Anatomically Correct Heart

Converging Paths

Sherlock watches as Eleanor walks into the flat. She stops as she sniffs the air.

"Have you been smoking?" She asks.

"Yes."

She sighs and takes off her coat, putting it on the coat hanger.

"How was Mycroft?" Sherlock asks.

"Good," Eleanor looks around the room. She looks over at Sherlock, then across the way at John's chair. "Has it always been slightly shifted towards the fireplace?"

Sherlock moves his steady gaze from Eleanor and looks at the chair. "No, not always. Mrs.Hudson must have moved it when she was searching for my stash."

Eleanor squints her eyes and raises an eyebrow. "Stash? Stash of what?"

"Nothing of your concern," he says.

She huffs and takes a seat on the couch. "Anything on the case of the two secretaries?"

"Nope," he says, popping out the 'p'.

"Well, what did you do for the three hours when I was gone?" She asks. "Other than smoke the living death out of this flat."

"I..." He hesitates before saying, "... talked with James."

Eleanor hesitantly raises her head from the newspaper she had been reading. "James? As in the  criminal mastermind who tried to blow John up? As in the one who tried- and successfully, may I add- make you commit suicide because targeting your friends?"

"Yes, I do believe that is the only James we both know," he says. He scrunches up his face. "How did you know he tried to blow up John?"

"Oh please, do you really think Mycroft sent me out of the blue all of a sudden one day?" She asks, a sarcastic smile on her face. "Mycroft had me in his back pocket the moment he saw my name on the list for MI6 applications. After the war- which was the beginning of James, you should know- Mycroft had an eye on my brother. Finding me was the 100 quid at the bottom of the hay stack."

Sherlock squinted his eyes. "He said he had taken you away... for a few days once and another time just for the night. Are you alright?"

For the first time in forever, Sherlock had shown some sort of concern for someone that wasn't himself. "Yes, he had kidnapped me and I'm perfectly fine. What else did he say?"

"Out of the five times that you've been unaccounted for, two of the incidents you have reasons for. I now know two out of the three are accounted for James. Would you please elaborate who or what  the other one was for?" Sherlock asks, stuck on the topic.

"Do you actually believe that I can remember every single moment I haven't been with you?" She asks. When he doesn't reply, she sighs. "An old friend of mine."

"Who?" Sherlock asks.

"I'm sure he'll make himself known when needed," she says, looking over at his web of thoughts. "Have anything new on Nancy Pennington and Penelope Jane?"

"Yes, Nancy Pennington was cheating on her husband, who is currently in a cemetery because he's been dead for six years. Plus, she has a Dominatrix website along with a dear friend of mine, Irene Adler. But that isn't important because I already knew that," he says.

"Wait a minute," Eleanor says. "Nancy Pennington was a Dominatrix?" 

"Oh please, any widow after finding out their husbands dead turns to it- its simple and a source of income for her two children. Mr.Kreisler was a very dominating man- being CEO and all. It was a small matter of time before I found that they had been acquainted for a very long time for a rather large about of money," Sherlock says.

"How did you find that out?" Eleanor asks suspiciously.

"Pure psychology," Sherlock says. "Although I do find it rather annoying, it does prove its importance now and then."

"No... about the Dominatrix thing..." 

"I like to keep a rather sharp eye out on their website," Sherlock says.

"Sherlock..." Eleanor mumbles.

"Hmm?" He asks, looking up from his laptop.

"You do realize how absolutely horrid that sounds," she says.

"Oh yes, but I just assumed you understood what I was saying," he says. "What I mean is-"

"Please don't explain," Eleanor says, rubbing her temples. A headache was slowly starting to grow. "That means Penelope Jane was the real secretary... but who's doing all this?"

"One guess is your brother," Sherlock states.

"One guess says you're wrong," Eleanor says.

"This is his MO," Sherlock explains. "He finds corruption and exterminates the bad."

"You're wrong," Eleanor says. "He is a good man deep down- he truly is. You are right, he does fine corruption and exterminates it, but corruption isn't his weapon. Fear is. Corruption is his sidekick."

"Fine, then who else would be doing this?" Sherlock asks in annoyance. 

Eleanor gets up and goes into the bathroom to look through the medicine for some Advil. "I don't know, and I honestly hope to god it isn't who I think it is."

~