∘˙Dusty roses˙∘『a sherliam fanfic 』

The gardener

Sherlock was sat behind a bush right outside Charles' mansion's tall iron fence. He kept taking glances at his watch, carefully observing the gardener in the garden, trimming bushes.

Finally the gardener started to pack up. It was time to switch with another one. But then what? What had the person put up for Sherlock. What if he missed it? Sherlock felt his heartbeat speed up. What was so special about this case? Why was he so excited about this one?

The next gardener walked through the garden. He and the other one shared a wave of hand as they swapped. The gardener walked in the garage.

Sherlock got up from behind the bush. He pulled up along with the fence and hopped over it, landing on the grass on the other side. Sherlock approached the garage cautiously. He pressed his ear against the door. Nothing. Not the sound of someone getting tools. Silence.

Sherlock opened the door to the garage to be met with the same sight as back in the park. Tools used for gardening but no one in sight.

Sherlock's gaze landed on a open window on the ceiling of the garage. He rushed out but whoever there had been definitely wasn't anymore. Not even close by.

Sherlock sighed and walked back to the garage. He looked inside every bucket, behind every tool to no success. Why was Sherlock led here? Was there not a another note? Or maybe the challenge had ranked up it's difficulty?

Sherlock decided to give up on finding clues and decided to focus on figuring out who the gardener was. Sherlock took a step back, observing the height at which the window was. Since there was absolutely no stains on the shelves and the gardener's boots had been muddy, the person had to have climbed up without help from the shelves.

Sherlock took a step towards the window and jumped as high as he could. He could just reach the window, hang from it and climb through. The person had to be as tall or taller than Sherlock. But to execute the escape like this, the window had to be open in advance.

Sherlock checked the roof for possible clues. He found some muddy stains but they weren't clear enough for him to tell that much. Sherlock hopped of the roof since the building wasn't any tall.

Sherlock walked around the building and stopped when he saw the spot he was hiding in a moment ago. The person had made their escape at the same time as he was on the move to the garage. So, they had to leave on the east side. Sherlock walked to the director, careful not to be caught by any other staff.

The iron fence had decorative vines growing on it. They were mostly dark green with occasional flowers. Except for one spot where the vine was a bit ripped off. Nothing you'd notice unless you were desperate to find more clues.

Sherlock climbed over the fence at the same spot as someone else had before him. He landed to yet another bush. This time the bush wasn't empty. There was the work gear of the gardener. Whoever had been here had been wearing something else underneath the gardener's outfit, probably to not attract any attention to themselves as they took their carriage back.

Sherlock kneeled down to observe the prints on the ground. There were only the prints of when the person and arrived and when they had left. So Charles hadn't been moving by carriage anywhere lately. Sherlock had to pick up the pace. But how? There was no new clue for him to follow.

Sherlock decided that it was probably for the best to return back to 221B before the staff noticed him inspecting the ground in front of the mansion.
________

Sherlock stood in front of the corkboard. He arranged the things on it again and again. Which was the priority now? Since 'where' lead to no success, it was probably for the best to focus on 'how'. Maybe he had been taken to the garden to see how Charles had been taken from his mansion. By a gardener. The staff had said that he went out for a walk after all.

Sherlock looked at the employee list again. His eyes widened in surprise. No way this was the clue what the person playing with Sherlock wanted him to follow. No way.

"John!" Sherlock called out.
"Yeah?" John walked in the room, a mug of coffee in hand.
"Did you copy these things in the same order as they were written in the actual folder?" Sherlock asked, to which John nodded.

Either this was some crazy coincidence or whoever had left the picture in the folder hadn't only changed the picture but the whole page. Including the names of the gardeners. The first letters of their first and last names in order spelled out:
'The Yards'
Which Sherlock decided was supposed to say 'The Yard's'. The Yard also had a shed similar to the one that was in the picture of the one in the park.

"I'm going out for a second", Sherlock stated, leaving John staring at him with confusion.

Sherlock hurried through the streets of London. The shed was barely used by The Yard, only when they had to store bigger items of evidence like bikes.

Sherlock opened the door to the shed. And finally, he could exhale in relief when his gaze landed on Charles. Charles looked absolutely terrified. The same ticking sound was audible as back in the storage room. But this time Sherlock could see the source. A clock on the wall behind Charles was the source. There was a red line painted to it with the text 'too late'. But the time was too early for it to reach the line.

Sherlock walked up to Charles and untied him from the chair.
"So?" Sherlock asked as Charles rubbed his sore wrists.
"Who tied you here?" He added.
"I- I don't know who he was", Charles responded, his voice hoarse.

Charles' gaze wandered around. He looked at Sherlock for a moment but his focus kept escaping to something behind him.

"You don't know?" Sherlock confirmed with a sigh.
"I don't", Charles responded. He didn't seem relieved to be saved. He seemed more scared than he was when Sherlock arrived.

Sherlock turned around to see what Charles kept looking at. There was nothing special. Just some buildings and streetlights.

Unless someone was observing the two from one of the buildings. Judging Sherlock's performance on the case and making sure that Charles doesn't say anything.

Sherlock tilted his head with a smug smile as if to say:
'Is this all you've got? It was easy.'
__________

William watched as Sherlock opened the door to the shed, the light from outside finally making it's contents visible.

Sherlock proceeded to untie Charles and started asking him so questions as anyone would've. Charles probably didn't say anything. Why else would've Sherlock sighed.

But Sherlock turned around. William had to sigh as well. No matter how many things he told Charles not to do when he was freed incase he wanted to live, Charles still managed to reveal William's hiding spot to the detective.

William watched Sherlock's gaze wander around to no success. About what William had expected. What he didn't expect was Sherlock's smug expression.

"If you enjoyed the game that much, why won't you try and solve the real thing?" William muttered, feeling the corners of his mouth turn to a challenging smile.

Maybe he could find entertainment in this plan after all.

A/N
We'll get to the Sherliam part at some part just be patient :)

Sorry for the grammar mistakes btw, my first language isn't english :')

Go drink water, please. Hydration time :D

Take care!! <3