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I woke up to the echo of voices downstairs. Blearily blinking my eyes open, I dressed and walked downstairs; my vision was still slightly foggy from sleep.
As I entered the living room, I saw Sherlock in his usual seat, arguing with two strangers who presumably were clients of Sherlock’s detective services. The bottom stair creaked, and all three men looked towards me.
“Morning. This is Dr. Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville.” Sherlock greeted, gesturing towards the two men.
I acknowledged the strangers with a wave and sat down in my armchair next to Sherlock.
“So, what seems to be the issue?” I asked the men in a croaky voice; throat dry from sleep. Sherlock reached over to his side table and handed me a cup of tea. Setting his own mug down on the coffee table, he leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs.
“Apparently there is a creature terrorizing- “He gestured towards Henry “this man’s property, courtesy of a generational curse of caused by his ancestor keeping a young girl captive.” Sherlock explained, looking largely uninterested in the case as he rattled off more information. I took a sip of my tea, which seemed to be sweetened with honey. “Henry’s father and his father and his father before that were apparently killed by this creature- “
“Hound” Henry interjected.
“Pardon?” Sherlock said exasperatedly. I set my tea down next to Sherlock’s mug.
Henry swallowed, now uncomfortable with the attention.
“It- It’s a hound.”
Sherlock rolled his eyes. “A hound? Like a dog?”
Henry nodded.
Seeming slightly annoyed, Sherlock placed his fingertips on his temple and continued.
“Right. Henry’s paternal line have all died from- “ He did air quotes with his fingers. “This hound.” Sitting up a bit, he looked over towards me. “He is scared for his life, and he wants to find out what is going on.” Sherlock reached over and grasped my hand in his. “I want you to investigate it for me John.”
This surprised me tremendously.
“Why?”
“Because I am confident in your deductive reasoning.” Sherlock said in quite a genuine tone. His eyes met mine and were full of honesty.
I got up from my seat.
“Alright then. I’ll lead this.” I walked towards the door, grabbing my service-issue pistol from the cabinet on the way out. Henry and Dr. Mortimer in front of me. As I stepped through the doorway, I noticed the absence of my partner behind me. “Are you coming?”
Sherlock got up from his chair and walked toward the threshold where I stood. He grasped the doorknob and instead of walking through the doorway, he started shutting the door.
“I can’t join you, unfortunately. I have other things to do here.” Sherlock said, closing the door slowly.
Sticking my foot in the crack, I exclaimed “Like what!?”
“None of your concern John.” Sherlock kicked my foot out of the doorway and shut it softly.
I felt rather unprepared to investigate the case, but if Sherlock thought I could do it, it would probably be an easy one. I turned around to face Henry and Dr. Mortimer.
“Right” I said, composing myself. “Let’s get a move on, shall we?”
Neither man moved.
“Are we going?” I questioned, puzzled by their behaviour.
Staring at me like deer in headlights, Dr. Mortimer stepped towards me.
“You are- are, um… how are you in- involved with Mr. Holmes?” he said tentatively.
“What do you mean?” I answered curtly.
Henry seemed to unfreeze and interjected.
“Are you and him…?” His voice trailed off as he looked down at his feet.
Now irritated, I snapped back “Are we what?”
“Nothing.” Henry said dismissively. “Never mind.”
“Alright then.” I pushed past them both and walked down the stairs, the two men trailing behind me.
I reach the bottom of the stairs, open the front door, and walk out into the street. Hailing a taxi, I look up at the windows of our flat and see Sherlock looking at me. He nods at me and walks away from the window, disappearing from view.
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I stepped out of the taxi and paid the driver. My shoes crunched on the gravel driveway of the Baskerville Manor, which had definitely seen better days in my opinion. The roof tiles were uneven and dislodged in places, with many that had fallen off and shattered on the ground. A man, seeming to be a hired gardener, was pressure-washing the walls near the entrance. The clean tiles were a light granite colour, whereas the unwashed ones were a dark and sooty black, grainy, and coated in grime. The windows were grimy and opaque, giving the building a feeling of despair and abandonment.
As the taxi drove away, I turned to Henry, eager to start the investigation. “So, where was your father attacked?” I asked.
He swallowed, then pointed down at the fields that surrounded the property.
“Down there, by the big ditch.” He replied.
We all walked down into the fields. The early morning mist had dissipated, leaving dew on the grass, and making the plants that dotted the area shimmer in the midday sun. The ditch Henry spoke of wasn’t far from the house, which raised some questions.
“Do you live in the house Henry?” I asked.
“No. I live on our other property in Nottingham. Father lived in the manor.” He explained. “He wouldn’t let anybody on the property. Was too proud to accept help, even though he really needed it. You saw the state of the exterior?” I nodded. “It’s much worse on the inside.” He chuckled sadly, eyes drifting back to the mansion.
Dr. Mortimer followed behind us, not really paying attention to our conversation or where we were going. I ignored him, more focused on where I stepped. The ground was becoming more uneven as we approached the ditch, pebbles increasing in frequency as we went on. “It’s just over here.” Henry said, slowing down with an air of hesitancy. I continued past him, the slopes of the ditch well over our heads with tree roots visible at the top, holding the dirt in place.
I looked down at my feet and saw splatters of what appeared to be dried blood. Looking up, I was met with a scene of carnage. The rocks a few feet in front of me were a dusty red colour, coated in blood. Crouching down, I noticed a few places where the layer of pebbles coating the ground had been disturbed, leaving claw marks in several patches of dirt.
A sudden noise from above the ditch startles me. “What was that?” Henry asks, his voice trembling. I don’t respond. I reached towards my pocket slowly and felt the outline of my pistol. The noise got louder, a deep growl that seemed to emanate from all around. A huge gust of wind blew forth from above, leaves twirling in the chaos. The thick trees blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving us in a constantly shifting eerie darkness.
Then I saw it.
The hound.
Perched atop the ditch, the massive creature cast a long shadow that blanketed us in fear. Teeth glinting in the wild rays of sun, longer than knives. It’s fur was a patchwork of different colours and textures, and its eyes were a deep red, dripping with blood.
I pulled my pistol from my pocket and aimed it at the hound with shaking hands. Dr. Mortimer and Henry were frozen in shock and horror, and a feeling of doom settled over me. The bullets in my gun would barely hurt the creature, rendering me helpless against whatever it would do. I steadied my hand and prepared myself to hold the creature back and allow Dr. Mortimer and Henry to escape.
A shadow suddenly appeared behind the creature and a second later it howled in pain. It jumped into the ditch, writhing, and bucking around. I tackled Henry to the ground, with Dr. Mortimer having enough sense to do the same. The trees shifted with heavy paws pounding the ground, and the figure was illuminated.
Sherlock!
Sherlock had one hand gripping the scruff of the hound’s neck, the other holding a knife that was buried in the creature’s neck. It bucked like a bull, trying to dislodge him, but to no avail, as within a few seconds, it collapsed with a resounding thud onto the pebbles.
Panting heavily, Sherlock rolled off the hound and looked over at us.
“Case solved.” He said breathlessly.
“Case solved?” I spluttered in confusion. “Why are you here? How did you even get here?” I asked, befuddled. Sherlock pulled the knife out of the creature’s hide, wiped it clean on its fur, and slid it into a sheath hanging from his belt. Blood was pooling from the hound’s neck wound onto the ground, coating the pebbles in yet another layer of gore.
“I rode in the trunk. Got out when you did and hid behind a bush.” Sherlock stated simply, brushing off his pants. “I needed a way to observe an interaction with the hound without being involved. You were simply the distraction.”
I picked up my pistol from where I had dropped it tackling Henry and slid it back into my pocket. Henry got up from the ground with help from Dr. Mortimer, having sustained only minor cuts and bruises.
“And you didn’t think to tell me this?” I said tensely, teeth clenched.
Sherlock looked bewildered, as if I had just asked him to gouge his eyes out.
“Of course, not John! That would have interfered with the investigative process!”
Right at that moment, a beam of light shone straight into my eyes, blinding me.
“Is everyone alright?” shouted a rough voice.
“Lestrade!” Sherlock exclaimed. “Great to see you.”
Lestrade walked over to the hound and as my eyes adjusted after being blinded, I saw that he was a police officer. Sherlock walked over to me and put his arm around my shoulder. “I called him to deal with this.” He gestured to the corpse of the hound. Henry walked over to us and shook both of our hands in turn.
“Thank you, Mr. Holmes, Dr. Watson. You saved my life.” He exclaimed with a look of awe.
“No trouble at all.” I responded.
Sherlock huffed and rolled his eyes.
“It was a lot of trouble actually, but we don’t mind.” I gave him a slight nudge in the ribs.
“What he means is that we are grateful to have been of assistance.” I reassured.
Dr. Mortimer approached us and gave the same pleasantries, then walked away with Henry.
I turned to Sherlock and chuckled. “It was a lot of trouble, actually.” I teased in a mocking tone.
“You can’t giggle John, it’s a crime scene.” Sherlock said lightheartedly, taking my hand in his.
“Hey, you’re the one that stabbed it.” I retorted with a laugh; our hands interlaced.
Sherlock just shook his head. We walked back through the fields together, enjoying each other’s company and basking in the evening sun sinking down over the horizon.