The Preci.ous.se Stone

The Night

On 20th February 2016, Holmes came to my room. On seeing him, one might say that he has been working very hard and relentlessly on something that was far more important than his health.

He asked me to come to his quarters, and with me, the small handgun was fully loaded. It's been weeks since I visited him in his quarters. On entering the room, the sight was bewildering. The library was kind of moving forward. The fireplace had huge amounts of ash collected on its side. The door to the lab was open, and the floor was far too messed up, with stains, broken test tubes, and much more. Every dress stand had different types of clothes hanging on it. There were huge boxes filled with books kept near the window.

The armchair and the table were cleaned and sparkling as if they were just cleaned. Holmes came into the room wearing his brown bathrobe. He sat down quite enlightened and quite stressed. After having tea and snacks, I asked him," Holmes, since we arrived from the Anti Villa, you have been away for a long time? You have neither contacted any of us nor have you been available. So, I think it would be great if you tell me what have you been up to. And what's going on? "

On hearing this, Holmes smiled and replied," After tonight's work, I will elaborate everything to you. Till then just hear about what I have to say."

For the next three hours, Holmes explained his plan. Later, near midnight, Holmes and I were walking down to Anti Villa. There we met Inspector Light, Mr. Sharma, and Mr. Goel.

According to the plan, Mrs. Kishore has called the proposed killer and threatened him to disclose his identity to Holmes and the police, if he didn't surrender himself before tomorrow morning. The killer had asked her to stop bluffing, to which Mrs. Kishore had said to him that she knows the motive behind the murder, and the location of the stones he was looking for so desperately every night. On hearing this, the killer had asked her to meet in the same study room where the murder took place, which coincidently Holmes had opened for cleaning and restoration three weeks ago.

Holmes and I got the ID cards and were able to go inside. On reaching the back gate, Holmes asked me to see in the bushes, lining the back wall of the property. On seeing it there, I was shocked to see two people already sitting over there. I was about to shout out when Holmes placed a hand on my shoulders and asked me to see more carefully. He said he wanted me to see a very unique piece of art.

On seeing more carefully, I found out that there were exactly two sculptures of me and Holmes sitting over there. At once, I wanted to touch my comrade just to confirm that he was not playing any jokes on me. On this, Holmes just smiled.

He dragged me from my stationary position to that point, and on the mic attached to his collar of the shirt, he said that he has reached his position and is on the lookout.

I touched those sculptures and found that they had a heartbeat and warm skin, making them a complete human replica of ours. Holmes carefully placed all his gadgets and ID on the statue and asked me to do the same. For the gun, he had already kept a load ready to give the exact load on the body, as for the gun I was having in my pocket.

Then Holmes took a remote and another set of earplugs and mic from there. He gave me one and we departed away from the statues. Actually, according to Holmes's plan, we were meant to go inside and straight to Mr. Kareja's study room before Mrs. Kishore arrives.

On our way to the back door, Holmes showed me the various traps that had been laid over there. I was sure they were for emergencies only.

Later, on the staircase, Holmes gave me more surprising news, that he has accessed the second study room of Mr. Kareja's study room. And only he has the key to open that door, after Mr. Kareja's death. I was surprised, but I stayed calm. Well, that mystery has to wait.

By 1 a.m. in the night, we reached the study room and hid behind the furniture present in the room. Holmes took the cabinet as a cover just aside from the door, and I took the small table near the second study room's door, to give cover to Mrs. Kishore. I was already gripping my gun.

Mrs. Kishore came in and informed everyone that she had taken her position and she would be waiting for the killer. Inspector Light kept assuring her that she was safe and she didn't need to worry about anything. This was just to make her calm and confident.

The meeting was scheduled to take place at 2 am. Exactly at 1:50 am, the light went out, and the communication devices were shouting. Everyone was shocked by this sudden course of events and Inspector Light switched on the emergency traps laid all over the place. Mr. Goel assured everyone that he was going towards the main electric board and would be turning the lights back on.

Meanwhile, Inspector Light said that he will take around the parameter. At 2 am, Mr. Goel said that the main board has been short-circuited and the lights will remain out till morning.

On hearing this, there was a shrill scream in Mr. Kareja's study room. It was of a woman and a man. I took a quick glance over the place where Holmes was standing just a while ago and saw that he was not there. Later, when Inspector Light came running with the other officers in the room with flashlights, everything became clear.

Holmes was pinning down Mr. Sharma on the floor, and beside him lay an unconscious Mrs. Kishore. I ran straight to her and did a quick examination. I found out she was alive and just breathing very slowly. I breathed air into her mouth and gave her CPR right there. After a few attempts, she gained consciousness but was too weak to speak or stand. So, I asked her to take a rest and called for an ambulance. Meanwhile, Mr. Sharma was being taken away by Inspector Light and the police department to the headquarters.