Sherlock: The Nanny's Anomaly

Clues in the Past

Sherlock stared at John, "How, John? How is she gone?"

"She isn't in the building, Sherlock! And apparently no one saw her leave!" John answered with a raised tone.

"She isn't in her flat?"

"No. She's not in the car park or in the lobby. I have a team sweeping the premises again but I doubt she'd hide away in someone else's flat. The cameras don't have any recordings of her either, Sherlock," Up walked Mycroft, swinging his umbrella, "At least tell me you've got some more clues to go on, brother mine."

Sherlock pursed his lips, "Each of the four bodies was female, all between the ages of thirty to sixty. Physical features distinctly separate so that rules out a killer hunting based on appearance. Each of them were killed via gunshots to the head, judging from the points of entry they were killed execution style, likely on their knees while tied up, given the marks on her wrists, arms and torsos."

"What else?" Mycroft prompted.

"All of them had both wrists and ankles slit before they were killed. They were obviously murdered in the basement and immediately dumped into the reservoirs so that their blood would contaminate the building's water supply. The killer did a fair job at cleaning up the crime scene before leaving."

"And what have you deduced about the killer? Is it the stalker or another hitman, or hitwoman as seems to be the trend." Sherlock had grown incredibly stiff and assumed his prayer pose.

"Yes, whomever killed these women is the stalker. We forced their hand this morning in the park so they decided to abduct Susanna earlier than they originally expected to." The detective's blue eyes were hard and gleaming with determination.

John piped up, "So Susanna could be at least halfway across London by now and we have no other clues to go on? It's a dead end!"

"Not until we know the identities of the victims, John!" Sherlock snapped and pinpointed his friend, "Remember how Susanna was examining the victim's bodies? She was focused John! She knew or was beginning to remember information based on the victims! That indicates that she was in some way associated with..." It dawned on them.

Revenge. Settling the score. Getting Even.

"Mycroft, is there anyway we could borrow your access to the MI5 Records?" John asked.

Mycroft smiled bitterly, "No need. I have access to a more direct source."

"Who?"

Just then a man breaching John's height and dressed in a black suit with a deep blue tie walked onto the scene. Sherlock zeroed in on his earpiece and then his black watch before noticing that the man had to be Susanna's father. He had expressive, intelligent blue eyes and walked with a steady military gait, which Susanna had to have inherited. Even if her gait was far more feminine and regal, the resemblance was there.

The man stopped once he was standing beside Mycroft, "This is Niles Trowbridge, Susanna's father. I predicted that at some point she would be abducted so I called him here to provide the missing clues."

Sherlock extended his hand and shook Niles', deducing that he was formerly Navy and was currently Mycroft's second in command in everything intelligence and operations. After curt introductions from Sherlock and John Niles cut to the chase, "I understand that Susanna has been abducted?"

"Yes, sir. In the last half hour it appears she disappeared from the building following the discovery of four female bodies in the water reservoirs." Sherlock explained everything they had learned. Niles listened and nodded here and there. When he had heard everything he cleared his throat.

"I need to see the bodies." He announced, leaving no space to argue. The victims had been placed in body bags and were in the lobby, about to be wheeled to the M.E. van. But the staff were quick to scatter and leave the British Government to the bodies.

Niles only had to look at the bodies for two seconds each before the staff was recalled and could finish their work. He tutted, "These are the bodies of Paris Fenway, Caroline Mead, Jennifer Baumann and Sarah Pyle."

"And how do they connect?" John asked. Given Niles' grim, staunch expression, Sherlock deduced that these women belonged to an early chapter of Susanna's life. And likely not a positive one.

"Caroline Mead and Jennifer Baumann were teachers at Susanna's first high school. Paris Fenway and Sarah Pyle were only two of several bullies at that school where Susanna was particularly targeted. Altogether, these four were the most vicious and brutal towards Susanna," Sherlock went rigid, remembering how Susanna reacted to Donovan's bullying, "Someone went to great lengths to bring them here from America."

"The stalker wanted to prove something. Perhaps there was one other bully who felt forgotten and decided to remind Susanna of the past?" Sherlock theorized.

"So this is just a bully wanting attention?" John inquired. Sherlock almost growled.

"I don't know, John."

Thank you for reading! I hope you guys had a good Valentine's Day!!