The Great Game (Sherlock Holmes x OC)

THREE- Carl Powers & Mr. Monkford

Anita and the boys had hailed a taxi and headed back to the boys flat, when Sherlock started to explain who Carl Powers was and his case.

"1989, a young kid- champion swimmer- came up from Brighton for a school sports tournament; drowned in the pool. Tragic accident. You wouldn't remember it. Why should you?" Sherlock explained to John as he showed him the front page of the news from that day on his phone.

"But you two remember," John said. Anita shook her head while Sherlock said 'yes.'

"Nope, Sherlock told me about it a few years back," Anita explained, shrugging.

"Something fishy about it?" John asked Sherlock.

"Nobody thought so- nobody except me. I was only a kid myself. I read about it in the papers," Sherlock responded.

"The boy, Carl Powers, had some kind of fit in the water, but by the time they got him out it was too late. But there was something wrong; something I couldn't get out of my head," Sherlock continued.

"What?" John questioned.

"His shoes," Sherlock remarked.

"What about them?"

"They weren't there. I made a fuss; I tried to get the police interested, but nobody seemed to think it was important. He'd left all the rest of his clothes in his locker, but there was no sign of his shoes..." Sherlock said. Anita picked up the box that was containing the shoes off the floor.

"Until now," Anita finished.

Six Hours To Go

Sherlock shut himself in the kitchen and was sitting at the table with the trainers nearby while looking through photographs and printouts of the newspaper reports of Carl Powers death from 1989.

Anita had to shift at Scotland Yard, but the whole time she was writing up reports and arresting petty thieves, she was concerned about the woman locked somewhere, about to blow up. When Anita left, Sherlock sent John to take care of Mycroft's case. Sherlock continued to run tests.

Three Hours To Go

Anita walked into the kitchen, hoping that Sherlock had a major breakthrough during her shift. He looked up at her when she entered.

"Poison," he said.

"I'm sorry?" Anita asked. Sherlock slammed his hand down on the table, causing Anita to jump at the sudden noise. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Clostridium botulinum!" he exclaimed.

"That's one of the deadliest poisons in the world. You're saying he was murdered?" Anita asked. Sherlock stood up and walked over to where he had hung up the laces from the shoes.

"Remember the shoelaces?" he asked, Anita nodded. John walked into the kitchen, offering a smile to Anita which she returned

"Yeah, the boy suffered from eczema," Anita explained, listlessly. She was getting anxious with so little time left.

"It'd be the easiest thing in the world to introduce the poison into his medication. Two hours later he comes up to London, the poison takes effect, paralyzes the muscles and he drowns," Sherlock explained.

"What- how- how come the autopsy didn't pick it up?" John asked.

"It's virtually undetectable. If nobody had a reason to look for it, they never would have found it," Anita answered as Sherlock walked to the table where his laptop was. The page is open at the Forum of his website and he begins to type into the message box.