How They Met Alice (BBC Sherlock Fanfiction)

Chaprer 71

(Third-person View: )

At the White Tower in the Tower of London, tourists were passing through a metal detector on their way to see the Crown Jewels. A security man gave some items back to a tourist.

“Put this in your bag, please.” He said. Jim Moriarty (wearing tourist clothes and chewing gum) walked through the detector, which beeped an alarm. “Excuse me, sir.” The security guard said. Still chewing on his gum, Jim stopped and stepped back again. “Any metal objects – keys, mobile phones?” Smiling apologetically, Jim took his phone out of his pocket and put it into the tray. “You can go through.” The security guard allowed. Jim stepped through the detector again, which stayed silent this time. The security guard slid the tray across and Jim took the phone again. “Thank you.”

Jim walked on and entered the room. He stopped at the large display case in the middle of the room and looked at the throne inside the case. On the throne was a red velvet cushion with an ornate crown resting on it. An equally ornate orb was balanced on one arm of the throne and a sceptre rested across the other arm. As other tourists walked around the case, Jim took a pair of earbuds from his pocket and poked them into his ears. Bending his head from side to side to crack his neck, he lifted his phone and switched it on, then closed his eyes in bliss, still rolling his head on his neck and spreading his arms either side of him and then slowly beginning to lower them as the Overture to Rossini’s ‘The Thieving Magpie’ began to play.

In the nearby surveillance room, one of the two men watching the security footage from all around the Tower turned to his colleague.

“Fancy a cuppa, then, mate?” The first man asked.

“Yeah, why not?” The second agreed. The first man got up and walked away.

BANK OF ENGLAND, 11:00

A man brought a tray containing a cup and saucer and a milk jug into the office of the bank’s Director.

“Gilts at seven; Dutch telecoms in freefall. Thank you, Harvey.” The director said, looking at his computer screen. Harvey put the tray down onto the table and left the room again.

PENTONVILLE PRISON 11:00

The prison’s governor, with an enormous ‘Keep calm and carry on’ mug full of tea on his desk, slammed a file down onto his desk as several warders sat or stood nearby.

“What do you say: refuse them all parole and bring back the rope! Let’s begin.” The governor said, taking a sip of his tea.

Back at the Tower, Jim finished lowering his arms and then lifted up the phone and scrolled through the app icons on it. He pushed aside the one that had a cartoon of a prisoner with striped prison clothes and standing behind bars, scrolled past the one of a piggy bank with the English flag on it, and selected the one with a crown on it. The icon of the crown unfolded like a padlock being unlocked.

 In the surveillance room, alarms began to beep in warning as some of the TV screens went blank. An automated voice played into the White Tower.

“This is an emergency. Please leave the building.” It said repeatedly. The tourists started to hurry out of the room. A security guard walked over to Jim, assuming that he couldn’t hear the alarm through his earphones, and put a hand on his shoulder to attract his attention.