Fate Without Time

Chapter 33

That night, Sherlock and I walked into the main office at New Scotland Yard, with me brandishing a folder at Lestrade. "Raoul de Santos is your killer. Kenny's houseboy. Second autopsy shows it wasn't tetanus that poisoned Connie Prince – it was botulinum toxin," I said as I put the folder on the desk. But as Lestrade reached for it, Sherlock leaned closer to him. "We've been here before. Carl Powers? Tut-tut. Our bomber's repeated himself," he said. Sherlock and I followed Lestrade towards his office, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see John staring at us in surprise. "So how'd he do it?" asked Lestrade. "Botox injection," I said. Lestrade turned back to us. "Botox?" he repeated. "Botox is a diluted form of botulinum. Among other things, Raoul de Santos was employed to give Connie her regular facial injections. My contact at the Home Office gave me the complete records of Raoul's internet purchases," Sherlock paused as he pointed towards the folder. "He's been bulk ordering Botox for months," he said. "Bided his time, then upped the strength to a fatal dose," I said. "You sure about this?" asked Lestrade. "We're sure," said Sherlock. "Alright – my office," said Lestrade. Sherlock and I started to follow Lestrade, but John stopped us. "Hey, you two. How long?" he asked. "What?" I asked. "How long have you known?" he asked. "Well, this one was quite simple, actually, and like we said, the bomber repeated himself. That was a mistake," said Sherlock as we tried to walk towards Lestrade's office. But John stopped us again. "No, but Sherl, Lissa... The hostage... the old woman. She's been there all this time," said John. Sherlock leaned closer and looked at John intensely. "We knew we could save her. We also knew that the bomber had given us twelve hours. We solved the case quickly; that gave us time to get on with other things. Don't you see? We're one up on him!" Sherlock exclaimed as he headed into Lestrade's office. But before I went in as well, I turned towards John. "And never call me 'Lissa' again," I said sternly. "Understood. Sorry," said John as we went into Lestrade's office.

Shortly afterwards, Sherlock and I were sitting at Lestrade's desk, the laptop opened to The Science of Deduction website. John and Lestrade were standing on either side of us as Sherlock typed into the message box:

Raoul de Santos, the house-boy, botox.

Sherlock sent the message and the pink phone on the desk beside the computer rang almost instantly. "I've got this one," I said. Sherlock nodded as I picked up the phone and held it to my ear. "Hello?" I asked. "Help me," said the old woman in an anguished voice. "Tell us where you are. Address," I said clearly. "He was so... His voice..." "No, no, no, no. Tell me nothing about him. Nothing," I said urgently. "He sounded so...soft," she said. I heard a single shot fire and the phone instantly went dead. "Hello?" I asked. Just then, I realized what had happened. Sherlock and I had failed. "Alissa?" asked Lestrade, the concern evident in his voice. "What's happened?" asked John. I slowly lowered the phone from my ear, staring ahead of myself. I felt Sherlock gently grab my hand. "Alissa, what happened?" he asked. "We failed. Oh my God. All those people..." I said. Sherlock pulled me into his arms as I began to cry. How could we have been wrong?!