The Mysterious Case of Ava Lawrence vs Sherlock Holmes

Underestimated

Sorry for not updating in a while but heres the next chapter!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The cab ride was quite but comfortable, a kind of silence that I hadn’t found myself in for a long time. I scratched Max’s ear slightly to try and calm myself down, not because I was scared but because I was full of adrenaline. This is what I loved to do and this is what I will always love to do. As the cab finally stop in front of a massive house that I swear could fit our apartments in it three times over, I felt my palms start to sweat. Whatever we were going to find at the end of this huge treasure hunt wasn’t going to be good. For anyone. Realising that both Sherlock and John had already left the cab and that the driver was looking at me expectantly, I quickly jumped out before turning to face the house. I quickly ran up to the 2 men as Max came out from behind Sherlock, obviously having taken a liking to them. Approaching the door Sherlock knocked loudly before stepping back, waiting expectantly for the interrogation to start. After what seemed like forever the door finally opened and a mousy looking woman appeared. She had a tight bun piled on the top of her head and large thick glasses, she was dressed all in gray and I could tell instantly that she was a secretary of some sort.

“Can I help you,” she asked in a nasally voice, her mouth pulled downwards at the corner in a permanent scowl. “Yes, we are here to talk to Mr Charles Hunt about the recent deaths of his four ex business partners,” Sherlock stated curtly and clearly. I rolled my eyes at his abruptness and tried to smile kindly at the tight woman only to be met with a look of slight disgust before the door was shut in our face. “Rude,” I commented dryly as I expected us to turn and leave. “Wait a moment,” Sherlock stopped us as we could hear footsteps moving towards the door. Abruptly all thoughts of leaving flew out of my mind as an incredibly tall and incredibly thin man greeted us. “Hello,” he smiled politely, “I was told you wanted to see me. Please do come in.” His attitude was in stark contrast to the previous receiver we had met and I sighed happily at the thought of a little kindness. Being led through the house my jaw dropped as I took in the sheer size of it. Everything was large whether it was a staircase or a bookshelf. We entered what appeared to be a large drawing room and he ushered us to sit down. Complying quickly I awkwardly sat in a large armchair that was next to 4 others of its kind. Sherlock and John sat on either side of me as Mr Hunt consumed the farthest one, leaving a space between us where there was an empty chair. Max laid down in front of me and kept his eyes on the man, obviously wary.

“So Mr Hunt,” Sherlock stated abruptly before being cut off by the posh man in front of him. “Allow me Mr Holmes. Unfortunately I do not know what has happened to my former colleagues but I will help in any way I can as I do not want what happened to them to happen to me,” the smile on his face was warm but his eyes were cold and calculating. I was taken slightly aback by the fact that he knew who we were but for someone who had as much money as he clearly did, it was not unusual for him to keep up with local news and other such items. He probably had spies around the city as well. “So you know nothing,” John questioned, not looking convinced. “Nothing,” he repeated as I stared him down. He was lying and I knew it and I knew that both John and Sherlock knew it as well. “Well then,” Sherlock clapped his hands together and stood abruptly, “It appears our trip has been for nothing. We will be taking our leave now,” he called over his shoulder as John and I scrambled to keep up with his long strides. Max barked behind me as he ran to catch up, obviously having been caught off guard by the sudden move. “W-what a-are we d-doing?” I hissed at the tall man as we exited the estate. “There is no point in staying, whatever the man knows he will not tell us and so instead we will go to the last place that our victim was in before he met his untimely demise. A place that our dear friend Mr Hunt has just handed to us on a silver platter,” Sherlock kept his gaze straight as he yet again attempted to appear mysterious. “Just spit it out already Sherlock,” John growled from behind him, obviously tired. “One of the portraits hanging in the wall was of a coal factory, did you not notice?” he questioned smugly as I felt my cheeks heat up with anger. How is he so infuriating.

Realising at once that that factory was the reason why the man was living so lavishly after his previous companies untimely demise, I mentally hit myself for not having put the pieces together sooner. “S-so t-they we-r-re killed a-at that f-factory, w-w-hich means t-that he was wo-orking with the man f-from the t-tape,” I forced out, now hating the man that we had just left behind.

Walking down the streets of London I wondered why we hadn’t hailed a cab but decided to keep quite. Before long we reached the large iron gates of the grey factory building. It was probably the most foreboding building I had ever seen and I have seen quite a lot of jails in my time so that’s saying something. I was surprised to see that when Sherlock pushed the gate opened with a wail, leaving me cringing at the thought of someone having heard. We slowly moved inside towards the dusty building and, quickly looking around and finding a massive blood spatter on the floor, John’s phone was out and Lestrade was on his way. Sherlock came to life and started practically running around the room, looking in any dark corner he could for another clue. Bending down I tried to make sense of what happened here. The blood spatters made it look like he had been hit from the front, probably on the head and I looked up to see a massive hook dangling incredibly high up in the ceiling. On the other side of the room was a conveyer belt that led into a massive furnace that appeared to be for the coal that was usually made here. Dusting of the dirt that was now on my knees I straightened up before looking around for anything else. John and Sherlock were still prancing around trying to find something else. I heard police cars pull up outside and quickly wrote what I thought had happened on a piece of paper.

“Alright boys, you know what to do,” I heard Lestrade order as he came through the metal doors followed by a team of god who knows what they did. Before he could reach Sherlock and John I quickly slipped the piece of paper in his hand and smiled up at him as he read it. Nodding his head he continued towards the other two where I could now see John tying Max up to a nearby pole in the room to appease the greying police man. I walked over to my canine companion and busied myself giving him a good pat as I heard Sherlock repeat everything to Lestrade that I had just written on the paper. I glanced over at them and saw the police man smirking at me whilst pretending to listen and I smirked back. God we are smug. Clearing his throat Sherlock stopped mid sentence as Lestrade interrupted him and pulled out the paper I had given him. I quickly ducked my head as he started to read it out, “Victim was dragged into the building, being hit over the head with a blunt object but already sustaining injuries before being hooked onto the big, well, hook up there.” He paused as he pointed up and I took a glance at Sherlock who looked incredibly surprised, “The conveyer belt was then turned on and the hook started moving forward getting closer to the furnace, hence the burn marks on his suit. Before he was burnt to a crisp the conveyer belt was stopped with the victim having already passed away before he was dragged back through the door and into a car where he presumably was then driven back to his apartment where he was eventually found,” Lestrade re folded the paper and looked back towards the two shell shocked men. “Who gave you..” Lestrade held up his hand as he gestured towards me, “Maybe you shouldn’t take her for granted again.” I kept my head down since I knew that I was red as a tomato.

Lestrade walked back towards his men but not before stopping in front of me and patting me on the shoulder. I smiled up at him before standing up slowly making my way over to the others. “I underestimated you Ava Lawrence,” Sherlock grinned at me widely and I smiled shyly back. “Well done,” John grabbed my arm in a friendly way and I retreated into myself at the praise. “Alright let’s head back, we can continue all this tomorrow. I’m pretty sure we could all use some rest,” John ushered us out the doors and back towards the main roads, hailing a cab. “I-I’m p-pretty sure y-you’re not going to sleep,” I looked up at Sherlock who smiled down at me. “You’re probably right about that ,” he stated happily as a cab pulled up and we started piling in. Max jumped in last and as usual before the cab driver could say anything John gave him a twenty and we were on our way home for a good night’s sleep.