And then there was three; a Sherlock Fanfiction

Fifteen

An hour after the initial discovery of the laptop and Natalie Vail file, Sherlock, Lilly, and John had gathered loads of evidence that Madeline Ashworth was the head of an underground network focused on the exportation of people. Like the Janus Cars situation, they helped them fake their deaths and escape their problems. The only thing that still didn't make sense was what the network was getting out of it.

After much time arguing with Sherlock, Lilly and John finally persuaded him to let them call Lestrade. The detective inspector was reluctant to come at first, as they had to explain that they'd broken into a home, but he eventually got together a group of officers and rushed over to examine the evidence.

When the police first arrived on the scene, they forced the three intruders outside to wait for the news. Sherlock wasn't too happy about this and spent much of the time outside bashing the police force and pointing out flaws in each officer.

Eventually Lestrade came outside to calm Sherlock down and explain the situation, "well, Madeline Ashworth obviously has something to do with those murders. I have men inside dusting for prints and going through files right now. The Ashworths just landed in New York, so we have to get them back on a plane here so then we can start questioning them. The files have also identified the real location of those 'murder victims' and I've got men going to get them now. We've discovered that the bodies we found were those of homeless people with similar features to the citizens that fled; we're working on identifying the true victims now as well," Lestrade sighed and scratched his head; it was clear that he was going to be sorting all this out for a while, "I'm going to head back in there I guess," Greg said, leaving the three to go back inside.

"Well now what?" John asked, "is the case finished then?"

"No," Sherlock replied, "now we interview the suspects,"

•••

Sargent Sally Donovan held the door open to the
interrogation room condescendingly, "head on in Freak," she said to Sherlock, "but good luck getting anything out of her, she doesn't want to talk,"

It had been nearly three full days since the trio broke into the Ashworth's large manor, and Sherlock was finally getting the opportunity to question Madeline Ashworth. At first, both Mr. and Mrs. Ashworth were suspects, but his finger prints were absent from the crime scene and he swore that he had never entered Madeline's office, just as she'd never entered his; he claimed that the two spaces were a sort of safe haven where each would go to get away from one another. Although Lestrade had a hard time believing that Simon Ashworth had nothing to do with the situation, Madeline expressed that her husband was telling the truth. Sherlock then went on to back up Madeline's claim after speaking to Mr. Ashworth in private for five minutes.

Lilly watched through the one way glass as John and Sherlock entered the compact space. Detective Lestrade had to pull a few strings to get Sherlock and John in to talk to Madeline, but Lilly was forced to stand outside and watch.

Inside the small square room, Madeline Ashworth sat chained to a white desk, her dark eyes trained on the tall frame of Sherlock Holmes. She seamed to wear the handcuffs like jewelry, looking like a model even under arrest.

"Not sure he's going to get anywhere with her," Lestrade muttered, coming up beside Lilly to observe, "she refuses to say anything on the matter,"

Lilly didn't reply, watching as Sherlock and John took seats across from the stunning woman.

"Sherlock Homles, the consulting detective," she smirked at him, "I knew you'd find my office eventually, took you longer than expected though," Madeline let out a dark laugh, a sinister look in her eyes.