The Laws of Attraction - The Blind Banker

The Blind Banker

     Leanna stood in the middle of the spare room of her aunt's flat- her bedroom, now. She gazed around the space that she had moments ago finished settling into; the bookshelf meticulously organized by alpha, the wardrobe where all her clothes hung in specific groups, her desk with not a paper or a pencil out of place. Yes, it was all to her satisfaction- straight lines, proportion and symmetry, just the way she liked it. Leanna sighed contently.

     There was a gentle clunking as someone came down from upstairs. Leanna stepped out of her bedroom, closing the door softly behind her before walking out through the kitchen where Mrs. Hudson rummaged through cupboards. At the front entrance, John pulled on his jacket.

     "I'm just going to the shop. Need anything while I'm out?" He asked, neighbourly.

     "No, thank you. I think we're alright." Leanna said as she looked back to her aunt. She gave John a smile before he left 221.

     "We must still have bread around here somewhere." Mrs. Hudson remarked as she opened the next cabinet, "I only just got some just a few days ago."

     "Sorry." Leanna apologized, sighing, "It's in the next cupboard over. I did a bit of reorganizing."

     Mrs. Hudson found the bread and Leanna retrieved various sandwich fillers from the refrigerator, which she had also reorganized. She began making their lunch as Mrs. Hudson filled a pitcher with water. Leanna pulled a third plate from an overhanging cupboard, setting a few of the sandwiches she was cutting aside. The other two plates were set at the table, the platter of sandwich quarters in between. She placed the other platter she'd made in the fridge. Leanna and her aunt sat themselves at the table and Mrs. Hudson poured water from the pitcher.

     "I could teach you my system, for the cupboards." Leanna suggested.

     "Thank you, dear, but you needn't bother; I'd just forget it anyway." They laughed lightly and Mrs. Hudson drank her water as Leanna helped herself to the small sandwiches. Suddenly, there was a shout and a clatter from the flat upstairs, and Mrs. Hudson spilled the water she had been sipping into her lap.

     "John's been gone not ten minutes and he's already breaking things!" Leanna exclaimed, pushing away from the table.

     She climbed the stairs, walking up to the open door of the flat above. She screamed in surprise as Sherlock kicked a man, a swordsman dressed in exotic clothes, backwards off himself. He nearly took Leanna down with him as he tumbled back. The man whacked her over the head with the butt of his sword, and the next thing she knew was the floor as she came into contact with it. When her head cleared and the floorboards came again into focus, she heaved herself up in time to see the intruder toss Sherlock aside and bend him back over the kitchen table, pressing the blade of his sword against his neck.

     Lunging forward in a panic, Leanna grabbed a plate off the table and smashed it over the man's head. It broke in her hands, the pieces clattering to the floor. While he was dazed, Sherlock pushed him off and dodged his lazy punches easily- he seemed a little dizzy.

     "Look!" Sherlock shouted, pointing in the direction of the fireplace. Caught off guard, the robed man swung his head around to look, and Sherlock decked him square in the face.  He fell backward onto Sherlock's chair in a heap of loud fabric, unconscious, his sword clanging on the floor where it slipped from his hand.  Leanna put the remains of the broken plate on the table again.

     "Good shot." Sherlock complimented.

     "Thanks. But I've got to admit, I looked when you pointed." They both smiled and laughed a little, out of breath.

     "How's your head?" He asked, trying his best at concern.

    "Fine, I think." She still felt a little dizzy when she moved it too quickly, and she suspected she would have a headache in a few hours, but she decided that she would be alright.

     Leanna made her way down the stairs again, her appetite suddenly gone, replaced by adrenaline. Yet still she thought that her glass of water might do her good, so she sipped at it while her aunt chatted away, now changed into dry clothes.

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     Leanna and Mrs. Hudson both jumped where they stood at the sink, washing the dishes, as the door to 221 slammed. John came in, grumbling, and walked heavily up the stairs. Leanna tried to greet him, but he ignored her.

     "I wonder what's gotten into him." Mrs. Hudson remarked.

     "I don't know. I thought he was supposed to have the groceries." Leanna realized that he wasn't carrying a single bag. This made her remember the sandwiches in the fridge, made for such an occasion as this, as she'd anticipated. She dried her hands of the dishwater they'd been soaked in and retrieved the platter from the refrigerator, headed from the kitchen and back up the stairs to the flat John shared with the consulting detective.

     "...it sat there and I shouted abuse. Oh, hello Leanna." She walked into the middle of their conversation, Sherlock sitting in the chair previously occupied by a murderous swordsman-  Leanna briefly wondered what Sherlock had done with him, "Have you got cash?"

     "Take my card." His flatmate offered with a smile. Leanna followed John into the kitchen.

     "What's that?" Sherlock asked Leanna skeptically.

     "It's food. You eat it. Or you die." She explained, holding up the plate of sandwiches for him to see before she placed them in their refrigerator.

     "You could always go yourself, you know." John suggested, still miffed, "You've been sitting there all morning and not even moved since I left." Leanna's eyes caught Sherlock's, and they exchanged a sort of smirk as he crossed his legs, sliding the man's sword further under his chair.

     "What about that case you were offered, the Jaria Diamond?"

     "Not interested. I sent them a message."  He went back to his reading.

     John sighed, picking up Leanna's bit of broken plate and examining it in curious annoyance before leaving the flat to get his shopping, this time with Sherlock's card. Leanna glanced at her watch- twelve forty-three. She too had to be leaving if she was going to get downtown by one o'clock.

     "I need to head out, too." She headed to the stairs before turning back to Sherlock, "And try not to harass Mrs. Hudson while I'm gone. Remember- she's not your housekeeper."

     "Isn't she?" He responded, not looking up from his book. Leanna glided downstairs, grabbing her jacket and purse, slipping them on as she walked out the door.

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So, what do you think?  Hope it's alright for the start!  Please comment and tell me what you think- I don't bite (hard)!  ~J.M   <3