A Game of Orange Hints - A Sanders Sides AU

Twenty-Five

Logan Holmes and Remy Lestrade sit in an interview room back at the police precinct. The room is made of cement and the table is bolted to the floor. They sit opposite a weary-looking Ms. Wenceslas.

"You know, it's interesting. Bohemian stationary, an assassin named after a Prague legend, and you... Miss Wenceslas. There's a distinctly Czech feel to the whole case. Is that where all of this leads?"

Wenceslas gives no response.

Logan looks over to Remy. "What are we looking at, Inspector?"

Remy looks down at the papers in front of him, reading off the possible charges. "Criminal conspiracy. Fraud. Accessory after the fact, at the very least. The murder of the old woman in Wales, along with all those people in the flats–"

"I didn't know anything about that!" Ms. Wenceslas exclaims. "All of those things... Please. Believe me. I just wanted my share of the thirty million..." She sighs, defeated. "I found a little old man in Argentina. Genius. I mean really. His brushwork was immaculate. Could fool anyone." She pauses, glaring at Logan ruefully. "Well, almost anyone. But I didn't know how to go about convincing the world that the picture was genuine. It was just an idea. A spark that he blew into a flame."

He. There it is again. "Who?" Logan demands.

"I don't know," she says.

Remy scoffs.

"It's true!" She says. "It took me a long time, but eventually I was put in touch with... people. His people. But there was never any real contact. Just messages. Whispers."

Logan leans over the table, pressing his hands into the hard surface as he towers over her. "And did these whispers have a name?"

Ms. Wenceslas nods, scared. When she manages to say the name, it's softer than a whisper. It's a breath. A whistle of the wind. A terrible secret.

"Moriarty."