"I brought your favorite wine, Mary. It's Merlot." Sherlock said as he walked into their bedroom. He heard them in the bathroom.
"You could have given us a heads up warning to when you were coming over." John told him. He was currently rubbing Mary's back as she vomited into the toilet.
"Wine is good for morning sickness. I estimated that today would be a rather hard morning." Sherlock told them. He put the bottle on the bed.
"Sherlock, you do know that pregnant women can't drink alcohol. It's unhealthy for the baby." Mary told him.
"It's only unhealthy if you get tipsy. Half a glass won't hurt the child." Sherlock insisted.
He went into their kitchen and grabbed a wine glass. He poured half of a glass and let it rest on the table. He looked through the cabinet's and found an Alka Seltzer. He dropped it in and let it fizz away.
Sherlock had the key to the whole place and knew where everything was. John and Mary didn't originally give him the key, but Sherlock stole the key and got a copy. But Mary let it go and didn't get mad. Now he usually came over when they weren't at the flat and he ranted about cases, or helped them out when John calls. Today Sherlock estimated the perfect time to help Mary out based on a schedule Sherlock started. He even had a white board at home with the sequence of events.
Mary finished retching and walked to the living room. John followed her suit. Her bump was just showing, but she was still fit and could run just the same. She always insisted on continuing cases with them until she couldn't run any longer.
"I'll take the drink. I need it." Mary took the glass and drank half of what was in there.
John sat at the bar table while Mary lifted her legs in the recliner.
"Which case have you decided to work on?" John asked.
Sherlock's energy elevated and he started his tangent.
"This man came in, very intoxicated, and he starts talking to me about how he went on dates with his wife's ghost. 15 years after she's killed in a car accident! He says that he felt like he was hallucinating yet other people talked to her as well. I looked at the pictures he took, and realized that it was a man impersonating his wife! The guy got so sad that he shot himself in the living room. Lestrade came over last night and got it cleaned up, although Donovan is still pushing it and making me seem like a murderer." Sherlock finished.
Mary frowned. "That's horrible. I feel bad for him."
"Well at least now he'll be with his wife."
Sherlock continued another tangent. Apparently that morning the imposter man came to Sherlock. It turned into a transgender story of some sort. Mary and John got lost halfway through but picked it up at the end.
"So the wife faked her death to transition. Then came back because he regretted leaving the man. And the husband didn't listen to him. That's a big mess, I must say." John tried writing everything down on a notepad.
"You can't get much weirder than that." Mary had to say.
Sherlock shook his head. "One time I got a man confess to me that he killed his wife. Long story short, he was actually dating a cow and he worked at a slaughter house." Sherlock summed up. Mary rolled her eyes.
"There's always worse, isn't there."
"I'll go and get ready, then we can get back to the flat." John ran to his room to get changed.
Sherlock watched Mary. She froze until she heard the shower turn on and John get in.
She dug through her pocket and threw it to Sherlock.
"What's in this?" He held a flash drive. It was fairly new. Bought a couple weeks prior. He could tell it was kept in a wooden drawer, covered in clothes. Probably to conceal it.
"Don't tell John about that flash drive. And as for now, you'll now when to watch it. I want you to make sure you watch it with John. And don't tell him about that drive until then. I trust you with it."
Sherlock pocketed it. "As you wish. Which names are you and John debating for the child?"
"Rosamund, Rose, Rory, or Nathaniel."
Sherlock nodded. "And judging by the way you said each name and in what order, Rosamund is your favorite and you despise the name Nathaniel. I'm guessing Rosamund is your choice and Rory is John's favorite. And Nathaniel was Mrs. Hudson's pick." He deducted.
"Correct."
John stumbled into the living room and pulled his jacket on.
"Alright. Let's go." John said. Sherlock got up and headed to the door.
"When will you be coming over?" Sherlock asked Mary, although he ended up answering for her. "3. Good, don't be late."
And with that, the two left in the cab.
The two sat in the flat and let in their visitors one by one. It went like usual. The person explained their case, Sherlock solved it, and John wrote it all down. Sometimes Sherlock would give John the easy ones and John would solve it.
After a couple of boring cases, an interesting case walked into the room.
"My wife was found dead, and the police told me she had committed suicide. But I know her. She was extremely happy. I think she was murdered." He told them.
Sherlock looked at him. He read him like a book.
"Rich, gay, in an affair. You played piano and violin as a child, yet you started the saxophone recently. You and your boyfriend just recently got engaged. You may not have been romantically involved with your wife, but you were friends. Probably married to join your wealth. Your wife knew of the affair and she probably had one of her own. Although her boyfriend probably did not know of you. I'm guessing that she was hung after getting intoxicated. Her boyfriend is the main suspect if we were saying it was a murder. Your boyfriend is the second suspect." Sherlock deducted quickly. The man seemed very shocked.
"You are correct, about everything. But I doubt my fiancé did anything. I think it was Kelly's boyfriend. He had a temper, and Kelly and I were planning to divorce."
John nodded. "I would make sense. Her body is at the morgue, correct?" John asked him.
"Yes. I demanded an autopsy."
Sherlock was already grabbing his coat and throwing John's coat at him.
"Let's go." John said as they walked out. The man was left there dumbfounded as to what happened. Mrs. Hudson leaned in the doorway.
"I'll show you out." She said.
Sherlock and John arrived to the morgue and walked in.
"You're looking for Kelly Ripper. She's already laid out. Fractured neck and strangulation from the rope. Intoxicated." Molly told them as soon as they walked in.
"Perfect. I think it was murder." Sherlock told her.
She rolled her eyes. "Go ahead and look over her. I'm going out to eat. Do you want anything?"
"No thank you, Molly." John thanked her, and she was gone.
Sherlock pulled on some gloves and flipped off the sheet. Kelly's throat was heavily bruised and bent as a slightly off angle.
John looked at her. "She was hanged from the front. Usually people don't put on nooses backwards." John told him.
"That's exactly why this is interesting." Sherlock told her. He looked under her nails and fingers. He leaned down and sniffed her hair.
"She was drinking with her fiancé. I smell hints of men's cologne in her hair. She got into a weak confrontation with him. Most likely she was so drunk, she couldn't fight back properly. The state of her cuticles show that she takes care of her nails professionally, but her nails are dirty and bent. She was clawing at the fiancé, but he wasn't intoxicated. I bet that if we find the man, his hands will be covered or bandaged from rope burn." Sherlock decided.
He looked at his phone for a moment. "Let's go talk to the fiancé." He said.
"Is the game on?" John asked him as they walked down the stairs.
"The game is on."
The two hopped into a taxi and Sherlock gave him the address. The taxi drove off.
"Let me talk to him first, just in case he isn't the murderer. You might make him mad." John told Sherlock.
"Fine. But I'm going to look through his flat."
They both jumped out of the taxi and walked up to the door. Sherlock knocked and started flipping over some of the garden gnomes.
"Stop it and act normal." John snapped at him. Sherlock stood straight and stopped.
A tall man opened the door. He had blonde hair and a slim frame. But not as slim as Sherlock.
"Hello. How can I help you two?" He asked.
"I'm John Watson and he's Sherlock Holmes. We just wanted to ask some follow up questions about you girlfriend, Kelly. May we come in?"
He looked a little hesitant, but agreed. "Sure, come in."
The two walked in and had a seat while Sherlock walked around the room. Sherlock sat his hands. They were unbandage and clean. Nothing looked a mess.
"Sherlock. Do you see anything of importance?" John asked him, ignoring the man.
Sherlock flipped some things over and looked but came with nothing.
"Pleasure meeting you, we'll be on our way now." Sherlock said as he and John walked out of the house and back to the cab.
"So what did you find out?" John asked.
"He knew about the affair and broke up with Kelly. It's evident because he threw away a promise ring from her. But he knows the boyfriend personally. As in they used to be lovers. I'm guessing he's bisexual. Now let's go to the boyfriend."
The cab followed Sherlock's directions and they arrived to a very large and expensive house. Nearly a mansion.
The two went to the door and knocked. A butler opened it almost immediately.
"Sherlock Holmes. Please come in." He motioned. The two stepped in and walked around.
A man in a baby blue polo shirt walked down the stairs and greeted them.
"Hi, my name's Ron. How can I help you?" Sherlock looked at his hands, and he had on golfing gloves.
"You going out for a round of golf?" Sherlock presumed. "In this weather, the ball will be impossible to shoot." Outside was clear and sunny, but the wind was too strong for golf.
"Well I certainly like a challenge. Did you want to speak to Frank? I believe he went to you this morning about Kelly. He's not here at the moment." He smiled.
"I don't need to see him. I'd like to have a tour around your house. Kelly was found hanging in her room, if I am correct."
Ron looked a little grim. "Yes, I found her there. Come with me." He lead them up the stairs.
"I started to live in this house a month ago. I got to know Kelly and Frank's situation. Of course I knew it was legitimate. They had separate rooms and separate lives. I got to know Kelly. She was a really nice woman. I never thought she would be depressed or anything. She had a nice relationship, was married to her best friend, and had loads of money." He explained.
He lead them into a large room.
"She is usually an early riser. So when she didn't wake up before noon, I checked on her. She was hanging from the ceiling, noose backwards, and an empty bottle of wine was beside her. I called Frank and then called the police."
Sherlock walked around the room. He walked to the phone that was propped next to the bed. It was a line that connected to the workers of the house.
No nicks, no scratches. Clean. Wiped down everyday.
"Did she drink a lot? Heavily, I mean?" Sherlock asked him.
"Sadly yes. She drank a fair amount, usually when Frank and I left the house. She had a personal maid, and she'd call her for help sometimes."
"If she was a drunk and called her maid, then how come this phone looked spotless and unscratched." He held the phone up.
"Oh. We replaced that one fairly recently. She threw the last one against a wall."
Ron showed them around the house some more. Sherlock looked at everything and didn't find any problems.
It was only when Sherlock got to Frank's bedroom, did he notice some problems.
Frank was a light drinker, never got tipsy, yet there was an almost empty bottle of whiskey under his side of the bed. Frank was OCD, yet he had a drawer filled with unusual items messily strewn about. Ron was an accountant, but when Sherlock snuck through his work computer, everything was wiped clean.
"Thank you for showing me around the house. I certainly got some helpful information about Kelly. I will solve this case soon. Come on John." Sherlock ended the tour abruptly.
They walked out and hopped back into the taxi and sped back to town.
"Anything new?" John asked.
"I noticed something weird when we were leaving. They are supposed to have maids and butlers on hand at all times, but in that small home, I only saw one butler."
"Maybe it was their off day? It is a Sunday after all." John thought.
"I doubt it because in the kitchen, there was a large note pinned to the wall that said 'Celebration today'. If there was a celebration of some sort, then how come the house is not busy and Ron is about to go golfing in windy weather. It doesn't add up. So that means something is off. Tell me what you noticed."
John thought about it. "The butler smelled like formaldehyde. And the only golf related item in the house was Ron's gloves. There was nothing else that hinted to golf." John told him.
"Exactly. And if I call Mycroft, I can find out what that butler does and where he goes."
Sherlock dialed the numbed and waited for him to pick up.
"Yes brother o' mine." Mycroft drawled through the speaker.
"How many butlers work for Frank Ripper?" Sherlock asked him.
It took him a moment to pull it up. "Just one. Why do you ask?"
Sherlock ignored his question. "What does that one butler do in his free time?" He asked.
"He used to work in a funeral home when he was little. But ever since he turned 23, he worked and lived in the Ripper house. He has not left the place since then."
Sherlock ended the call. John was piecing some pieces together.
"The butler must have done some kind of embalming. He smells like formaldehyde even though he hasn't worked at the funeral home in years. And there's a celebration the day after Kelly dies." John talked.
"Keep talking John. You're getting close." Sherlock encouraged.
"The butler has embalmed a body recently, yet it can be Kelly's body. Maybe a dog died?" John thought.
"Nope. But someone did, and no one else knows about it. There's also a basement, so maybe that's where the maids are. And if I look up a picture of Frank and Ron, there's something wrong." Sherlock showed him his phone screen. It was of both of them, holding some kind of prize with Kelly in the background.
"What's missing?" John didn't see anything wrong with the picture.
"The Frank we met this morning had no imperfections on his face. But as we walked around and looked at the couple's pictures, there's a fairly visible beauty mark on his right cheek. In addition, the Frank we saw was a former smoker, yet in every photo with him smiling, there is no visible evidence of tobacco use."
Now that John looked at the photo, he saw it. "So Frank is not Frank. He's an imposter."
"Correct. And what happened to the old Frank?"
John realized what Sherlock was getting at. "He's dead. Probably in the basement. And Kelly knew about it, so she was killed."
"Good. Now call Lestrade and tell him to search the home."
John was already looking through his contacts list for the number.
Mary was sitting inside the lunch shop just under Sherlock's flat. She was getting messages from John about Kelly Ripper and her death when a man walked up to her.
"I'm sorry to intrude, but you're Mary Watson, right?" He asked.
Mary smiled. "Why yes I am."
"John and Sherlock are working my case. About my wife Kelly. I just wanted to ask you personally, is Sherlock ever wrong? I just can't help but feel a little hopeless in my situation."
"I assure you, Sherlock is always right. He may be a little dense at times, but he gets the case solved."
"I'm very grateful to hear that. Would you like to walk with me to get coffee? I'll pay." He offered. Mary had a cup of coffee, but it was not very tasty to her. From what she had heard from John, Frank is a rich guy with great taste.
"Thank you. The coffee here is a little weak for my taste." She had to agree. Plus she wanted free coffee, and she had a gun in her bag just in case.
The two left the shop after paying and walked down the street. Her phone kept pinging, so she silenced the texts. She would text him back later.
As they both walked down, she realized it was far away. It was a coffee shop that seemed very elegant. He bought her a cup and they walked around and talked. She pulled her phone out and read the texts.
As she read, she lagged behind. Frank is not Frank. The real Frank is dead in the basement.
Frank slowed down with her and flashed his eyes to her phone.
'They found out? How? I covered my tracks.' He thought to himself.
He reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a knife. He quickly wrapped his hand around Mary's waist under her jacket and flicked the knife open.
"Keep walking and hand over the bag. Pregnant women shouldn't be carrying weight." He told her quietly. He pressed the knife against her back, but not hard enough to cut her shirt.
She reluctantly handed him her bag and he took her phone.
"Now follow me, drink your coffee, and let's find a nice place to talk." He said calmly. Mary walked with him, the knife pressed against her back, and did as he said.
They took a detour through an alley and found themselves in an abandoned parking garage.
"Sit and don't move." He forced her to sit on the ground. He pulled the gun out of her bag and aimed it at her. "One wrong move, and I shoot."
Mary sat there. She was at the disadvantage. Her bump slowed her down, she was sitting, she he was armed with a gun and a knife. She couldn't get up quick enough the tackle him and grab the gun.
He set her bag down and pulled out the phone.
He read through the texts. They knew about him. He looked at further conversations.
"Just let me go, please. I'm pregnant. I don't want to lose my kid." Mary pleaded.
He smiled. "I already lost everything. The police are going to find Franks body and realize I'm an imposter. All I can do now is have a little fun. Wait until your husband hears this news. I doubt he'll come to save you."
He started to text on her phone, and Mary watched helplessly. Once he was done, he smashed the phone down on the floor.
John's phone pinged, and he looked at the message.
Sherlock was in the middle of deducting a customer at the sandwich shop under their flat. John dropped his coffee.
Sherlock looked at him and stopped talking. "What's wrong?"
John kept reading until he finished the message. Sherlock couldn't help but think that something bad happened. He took the phone and read it.
"This isn't true." Sherlock told him. "She would never cheat on you. Plus she didn't exhibit any signs."
"Sherlock, you didn't know about Mary's past and she surprised both of us. She knows how to evade deduction." John told him. His voice was shaking and he was about to cry.
Sherlock wouldn't believe it. "It's also not her writing style. I'm telling you, someone else wrote this message." He insisted. He flagged down a waitress.
"Have you seen a blonde woman with a baby bump come in here? She usually gets some coffee and waits for us in here." Sherlock asked her.
"Yeah, I served her. She walked off with some man." She told them before walking off. John put his face in his hands.
"This can't be happening. It just can't." He said.
Sherlock started dialing Mycroft.
"What is it now?" Mycroft answered, annoyed once more.
"Track Mary's phone. Tell me where she is." Sherlock demanded. There were some keyboard typing.
"This is weird. I can't track her phone." Mycroft told him. John heard and snatched Sherlock's phone.
"Could you still track it if she turned it off?" John asked him. He sniffled as he talked.
"Yes. The only way I wouldn't be able to track it would be if the phone was broken."
"So you're saying her phone is broken." John said. He handed the phone back to Sherlock. John was starting to believe Sherlock.
"Can you look through the camera footage and see if you can find her? We were supposed to meet at the shop but now she's gone, he phone's broken, and there's a false message about how she cheated on John. I know that someone else wrote that message." Sherlock told him.
Mycroft searched some more, and couldn't find her. "She's under the radar. I have camera's everywhere and I can't find her. You may want to look in on this." Mycroft suggested. Sherlock hung up the phone and handed it back to John.
"Let's search for her. She's in trouble."
The two left the shop and started walking around. Sherlock met with some homeless and got a couple people to search where the camera's don't film.
They were running around for an hour, and soon they got a call from one of Sherlock's look outs.
"She's being held at gunpoint in the unused parking garage on Daryl's Street. One gun and he has a knife." Someone said.
"Good. There's a packet of cocaine under my door mat for you." Sherlock told him before hanging up.
John hailed a cab and Sherlock directed them to the parking garage.
John got his gun ready and called Lestrade for backup.
The cabby stopped and they hopped out. Lestrade and another officer was waiting and armed.
Sherlock put a hand on John's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll keep her safe."
John nodded. "Remember, you made a vow."
"Alright they know we're coming. So be careful." Lestrade told them. The four got ready, and headed into the garage. Sherlock lead them.
They went up to the second story and a gunshot rang.
"Drop your weapons!" Sherlock yelled. He couldn't see them but he knew they were there.
"Not until you drop my charges." He heard a familiar voice say.
Sherlock, John, and Lestrade faced them and pointed their guns to them. The imposter was there, and he had an arm wrapped around her neck, and a gun pointed to her head.
"That's the Frank we're looking for. The imposter." Lestrade said.
"Let my wife go, and I won't blow your brains out." John yelled.
"Guarantee me a free man, and I'll let her go." He told them.
"Okay." Sherlock said.
Lestrade lowered his gun a little. "What the hell are you talking about? We know it's him."
"No you don't. I didn't give you the full information. I can still revoke it and you won't be able to convict him." Sherlock lowered his gun. He took the bullets, tossed them to the side, and then tossed the gun in the opposite direction.
"Mary. I'm going to walk over there and grab you. John you make sure he doesn't ready the gun. If he does, shoot." Sherlock told John. John's hands didn't waver.
Sherlock held his hands up and walked towards Mary.
The man kept his grip on her. "Stop there." He told Sherlock.
His grip loosen a little on Mary, but he kept her there.
"Tell me what's going to happen." He demanded.
"I will not expose the rest of the information I know, which will keep you a free man. As of right now, only your butler will be arrested because he embalmed the body." Sherlock told him.
The man nodded and let go of Mary. She walked slowly towards Sherlock as the man aimed his gun at her back. John started to walk forward and the guy snapped his gun towards John.
He readied the gun. John looked to the side and Mary was to the side.
"You two are married. Do you know the struggles of marriage?"
John nodded his head slightly, but kept his sights pointing directly to his chest.
"I was married to a lady previously. I thought we were a match made in heaven. Then she ran off with for a weekend with her other boyfriend. You know what he did. He shot her after he got high on heroin, and killed her. Do you know what it feels like to loose someone you love?" He asked.
"Of course. Military is hard business. Lots of casualties." John said.
"But I mean someone you were very close with. Like a girlfriend, past wife, mother, father, aunt, uncle, friend. Have you ever experienced that type of feeling of lose?" He asked.
John didn't move. He kept his eyes centered on his chest.
"You and Sherlock are close friends. Have you almost lost him?" He asked.
"Two years. I thought he was dead for two years." John told him. He flickered his eyes back to Sherlock to make sure they were safe. Lestrade and the other officer had their guns pointed at him.
"Not good enough, John." It happened in slow motion.
John shot a bullet at him just as he moved his arm. The man shot a bullet. It was aimed directly at Sherlock. Lestrade and the officer both shot bullets at him.
Just before the bullet made contact with Sherlock, he was pushed to the side.
Mary ran directly at Sherlock, and took the bullet. Time sped up again.
"MARY!" John screamed. He dropped everything and ran towards Mary. Sherlock got up from the ground and looked at her shocked.
She rolled over on her back and gasped. John pressed his fingers on her chest to try and stop the bleeding.
"Mary. Mary! Can you hear me? You'll be fine. We just need to call someone to take you to the hospital. You'll be fine, Mary." John rushed.
Lestrade looked at her and shook his head. Even he knew that she wouldn't make it.
"L-Listen John. I'm not going to live. It's alright. I've already accepted that long ago." Mary told him.
Tears streamed down John's face. "You'll be fine, don't say that." He cried. "You be fine." He looked to Sherlock and Lestrade and they both knew.
"It's alright to not be okay, John. I am not okay right now. But I need you to be quiet so I can tell you something. Can you do that for me?" She asked. John nodded quickly.
"I love you. I don't want you to forget that. I have never been deserving of your love. With all my secrets. There's still so much you don't know. I have not been the best wife. You deserve better. And I know that because if I was such a good wife, I would have told you already. But I decided to leave it till after I'm gone." She told him.
"What do you mean? You have been a great wife. And a great mother. I love you, and I deserve you." John told her. He was crying, and the tears stained her shirt.
"I want you to live your life normally. Do that... for me..." Mary said quietly. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body went limp. A small ambulance rolled up from outside.
John broke down crying. He held Mary close to his chest and cried.
Sherlock tried to walk towards him to comfort him.
"Stay away from me, Sherlock. You made a VOW! AND LOOK AT WHAT'S HAPPENED!" John yelled at him.
For the first time, Sherlock was rendered speechless. His mouth just gawped open and closed and opened.
"I-I didn't think she'd- oh god. I'm so sorry. I saw it coming. But she- oh no." Sherlock broke down mentally. He crouched down and held his head.
Sherlock started to mumble to himself. Lestrade walked over to him cautiously. "With the trajectory of the bullet, it had a clear shot of hitting me. So why did she move in front of me? Why? She obviously tried to live. She would have died if she want to be dead, so why did she wait. WHY!" Sherlock yelled angrily.
A couple days later, Mary was buried in the cemetery. There was no official funeral, but John and Molly went to see her. Then Mrs. Hudson the day after. Then Sherlock and Lestrade.
"This wasn't your fault, Sherlock. She jumped in front of the bullet to save you." Lestrade said.
Sherlock disagreed. "She was my friend, and I promised to protect them both. I made a vow. And look at where she is now. She's gone because of me. John has every reason to ignore me."
"I heard from Molly that John is moving in with her and he's selling his flat. He's taken the guest room and rarely ever leaves."
Sherlock smiled. "Molly is caring. Always worried about John and I."
He and Lestrade split apart and Sherlock took a cabby to Molly's house. He knocked on the door, and Molly answered.
"If you're here for John, you won't see him. He refuses to see you or hear your name." Molly told him sadly. She obviously felt sorry for the both of them.
"Tell him that Mary left me a flash drive before she died. She told me that she wanted John and I to watch it together. It was for us to see after she's dead. Just tell John that, and I'll be at the flat like always. And I won't watch the video until he comes over to watch it with me." Sherlock passed on to Molly, and left.
He hailed another taxi and rode back to the flat. He was already dialing his dealer and set up an appointment.
By the time he got there, his dealer was sitting on the door mat with a bag.
"Follow me." Sherlock said as he unlocked the door and walked up the stairs.
Sherlock took the bag and searched through. He found what he needed and paid him. He grabbed his needle and injected a large dose of the drug into his veins. He laid on the couch and went into his mind palace. Quickly diving in and thinking of everything he could in one moment that expanded.