Miss Evangeline Holmes

Chapter 11

(during The Sign Of Three)

I opened my eyes and sunlight came through the window and filled my room. it was a nice day for John and Mary to have their springwedding. I went downstairs to have breakfast and saw Sherlock sitting behind his laptop.
"a case?" I asked.
"yes", he replied and held up a book, 'how to make a best man speech'.
I started laughing.
"this is a serious problem", he said.
"yes, for you." I grabbed some food and went upstairs again, having a shower. I put on the dress which i had bought for the wedding. it was white, short and kinda simple. Jim would have loved it. I sighed. this was absolutely not a good day to mourn about a serialkiller. not at John's wedding. I put a fake smile upon my face. I had pretended to he happy for the last two years, so I was pretty good at it. mrs. Hudson called me from downstairs.
"I'm coming!" I replied and went downstairs.
she wore a black dress with a white sunny hat. Sherlock stood next to her, wearing a black suit. we went inside a cab to go to the wedding.
"have you made a speech?" I asked him.

"silence for the best man!"
everyone became quiet as Sherlock stood up. he looked very nervous. he took a deep breath and started talking: "All emotions - in particular, love - stand opposed to the pure, cold reason i hold above all things. a wedding is in my considered opinion nothing short of a celebration of all that is false and specious and irrational and sentimental in this ailing morally compromised world."
I closed my eyes and sighed. hopefully this speech was going to be better soon.
"if I burden myself with a little help mate during my adventures this is not out of sentiment of caprice. it is that he has many fine qualities of his own that he has overlooked in his obsession with me. indeed any reputation I have for mental acuity and sharpness comes in truth from the extraordinary contrast John is so selflessly provides", he was silent for a second. "the point I'm trying to make is that I am the most unpleasant, rude, ignorant, and all-around obnoxious arsehole that anyone could possibly have the misfortune to meet. I'm dismissive of the virtuous, unaware of the beautiful, and so uncomprehending in the face of the happy. so if I didn't understand I was being asked to be the best man, it is because i never expected to be anybody's best friend and certainly not the best friend of the bravest and kindest and wisest human being I have ever had the good fortune of knowing. John, I am a ridiculous man, redeemed only by the warmth and constancy of your friendship. but as I am apparantly your best friend, I can not congratulate you on your choice of companion."
everybody looked at eachother a bit weird.
"actually now I can. Mary, when I say you deserve this man it is the highest compliment of which I am capable. John, you have endured war and injury and tragic loss - so sorry for that last one. so know this: today you sit between the woman you have made your wife and the man you have saved. in short, the two people who love you most in all this world. and I know I speak for Mary as well when I say we'll never let you down and we have a lifetime ahead to prove that. now on to something funny stories about John..."
he told about the cases of the hollow client, the poison giant, the matchbox decathlete and the elephant in the room. he explained the case of the bloody guardsman in full detail and so the case about a girl named Tessa dating a ghost. both of them were still unsolved.
the photographer took a picture of Sherlock as Sherlock's eyes widened and his glass slipped out of his fingers. something was wrong!
"are you okay?" I asked.
"yes, I'm fine. okay, let's play murder if you have to murder someone in this room who would it be?" he said and walked slowly between the tables.
"I'd say you're a populair choice at the moment, dear", mrs. Hudson replied.
"who would you pick?" he mumbled and looked at all the guests as he finally kept looking at mr. Sholton. he wrote something on a piece of paper and gave it to him.
Sherlock, mr. Sholton and John left the room followed by Mary. I walked to Greg, Molly, Tom and mrs. Hudson.
"what's going on then?" Molly asked.
"there's a murderer somewhere here", I answered.
"what? but how does he know?" Greg asked.
"unbelievable! a murderer, at John's wedding?" mrs. Hudson said.
"there is a murderer, that's all I know. Greg, could you might look after the other guests, you know, keep them away from it?" I replied.
"yes ofcourse, I'll do my best", he said and walked away.

after a while they came back.
"is everything okay with mr. sholton?" I asked.
Sherlock decided to ignore me and walked straight towards Greg Lestrade. "where's the photographer?" he asked.
"he just got in his car and drove away. why?" Greg answered.
"find him."
"he's the murderer, isn't he? the photographer", I said.
"yes, he also stabbed Stephen Bainbridge and he's the mayflyman who dated Tessa", he said.
some cops came inside with the photographer.
"whats wrong? I was already driving home", he said.
"you should have driven fasterm arrest him", Sherlock replied.
we walked into the room again and Sherlock played the violin during the first dance.
then everyone started dancing and I saw Sherlock talking with John and Mary.
"the sign of three", he said and smiled.
Mary was pregnant.