Sherlock - The Game Is On!

The Final Problem- Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Third POV

Further along a narrow corridor another door slides open and Sherlock walks through the doorway, holding the pistol in both hands lowered towards the floor while the other two follow him. They're in a small room with black walls and floor and no window and the room is only dimly lit.

Unlike the previous one, there's no red paint on the walls. A wall screen is currently showing only pouring water.

In the middle of the room resting on two trestles is a light brown wooden coffin with brass handles and no lid. Light shines down onto it. Sherlock walks across and looks down into the coffin, then raises his head to look for the light source.

There's a narrow open chimney in the middle of the ceiling from which daylight is coming. A lid of the coffin is propped up against the far wall, its underside facing the room, the speakers click and Eurus's voice is heard:

- - One more minute on the phone. - -

The speakers squeal momentarily and then the little girl's voice comes from them:

- - Frightened. I'm really frightened. - -

Sherlock closes his eyes. "It's okay, don't worry." He tries to reason. Logically, of course. "I don't have very long with you, so I just need you to tell me what you can see outside the plane."

- - Just the sea. I can see the sea. - -

"Are there ships on it?"

- - No ships. I can see lights in the distance. - -

"Is it a city?"

- - I think so. - -

Sherlock intakes a long breath, eyes closed before turning to look at John who is standing beside him at the side of the coffin. Mycroft, standing at the other side, speaks quietly: "She's about to fly over a city in a pilotless plane. We'll have to talk her through it."

"Through what?" John questions quietly.

- - Hello? Are you still there? - -

The girls voice wobbles on. "Still here. Just give us a minute."

"Getting the plane away from any mainland, any populated areas. It has to crash in the sea." Mycroft responds. John looks at him as if he can't believe what he's saying. "What about the girl?" John speaks as a solider, who is determined to save lives through moral instinct. "Well, obviously, Doctor Watson, she's the one who's going to crash it."

"No. W-we could help her land it." He stutters panicky. "And if we fail and she crashes into a city? How many will die then?"

"How are we gonna get her to do that?" Mycroft looks to the coffin for a moment before turning to John, once more. "I'm afraid we're going to have to give her hope."

"Is there really no one there that can help you? Have you really, really checked?" Sherlock tries to manage.

- - Everyone's asleep. Will you help me? - -

"We're going to do everything that we can." Sherlock sadly gives her saddened hope.

- - I'm scared. I'm really scared. - -

"It's all right. I..." He stops when there's a click on the speakers.

In the governor's office, Eurus can see the room on the screen in front of her and is presumably now visible on the screen in that room.

- - Now, back to the matter in hand. - -

In the office, she leans closer to the camera.

- - Coffin. Problem: someone is going to die. It will be, as I understand it, a tragedy. - -

Sherlock walks around to the head of the coffin, rubbing the thumb of his gun hand over his brow as he turns to look at it.

- - So many days not lived, so much left unsaid. - -

She looks back to the camera with a more genuine sarcastic look on her face.

- - Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. - -

"Yes, yes, yes, and this I presume will be their coffin."

- - Whose coffin, Sherlock? Please, start your deductions. I will apply some context in a moment. - -

Sherlock, who had been pacing around, now turns towards the head of the coffin again and blows out a noisy breath. "Well, allowing for the entirely pointless courtesy of headroom, I'd say this coffin is intended for someone of about five foot four. Makes it more likely to be a woman."

"Not a child?" John questions. "A child's coffin would be more expensive. This is in the higher price range, although it's the best of the best available in that bracket."

"A lonely night on Google." John jabs softly. "This is a practical and informed choice. Balance of probability suggests that this is for an unmarried woman distant from her supposedly close relatives but someone of national importance. A person who will go down in history. That much is suggested by the economy of choice."

While he speaks, Mycroft looks across the room, frowned in the direction of the coffin lid propped up against the wall and now walks across to pick it up and turn it to look at the top side. "Acquainted with the process of death but unsentimental about the necessity of disposal, depending on who. Also, the lining of the coffin..."

"Yes, very good, Sherlock, or we could just look at the name on the lid." Mycroft interrupts. John and Sherlock turn and walk closer to look at it. When he sees what it says, Sherlock sharply inhaled, with a nose flaring in fury. His face appears reflected in the brass plate which is attached to the lid. "Only it isn't a name." Mycroft finished.

The coffin lid has four medals attached to it:

-THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS

-THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER

-THE GEORGE CROSS

-THE VICTORIAN CROSS

The brass plate reads:

I LOVE YOU

"So, it's for somebody who worked in the Royal Air Force and the Army... Oh! Oh, no!" John catches up with the realisation of whom it may be. "It's for somebody who loves Sherlock. This is all about you, after all. Everything here."

Sherlock walks slowly back to the coffin and puts his hands on top of it, at the head end. "It's not a long list to assume who is important enough to the country as well as to yourself." Mycroft adds coldly.

Sherlock gazes intensely into the coffin. John walks over to his side while Mycroft leans the lid against the wall. "Michelle." John mutters sadly.

On the screen, Eurus leans forward.

- - She's perfectly safe, for now. Unfortunately, she knew someone rigged the safe house brother dearest put her in. - -

The screen switches to four images from camera footage of the interior of Michelle's home.

- - Sherlock, are you sure you remember everything? - -

Eurus smiles evilly to the camera as she prods on. Mycroft's eyes widen, realising what will happen. Sherlock stares at the screen and walks towards it. "What do you mean?" He questions dubiously, sparing a glance to the oldest Holmes. He, for once, was unsure of himself.

- - Mycroft has been keeping you in the dark about a lot of things. - -

She laughs again. The cameras inside Michelle's home darts to sight-see her living room.

- - Shall we watch? - -

Not expecting any answers, nor wanting them nor needing them, she unmutes the live CCTV.

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-LittleMissyM x