Stereotypical (BBC Sherlock)

Chapter 11 - The Speckled Band

This is based on ACD's case by the same chapter name. I suggest reading it. One of the first I ever read.

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I ran upstairs with my bag a few hours later. Sherlock remarked that we would stay the night most likely. John and I waited in the sitting room while Sherlock got ready. He came out a moment later with a bag and a box. Dropping the bag at his feet he turned to me.

"How have you been coming along in your shooting?"

John answered for me. "She's doing well. Can hit the target no problem and is working on moving targets now."

Sherlock nodded and opened the box, pulling a gun out and handing it to me. "Standard issue L106A1. The army is replacing them with the Glock 17 so I got this one easily." He handed me a couple of cartridges and smiled tightly. "I'll still keep you behind me but at least now you can have my back. Keep it with you at all times, even when we're not on a case."

I nodded and loaded the gun, making sure it was secure before I tucked it in the back of my jeans. I packed the extra cartridges away, hoping I wouldn't have to use any bullets at all. We made it to Stoke Moran exactly at three and Helen met us in front. She grinned at us and turned to walk beside Sherlock.

"My stepfather's out for the day and definitely won't be home until late so you have plenty of time."

"Oh yes, we had the pleasure of meeting him today. Dropped by the flat to scare us off the case."

Helen paled. "What should we do?"

"Would he do as he threatens and cause anyone harm?"

"If his temper is up, I'd think so."

"If he wants me dead, he's a bit late to the party. Tonight, I want you to stay in your room. Say you don't feel well. If he turns violent, we'll take you somewhere else, yes? Now, I'd like to see the rooms."

Helen nodded and led us towards the house. It was a grey, moldy and vine covered stone mansion, falling apart in all but one wing. This was where Helen took us now. She let us leave our bags in the sitting room and then we went back outside. There was some construction taking place, as she'd told us. There were no workmen though, probably given the day off. Sherlock walked up to the windows. "This is your room. In the middle your sister's. And then your stepfather's. But now you're sleeping in the middle room."

"And our housekeeper just over there." She pointed to another room.

"There doesn't seem to be a need for repairs on this end."

"I wouldn't know, I was told so little about it."

"Mmm... Are there windows on the other side of the corridor?"

"Too small for a person to come through."

"And you locked yourselves in at night so there was no entering from there. Go inside and bar the shutters."

She did so and we found there was no way to get in through the windows on our side. Nothing could slip under the bars. The hinges were sturdy as well. "No one could have come from outside. So it would have to have been an inside job."

We went in to Helen's room. It was simple, with little to distinguish it as any specific person's room. Sherlock sat in an armchair by the window and looked around, thinking. John and I followed his lead, trying to find what he would think important. Trying to observe and not just see.

"Why do you have a bell-pull?" I asked.

Helen shrugged. "It was never taken down. A lot of the house still has elements from the Victorian age and such. Julia's room was the only one with the bell-pull still in it though. I had an old lantern in mine."