My Clever Girl

The Hounds of Baskerville (Part 3)

"Did you see it?" Henry asked with fear as he hurried over to us. "I don't know. Sherlock hid me behind him." Iris said with a shrug and looked around. I looked around as well then shook my head and put it off as nothing. I quickly grabbed Iris' hand and moved Henry out of the way and hurried back up the hill with him following. We started walking out as John came running over to us. "Did you hear that?" He asked, talking about the howl. "We saw it. We saw it!" Henry said as I kept walking, walking past John. "No, I didn't see anything." I lied to John and mostly to myself to reassure myself it was nothing. "What? What are you talking about?" Henry asked as I kept a hold of Iris' hand, making sure she's still with me.

"I didn't see anything." I said firmly as they seemed to stop walking as Iris looked at me curiously as I knew she could tell I was lying. But she kept her mouth shut, probably so we didn't start arguing. I decided to go to the pub as John went with Henry back to the house. Iris sat on the arm of my chair and gently ran a hand through my hair, probably to calm me down, but I couldn't as I felt myself shake. I know what my eyes saw and they saw a hound. Iris and I both watched the flames of the fire as I brought my hands to my mouth like in a praying position as John walked it and sat in the other chair. "Well, he's in a pretty bad way. He's manic. Totally convinced there's some mutant super-dog roaming the moors. And there isn't, though, is there?" He asked as Iris looked at him as she kept gently running a hand through my chair.

"I don't know. After we heard the howling, Sherlock hid me behind him so I couldn't really see anything." She said softly then moved her hand to her lap as I wish she would keep running her hand through my hair for it did calm me down a little. "If people knew how to make a mutant super-dog, we'd know. It'd be for sale. I mean, that's how it works. Listen, on the moor I saw someone signaling, Morse. I guess it's Morse. It doesn't seem to make much sense." He said as I took a deep breath as Iris looked at me. She held out her right hand as I looked at it and gently placed my left hand in it. She looked at John and held my hand in her lap, covering it with her left, making my heart speed up as I tried stopping it. Now is not the time for feelings. "U, M, Q, R, A, does that mean anything?" John asked as he looked at me. I closed my eyes a bit and tried forgetting what I saw in the moor.

"So, okay, what have we got? We know there's footprints, because Henry found them, and so did the tour guide bloke. We all heard something." He said as I remained quiet and a bit shaky as he looked at me. "Maybe we should just look for whoever has got a big dog." He said as Iris shrugged a bit. "Henry's right." I said, finally speaking. "What?" John asked with his brows furrowed. "I saw it, too." I said as Iris tilted her head. "What?" John repeated. "I saw it too, John. That's why I hid Iris behind me." I said as I gently squeezed Iris' hand. "Just...Just a minute, you saw what?" He asked and shifted in his chair. "A hound. Out there in the Hollow. A gigantic hound." I said as he started to grow one of those smiles like I was joking. "Um, look, Sherlock, we have to be rational about this. Okay, now you, of all people, can't just...Let's just stick to what we know, yes? Stick to the facts." He said as I let go of Iris' hand and moved both of mine to my mouth.

"Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true." I said and looked at him. "What does that mean?" He asked as Iris leaned back a little. I grabbed her hand again then went to grab my glass of whisky. I went to take a drink and looked at my hand shaking as it shook, holding the glass. "Look at me, I'm afraid, John." I said and tilted my head, inspecting my hand. "Afraid." I said, taking a sip then looked at my shaky hand again as I realized the one in Iris' wasn't shaking, but didn't bother to bring it up. "Sherlock." Iris said softly and looked at me with concern. "I've always been able to keep myself distant." I said and took another sip. "Divorce myself from feelings. But look, you see, body's betraying me." I said and showed John the glass. "Interesting, yes, emotions. The grit on the lens, the fly in the ointment." I said, shaking a little more. "Yeah, alright, Spock" John said softly. "Just...take it easy." Iris said softly as well as I forced the shaking to go down a little.