A Trail of Treasure - Sherlock Holmes

Chapter Twenty - An End, For Now

"How bad is it?" Caroline asked. 

The group had moved to John's office where he inspected Clayton's condition. 

"Pretty bad," John sighed. "I would say he has a few months left, at most."

"Not enough time to make up for all the lost time," Clayton called from the examination room. "But at least I finally got to meet you."

"Yes." She was still in shock; the past day had been such a whirlwind with Irene's sudden visit, the pearls being in her possession, storming out after getting angry with Sherlock, the run-in with Clayton, and not to mention the whole reveal about the Westin family. She still had no idea how she felt about it all.   "Where did you get the pearls?"

"Your mother gave them to me. Apparently they were part of your father's collection. She said I could keep or sell them, do with them whatever I liked.  Well I'm glad I held onto them." 

"Yes.  Well, thank you, for sending them."

"If that's all you have to remember me by, then I'm glad you at least have something, and that it's a nice memory. 'Cause as you can see, I'm nothing much."

"Well clearly you meant a great deal to my mother, so that means something."

"Yes, yes it does. Oh, dear, sweet Lizzie." 

Caroline had never heard anyone refer to her mother this way. 

Clearly her family had not been anything close to what she had thought it had been. 

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The group gathered at the Sholto house where Thaddeus and his father were kind enough to let Clayton stay and where he could receive the needed regular medical attention for as long as was needed.  

"Can you tell us anything about the Red Circle?" Caroline asked the military men.

"The what?" asked the Major.

"The Red Circle. A secret society that infiltrates systems."

"I believed that's who Mr. Clayton was working with before I saw the more personal connection," said Sherlock. 

"Hmm." Sholto stroked his chin. "Your father - uh, Harold Westin - did seem rather paranoid, and I think he was worried about someone coming after him, so perhaps this was what he meant. We shared a lot with each other, amongst our fellow military men, but not everything. Everyone still had their own secrets. Every single one of us. Myself included."

So basically the whole Red Circle was just as much of a mystery as before. 

"There are two sides to this case," Sherlock remarked as they left the house and stepped up into the carriage.  "The Red Circle, and the pearls." 

"I still can't believe it," breathed Caroline.

"I agree it was quite the shock," said John.

When they arrived at 221B, Caroline was attempting to put the pearls around her neck in the hall mirror, but her hands were shaking so much she couldn't get the clasp to work. 

Sherlock appeared in the reflection behind her.  "Here, allow me-" But she drew away. He held out his hand. "May I?"

She placed the pearls in his hand and moved her hair out of the way while he secured the string's clasp around her neck. It felt good to have them back there around her neck - she had grown quite used to them.  "There, back safe and sound. Where they belong."