Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Life

Chapter 24

We walked out into the hallway to find John waiting at the bottom of the stairs for us; Irene trailing behind

"Sarah! Check upstairs, there may be more of them. I'll be there in a minute." Sherlock called to me from what seemed to be the kitchen judging by the various pots and pans I could see piled up on the counters through the door.

"Come on John, let's go." I said to Watson who was currently stood around looking fed up. We went upstairs and Irene stayed with Sherlock. To be honest, I was slightly worried to leave her alone with him, I had no clue what she would do to him. It could go one of two ways, (a) she could do her job- if you know what I mean- or (b) she could hurt him. Neither of those things sounded appealing but I couldn't exactly stop them from happening if they did happen.

Once upstairs I looked around the landing and saw that the only open door was to our right at the end of the hallway so I headed towards it, assuming that John would follow. On stepping inside, I realised that I'd walked into Irene's boudoir. It was very nice but then again it had to be considering that she did all of her clients- I mean, work- in here. John walked ahead of me through a door on the other side of the massive four-post bed while I inspected the room for any hints of a forced entry. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind me as I observed the body of Kate, who was sprawled out on the floor face down, and I turned around to see Sherlock wander through the door with The Woman in his wake.

"Must have come in this way." John shouted from the doorway of the room he'd just entered

"Clearly." Sherlock muttered as he went into the room that John was in to inspect his findings.

"Don't worry, she's just out cold." I reassured Irene who had anxiously come over to her assistant's passed out form

"Well, God knows she's used to that. There's a back door. Better check it, Doctor Watson." she said looking up at John who had just returned to the room with Sherlock by his side. He looked up at Sherlock as if asking if he really should or if it was a trap. Sherlock nodded and John left the bedroom with no more than a "Sure."

Once he'd left I bent down to make sure that Kate wasn't going to choke on her own vomit or anything and Sherlock meandered around looking smug with the phone in his hand. As he observed the device, Sherlock noted

"You're very calm." indicating to Irene who had just looked up from closing a drawer on her dressing table. "Well your booby trap did just kill a man."

"He would have killed me." she said as she wandered back across the room towards Sherlock, stroking her hand down his left arm and giving me a knowing grin. I clenched my teeth and glared at her from where I was crouched. "It was self-defence in advance." Before any of us could say a word against her, Irene stepped behind Sherlock and stabbed his right arm with a syringe full of clear liquid.

"Sherlock!" I gasped, scrambling to my feet in a rush to catch him as he stumbled around in circles trying to catch his arm to examine it but before I could get to him, The Woman slapped him firmly around the face and Sherlock fell to the floor, folding his left arm around his body so that the phone was behind him.

"Give it to me. Now. Give it to me." she demanded, holding out her hand as Sherlock struggled to get back his feet

"No." he said firmly

"Give it to me." she commanded, firmer this time. Whatever she gave him was beginning to affect his muscles and he slumped to the floor, unable to pull himself up. "Oh for goodness sakes." Irene raised her riding crop and just as she was about to bring it down I ran from where I was stood in shock and threw myself in front of Sherlock just in time to receive a sharp blow to my right cheek from her weapon of choice. I inhaled sharply as the leather met my skin and I rolled to the side, clutching my face in pain.

"Sarah!" I heard Sherlock strain from behind me along with the sound of his feet scraping along the floor as he attempted to fight back, only to be knocked back down by another blow from Irene.

"Drop it!" she said, and when Sherlock didn't comply she struck again. "I." slap! "said." slap! "Drop it!" slap! Rage bubbled up inside me at the sight of her hurting Sherlock like this but I couldn't do anything to stop her. Unintentionally, he dropped the phone and as soon as it hit the ground she swiped it away from him "Ah, thank you, dear." she said, typing something on the keyboard. "Now tell that sweet little posh thing the pictures are safe with me. They're not for blackmail, just for insurance.". Irene slid the phone into the pocket of Sherlock's coat, which she was still wearing, and pushed Sherlock back to the floor with the end of her riding crop as he tried to get up. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's been a pleasure. Don't spoil it." Stroking the end of the riding crop across his face, she said "This is how I want you to remember me. The woman who beat you... Goodnight, Mr Sherlock Holmes." before vanishing out of the bathroom window, leaving behind her final words, the code to her safe "My measurements".

The rest of the afternoon was a blur of panic as I rushed over to Sherlock, turning him on his side so that he didn't choke on his own vomit and shouting manically at John to call Lestrade.