Deducing Tragedy Part One: See No Evil

For weeks nothing happened. John, Sherlock and Hanna fell into a pattern as they became accustom to the new arrangement. Hanna woke up in the morning and made breakfast. John and Sherlock would roll out of bed about a half an hour later to join her for the meal. John would gobble it down while Sherlock pushed it around the plate. After that John would go to work and Sherlock would catch a ride with him to Bart’s. Hanna would spend the day cleaning the house, doing the dishes, dusting, cleaning the litter boxes until Mrs. Hudson would come up at two. They would have a cup of tea and chat until the boys came home. The three would then talk, have dinner and eventually retire for the night. On occasion Molly, or Lestrade would join them for Dinner but those time were few and far between. If one didn’t look too closely, it almost appeared that there was peace on Baker Street.

What surprised John the most about those weeks was the lack of new holes put into the wall. There were no new cases; people still didn’t trust Sherlock completely. Lestrade was forced to mark the case of Jack Jr. as unsolved. There were no new leads and it appeared as if he’d disappeared; leaving his kill count at twelve dead women. Something about that case bothered Molly however and she couldn’t let go. She kept small samples from each of the bodies to investigate on her own in the future.

But the peace was short lived when Hanna started disappearing. It was always late at night, when she thought Sherlock to be asleep. She would sneak out of the house and be gone for a few hours before returning and going to bed. Sherlock brought up the matter to John when they were in the cab, on the way to Bart’s, one morning. He chuckled and told him not to worry but Sherlock couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.

So he followed her.

One night, after this had been going on for a few weeks now, Sherlock laid awake with his back to the room. He heard her sit up and walk calmly to the closet. She shuffled threw it quickly before pulling something out and walking out of the room. He stayed still, and waited till he heard the front door close. Throwing off his blanket he straightened his shirt and reached for his coat jacket. He got outside just as she got into a cab and they started to drive away. An elderly woman had stopped the next cab and was climbing in when Sherlock pulled her back and closed the door.

“Follow that cab,” he instructed the driver who raised an eyebrow. “Do it and I’ll pay you double the cab fee.”

Fifteen minutes later Sherlock climbed out of the cab and looked around. Why would Hanna be at a night club, he ponded as he spotted her talking to one of the bouncers. They chatted for a few moments, almost as if they were friends before he lifted the velvet rope to allow her to enter. A groan of protest could be heard from the line of young people waiting to get in. Sherlock waited until she was in the building before walking up to the bouncer.

“HI! Hello, I’m late.” He said jogging up to the overly muscled individual.

“Late for what?” The man asked raising an eyebrow.

“Hanna, my friend, she told me to meet her here tonight. You haven’t seen her by chance?” He asked looking around. “She’s short, blond hair, blue eyes, she’s also blind.”

“Oh you mean Miss Hooper,” he nodded relaxing. “You must be her plus one, Sherlock Holmes?”

“Yes that’s me,” his smiled faltered. How did she know he would be coming?

“Just give me the password and I can let you in,” the guy shrugged.

“Password?”

“Miss Hooper insisted on it,” he shrugged with a fond chuckle. “And I thought she wouldn’t get any stranger but then tonight she says she’s bringing someone and that they need to give me the correct password to enter.”

“She never told me anything about a password,” Sherlock said still keeping up the ruse.

“Lucky for you, she left a clue,” he said. Of course she did.

“And it is?”

“Twice in you, twice in me, twice in John Watson, and once in him,” the man chuckled shaking his head. “You have fun with that little riddle. Let me know when you figure it-“

“O,” Sherlock stopped him. “The answer is O.”

The bouncer blinked, looking at him. “Oh, I see you’re just like her.”

Sherlock rolled his eyes, “that’s not important; I got the answer right now let me in.”

The bouncer frowned, raising an eyebrow. “Not JUST like her I guess” he said lifting the velvet rope to let Sherlock in. Inside the room was pack with young people dancing, to the pop song that blasted loudly around them. Sherlock looked around, but if Hanna was here she was amongst a sea of other blond girls.

“Mr. Holmes?” A voice questioned and he turned to see a woman with a tray standing behind him. She was of average height with curly red hair pulled back by a half pony. She had green eyes and an array of freckles that scattered across her face. Her apron was wrinkled and stained with alcohol, cat fur was scattered about it suggesting an animal owner. But there were scratches on her arms so perhaps it belonged to her new fiancé who gave her the shiny new diamond ring on her finger. Not a real diamond, he either had money troubles or that he wasn’t really that committed to her, but either way Sherlock could tell from the light in her eyes and the smile on her face that she believed it to be genuine.

“Miss Hooper is this way,” the woman smiled turning to lead him through the crowd of people and up a flight of stairs to a balcony that hung out over the street. “I’ll leave you to it,” she nodded out into the cool night air before turning to walk back down the stairs. He turned to look across the deserted platform, well deserted wasn’t really the right word since there was someone there.

She was standing across from him. Leaning against the railing, her head tipped down as if to watch the people down below. She was wearing a short, pale purple dress that clung to her like a second skin. He’d never seen that dress before, and because they shared a room, and the only closet, he was perplexed as to where she hid it. “How did you know I would follow you?” He asked slipping his hands into his pockets.

“The same way I know you’ve been watching me leave these last couple weeks,” she chuckled, tipping her head up towards the sky. “I listen and you provide me with so MUCH to hear.”

“But I'm quiet,” he frowned walking over to where she was. “What exactly do you hear?”

She laughed turning to face him. “That, my dear Sherlock, would be giving away my secrets.”

“Oh, you’re a magician now?” he asked with a smirk.

“Well I have pulled the disappearing act on you quite a few times now haven’t I?” she mused. “Did you enjoy my riddle?”

He scoffed, “child’s play.”

“Maybe to you or I,” she reasoned. “But to the everyday individual it would be difficult, especially since you and Lestrade are the only ones with the finale piece of the puzzle.”

“The Monster.”

“Only one O,” She said shifting as she turned to face the London night. “Do you know how powerful the O is?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hope,” she said tilting her head to the side. “Power, wonder… love, and joy. Our strongest words all have an O. It is the letter we rule our lives by.”

“How… observant of you” he smirked.

She chuckled, “thank you.” He glanced at her. Her hair was loosed, lining her heart shaped face. He noticed the way her freckles appeared to mirror the stars above them as they sprawled across the bridge of her nose and onto her high cheek bones. Her smooth skin like porcelain in the moon light as his eyes drifted from her face down her body to the light purple material of her dress.

“Hanna, why are you here?” He asked studying her light blue eyes cast up at the sky; unfocused and unseeing as they drifted over the sea of stars.

She smiled softly, the glittered lips gloss on her pink lips shining in the light. “Before… The Monster… I was what some call a social butterfly. I went to all the parties and clubs whenever I could and I would dance into the morning hours. I suppose that how all this started, I met him at a club on my nineteenth birthday and… he took my breath away. He was charming, handsome and so brilliant; a mind that I struggled to keep up with. My past relationships all failed because at the end of the day, I was forced to dumb down my understanding of the world but not with him. With him I spoke my mind and he UNDERSTOOD me. For a few months… it was heaven.

“But then his true nature came through.” She sighed, her head turned down towards her hands. “He became, possessive, angry and hateful. I was locked away in the basement of our flat for weeks at a time. He drove me to and from work and if I even suggested going out with friends I would be beat bloody.”

“How long did this go on for?” He asked struggling to keep his voice steady.

“Three years,” she shook her head. “And then I started looking for a way out, looking for anyone strong enough to keep him away from me. But he saw my glances, thought I was looking for a new man to replace him…so he stopped me looking.

“He blinded you”

“I noticed my vision was failing when I went to work one day,” she whispered now. “I came into work and someone said something about what a beautiful day it was outside. I was confused; it looked gray and dreadful to me, foggy even. I went to the optometrist that night and he confirmed, I was going blind.

“I was convinced he did it” she hissed in anger now. “During work I snuck away to Scotland Yard and reported the crim. A young inspector took down my complaint but did nothing; convinced that it was the deranged babbling of a woman unhappy in her relationship. It took proof from my sister, who ran a few tests, to convince him what I was saying was truth but by then it was too late. There was no way to reverse it and The Monster had disappeared. Because Lestrade refused to do anything, including call the young consultant that I’d heard whispers about.”

“Me?”

“You’d just begun your work at Scotland Yard” she said. “When I was there the first time I heard Donavan talking about you to someone. I was… intrigued. I had hoped that if Lestrade brought you onto my case you could have discovered the poison and given me the antidote before I lost my sight.
She shook her head, “so I guess what I'm getting at is… I'm here because I need to be. I can’t let him continue to control my life. I hid for five years in my house with my cats as protection. Now I'm done hiding.”