Work Text:
Civilian’s are pawns, barely worth killing.
The policemen, the brother, the landlady are horses and bishops, important but not entirely expendable, James could take them in three or four moves, if he tried hard enough, and if sherlock would force himself to choose sacrificial winning, letting Jim take one so sherlock could take his in return.
The doctor is king, and sherlock is ever so careful to safeguard him, to avoid a checkmate, so singularly focused on this important piece, he sometimes forgets to move his queen.
James counts on him overlooking her, the pathologist, whom he plans to check.