I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 182 : The Scottish mystery

Greg was wondering why it was always when he had a day off that his body decided that he shouldn't get back to sleep after seven when he heard the doorbell rigging. Grunting, he got out of bed and wrapped himself in a nightgown, already in a bad mood. He wasn't even on his room's doorstep when the bell rang for the second time, instantly giving out the identity of the visitor.

Only Sherlock was so little patient that he would frantically ring the bell until someone opened the door. Usually if on the third ring he hadn't had any answer e would just get himself in and start smashing open all the door of the house until he fount the person he was looking for. That was a constant nightmare of Greg, to have the young sleuth enter the room whenever he was doing something private with Mycroft.

He opened the entrance door just before his brother-in-law would ring once more, and he looked at him with clear will to murder him in the eyes. The younger Holmes smiled back at him and entered the place without being invited, starting to touch and disorganise everything around him like every time his brain was to occupied thinking to actually control what his body was doing.

"May I help you ?" the policeman wondered, not feeling like it at all.

"Oh yes." was the only answer from the detective who seemed still as busy with his thinking.

"What can I do for you then ?3 the DCI sighed, not really in the mood for a riddle.

"Have you ever been to the Scottish Isle of Islay ?" the young man questioned, finally seeming to calm down.

"Never heard of it." Greg denied, not really sure what the other man was expecting of him.

"That's where we are going." the sleuth explained before grabbing his arm and trying to lead him outside.

"I'm sorry but I'm not going anywhere, especially in my pyjamas." the inspector refused, not really fancying giving up his day off for yet another of Sherlock's whim.

"Come on, I need the police and that stupid Scottish inspector don't want to assist me !" the young man tried to convince him, still not letting go of his arm.

"Let me wonder why ..." Greg cursed under his breath.

"Mycroft said that you should in fact come with us." the detective tried out, opening the door and trying to pull the man out of his home.

"I'm not under your brother's order, you know ?" the policeman remarked even if he knew that the politician had probably agreed on this because he was concerned about his baby brother and would like someone to keep an eye on him.

"Not my problem." Sherlock dismissed the remark and tried once more to pull the older man out.

"May I, at least, dress up conveniently ?" Greg requested, breaking the other man's grip on his arm.

"Don't be too long, a corpse is awaiting us." the sleuth accepted, looking rather excited.

The October wind was strong and cold on the shore of the Isle of Islay and Greg was still wondering why he had accepted to escort his brother-in-law in his adventures. Judging by the face John was pulling, the feeling was the same for him. Sherlock alone seemed very content to bet here despite the Scottish drizzle.

He was running from one point of the tiny field they were standing in From time to the other, he would look up to the sky and mutter incomprehensible words before looking back to the ground. He had explained briefly the case he was investigating to the two men during the plane journey before sinking into his mind palace until they landed.

The case dated back from the seventies when a middle-aged man called Robert Beach disappeared as he was flying a rental plane. From what the young sleuth had said, the man was staying in a hotel near the shore with his girlfriend Helena in late December as the pair of them were prospecting for a place to establish a new five stars hotel. They had been gone for the day, touring the island for the best spot and had come back for diner at their hotel. The night was dark and storms were schedule for around midnight but, after diner, Robert wanted to prove to his girlfriend that the small airstrip beside the hotel was good enough for the take off and landing of the small plane they intended to transport their future clients in. Owner of a pilot licence and having gain experiences of difficult conditions of flight during the last world war, the man was quite confident in himself and the couple went out to the airstrip.