Ashes, Ashes

Misguided Decisions

- c h a p t e r   n i n e -

"Hold on, hold on," Alex shouted at Sherlock as he lagged behind the rest of the group heading downstairs to 221C. "You never told me if you took the case."

"I never told you because I might not have to," snapped Sherlock in response. "If what I suspect comes true, then I might have already solved the majority of your case for you."

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked. When he recieved no answer from Sherlock, he whipped around to face John and Mary. "What is he talking about?"

"You'll see in a minute," John exclaimed, shaking his head a few times. He followed behind as they approached the door to 221C. It was unlocked, so Sherlock whipped it open to reveal Emma inside.

Emma had her hair up in a neat twist, but the rest of her looked to be an absolute mess. Her fingers were coated in glitter, which had also spread to her clothing. Sure enough, she was bent over a piece of paper with writing done entirely out of glitter and glue.

When she turned around to face Sherlock, she was anticipating to have to bark at him for bursting into her flat univited yet again - but then she saw Alex standing behind him. Although she didn't seem to recognise him, the glare he was projecting in her direction was enough to make her feel uneasy.

"I see your crafting is going well, Emma," Sherlock began, deciding to be the first to strike up a conversation. At first it seemed like Emma was poised to ignore him completely, but then she stood up in order to have somewhat more ground.

"What do you want, Sherlock?" she asked, her voice losing its power with every syllable. "And John and Mary...and..."

"You've become a thief in recent days - I suppose stealing from a vintage car must've been rather interesting," Sherlock said. It was very typical of him - blunt, straight to the point - but Emma still seemed to be shocked by the way he said it.

As her eyes widened to the size of saucers, she cried out, "What? I...I have no idea what you're talking about."

John decided that he might be able to get somewhat of a better reaction out of her just by using softer words and explaining. "We had a client who came in and said someone stole from his car and left in everything's place was a glitter letter. I'm sorry, Emma, but it makes sense with what we know."

"Yeah?" Emma challenged. "And what exactly do you know?"

"We know about the whole glitter thing...and yes, it certainly makes sense..." Mary said. She had far less experience with Emma than Sherlock or John, but she'd dealt with these sorts of people in the past - she was going to take John's route to getting answers and such.

"Wait...that's the same glitter...the same glitter as the note!" Alex yelped, pointing towards the letter sitting on the ground that Emma had been in the middle of working on. She couldn't deny that she'd been working on it, either - she looked as if she'd been rolling around in glitter herself.

"The evidence all points to you," said Sherlock, stepping forwards. "You've been messy with everything as of late - you may have covered up the smoke detectors, but aside from that you must've known the smoke from the dress would make it up to 221B. You were wearing your fancy clothing without a care, but I knew you couldn't afford it."

"What...what are you talking about?" Emma said, her eyes beginning to glimmer.

"You're guilty of a crime - you've stolen from Alex Holder, and I'm sure he wasn't the first...nor was he going to be the last."

"I didn't do it, I swear!" she cried out, putting her hands up into the air as if she had a gun pointed in her direction. "I've been here in my flat almost the entire day every day for the past several weeks!"