Sherlock - The Game Is On!

The Abominable Bride- Four

Chapter Four

Third POV

On the streets, the men are in a hansom cab, Holmes and Watson sit side by side facing forward and Lestrade sitting facing Holmes. Holmes looks at the inspector. "Who's on mortuary duty?"

"You know who." Lestrade grumbled. "Always him."

Shortly afterwards, Holmes opens the door to the underground mortuary room and leads in the other along the way. They walk across to the nearest table on which is a body covered with a sheet. "Please tell me which idiot did this!" A body was chained down on a slab. "It's for everyone's safety."

Watson pulls back the cover from the corpse's head, revealing the face of Emelia Ricoletti. "This woman is dead. Half her head is missing! She's not a threat to anyone!"

"Tell that to her husband. He's under a sheet over there." Anderson points across to another corpse. "Whatever happened in Limehouse last night, I think we can safely assume it wasn't the work of a dead woman."

"Stranger things have happened."

"Such as?"

"Well... Strange things." Anderson replies again hesitantly. "You're speaking like a child."

"This is clearly a man's work. Where is he?" Anderson hesitates again, but before he can answer the door opens. Holmes turns to look at the new arrival. It's a man wearing a suit, with brown hair and a moustache and now speaks with a voice that is immediately recognised. "Holmes."

"Hooper."

"You, back to work." Hooper points to Anderson. "So, come to astonish us with your magic tricks, I suppose."

"Is there anything to which you would like to draw my attention?"

"Nothing at all, Mr Holmes. You may leave any time you like."

"Doctor Hooper, I asked Mr Holmes to come here. Co-operate. That's an order." Hooper takes a long breath, then looks down at the body. "There are two 'features of interest,' as you are always saying in Doctor Watson's stories."

"I never say that."

"You do, actually, quite a lot." He nods. Holmes narrows his eyes. "First of all, this is definitely Emelia Ricoletti. She has been categorically identified. Beyond a doubt it is her."

"Then who was that in Limehouse last night?" Watson asked. "That was also Emelia Ricoletti."

"It can't have been. She was dead. She was here." Holmes begins to take out a small magnifying glass and bends down to look more closely at the Bride's face. "She was positively identified by her own husband seconds before he died. He had no reason to lie. He could hardly be mistaken."

"The cabbie knew her too. There's no question it's her." Lestrade adds on. "But she can't have been in two places at the same time, can she?"

"No, Watson. One place is strictly the limit for the recently deceased." Watson clicks his fingers and points to his friend. "Holmes, could it have been twins?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it's never twins." Holmes deadpans. "Emelia was not a twin, nor did she have any sisters. She had one older brother who died four years ago." Watson still wasn't prepared to let go of his idea. "Maybe it was a secret twin." Holmes looks at him as if staggered by his idiocy. "A what?"

"A secret twin?" Watson stated with more precise. Holmes continues to look at him as if he can't believe what he's hearing. "You know? A twin that nobody knows about? This whole thing could have been planned."

"Since the moment of conception? How breathtakingly prescient of her! It is never twins, Watson."

"Then what's your theory?" Watson throws back. "More to the point, what's your problem?" Holmes questions Lestrade. "I don't understand. What..."

"Why were you so frightened? Nothing so far has justified your assault on my decanter, and why have you allowed a dead woman to be placed under arrest?"

"Ah. That would be the other feature of interest." Hooper brings everyone's attention back. Lifting the right hand of the corpse, showing her index finger. Holmes and Watson bend down for a closer look. "Ah. A smear of blood on her finger. That could have happened any number of ways."

"Indeed." Hooper agrees. Lowering the hand, Hooper looks sternly at Holmes. "There's one other thing. It wasn't there earlier." Holmes straightens up. Lestrade points to a nearby wall. "And neither was that." Walking over towards the wall, Lestrade picks up a lantern and illuminates the wall. Watson walks around the table and he and Holmes go over to the wall. In the light from the lantern, a single word can be seen painted on the wall, apparently in blood:

YOU

"Holmes!"

"Gun in the mouth; A bullet through the brain; Back of the head blown clean off. How could he survive?" Holmes spoke softly to himself. Confused, Watson looks around the mortuary and then turns back to Holmes. "She, you mean."

"I'm sorry?"

"Not 'he,' 'she'." Watson corrects. "Yes, yes, of course." Staring to the wall for another long moment, he jumps back to himself. "Well, thank you all for a fascinating case. I'll send you a telegram when I've solved it. Watson?" He walks away and leaves the room. Watson, however, turns back to Hooper and points down at the body. "Er, the gunshot wound was obviously the cause of death, but there are clear indicators of consumption. Might be worth a post mortem. We need all the information we can get."

"Oh, isn't he observant now that Daddy's gone?" Watson stops. Hooper quietly smirks. After a moment, Watson turns back and walks closer to the table again. "I am observant in some ways, just as Holmes is quite blind in others."

"Really?" Came sarcastically from Hooper. "Yes. Really. Amazing what one has to do to get ahead in a man's world." Hooper stares at him. Watson doffs his hat to him her, then puts it back on his head. He glances across to Anderson, then turns and walks away. Hooper swallows a little nervously and watches him go. "What's he saying that for?"

"Get back to work." She replies sternly.

Hansom Cab

Watson looks across to his friend. "Well, Holmes? Surely you must have some theory."

"Not yet. These are deep waters, Watson. Deep waters. And I shall have to go deeper still."

Headlines from various newspaper reports begin to drift across:

STATEMENT FROM CAB DRIVER
'IT WAS MRS RICOLETTI'

GHASTLY
MURDER
IN THE WEST END!
DREADFUL END OF PEER.

ALARMING DISCOVERY IN ISLINGTON
BODY OF SEA CAPTIN FOUND IN CHAPEL

MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL AT EASTHAM
'GHOST' IDENTIFIED?

WHO WILL BE NEXT?
In the notorious 'Bride'
Murders.

SCOTLAND YARD BAFFLED
MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF VISCOUNT HUMMERSKNOT

- - It was not for several months that we were to pick up the threads of this strange case again; And then under very unexpected circumstances. - -