Deducing Tragedy Part One: See No Evil

Hanna Hooper died that day having thrown herself into the channel and drown. Her body was never recovered however there were several eye witness accounts to the blind girl’s jump. Two weeks later Molly received a letter from her now departed sister.

Dear Molly,

It will have been a few weeks since my death and if I know you sister then you are angry with me. You always told me to never stop fighting and you see this as giving up. But I had to. HE was never going to stop. He would kill more girls; hurt more people like he did our family. I know my death will make him stop, not forever but long enough to be caught, I hope.

You must get Lestrade and Sherlock to find HIM. He cannot be allowed to continue les this will have been for nothing. Tell Lestrade that I am sorry for the way I treated him. I'm sorry I never got a chance to say this to his face and I wish I’d had the chance to get to know him as more than Inspector Incompetent.

And tell Sherlock-

Take care of yourself Molly. One day we will be together again. I know you don’t believe in heaven or hell, neither do I but I do believe in life beyond death. One day we’ll have dinner. Tell Mark, Mum and Dad that I love them.

Goodbye Sister.

Love,

Hanna

John watched his flat mate’s eyes rake over the letter again and again. John had read it countless times himself. Each time he remembers thinking, just once more and this time it’ll say it’s all a joke and she’ll be home in a bit.

But it didn’t and Sherlock set aside the notebook paper, the last words of their friend, before walking over to the window and picking up his violin. He began to play that familiar song that he and Hanna preformed all those months ago. John sighed and walked with Molly into the kitchen to talk allowing Sherlock to think and play and (even though he would never admit it himself) grieve for the loss of The Girl.

One week later John came home to find Mycroft in the living room while Sherlock stood in the window watching the street. John took note of the increased amount of time Sherlock spent watching Baker Street. It was rare that his eyes were anywhere else in all honesty.

“Mycroft?” he asked stepping into the room and giving the two men confused glances. “What brings you here?”

Mycroft rolled his eyes, “my brother called me here on this ridiculous notion that I know where the blind girl has gone-“

“Hanna,” Sherlock snapped from his place in the window. “Her name is Hanna, stop calling her ‘the blind girl’.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Mycroft sighed in annoyance. “And he’s right I do know where she is-”

“Where-“

“At the bottom of the channel,” he said firmly, cutting off his younger brother. “She died nearly three weeks ago if I'm not mistaken.”

“Liar!” Sherlock hissed spinning around to face his brother.

“Sherlock,” John attempted to sooth his erratic flat mate. “Calm down.”

“I will not calm down until I know the truth-“

“That is the-“

“Don’t. LIE. TO ME!” Sherlock bellowed at his brother. “I know Hanna was in contact with you! You sent her those letters that she said was from an old boyfriend-“

“And you didn’t read them?” Mycroft inquired with a knowing look at his little brother. “Interesting...”

“Shut up.”

“What?” John frowned. “What just happened?”

“Seven years ago Hanna was considered as an apprentice to my position within the British Government.” Mycroft explained; he didn’t take his eyes off Sherlock’s. “She’s brilliant, as you know. But two years later she withdrew her application.”

“The Monster.”

“He wreaked havoc on her life,” Mycroft said, his tone almost soft. “She went into her home and didn’t come out for five years. When she finally did, I thought it best to send her a letter explaining that the position was still open should she wish to reclaim it. Only someone made a mistake along the chain of command and forgot to send the letter in braille.”

“So you sent a second letter,” John concluded. “But- why did Hanna act like your letter scared her?”

“I suspect because when she was in contact with me… she was suffering at the hands of Him,” he shrugged. “It was a very dark time in her life, John. Any reminder of that time could have set her off.”

“Do not try dancing your way out of answering my question, Mycroft,” Sherlock said in a low deadly voice as his cold eyes rake over the street once again. “Where is Hanna?”

“Why don’t you tell me?” Mycroft rolled his eyes again. “You’re the one who hasn’t taken his eyes off the street since the moment you walked in and she was missing.” Sherlock said nothing.

“What- what do you mean?” John asked the older Holmes boy.

“Isn’t it obvious, John?” Mycroft asked looking away from his brother. “He’s waiting for her to come home.”