Sherlock - The Game Is On!

The Sign Of Three- Ten

Chapter Ten

Third POV

Sherlock looks towards the living room door when John and Michelle walked through. "There are going to be others."

"Others?"

Victims, women. Most ghosts tend to haunt a single house, this ghost, however, is willing to commute, look." Sherlock stands up and looks towards a map of London. Pins were in various places around the map where the appearances of the 'ghost date' happened.

In the view of the mind, a large Council Chamber is presented. The room has wood panelling on the walls and a blue carpet. Banks of benches with red leather covered seats form a semi-circle. There are six rows of these benches in tiers. At the front of the room on top of a high dais is a large ornate bench, reminiscent of a judge's bench in a courtroom, behind which is a chair where the Chairman would sit. This chair is high above the chamber floor. The chamber is initially empty but then the perspective changes and Sherlock is standing in front of the closed door at the rear of the room, and many women are standing silently in front of seats all around the room. Sherlock walks down the steps towards the floor, looking around him as he goes, then he reaches the bottom, walks across towards the Chairman's bench and turns to face the seats. There are at least forty-eight women standing around the room. Sherlock slowly scans all of them, then pulls a thoughtful face and points towards one of the women to his right. "Mmmmmm, not you."

The woman sits down. He points to another woman on the right. "Not you." That woman sits down. He takes a few steps forward and points to a woman on the left-hand side of the seating. "Not you." She sits and he points separately to two women behind her. "Not you. Not you." The women sit down.

Eventually only four women remain standing. Sherlock looks around the room once more, then walks over to the nearest of the standing women. She is wearing a black dress. "Hi."

"Gail." Sherlock turns and walks to the next nearest standing woman, who is wearing a denim jacket. "Charlotte." He turns his head to look at the third woman, wearing a pink jacket. "Robyn." He turns to the final standing woman, wearing a red dress and red leather jacket. "Vicky."

Walking towards the Chairman's bench, he turns back and looks across the room. The perspective changes and now all the seated women have vanished and the four remaining women are now standing in a semi circle in front of him. He looks at Gail. "How did you meet?"

"Came up to me in a pub." He looks at Charlotte. "Same gym as me." He turns his head to Robyn. "We just got chatting on the bus." He looks at Vicky, who lowers her eyes flirtatiously at him. "Online." He turns his head back towards Gail. "Name?"

"Told you."

"His name." Sherlock abbreviated. "Oscar." He turns his head to Charlotte and then in turn to the other two. "Mike."

"Terry."

"Um, 'love_monkey'." Sherlock frowns, then turns back to Gail. "Your place?"

"His place." The women reply simultaneously. "Address?" The four women simultaneously recite four different addresses. "Nothing happened. It was just... Very romantic." The first woman replied. "Four women in four nights. He must have something special."