Sherlock - The Game Is On!

The Empty Hearse- Eight

Chapter Eight

Third POV

Molly looks up the stairs and slowly walks up them towards Sherlock as he stands there with his eyes closed. After a moment he opens his eyes but can see only a ticking clock, followed by a journey through a Tube tunnel. "The journey between those stations usually takes five minutes. That journey took ten minutes, ten minutes to get from Westminster to St James's Park." Sherlock spitfires. "So I'm going to need maps, lots of maps, older maps, all the maps."

"Right." Sherlock glides past Molly, striding down the stairs. "Fancy some chips?"

"What?"

"I know a fantastic fish shop just off the Marylebone Road. The owner always gives me extra portions."

"Did you get him off a murder charge?"

"No, I helped him put up some shelves." Molly giggles and Sherlock smiles briefly. "Sherlock? What was today about?"

"Saying thank you for everything you did for me."

"It's okay. It was my pleasure." Sherlock stands by the door before turning around. "No, I mean it, Moriarty slipped up. He made a mistake. Because the one person he thought didn't matter at all to me was the one person that mattered the most at the time. You made it all possible. But you can't do this again, can you?"

"I had a lovely day. I'd love to... um..." She looks down. Sherlock follows her gaze. "Oh, congratulations, by the way." Molly wore a diamond solitaire engagement ring. "He's not from work. Michelle actually introduced us. He's nice. We... He's got a dog... We go to the pub on weekends and he... I've met his mum and dad and his friends and all his family. I've no idea why I'm telling you this."

"I hope you'll be very happy, Molly Hooper. You deserve it. After all, not all the men you fall for can turn out to be sociopaths."

"I know, besides you and Michelle make a better match." Sherlock smiles. "We do, don't we?"

"She's deerstalker over heels for you." Molly jokes. Sherlock laughs. Stepping closer to her, he gives her a beautiful smile, then leans in and kisses her on the cheek. She closes her eyes and keeps them closed as he turns and walks out of the front door. After a moment she turns and looks at his disappearing back.

There's a full moon in the sky. John and Michelle slowly start to regain consciousness. Choking, John tries to move his hands but finds that he can't. He opens his mouth to cry out but no sound will come. He tries to raise his head but eventually sinks back down again. There is a bleeding wound on the right side of his head just at his hairline. Michelle was in the same category, she was aware but couldn't dismiss it in appearance.

Elsewhere, Mary is walking along a street but stops to take out her phone when it beeps a text alert. Taking off her glove to activate the phone, she sees the message:

Save souls now!
John or James Watson?
Michelle or James Phillips?

She flicks to the next screen:

Saint or Sinner?
Michelle or John?
The more is Less?

Frowning, she lowers the phone and hurries on.
Some time later she is at the door of 221B. Mrs Hudson opens the door to her knock. "Oh, Mrs Hudson. Sorry, I think someone's got John and Michelle."

Upstairs, Sherlock holds a bag of chips, he turns to the sound of her voice. Mrs Hudson follows. "Hang on! Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm his fiancée."

"Mary? What's wrong?"

"Someone sent me this. At first I thought it was just a Bible thing, you know, spam, but it's not. It's a skip-code." Sherlock's eyes widen in curiosity towards her but then looks towards the phone screen. "First word, then every third. Save... John... Watson and Michelle Phillips. Saint James the less. Now!" Dropping his chips, Mary and Sherlock race out the door. "Where are we going?"