All my life

Aged 10

Dick was a boy in their class. He was a normal boy, average, overlooked with only one parent, his father, the head of London's police force, James Brook. He was of no interest to either John or he.

But in their last year of primary school, a new opportunity was opened and he attended an event at which he saw Dick Brook.

But he wasn't alone.

He was with his brother.

His brother's name was James Moriarty.

'Master Sherlock. Your father requests your presence now.' Houghton, the chauffer, appeared in the door of the breakfast room and frowned at the boy, who had a single piece of orange in front of him. 'Master, you really must eat-'

Sherlock frowned at the driver and went back to examining the orange. 'Slows me down, Houghton, you know that. And anyway. This is for an experiment. Redbeard!'

The dog came out from under the table and Sherlock stroked his head gently before feeding him the orange segment. Houghton sighed. 'Are you ready?'

Sherlock adjusted his shirt and smoothed back his thick curly hair. 'No. But it makes no difference.'

His father had been home for several days. It wasn't like it was when he was still here. It was probably better, in fact, when William Holmes did show up at Gyfrinach, because Sherlock was just allowed to stay in his room with Redbeard. His father mostly left his son alone as he abused his wife. Sherlock had always suspected that he had a motive for this, and he had a sneaking suspicion that it was to come to light today. It wasn't a particularly special day, a Saturday in the middle of October, just before nine o'clock, but there was a strange feeling in Sherlock's stomach as he made his way up to the study on the top floor.

There was a man in a suit outside the door, who looked the boy up and down before nodding and opening it. Sherlock smoothed back his hair once more and entered the room.

His father was sitting behind his desk, straight backed, talking to one of the two men with their backs to Sherlock. One was balding, with brown hair, and the other one had straight auburn hair a little like his had been.
Sherlock shook his head and approached the desk. 'Can I help you, Father?' he said respectfully, knowing how important it was to be polite with his father, especially if he had guests.

William Holmes smiled coldly at his son. 'Tiberius, Joshua, may I present my son, William. William, these men are Mr Tiberius Whitegreen and Mr Joshua Scott.'

The balding man (unmarried, very rich, early forties, celibate for over a decade, may be gay, further information required) stood up and turned around, holding out his hand. Sherlock smiled and shook the older man's hand firmly, remembering his father had always told him to shake hands powerfully. It made people scared of you, William had said, and if they were scared of you, they wouldn't try anything behind your back.

'Good morning, Mr Holmes. A pleasure to meet you. Your father has told us a lot about you.' Mr Whitegreen said.

'The pleasure is all mine, Sir.' Sherlock said politely. His father nodded at him and smiled before indicating him to sit down next to him.

The auburn-haired man stayed sitting down, his face towards the floor but Sherlock brushed it off. Most people were scared of his father and frankly those who weren't were stupid.

Whitegreen settled further back in his chair and said, 'Let me cut to the chase, William. As I have already said your father has told me a lot about you, and all of it is good. Apparently you are a very, very clever child.'