Sherlock - The Game Is On!

The Empty Hearse- Seven

Chapter Seven

Third POV

At 221B, Sherlock is stands by the window. He grimaces slightly as Molly walks into the room behind him. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Molly?" Sherlock asked, walking towards her. "Yes?"

"Would you..." He stops, looking down, then slowly starts to walk closer. "Would you like to..."

"Have dinner?"
"Solve crimes?"

"Oh."

John writes out a prescription while talking to the patient sitting behind him. "Absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, Mrs Reeves. It's very common but I'm recommending a course of..."

"Monkey glands." Sherlock looks to the wall whilst Molly sits on a chair besides his armchair. Wearing a jumper, she portraits the image of John. A woman is sitting in what was John's chair and a man stands beside her. "But enough about Professor Presbury. Tell us more about your case, Mr Harcourt."

"Are you sure about this?" Molly mumbles to Sherlock walking back to his chair. "Absolutely."

"Should I be making notes?"

"If it makes you feel better."

"It's just that that's what John says he does, so if I'm being John..." She drawls on. "You're not being John, you're being yourself." Molly smiles proudly. "Well, absolutely no one should have been able to empty that bank account other than myself and Helen." Sherlock peers closer to the clients husband.
"Why didn't you assume it was your wife?"

"Because I've always had total faith in her."

"No,  it's because you emptied it. (Weight loss, hair dye, Botox; affair." Whipping out a business card, he holds it out to the wife. "Lawyer. Next!"

Mary shows the next patient into the room and looks at John. "This is Mr Blake. Piles." She whispered. John nods and smiles at his patient. "Mr Blake, hi."

Sherlock is sits on a stool close to a young woman who is sitting on the sofa. He is clasping her hands and patting them sympathetically while he talks softly to her. "And your pen pal's emails just stopped, did they?" The woman nods, whimpering as she cries. Molly looks across to her but then continues writing notes at the dining table. An older man is sitting beside the woman. "And you really thought he was the one, didn't you? The love of your life?" Sherlock softly speaks. As the woman takes off her glasses and cries harder, Sherlock turns and looks at Molly for a moment, then stands and walks across to her. Keeping his back to the clients, he speaks quietly: "Stepfather posing as online boyfriend."

"What?!"

"Breaks it off, breaks her heart. She swears off relationships, stays at home, he still has her wage coming in." Turning to the man, Sherlock starts to address him sternly. "Mr Windibank, you have been a complete and utter..."

"Piss pot." John holds up a small plastic cylinder used for collecting urine samples. He hands it to his latest patient who is sitting facing him. "It's nothing to worry about. Just a small infection by the sound of it. Er, Doctor Verner is your usual GP, yes?" The man speaks in a rough voice with a thick accent. John looks startled. The man appears to be in his sixties, has long white hair and a white beard and is wearing very dark glasses and a black knitted hat. "He looked after me, man and boy. I run a little shop, just on the corner of Church Street."

"Oh, right." Mr Szikora picks up a plastic bag from beside him. "Er, magazines, DVDs. Brought along a few little beauties that might interest you. 'Tree Worshippers.' Oh, that's a corker. It's very saucy." John nods in a bemused way, looking closely at the man as if he is beginning to suspect something. The man gets out a magazine and holds it up. The magazine cover shows two glamorous women in skimpy clothing, and some of the captions around the photograph read, 'We're a real handful,' 'Hot British Birds! XXX' and 'Knocker Glory.' "I'm fine, thanks."