Dancing With The Devil (part two)

Chapter 1: The Consulting Criminal

11:00 November 2011

Tourists, guards, visitors, men, women, boys and girls, bustled about the place excitedly. This was the place were all of her things were. Her hats, and balls, and fancy coats, well, maybe they're a little more prestigious than that. The tower of London had to be the main attraction of London. It was, of course, the residence of the great crown jewels and more. Also known as 'The Queen of England's fancy collection of artefacts only to be taken out of their tough glass containers every time a monarch unfortunately dies' according to the one and only consulting criminal.

It's a long story.

Not one week after the great fire of 'that house in Hitchen', Moriarty returned, as if he hadn't gone. Astrid Wingham had never been more relieved, however, she had tried not to show it in order to be 'professional'. She had been right, however, as Jim confirmed that it was Mycroft Holmes who had taken him, but said that there was nothing to worry about as he had managed to learn so so much about the worlds favourite consulting detective.

And that is what brings us to the Tower of London.

Unnoticed to the rest of the people in the tower. There was a plan. The plan was for James Moriarty to dress up as a plain boring tourist at the crown jewels and, well, cause a bit of havoc, as it were. So ...he did that, and he stole the crown jewels ...well, temporarily anyway. Then there would be the advertisement, well, the trial. It meant the same thing. He told the whole world what he was capable of. It was a power play. The one thing that was for sure was that he would definitely be leaving that building as a free man.

Of course, Astrid Wingham wouldn't miss this for the world. When the trial came around, she attended  for insight. To see the mess that Sherlock Holmes would have to clan up, all because of his 'intellectual prowess'.

"A 'consulting criminal'?" the small barrister had quoted.

"Yes." Sherlock confirmed from the raised platform that he was stood on.

"Your words." the barrister had continued, "can you expand on that?"

"James Moriarty is for hire." Sherlock began, the fact that he was beginning to start a speech was evident at the fact that the judge was looking extremely frustrated.

"A tradesman?"

"Yes."

"But not the sort that would fix your heating?"

"No, the sort who'd plant a bomb or stage an assassination," the detective replied sharply, "but I'm sure he would make a pretty decent job of your boiler."

There was a muffled laugh that rang throughout the court as Astrid stepped out into the large array of seating that looked over the scene, followed by Seb. The speech carried on as her eyes scanned the seating area for a familiar face. A large smile grew on her face as she saw John sitting attentively just in front of the entrance. She looked at Seb who clicked his tongue and sat down on the other side of the area. Astrid's eyes went back to John who continued to stare down at the scene below, she smirked to herself and went to join him. She quietly sat down next to him unnoticed.

"Hello Doctor Watson." She greeted as the Doctor looked at her gobsmacked, "it's wonderful to see you."

"Alexa," he finally said after gulping in a breath of fear, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"The same as you." she stated and after there was a pause Astrid continued, "and since we know each other so well, I've decided that you can call me by my real name."

"Real name?"

"Astrid Wingham." she put out her hand, "nice to meet ya."

After she grabbed his hand and shook it in response to him being reluctant, she smirked and turned to face the stage. Sherlock seemed to be deducting something, he was speaking slowly and staring at Jim with an intense hate.

"And how long-" the poor barrister began.

"No, no, don't-don't do that. That's really not a good question."

"Mr Holmes!" the judge cut in angrily.

"How long have I known him? Not really your best line of enquiry. We met twice, five minutes in total. I pulled a gun; he tried to blow me up." his tone began to laces itself in sarcasm, "I felt we had a special something."

Astrid couldn't see Jim's face, but she was sure that he was making some sort of charming expression, the judge continued as Astrid lent over to whisper something to John.

"Ya know," She started as she popped a piece of chewing gum in her mouth and started chewing on it, "you've gotta admit, he's pretty good at this."

"He is the greatest detective in the world-" Watson started.

"I don't mean him, I mean Jim." she rolled her eyes, "James, whatever his stupid name is."

"Sorry?"

"Gosh, you people are so clueless." she smirked, "there is no way that Jim is staying in this place. No way."

The Doctor remained speechless. Astrid smirked once more and stood up abruptly before walking over to Seb to get a good view on the extremely intriguing situation. Sherlock seemed to be deducing every single detail about every single person of the jury. They all seemed extremely frustrated with this man, which was of course no surprise to anyone. After a good scolding from the judge and a few inappropriate remarks from Sherlock, a recess was called into the trial. Which was of course down to the extremely unneeded remarks from Mr Holmes. As he was escorted out, Astrid quietly giggled and looked over at Jim. He briefly turned around and blew a kiss at her before turning back round to face the music. With one more small giggle and giving John a wink goodbye, the two left.