Fate Without Time

Chapter 29

The next morning, the three of us were sitting at a table in a café. John was eating breakfast while I was already on my third cup of coffee (again, didn't get much sleep the previous night). Sherlock, on the other hand, was drumming his fingers impatiently on the table, waiting for the pink phone to ring. "Feeling better?" he asked John and I. "Mmm," I said. "You realise we've hardly stopped for breath since this thing started?" John paused as he ate another forkful of food. "Has it occurred to you ...?" "Probably," Sherlock interrupted. I set my coffee down, knowing what John was trying to say. "No – has it occurred to you that the bomber's playing a game with you? The envelope; breaking into the other flat; the dead kid's shoes – it's all meant for you," I said. Sherlock smiled slightly. "Yes, I know," he said. "Is it him, then? Moriarty?" asked John. "Perhaps," said Sherlock. Suddenly, the pink phone rang with a message alert. When I switched it on, it sounded two short Greenwich pips followed by the longer tone. A photograph of a smiling middle-aged woman appeared on the screen. "Who is that?" I asked. "That could be anybody," said Sherlock. "Well, it could be, yeah. Lucky for you, I've been more than a little unemployed," said John. "How d'you mean?" asked Sherlock. "Lucky for you, Mrs Hudson and I watch far too much telly," said John. Then, he walked up to the counter, picked up a remote, and turned on the TV. And after changing channels a couple of times, we saw the woman from the photograph on the screen, halfway through her makeover show. She gestured to someone off-screen. "Thank you, Tyra! Doesn't she look lovely, everybody, now?" she asked. Suddenly, the pink phone rang. Sherlock quickly picked it up and put it on speaker. "Hello?" he asked. "This one ... is a bit ... defective. Sorry. She's blind. This is ... a funny one. I'll give you ... twelve hours," said an old woman. "Why are you doing this?" asked Sherlock. "I like ... to watch you ... dance," said the old woman. "Just stop this right now!" I exclaimed. "But that ... wouldn't be ... any fun ... would it, Alissandra?" she asked. Then, the line went dead and we averted our attention back to the TV screen, where we saw a news headline on the bottom of the screen that read, 'Make-over Queen Connie Prince dead at 48.'