A Trail of Treasure - Sherlock Holmes

Chapter Seventeen - Military Secrets

"I can't go back there." Caroline was adamant.   "I'm sorry, but I can't. Not after-"

John gave her a sympathetic smile.  "Of course, not need to explain yourself Caroline, or feel guilty. No one will force you to go back.  You wait here, and we'll go and be back shortly."

"Thank you. Do be careful, please."

John and Sherlock - yes, she had taken to referring to him by name now - were off to investigate the site of Phelps's murder more closely. Still greatly shaken up over the shooting, Caroline had opted to remain in safety at 221B.

"Well Holmes, we'd best be off then, yes?" John placed his hat atop his head, gesturing towards the front door.

"Yes, yes, right, of course. No time to waste!"

Did Sherlock suddenly seem disappointed that she would not be joining in this part of the investigation? Caroline could not be sure, for certain - after all, he was a very difficult man to read. She felt that no one would ever know him fully, least of all herself. And maybe even himself to some extent.  He was quite the enigma.  

She wished she wasn't so afraid, for she really wanted to join in with the investigation, but she knew it was for the best that she stayed behind, if her nightmares were anything to go by.

She had been plagued by visions of the shooting all throughout the night, preventing her from getting a good sleep. And even during the day while her thoughts would wander, she found they kept going back to that moment, repeating it over and over again in her head, pressing it permanently into her memory, despite her trying to stop it from doing so.  She did not want to remember that, any part of it.  

Poor Phelps, she would find herself thinking.  Poor, poor young man. But then she would try and remind herself that he had gotten himself caught up in a lot of trouble, clearly, with some bad people.

But still... What a horrible fate had been bestowed upon him, whether it was his own actions which had brought it about or not. Still, she felt for him.

But enough of that. She tried, again and again, to block it from her memory. 

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"Did you find anything?" The moment they were through the door Caroline leapt out of her seat where she had been trying - and madly failing - to read. The memory of the suddenness of the gunshot right over their heads and Phelps's body lying in the middle of the muddy road were too distracting. 

"Did we find anything, Holmes?" John turned to Sherlock with a knowing glance. 

Holmes looked up as though startled or he had been abruptly broken out of one of his concentrated states.  He seemed distracted by something - yes, he always seemed a certain degree of distracted, but this was a different sort of distraction than Caroline had seen with him before. But perhaps this was always what happened when he was in the midst of a case. 

"You saw what we found, Watson."

"I know. But I also know how much you love the reveal."

"Right you are!" Holmes turned to her and grinned.  "I know how the shooter disappeared so quickly."

"Oh - how?"

"Cut into the floorboards up in the clock tower there was a hatch."

"A hidden opening?" 

"Precisely. Not very large, but big enough for someone - and their rifle - to drop down into and hide in until we were gone."

"Is there a tunnel?"