Chapter Text
John hated this plan. He despised this plan. But, he went anyway. John took the letter and ran across the street into the flats. He put the letter on the floor and did a ‘ding-dong ditch’ type of plan, he ran down the stairs as fast as he could without getting caught. Mr. Thorwald, hearing the doorbell, opened the door and picked up the letter. They watched as he read the letter, getting a very surprised look on his face. Sherlock smiled. ‘You did do it Thorwald, you did!’ Mr. Thorwald looked around out the door, and out the window as if he was missing something. He didn’t see anyone, so he went back to packing in the bedroom.
“There is no doubt about it, he’s leaving, the question is when.”
“Did he read it?” John asked breathlessly from the run back. “Did he react at all?”
“Yes, and it was extremely guilty.”
John smiled.
“Sherlock dear, look! The handbag!” They all stared out the window again, Sherlock using his binoculars to get a better look. The salesman had opened his wife’s purse, and had a look on his face saying he was forgetting something. He went out of Sherlock’s view for a second, when he came back, he placed the purse into his suitcase. Sherlock thought about this. “Suppose Mrs. Thorwald’d wedding ring is among the jewelry he has inside that handbag? During one of the phone calls, he held up two rings, one with a diamond, and just a plain gold band.”
“The last thing a woman would leave behind is a wedding ring.” Said John. “Mrs. Hudson, do you ever leave your’s at home?”
“No, the only way anybody would get my ring is if they chopped off my...finger… Let’s go down and find out what’s buried in that pot.”
“Yeah, Sherlock where is that shovel you used on that one case in the cemetery?”
“In my closet in my bedroom. Mrs. Hudson, hand me a phonebook.” The landlady walked over to the bookshelf and grabbed the book. “Why do you need this?” She asked as she handed him the book.
“Maybe I can get him out of his flat”
“Found it!” Said John as he lifted the shovel as if it were a trophy.
“Good. How much time do you need?”
“Only a few minutes.”
“I’ll see if I can get about fifteen minutes.”
“How?”
“Well, we’ve scared him once, maybe we can scare him again… Ah ha! Thorwald’s number! Perfect!” The detective said excitedly. He dialed the salesman’s number and hit ‘call’.
They watched as they waited for the salesman to pick up his phone. He picked up his phone and stared at it, wondering who was calling. ‘That’s it, go on Thorwald, I know you’re curious. You wonder if it’s your girlfriend calling. The one you killed for. Go on, pick it up.’ As if on cue, he did.
“Hello.”
“Did you get my note?”
The man was silent.
“Well, did you get it Thorwald?”
“Who are you?”
“I’ll give you a chance to find out. Meet me in the bar at the Albert hotel. Do it right away.”
“Why should I?”
“A little business meeting, to settle the estate of your late wife.”
“I...I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Quit stalling Thorwald, or I’ll hang up and call the police.”
“I only have a hundred pounds or so.”
“That’s a start. I’m at Alberts now. I’ll be waiting for you.” Sherlock said as he hung up. They continued looking out the window to see the man rush out of his flat and down into the street.
“Ok Mrs. Hudson, let’s go.”
“One of you keep an eye on this window. If I see him coming I’ll signal with the flash on my phone.”
They nodded and hurried down the stairs to the flowers. They started digging into the soil. Sherlock decided to dial Lestrade’s number, and of course, he didn’t answer. So Sherlock decided to text him. The text read: When you get this come immediately to Baker st. I may have a surprise for you. SH.’ He smiled as he clicked ‘send’.
Sherlock went back to check on the salesman. When he didn’t see him coming he went back to his friend and his landlady, who were still digging up the flowers. Mrs. Hudson looked back at Sherlock and shook her head. Sherlock sighed. ‘Whatever that dog was trying to dig up is gone now.’ He sees John tap their landlady’s shoulder and point to the salesman’s windows, as he starts climbing up a ladder up to the salesman's flat. ‘John don’t- John! What is he doing?!’ Mrs. Hudson ran back up toward Baker Street, but John kept climbing the ladder until he hopped into the man’s flat. ‘JOHN!’ Sherlock saw his friend run into the bedroom, open the suitcase to expose the purse, he opened it up and turned to face the window, staring at Sherlock. ‘What’s wrong?’ John flipped the purse upside down. Empty? Then where’s the ring?’ John put the purse back onto the bed and started to open the drawers to the man’s dresser. Just then, Mrs. Hudson ran back into the flat.
“John said to call Thorwald’s home phone as soon as you see him come back.”
“I'm ring it right now.”
“No give him another minute, I think he’s on to something.” She said as they continued to look out. A few seconds later, Sherlock’s phone started Ringing. He looked down at the caller, noticing it was Lestrade.
He heard Mrs.Hudson gasp “Sherlock! The man’s back!”
Sherlock looked up to see the man walking the hall to his flat. John was about to walk out with the jewelry he found in the dresser when he heard footsteps. Panicking, he ran into the bedroom and hid behind the wall as the man unlocked the door and walked in. Sherlock, not knowing what to do, answered Lestrade’s call. While still staring at his friend.
“Lestrade! You need to get down here! Something has happened!”
“Sherlock, what did you do?”
“No, it’s John! He,-oh no-” The man had spotted his friend and had gone after him, John ran out of the bedroom and into the living room, and tried to make his escape. The man grabbed him by the wrist and threw him onto the couch. The man held out his hand, gesturing to give him back the jewels, as the doctor did. John started to back up but was stopped by the man as they started to struggle. The detective heard his friend yell his name, and that did it. “Lestrade, Thorwald has John! Hurry he’s going to kill him Lestrade!”
“Were almost there Sherlock!”
“HURRY UP!”
“Sherlock, there they are!” Mrs. Hudson said as she pointed down to the sidewalk.
They watched as the police rushed up the stairs and rang Lars’s doorbell. The salesman stopped in his tracks, he let go of John and walked slowly toward the door. He hesitantly opens it and the officers walk in. Sherlock and Mrs. Hudson watch and the two of them start explaining something.
“Why doesn’t he turn the man in?”
“Because he’s smart.”
They see John turn around and face away from the window. He puts his hands behind his back and points to his finger. Sherlock zoomed in on his binoculars to get a closer look. When he got close enough he saw a gold band around his friend’s finger. ‘The wedding ring! Genius my good old Dr. Watson!’ But that happiness didn’t last long. Because he saw Thorwald staring at the ring as well. He stared at the ring and looked up, staring straight into Sherlock’s eyes. The detective started to panic. “Quick, turn off the lights!” He said as Mrs. Hudson ran over and did as he asked.
They watched as Donovan walked John out of the flat. “We need to hurry, he won’t stay there for long. Mrs. Hudson, go outside, tell John to hold Lestrade for as long as he can!”
“What are you going to do?”
“Solve a murder.”
“Ok, if you say so dear.” She said as she left the room, heading straight over to John.
Sherlock picked up the phone and called Lestrade so he could be in on the conversation.
“What did you do Sherlock!?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why was John in that flat?”
“I didn’t tell him to do that, he did that on his own. You should have seen it! He went into Thorwald’s flat, but then Lar’s came in, so the only way to get him out was to call you.”
“I told you-”
“I know. He went to get evidence, and he came out with evidence.”
“Like what?”
“Like Mrs. Thorwald’s wedding ring. That’s what! If that woman was alive, wouldn’t she be wearing that ring?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly? It’s a fact! He killed a dog last night because it was scratching around the flowers. You know why? Because he buried something in that flower pot that the dog smelt!”
“Like an old ham bone?”
Sherlock rolled his eyes at that. “Ok, how bout this, all those trips at night with that metal suitcase, he wasn’t taking out his possessions, because his possessions are still in his flat.”
“You think perhaps, it was a ‘ham bone'?” (Implying it was a human bone.)
“Yep, in sections, and I’ll tell you something else, all the phone calls he made were all long distance. If he called his wife long distance on the day she left, after she arrived in Cardiff, why did she write a postcard to him saying she arrived? Why would she do that?”
Lestrade sighed “Ok, I’ll look into it down here.”
“Hurry up will you? This fellow knows he’s being watched. He’s not going to wait around forever. So hurry up!”
“Ok Sherlock.” and at that, the detective inspector hung up.
Sherlock quickly looked back up to see the salesman’s flat. But when he looked, the lights were off. ‘Where did he go?’ Just then, he heard a door slam down the stairs, along with footsteps going up the stairs. ‘Oh, there he is.’ Sherlock turned around to face toured the door, as it slowly opened, revealing Lars Thorwald. Sherlock put his phone in picture mode, making sure the flash was on. The man walked into the living room and stopped.
“What do you want from me?”
Sherlock didn’t make a sound.
“Your friend, he could have turned me in. Why didn’t he?”
Sherlock stayed silent.
“Say something! Tell me what you want!”
But the detective didn’t say a word.
“Can you get me the ring back?”
“No.”
“Tell him to bring it back.”
“I can’t. The police have it by now.”
The salesman started walking closer in anger, Sherlock clicked the circle button and the room lit up from the flash, but it didn’t do much damage. Thorwald, getting angrier than before, rushed up toward Sherlock.
“JOHN! LESTRADE!” Sherlock yelled, getting their attention. The salesman grabbed Sherlock’s neck tightly, choking the detective. Sherlock tried pushing the man away but only made him angrier. Thorwald grabbed Sherlock by his robe and threw him out the window. Sherlock barely hanging onto the edge, yelled again for his friend.
He saw police officers running near Baker street. John, Lestrade, and Mrs. Hudson ran toward Sherlock, along with some other officers. The two officers ran into Baker st. and grabbed Thorwald and put him into cuffs. Sherlock, still hanging onto the ledge of the window, lost his grip and fell, hitting his back onto the concrete sidewalk. John, Lestrade, and Mrs. Hudson ran up to the detective.
“Sorry Sherlock, I got here as fast as I could. Lestrade, don’t let anyone touch him, Someone get my medical bag upstairs!” Said John, placing his friend’s head onto his lap. Sherlock looked up toward his friend.
“Hey John, You were great back there.”
“Shut up idiot! You almost got killed!” Sherlock smiled up at his friend. He looked to his right, toward Lestrade.
“You got enough evidence for a search warrant now?”
“Yeah.”
“Detective Inspector!” Lestrade looked up at the window to see one of the officers looking down at them.
“Is he going to be ok?”
“Yeah, he’ll be fine.”
“Thorwald is ready to take us on a tour of the River Thames.”
Mrs. Hudson turned to the inspector and whispered something into his ear. Lestrade, looking confused, looked back to the officer. “Did he say what was buried in the flower pot?”
“Yeah, he said the dog got too inquisitive, so he dug it up. It’s in a hatbox in his flat.” The inspector sighed.
“Hey Lestrade.”
“Yes, Sherlock.”
The consulting detective smiled, wincing as he was still in pain. “I told you so.”
--------Prologue--------
“JOOOOOOHN! Please can I do an experiment? Just one?”
“NO Sherlock! You can’t! No experiments until BOTH legs are healed!”
Sherlock let out an exasperated sigh. “Your no fun!”
---------The End---------