✔️THE HEART| Sherlock Holmes

Nine

Marnie smirked to herself as she leant back in her chair at the desk, her legs resting across Sherlocks lap who sat next to her, sifting through the newspaper but he didn't seem to mind at all as his gaze scanned over the broadsheet calmly. In her hand sat Sherlocks phone and she texted away with a smirk on her lips- she loved playing Sherlock, she knew him so well that it was effortless to come up with something that he was likely to say to each of Irene Adler's messages and Sherlock hadn't at all minded handing Marnie his phone to play around with, whatever made her happy- he also trusted that she wouldn't screw up the entire plan.

"The photographs are perfectly safe" Sherlock assured his older brother and Marnie tilted her head back to smile at Mycroft who merely patted her on the shoulder. The three of them had teamed up and it was all running very smoothly so far, though the operation had to remain top secret. John, who currently frowned as he glanced between the three, had sadly missed out on the plan. Marnie slid the phone across to Sherlock easily as she bit into a slice of toast and he winked as he scooped it up, kidding it from one hand to the other before popping it down face first against the wood.

"In the hands of a fugitive sex worker?" Mycroft scoffed, they all had to play their parts in order to keep the charade under wraps. If anyone found out, anyone at all, then there was the possibility that Irene herself would and the entire plan would shatter completely.

"She's not interested in blackmail" Sherlock returned, completely scripted by Mycroft's text messages but nobody would know that- Marnie and Mycroft were the two people that knew Sherlock the best and it was painfully easy to pretend to be him. "She wants protection, for some reason. I take it you've stood down the police investigation into the shooting at her house?" Marnie hated lying to John and Mrs Hudson but if they could fool their friends, they could fool anybody. Marnie painted a false glare on her face of unhappiness as they discussed Adler.

"How can we do anything while she has the photographs?" Mycroft returned in confusion. The Holmes brothers were master manipulators- Jim Moriarty hadn't lied about that. "Our hands are tied."

"She'd applaud your choice of words" Sherlock smirked and Marnie glared. Her acting was half enthused by her annoyance at Irene on a personal level. The fugitive sex worker who had been messaging Sherlocks phone all morning, unaware that she was actually talking to Marnie, had come out with some rather colourful things that made hating her painfully easy for Marnie Hart. "You see how this works," Sherlock continued, flipping his phone over to read what Mycroft had texted him earlier. They were going to great lengths to convince everybody around them- they couldn't afford to fail because Irene Adler could be incredibly dangerous if her photographs got out. "That camera-phone" Sherlock continued, reading the text aloud though nobody would ever realise it was scripted unless they were present for the conversation. "Is her get out of jail free card, you have to leave her alone. Treat her like royalty, Mycroft" Sherlock returned and Marnie scoffed in distaste, pushing away from the table to stand and take her plate with her. Johns eyes followed her as she went, face solemn as he turned a glare to Sherlock Holmes. He feigned obliviousness.

When Sherlocks phone made a moaning sound to indicate an incoming text, they all froze- even the phones who were involved in the case. Marnie couldn't help but be worried that Sherlock was going to get too invested in this but he had promised her time and time again over the previous night that he loved her and tv at nothing could change that.

"What was that?" John demanded with a frown.

"Text" Sherlock replied suspiciously and Mycroft looked across at Marnie as she sighed in exasperation, sending her a reassuring smile. He knew that this was hard for everyone involved but the best plans were the clever ones, the ones buried in deep secret. This had to be played out flawlessly, they would insure it.