Lets Play A Game - Sherlock Fanfiction [Sequel to IBIY]

Chapter ten - Case solved.

I walk through the park, briefly enjoying the morning air and listening to the birds chirping. The sun feels nice on my face, we didn't get sun much recently, especially since its February. I look ahead and see Joe Summers sitting on a bench, watching children run around and laugh together as they played tag. I walk over to him confidently, hoping the plan works out as expected.

"Morning, Joe." I smile, taking a seat next to him. He exhales in annoyance, but continues to stare at the children. I pause for a moment, then look towards the children's parents that were observing their children play, watching over them and making sure they didn't get hurt. "You picturing those two begging for their son's life?"

"No, it's nice out, I'm just passing the time."

"Listen, before you leave town, I wanted to ask you about William Crawford. Your fifth victim. Parents called him Billy."

"Ah." He nods, remembering.

"You abducted him on April 3rd."

"Right, yeah. Blond boy." He turns to face me, a small smile on his face. "He cried a lot."

"Well, yes, I'm sure you could reminisce all day. Still, not your cleanest work. The police found his body on April 7th"

"Yeah, we buried them deeper after that. Actually, let me be clear about that, in case you have somebody listening to our conversations. Mr. Abbott made me bury them deeper after that."

I sigh, already getting sick of his stupid remarks, "Whoever had the idea, I think it was a good one, because the police found skin under William's fingernails. Definitely came from one of his attackers. We ran it against Samuel Abbott's DNA this morning."

"And let me guess, it didn't match. Is this supposed to be scaring me? It's probably mine. So what? I have an immunity deal."

"Yes, you do. You cannot be prosecuted for any crimes committed in consort with the child abductor. Thing is Samuel Abbott broke three vertebrates in his back on March 23, 2009. That's why he couldn't work as an exterminator anymore. That's why he wore a back brace." I start to explain to him, listing all the statistics together, and Joe's face turns pale, "The surgery had him in hospital for three weeks. I believe he was in traction the entire time. Difficult to abduct and murder a young boy when you're feeling un-well, I'd imagine. From a hospital bed, I'd say it was impossible."

He gulps quietly, and tries to think of an excuse, but he just looked pathetic. "...I have an immunity deal."

"For crimes committed in consort with Samuel Abbott... But you took William Crawford on your own, didn't you? What happened? You got bored while your playmate was in hospital?" I stare at him, and he sends me a look back, "Actually, you know what, don't tell me, 'cause I don't care."

He turns around to see the police cars that were now pulling over to the curb at the entrance of the park. "Are those for me?"

"I called them right after your parents told me you were in the park. You're welcome to try and run, I could use a bit of a workout. Oh, no, wait, a fair fight's not really your speed, is it?" I say sarcastically, trying to whined him up for no particular reason. I guess it was just fun to, I really hated this guy. I stand up once the police started walking over to us, then I begin to walk away.

"It was only one murder. And Samuel abused me." I don't need to look at him to tell he was smiling, "I'll be out soon."

I carry on walking. I give Lestrade a smile when he walks past, and he mutters a quick thanks before hurrying off towards Joe. Erin and a few other police officers walk past too, and Erin gently grasps my arm before I could leave. I stop walking and turn to face him, confused.

"Well done, Moore. Pretty neat job you did solving that." He smiled. I let out a chuckle.

"Gah, it was nothing." I tell him, and he furrows his eyebrows, giving me a look of disbeleif before realising the grip on my arm and tapping my shoulder in a friendly manner before rushing off to help arrest Joe. My eyes follow him as he jogs off towards Lestrade, amd I smile ad shake my head slightly before continuing  to walk. I see John leaning against a police car, and a smile forms on my face again and I stop in my tracks.

"That was brilliant," He comments. I smile, and hook my arm around his, desperate to get away from the whole crime stuff for a while. I think that case was the last case I would be solving for awhile. I need to catch up on some programs, drink lots of tea and probably hibernate for a few days. He smiles back and starts walking away with me, not bothering to ask questions.

"So, how about lunch?" I ask. A wash of relief spreads across his face at the mention of lunch.

"Couldn't agree more."

***

"I don't think I've ever tasted coffee like that." I begin, "It was amazing."

"That's the first, you normally hate coffee."

"No no no, let me rephrase that. I prefer tea, I didn't say I hate coffee. I never said that before."

"When we were seventeen you chucked coffee at me because it wasn't tea. I'm pretty sure that gave me the expression you hated coffee. You're lucky it wasn't hot." He laughs at the memory, and I stare at him with my mouth open, not believing that I actually did that. I remeber the memory vaguely though, and carry on walking down the street towards Backer Street.

"Don't be silly, I knew the coffee was cold."

"As if."

I hit him playfully, and he carries on laughing. The sight of him laughing makes me laugh too, despite my effort not too. I roll my eyes, both at him and at my younger self for being so dramatic. 

I stop walking when I see a shadow move in the corner of my eye. I look beside myself and John, towards the bunch of recycle bins from the apartments opposite us and raise my eyebrow. 

"What?" John questions, looking at me and at the recycle bins with confusion. 

"I, uh-" I start walking towards the bins, "I saw something."

"It was probably a cat."

"Looked big."

"A big cat then?"

I ignore him and his efforts to get me to walk away, and move one of the bins out the way. I hear the slight sound of whining, and remove another bin out my sight. Suddenly I see what was making the noise, and try to help it immediately. 

"I think he's hurt his leg!"

"He?" John comes up behind me and finally see's what I was looking at. It's a dog; a collie, I think. And by the looks of it, it has been hit by a car.

It didn't matter that I used to be a vet, I had no equipment on me to help him. I tell John to hail a cab in hope they would let us take an injured dog the vets, and fortunately, they do.