. In minutes Sheri was fast asleep. "I wonder if they have any straight jackets?"