|| Be Her Guard || Sherlock Holmes x Reader

|♢| Chapter 5 |♢| What's Fair

Once the cab pulls to the curve just outside an older looking flat building located in Bethnal Green, John jumps out, quickly paying the cabbie before sighing heavily and approaching his destination.

Sure, there have been plenty of times where Sherlock has made him run errands he's perfectly capable of doing himself, but that doesn't mean John will ever start enjoying it. He begs that one day his friend will start doing his own bidding especially when it involves traveling further than a few simple blocks. Of course, the chances of that ever happening are slim. 

Hitting the buzzer, he waits until a voice layered with an unmistakable American accent rings over the intercom," John Watson?"

"Uh, yes, that would be me," he answers a tad bit awkwardly, only having to wait a second longer for a 'click' of the door which he wastes no time pulling open all the way. The faster he gets this done, the sooner he can return home. 

By the time he exists the elevator at the correct floor, he spots a man already standing in the open doorframe of the flat as if he had been waiting there for his visitor since he rang the buzzer. Once John approaches, said man offers a hand," Rick Morison."

"John Watson, as you know," now, his skills of deduction and observation aren't anywhere near as strong as the Great Sherlock Holmes, but he can still note bits and pieces of information about the man he is currently meeting.

Judging on his accent, money could be bet that Mr. Morison is from North America and stands around the height of five foot nine to eleven. Age wise, he appears to be in his late sixties or early seventies. He's wearing large, round glasses with a deep blue dress shirt tucked into his blue jeans, his mustache being neatly trimmed along with his fluffy grey hair. This makes John guess that he is a principle man, at least, compared to some of the ruff, drug-addicted interviewees Sherlock usually seems to like sending him to meet.

"Come in. I'm sure Holmes gave you a whole list of things to ask me," Rick jokes, stepping to the side in order to let his guest through first. 

Compared to the outside of the building in which has been dull of color and in need of a proper fixing, the inside flat is much nicer yet still not much. The walls are painted a creamy white with two old sofas occupying the living room (both most likely from a thrift store due to their rips and tears), a tiny TV sitting upon a even smaller coffee table across from one of the sofas, and the main coffee table between both couches having a few empty beer bottles set on it. Baker Street definitely has more to look at. Morison must not be much for decorating.

John can't complain when taking a seat on one of the surprisingly comfortable sofas, Rick disappearing into the kitchen and calling back to him," can I offer you a beer or something?"

"N-No thank you, I'm just here to get these questions answered," he doesn't mean to sound rude or impatient, however, he also isn't about to pretend to be overjoyed at the thought of doing Sherlock's 'errands'. He'd much rather be home, taking it easy while he has that option.

"Holmes called not too long ago telling me you'd stop by," Rick came back in with a bottle of beer, sitting at the adjacent couch," to be honest, I was shocked to see the man had even called me at all. 'thought I had heard the last of him."

"How do you two know each other again? Friends-?"

"-I don't think that man takes that much interest in friends, does he?"

"I don't think he takes that much interest in people in general."

Rick laughs, obviously making himself comfortable by leaning back with his arms over the couch top before taking a long sip of his beer.

"He just gave me this list of inquiries. I don't think this'll take extremely long," John pulls the folded paper out of his pocket, glancing over it for a second. He hadn't thought to read any of the questions during the cab ride, after all, he was too busy being grumpy to do so.

"I'm retired meaning I've got all the time in the world. Ask away."

Clearing his throat, he obliges, taking out his notepad to write down the answers as they go," 'what and when was the last you've heard about the Timons Case?'"

"'should've known that's what this is about..." Rick comments with a roll of his eyes. Regardless, he answers the question after some thought," uh, what was it? Four years ago? There was some talk about an appeal but to my knowledge, the request had been denied. Not sure if your genius 'friend' or whatever he is to you realized it with me being in England and all, but I retired three years ago, so I haven't had much to do with the American Police Departments let alone any of former cases."

"So you don't know anything new about the convicted's current fate?"

"Like as of recently? Hell, as I've said, I retired and have had nothing to do with any police force for years. Beside, the guy's serving a life sentence in the Oregon State Penitentiary. I'm sure he's hating his 'current fate'."

"Do you believe there could be any chance of the convicted being let loose early, been allowed bail, or even escaped?"

"Like I said, there was talk of an appeal four years ago, but it got denied," Rick takes another swig of his beer," I suppose there's a small possibility for escape or getting let loose early. Not likely, but possible considering how flawed the American court system is. I've seen murderers be let off the hook plenty of times; too many times, if you ask me."

John nods, going on to ask the last question Sherlock wrote," 'do you believe the convicted was guilty?'"

"He was found guilty," Rick straightens his back, swirling his beer for a second then taking yet another long swig.

"The words underlined so I think Sherlock wants to know what you think, not what was decided," the doctor presses, glancing up from his notebook.

"Honestly, I was never told enough facts to give you a 'yes' or 'no' answer I'm afraid. He could be guilty or he could be innocent. My opinion doesn't matter especially all these years later...All I did was do my job by putting handcuffs on the guy."

Humming, John writes that answer down anyways before standing to his feet," well, that was the last question, so I can get out of your-"

"-If you don't mind, there's something I'd like you to ask Holmes for me."

Raising an eyebrow, John nods and watches as Rick leans forward a bit, his eyes meeting the blonds with a serious and challenging look to them," was it really fair that he put so much effort into making sure the 'convicted' was found guilty all because he, himself, wanted the man's woman in bed?"

John is clearly taken back by Rick's words, freezing and staring at the older male as if he has multiple heads. As for the man himself, he isn't the least bit worried. Instead, he stands and walks back into the kitchen, dropping his beer into the bin," I may not have been that invested in the Timons case nor do I know what to exactly think of his innocence, but I'll tell you, no one is blind enough to not notice the amount of strings Holmes pulled to get that man behind bars. It was cynical, if you ask me. Seeing how quickly he had swooped in to take that girl's side...I've always questioned if the circumstances were just a coincidence...it's always been suspicious..."

"I'm...sure that wasn't the case. Thank you for your time, but I should really get going," John doesn't waste much time excusing himself, taking a deep breath once in the hallway. With a shake of his head, he hurries to hail a cab once outside, after all, he now has some questions for Sherlock himself...