-Same night, Baskerville-
Sherlock and Juliet were now walking into another small room full of cages at the far end of the building. Inside Doctor Stapleton, the mother of little Kristy who's rabbit Bluebell had been missing, was examining a fluffy white rabbit on a metal table. She jerked her head up as the intruders came through the door.
''Oh... Back again?'' she smirked, ''What's on your mind this time?''
''Murder, Doctor Stapleton.'' the man stated with a monotone voice, ''Refined, cold-blooded murder.''
He reached back and turned off the light witch by the door. The limited lighting in the room that seemed to be coming from the small window at the far end of the room, was just enough for everyone to see that the rabbit Stapleton was holding, was brightly glowing green. Juliet turned the lights back on.
''Will you tell little Kristy what happened to Bluebell or shall I?'' he smiled unpleasantly at the doctor as she sighed.
''Okay.'' she rolled her eyes, ''What do you want?''
''Can I borrow your microscope?'' Sherlock asked with a wide smile.
-A few moments later-
In a larger lab, Sherlock was gazing into a microscope. Unhappy with what he was seeing, he turned away from the 'scope and crushed something which looked like crystalline into smaller pieces. Time passed and he varied between sitting with his back to the microscope, his hands folded in the prayer position in front of him as he was thinking, to gazing into the 'scope, or even just scribbling chemical formulae onto the desk.
Nearby, Juliet sat on a small stool with her head propped in her hand, gazing blankly into space as Doctor Stapleton stood near her. A short distance from them, Sherlock looked increasingly irritated as he picked up another slide and put it under the microscope. As the tension in the room levelled up the detective stared intently at the slides before his eyes, he suddenly furiously snatched it out from under the 'scope and hurled it against the nearest wall.
''It's not there!'' he screamed, ''Nothing there! Doesn't make any sense...''
''What were you expecting to find?'' Doctor Stapleton wondered as she folded her arms across her chest.
''A drug, of course!'' he exclaimed as he started pacing around the room, ''There has to be a drug! Otherwise how would we see this 'hound'? An hallucinogenic or a deliriant of some kind... but there's no trace of anything in the sugar.''
''Sugar?'' Juliet asked confused as she lifted her head.
''The sugar, yes. It's a simple process of elimination.'' he started to explain, ''I saw the hound – saw it as my imagination expected me to see it: a genetically engineered monster. But I knew I couldn't believe the evidence of my own eyes, so there were seven possible reasons for it, the most possible being narcotics.''
He continued to pace around the room as both Doctor Stapleton and Juliet's expression became more and more confused.
''Henry Knight – he saw it too but you didn't, Juliet. You didn't see it.'' the man continued, ''Now, we have eaten and drunk exactly the same things since we got to Grimpen apart from one thing: you don't take sugar in your coffee.''
''I see. So...'' the brunette replied with a small sigh.
''I took it from Henry's kitchen, his sugar.'' he glared down at the microscope, ''It's perfectly all right.''
''So maybe it's not a drug.'' she concluded as she hopped of the stool.
''No, it has to be a drug.'' the detective sat on a stool and buried his head in his hands as he closed his eyes, ''But how did it get into our systems. How? There has to be something... buried deep.'' he continued as his head jerked up and he pointed to Juliet and the doctor, ''Get out.''
YOU ARE READING
The Death Game
AdventureShe's lived a lot of different lives, been a lot of different people many times. She lives her life in bitterness and fills her heart with the emptiness that she craves. For the first time, she can see. She sees it. There's no crime in what she does...
