Mrs. Holmes [Book III]

Digital

Susanna set up her laptop on the desk and wired Nelson's phone into it. Sherlock stood behind her and watched as she launched a few software programs, "If there's any codes or encryptions this software will pick it up."

"Nelson wasn't intelligent enough for those."

"Exactly. But the suspect is," Susanna carefully broke through the first few locks on the device and started going through the data. Eventually she reached the phone's downloads and found an audio file, "This might be something."

"An audio file?"

"Could be instructions."

"Let's hear it then."

Susanna nodded and turned up the volume, opening the file. A digitalized, encoded voice filled the room.

Bring Photos to Dark Room. Deposit will be waiting. Don't be seen.

"Dark Room?" Brooklyn probed.

"A drop point or a Courier." Sherlock clarified.

"Let me see if I can change the voice back." Susanna hummed and opened an audio editing program. She loaded the file and started altering the frequencies. This process took a few minutes before she got it right. The message played again. This time the voice being heard belonged to a female.

"Woman most likely in her late thirties. Romanian accent," Sherlock deduced and she played it over, "Smoker."

"But none of the names on this list are Romanian." John commented.

Susanna and Sherlock exchanged glances and she grabbed her phone, "My Dad did several missions in the countries bordering the Black Sea. Including Romania. He eliminated several high profile targets."

"A deceased target's daughter, then?"

"Motive for revenge," Sherlock confirmed as Susanna messaged her father, "Are there any other audio files?"

"Possibly." Susanna went back to search through the downloads and indeed found four more files. She tuned them as she had the first and it was the same woman talking.

Fail and you'll be terminated. Succeed and you'll be rich.

Drop Photos at Dark Room. If they're acceptable, the payment will be more than last time.

The messages seemed to follow a pattern. Susanna then tried to figure out how Nelson had downloaded the files. She rooted through his emails and social media messages, then his apps. When she got to his browser history she grinned, "Bingo!"

He had visited the same site multiple times to download the files from a private server, "Can you trace the I.P. Address?"

"I can try but I don't think it'll work."

"Just try." Susanna nodded and proceeded to initiate a trace. Unfortunately she was blocked.

"Nope. Won't work."

Buzz...

They looked at the phone and it vibrated again, then again, "It's a call pattern," Susanna didn't touch it, so Sherlock reached out and grabbed it. He accepted the call and put it on speaker, "Hello?"

"Holmes Residence?"

"Yes." Sherlock replied. Susanna would have traced the call but the number was blocked as well. She sat back in the chair and exhaled.

"Hold Please."

The Hold lasted only a couple of seconds before the same digitalized voice came through, "Just because you took one of my pawns does not mean you have halted my operations."

"You killed him, not me. You took your own pawn out of the game." Sherlock quipped.

"A minor technicality. I merely cut off a loose end. He had lived out his usefulness anyways."

"You will be brought to justice for threatening the Trowbridge Family."

"I'll die and take one of them with me before I grace any prison," The voice squelched with machine laughter, "Maybe I'll take two along."

Sherlock darkened, "I am Sherlock Holmes. Think better if you believe I will not find you."

"Find me, you may. But by the time you do my business will be finished."

"You shouldn't sound so confident."

"You shouldn't either."

Thank you for reading!!