Hello, dear readers,
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of positive feedback I received on my last post, both through Facebook and Twitter. I had a few requests for a continuation of this story, which hadn’t been my original plan, but I am enjoying this so far. Ashley, I hope this meets your satisfaction!
I will not be posting the writing prompt until the end of the story because it’s a mystery, and I don’t want to give anything away. I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
A Study in Suicides Part: 1
I slammed the door shut with so much force that the neighbors at the end of the street probably heard it. I knew I had startled the man standing before me, but he didn’t let it show. He just stared at me, waiting for some sort of response. I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a long sigh before finally speaking to the man who would not stop staring at me.
“I am interested in this case, so although I’m extremely angry with you right now, I will help you but right now, I need a shower, a tall glass of wine, and my blog.”
Sherlock is not a stupid man, he said nothing only nodded his response. I pushed past him and headed towards my bedroom.
Finally, after an extremely long day I poured myself a glass of Lambrusco and sat down at my desk to write.
June 27th, 2017
I reluctantly left the curly haired detective sleeping on my couch as I finished writing the note letting him know that I’d be late as I had dinner plans with friends, and I left him my phone number in case he needed anything. When I arrived at work everyone was looking at me like I had two heads, but I was far too exhausted to care.
“You look like crap.” Amanda said to me as I walked into my office.
“Gee thanks, best friend.” I replied sarcastically.
Amanda chuckled, “Verbal two by fours.” “ Seriously though, everything okay?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but it’s a long story so I will explain it to both you and Ashley tonight at dinner.”
My schedule was completely full and I didn’t get a chance to talk to anyone other than my patients all day. I took off my lab coat and sat in my chair to finish typing my notes when I felt my phone vibrate for what seemed like the 100th time that day. I looked at my phone and saw that I had 15 new text messages.
8:47 BORED – SH
9:12 Are you really this busy, or are you just ignoring me? – SH
9:17 You have a lot of books by Charles Dickens, I too like the classics. -SH
9:35 Did you know there’s fishing lures in your underwear drawer? – SH
9:42 I hate being bored. – SH
9:45 KRISTIN! Seriously,stop ignoring me. -SH
9:50 You shouldn’t hide money in your fridge, it’s the first place intruders look. -SH
9:52 I should not have looked in your night stand! -SH
9:57 Do you like Chinese? -SH
10:02 I found your bike. Nice Harley, I’m taking it for a spin.” -SH
10:36 I went to visit the Baltimore City Police Department. They know they have a Consulting Detective they can call when their detective’s can’t figure out the crime. 🙂 – SH
10:48 Lunch plans? – SH
11:00 Who is Mrs. Hudson to you? I don’t think she likes me. -SH
11:23 Can you bring home body parts? -SH
11:45 It’s very rude to ignore your guest. – SH
I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a deep breath. “I’m going to murder him.” I told myself. I sent back a reply:
5:12 I was not ignoring you, Sherlock, I’ve been super busy, Why are you snooping through my things? I love Chinese, why? Please tell me you were careful with the Harley? I’m sure the Police Department just loved that. .” Did you tell them you were Sherlock Holmes? I didn’t have time to take lunch today. Mrs. Hudson is my aunt, what did you say to her? Oh, God!! Did you tell her you’re living with me?!! I cannot bring home body parts. Why do you, never mind… we’ll talk when I get home. Stay out of my things! Want me to bring home dinner for you?” – KW
5:13 Why do you use so many exclamation points? – SH
Really? I respond to all 15 of his messages and his reply is about my punctuation? Anyway I finally arrived at the restaurant to meet Amanda and Ashley for dinner, as we do every Tuesday night. I explained to the girls what had happened and at first they just stared at me in disbelief. I couldn’t blame them it’s a hard concept for me to grasp, I wouldn’t believe it myself if it weren’t I who had actually spent all of last night with him.
“So let me get this straight.” Ashley finally commented. “That old rusty lamp that looked similar to the one in Aladdin actually held a genie that you summoned when you rubbed it and wished for whoever you had a crush on at the time to like you back?”
“Yes.”
“And the genie never granted any of your wishes until yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“So where is Sherlock now?”
“At my place.”
“You’re letting him stay there?!” Ashley asked, half shouted at me.
“What else am I supposed to do? I can’t kick him out, he has nowhere to go.”
“Kristin, the man broke into your house, most people would call the police, not invite him to sleep on their couch!”
“She does have a point.” Amanda chimed in.
“ Look, I know how this sounds. I realize this is completely crazy, but I’m the one that wished him here. He is in an unfamiliar place with nowhere to go, no one he knows,(or so I thought,) and I feel responsible. I can’t kick him out on the street. I just can’t.”
Both of them sighed. “I always warned you that your big heart would get you in trouble one day. Sometimes you are just too kind.” Ashley said with a worried expression.
“Yeah, well.”
“Be careful what you wish for.” Amanda stated.
“Isn’t that the understatement of the year.” I half chuckled in response.
A comfortable silence fell among us as the waitress refilled our glasses and brought us our salads, only to be interrupted by a deep voice that I was not expecting to hear.
“Hello ladies.” Sherlock said as he removed a chair from the table next to us and slid it right beside me. “I’m sorry for the intrusion, but I’m afraid I require Kristin’s assistance.”
I looked up at him and sighed heavily. “Nope.” I simply stated.
“Nope? What do you mean, Nope? I’m Sherlock Holmes.”
“And I’m Kristin Watson,” I responded before he could go any further.
He was stunned and a bit annoyed, I could tell. “Kristin, we have a case. Someone’s died. I need you to examine the body.”
“Why can’t you do it? You’re the great Sherlock Holmes. Go make your deductions and I’ll be by after dinner.”
“Oh, you want me to make deductions, do you?” He hissed.
He snapped his head towards Amanda and looked at her, making her clearly uncomfortable before he stated. “You’re a nurse, you work closely with Kristin, you’ve broken off an engagement recently, my guess is you’ve had a string of bad relationships and aren’t quite ready for commitment although you’ve tried to convince yourself otherwise. Judging by your expression when I first walked up to the table you thought I was handsome and understood why Kristin wouldn’t kick me out, I overheard your conversation by the way, but now you’re doing everything you can not to punch me in the face. Am I close?”
Amanda’s response was some sort of grunt and Sherlock winked at her before turning to Ashley.
“How far along are you?” He asked her.
“Excuse me?”
“If I had to guess I’d say around 8 weeks. Am I right?”
Ashley stared at him with wide eyes. “How?” was all she could ask.
“They are both having wine, you are having a mock cocktail.”
‘Maybe I don’t like alcohol.”
“Mm. That could be, but then you would have just simply ordered a water or an iced tea. You like a strawberry daiquiri every now and then, and since you can’t have the real thing, you’ll settle for a virgin.”
Ashley looked at me with tears in her eyes. “I was saving it for a surprise. I was going to tell everyone all at once at my fourth of July party. I didn’t think you’d find out this way.” She was sobbing now.
I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her. “Hey, it’s okay. I promise your secret is safe, I won’t say anything, and if Sherlock wants to live to see his next case, he won’t say anything either.”
“This is all very sentimental, but may we please go now? There’s been a murder.” Sherlock stated impatiently.
“Fine.” I said through gritted teeth. “You’ve already ruined this night by insulting my friends, I guess now is as good as time as any to call it a night.” I turned to Amanda and Ashley and gave them one last hug. “I’m so sorry.”
I sat in the back of the cab with my arms folded and my left leg crossed over my right one. I stared out the window avoiding Sherlock’s gaze that I felt on me for the entire length of the trip. When we arrived at the crime scene I hopped out of the cab as quickly as possible, leaving Sherlock to pay the cab fare. He jogged until he fell in step beside me as we made our way to the caution tape.
“What are you doing here?” A lady dressed in reflective clothing asked him.
“I’ve been invited,” replied Sherlock as he narrowed his eyes at the woman.
“By whom?”
“Detective Lestrade, who else?”
“ Wait a minute, you two know each other?” I asked.
“Yes, for ages now,” the woman replied “I’m Sally Donovan, you see wherever Sherlock goes, we follow. I don’t know how or why, it’s just the way it is, the way it’s always been.” “And you are?”
“Dr. Watson,” Sherlock replied before I could. “Now, would you mind letting us in?”
“The freak and his assistant are here.” Sally said into her Walkie Talkie. She lifted the tape and led us to Detective Lestrade.
“Good evening, Detective Holmes, Dr. Watson, I presume?” He asked as he took my hand and kissed the back of it.
“Yes, good evening,” I replied with a wide smile as I failed to notice the slight glare Sherlock was shooting at us. Detective Lestrade led us to the body. I knelt by the body and looked up to both men, “Do you mind?” I asked them.
“Please,” they both replied in unison as Sherlock held out his hand towards the body.
“Young lady, in her mid thirties, married for a few years judging by the state of her wedding ring, I’d say the time of death was about two hours ago. She is cold, but rigor mortise has yet to set in. She is still in her business suite so my guess is that she came home from work, took an entire bottle of Tylenol,” I said as I picked up the empty bottle that was sitting on her night stand, “And then laid down to fall asleep, judging by the brief case and records she has lying next her on the bed, I deduce that she was a defense attorney.”
“Impressive Dr. Watson.” Sherlock said as he walked up to the body, “But you’ve missed the obvious. This is the 5th suicide in Baltimore in the last 5 months, 1 suicide per month, there has to be a connection.” Sherlock picked up a business card of the psychiatrist that was lying next to the woman. “You see, but you do not observe, Kristin. She came home from an appointment with her psychiatrist, something happened to her. She must have discussed something with her therapist and she couldn’t handle it. What else is missing?”
“The suicide note?” I asked.
“Elementary, my dear Watson.” “It’s the first thing I noticed.”
“Well, we can’t all be Sherlock Holmes, can we?”I replied sarcastically. “Why is there no suicide note?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“No,” Detective Lestrade and I answered at the same time.
‘Such simple minds.” Sherlock said as he shook his head. “She didn’t leave a suicide note because her suicide was not planned. Unlike most suicides, this is not something that she had been contemplating for months, or even years. No, this, this was a spur of the moment thing, most likely brought on by something that was discussed during her therapy session. Instead of feeling better after her appointment she felt so depressed, so distraught that she couldn’t handle it, and she felt like she had no way out. Whatever the issue was, it was suffocating her. We need to find that psychiatrist and get answers, only then can we start putting the pieces together.”
I watched Sherlock in amazement as he made his deductions, I would never tell him, but I was in awe of him. The way he moved so gracefully, the way he quickly spewed out every word from his perfectly shaped, cupids bow lips, but I also loathed the way he made me feel inferior to him. He was the only person to have this affect on me, and I was still fuming at the way he had treated my friends, and I knew he knew it. He smirked as he caught me staring at him, and I cursed myself for making his head bigger than it already was. I turned to Detective Lestrade. “Thank you for your time, we will be in touch tomorrow, we will need to see…” I trailed off as I grabbed the business card from Sherlock’s hands, “Dr. Valentine tomorrow. Can you arrange that for us?”
“Yes, of course, Dr. Watson.” Lestrade replied as he once again took my hand and kissed the back of it.
Sherlock rolled his eyes as he held out his arm for me to take and walked me out to the street.
I closed my laptop and stretched my arms above my head turning slightly to see Sherlock sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands. I got up to wash my glass when I felt his fingers gently grab my wrist as I walked by him. I looked down at him.
Sherlock cleared his throat, keeping his grasp on my wrist but not making eye contact with me, “Kristin.” He sighed. “Kristin, I’ve been around for many decades, and in every one I’m always the same arrogant jackass I’ve always been. I am guided by my brain and not by my heart. I have never been a man of many words, nor have I been a man known for apologies, or human decency in general.” He finally looked up at me,were those tears in his eyes? “I’m very sorry for the way I treated your friends, my words were careless, but I honestly meant no harm.” My heart melted a little as he said this to me, but my face remained stoic as I did not want him to know the affect he was having on me. “Forgive me?” He asked.
“Sherlock,” I said softly.
“Kristin, I always shut myself off from the rest of the world. I’m sorry that you had the unpleasant misfortune of bringing me back, but I’m beyond grateful for it, truly I am, and the last thing I want is for you to hate me.”
“Oh, Sherlock…. I don’t hate you.”
He stood up and smiled down at me, he bent down and kissed my cheek. “Good night Dr. Watson.”
“I’m still mad at you, you know?”
“I know.” He chuckled as he made his way to the guest room.
“Good night Mr. Holmes.”
Note: I do not own Sherlock Holmes, all Sherlock related content is based off the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I claim all other content as my own personal work. Any & all rights belong solely to Kristian L. Cosner Weigman
