Sherlock - The Game Is On!

The Sign Of Three- Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Third POV

"Married. Obvious, really. Our Mayfly Man was trying to escape the suffocating chains of domesticity..." John grimaces and shakes his head while Mary widens her eyes briefly and then smiles at him. "And instead of endless nights in watching the telly or going to barbecues with awful dreadful boring people he couldn't stand, he used his wits, cleverness and powers of disguise to play the field. He was..." He stops when he realises that he has lost his audience again.

The guests look silently back at him. He looks down to his right to see John looking back at him straight faced. He then looks to Michelle who wrinkles her nose and shakes her head slightly. "On second thoughts I probably should have told you about the Elephant in the Room. However, it does help to further illustrate how invaluable John is to me. I can read a crime scene the way he can understand a human being. I used to think that's what made me special, quite frankly, I still do. But a word to the wise: should any of you require the services of either of us," He circles his finger around notionally between himself, John and Michelle. "I will solve your murder, Michelle will act on past instinct but it takes John Watson to save your life. Trust me on that, I should know. He's saved mine so many times, and in so many ways."

He holds up his phone. "This blog is the story of two men and their frankly ridiculous adventures..." He smiles, and the guests chuckle. "Of murder, mystery and mayhem. But from now on, there's a new story, a bigger adventure." He looks down at the newlyweds, who smile happily. "Ladies and gentlemen, pray charge your glasses and be upstanding." He picks up his own glass while the guests do likewise and stand up. The photographer walks forward with his camera. "Today begin the adventures of Mary Elizabeth Watson and John Hamish Watson." John sighs a little, while Mary giggles. "The two reasons why every single one of us is..."

He stops, freezing in place, staring blindly towards the guests. The photographer snaps several photos of him but the popping flashbulb doesn't make him react. Sherlock's fingers loosen slightly and his champagne glass slips out of them and begins a very slow-motion tumble towards the floor.

In the Council Chamber of his mind palace, Sherlock, now in his wedding gear, lowers his raised hand and turns towards the five uniformed women. "What did you say?" He points at Tessa. "You said, 'John Hamish Watson.' You said that. You said, 'Hamish'. How did you know? How did you know his middle name? He never tells anyone. He hates it. Took him years to confide in me."

Sherlock looks quizzically at Tessa, then turns and walks towards the Chairman's bench. "And The Woman, she knew." Irene suddenly strolls up to Sherlock, fingers stroking his cheekbones. "Out of my head. I am busy." He tries to shoo her away, like shooing a fly, however she doesn't get the memo. "Michelle!" He calls out. Michelle appears in his mind, standing beside him. With Irene gone he turns back to Tessa. "There's only one time that name's been made public."

Tessa smiles brightly at Sherlock. "Enjoy the wedding."

"The wedding. You knew about the wedding; More importantly, you'd seen a wedding invitation. Now barely a hundred people had seen that invitation. The Mayfly Man only saw five women. For one person to be in both groups could be a coincidence."

"Oh, Sherlock." Sherlock turns around. Mycroft is up on the dais, standing in front of the Chairman's chair. The women have vanished. "What do we say about coincidence?"

"The universe is rarely so lazy." Sherlock slowly walks towards him. "So, the balance of probability is?"

"Someone went to great lengths to find out something about this wedding."

"What great lengths?"

"They lied, assumed false identities."

"Which suggests?"