The Consulting Doctor

Chapter 3

Jessa paused, wondering why on earth this man was questioning her words. How would he know how long she's known Mary? It really wasn't that Sherlock had questioned her, as Mary may have just accidentally said that they have known each other almost their whole lives, it was the fact that he was right that made Jessa worry a bit. A thick silence came as the detective looked down on the ladies with his pale blue eyes and both females seemed a bit confused. He knew a lying face when he saw it.

"Sherlock," John began with a serious tone, "Drop it, now."

"Alright, let's change topics then." Sherlock said and the discomfort Jessa felt in the air left for the time being. "How good of a doctor are you, what are your strengths?"

"Well," Jessa said, really not sure how to answer this without making it sound like she was conceded or that she was terrible at her job, "I'm a pretty good doctor, although that's hard for me to answer myself. You would have to ask some of my patients. I've been told by colleagues that I'm excellent under stress and pretty good when I take over the ER."

"I see." Sherlock said, and then said nothing more for a while. The ladies began discussing colors and Mary even brought color swatches for them to look at. While Jessamine and John were deciding on a color that Mary had picked out, a nice light lilac, someone's phone buzzed but the brunette doctor didn't bother to see who's it was.

"Finally, something to do. John, you can stay here with Mary and help her with the wedding. After all, we only have two months. Jessa, would you like to accompany me to a crime scene? I need someone who will work with me and since John will be a bit more busy now I might as well have a backup plan for when he can't come." Sherlock spoke and turned to look at Jessa when he asked her if she would come along. This really did catch her off guard, as she had just met Sherlock and he was already asking her to assist him on a case.

"W-Well...it's only my lunch break. I don't think the hospital will like it if I suddenly call in when I've been there half the day." She replied, although her answer didn't seem to fully get through to him as the man stood and swiftly put on his coat and laced his scarf around his neck.

"We won't be that far from where you work, and I will make sure you get back to work on time." Sherlock said, then took her hand and pulled her up while rushing her to put her coat on.

"Wait, how do you know where I work? I left my name tag in my purse." Jessa questioned although did as he wanted and put on her coat.

"Please, it's clearly obvious from your shoes. Mary, John I will see you both later. Don't wait up." He said, and apparently that information had been obvious, then once again grabbed Jessa's hand and pulled her along to exit the café while she waved quickly to John and Mary.

~~~~~

Jessa sighed as she sat beside the seemingly excited detective, and he was the only one who knew where they were even going! Once they arrived, police cars outside the building and the area tapped off, Sherlock got out of the cab immediately after paying and soon Jessa was running to catch up with him and had to even tell the police she was with him. If they hadn't of believed her then Sherlock wouldn't of had his doctor assistant. Once the now irritated brunette caught up with the man, he looked at her confused.

"What took you so long, Jessa? We have work to do." Sherlock asked, although then dropped the subject and did a quick introduction. "Gentlemen, this is Dr. Jessamine Baines and she is assisting me today since no one else here will work with me. Jessa, this is Anderson, Sergeant Donovan, and Detective Inspector Lestrade."

Jessa waved shyly and decided to stay close to the curly haired man who she just met about an hour ago. It then dawned on her that they were here at a crime scene, and then looked around before her eyes landed on the body of a young man who appeared to have fallen down the stairs.

"Jessa, if you would, the body is all yours. I would like to see what you know." Sherlock's voice stopped her from continuing to stare at the body.

"R-Right...sorry. I'll take a look." The female doctor said and scurried over to the corpse. Bending down, she took in the position of the body and began to do the normal procedure. "This man has been dead for around 28 hours, there are cuts and bruises on his forearms and legs as well as a large gash in his head which was what killed him. Although, it doesn't appear that the stairs killed him. If it were the stairs his head would simply be gashed open, although this appears as if someone sliced it open."

By now Sherlock had joined her and bend down at her side, also taking in information and nodding in agreement to her. Someone must have used something large, too big to be a regular kitchen knife and too thick to be a butcher's knife, and the murder weapon was probably a hatchet or an axe.

"You might want to look around for a hatchet or an axe," Jessa suggested to the leader of the detective organization who she was told was Lestrade before turning to Sherlock, "Looks like you've got yourself a murder here, Sherlock."