The Adventure Began at Holmes

Digging Deeper

Once I process that the door to the cell was once again open, I start jogging towards the sound of the gunshots. Any ordinary person would probably just barrel-ass out of this place, but not me. Remember, I'm not ordinary. I find myself seemingly drawn to the sound of the violence. As I pick up the pace, I feel my mobile vibrate in my pocket. Stopping dead in my tracks, I slip it out of my back pocket and heave a sigh. It's mother. 

I press "ignore", but knowing she would have every part of the police department searching for me if I didn't respond, I send her a text. It reads: "Sorry, I had to go somewhere. I'm super busy at the moment. Don't worry, I'm fine. -S".

 That should hold her over. As I start to run again, thoughts of doubt crept into my mind. What if I really don't make it out of here? What if I die and nobody knows where I am? What if I never get to meet my two other relatives? I discard these though, knowing that if I act the way a Holmes should, I will be perfectly fine.

As I turn the corner, I see him. A man. He looked as if he was a guard. He was wearing a tan-colored shirt with a matching hat and khakis. Well, he couldn't guard anything anymore, as he had two bullet wounds to the head and was slumped against the wall, blood dripping down his face and his shirt, slowly creating a pool of blood next to the body. There was also blood spatter and tiny bits on the wall where the bullets had gone through his brain. He looked like he could be a character straight out of a horror movie. I figure this is the work of Moriarty. It must have been him that shot this guy, and that I had heard laughing afterward. 

Maybe he was genuinely upset with this man, or maybe, just maybe, he was sending me a warning to stay away or that may happen to me. I wasn't scared though. Being scared is a sign of the weak, and if a person senses weakness it just makes you more vulnerable. I steal another glance of the gruesome-looking body and walk farther down the path.

A secluded murder maze...quite clever, but it does show some weakness. Moriarty could very well have killed anyone anywhere without the seclusion. Why would he choose to bring them here if he could have them killed at the flat? Of course, I am very grateful that he didn't, but it makes me wonder why he would go to all this trouble. I must be missing something. 

I close my eyes and try to remember all the research I had done earlier. John had written that Sherlock does this a lot. He calls it his "mind palace." I suddenly start to see all the images of my computer screen that I had looked at and the important parts I had read, then I come to something in my memory that had been on John's blog. It was a quote. 

"Don't be stupid. Somebody else is holding the rifle. I don't like getting my hands dirty." 

I quickly snap back to reality. Wait, that means it couldn't have been Moriarty that killed the guard, but someone who must work for him. This is getting interesting...