No Shit, Sherlock

The Imaginary Son

Enola, Sherlock, and I make our way to the address listed in the ad. Sherlock and I are suspicious yet Enola thinks we're being paranoid. Either way, the ad did offer a ton of money, so it's gotta be worth it.

Just as Enola's about to knock on the door, it opens to reveal a man. He gives us a bright smile and beckons us to come inside.

"You three must be Enola, Sherlock, and (Y/n)!" he says.

"Yes sir we are. We came here to talk about the ad you put in the paper," says Enola.

The man gestures for us to sit on the couch and we do, but I can't help to look around the place. There aren't any children's toys, and the furniture is dusty.

"So your son is missing? How old is he?" I ask.

"Yes, he's seven years old."

"I'm terribly sorry," Enola says.

I look around some more, "Where was he last seen?"

"Four days ago, I had tucked him into bed, and he was gone the next morning."

"He's been missing four days? The ad is only a day old," I say.

The man glares, "He's done this before, but came home. So, I thought he would've been back by now."

This man's either a horrible father, or he's hiding something. Probably both.

"Do you mind if (Y/n) and I examine his room?" Sherlock asks.

"Down the hall, second door on the right."

Sherlock and I follow his directions, and enter the room. I immediately start going through the drawers which Sherlock questions.

"What are you doing?"

"There's only a few articles of clothing in the drawers, all of them look to be brand new or barely worn. Wouldn't most seven year old boys have at least a couple of stained or torn outfits?" I respond.

Sherlock nods, "The bed is covered in dust with not a single fingerprint."

"And there are no toys," I reply.

Sherlock turns to me, "Good eye."

I nod and the two of us return to the living room.

"Thank you for answering my questions Mr. Johnson, we will find your son. I promise," says Enola.

The three of us walk out the door, and as I look back I notice the man is smirking at us. He quickly shuts the door as soon as he notices me looking.

"That poor man, I can't imagine what it feels like to lose a child," Enola says.

Sherlock goes to say something but I stop him. "Yes, I'm sure the man is worried sick."

Enola nods and suddenly smiles, "Tewkesbury!"

She runs over to the boy and I stop Sherlock. He looks at me curiously, "Why aren't you telling her what we found?"

"Because I'm curious to see what's going on. That man is obviously lying to us, and I wanna know why. If I tell Enola right now she'll want to drop the case and move on. I promise I'll tell her, just not right now."

Sherlock nods, "As long as you two stay out of trouble."

"I can't promise we will," I reply.

"I have to meet Dr. Watson now."

We nod to each other and Sherlock makes his way to wherever it is he's going.

"Good afternoon (Y/n)!" Tewkesbury says.

"Good afternoon sir!" I say with a mocking bow.

He rolls his eyes and Enola links arms with the two of us, "Come along now children, we got things to figure out."

"What are we figuring out?" Tewkesbury asks.

"Why that man is lying about having a missing son," Enola answers, smirking at me.

"You knew all along?!" I ask.

"Of course I did! I knew the second you asked about his son."

~~°°••°°~~

The three of us make it to the office and Enola pulls out a piece of paper.

"What's that?" Tewkesbury asks.

"The information the man gave me."

I rest my head on my desk, "The boy's room was practically untouched. There were layers of dust on the bed, and the clothes in the drawers were brand new."

"But why would this man pay you two to find an imaginary son?"

Enola looks to Tewkesbury, "I have no idea, but we need to play this right."

"So, you're still going along with it? Even though you know it's all fake?" he asks, looking between the two of us.

"How could we not? The situation is intriguing. The whole case is the case itself!"

Enola nods at me, "This is going to be so fun."

"Unless you two get kidnapped!" Tewkesbury says.

"That's what we have you for, you're our bodyguard!" Enola says.

I laugh, "He's more like live bait."

Tewkesbury frowns. "That's not funny."

"I thought it was," Enola says, laughing.

"You two are unbelievable! What does Sherlock think about all of this?"

Enola rolls her eyes, "Why should we care? It's our case, and the man has plenty of his own cases to worry about."

"I really don't think you two should go through with this. It sounds like the guy is targeting you two."

"We'll be alright! If things get bad we'll just drop the case," Enola says.

"But what if it's too late? What if something bad happens?"

"Then we'll fight."

"To the death," I add.

Tewkesbury looks at the two of us and sighs, "I can't change your minds can I?"

"Aw, he's finally learning," I tease.

The boy leans back in his chair. "This is going to be disastrous."