Chapter Text
“So,” William James Moriarty crossed one leg over the other, “tell me, Mr. Holmes, why did you request we meet today?” He sat in his family’s parlor across from Sherlock Holmes, the local detective that had caught his eye well before he’d become famous thanks to his partner, John Watson’s, telling of their escapades in the Strand Magazine. Also in the room was his younger brother, Louis, pretending to tend to the tea he’d just set in front of them. William was aware of Louis’s disdain for the consulting detective, if he found out that William was the mastermind behind the Lord of Crime, especially before they wanted him to, then there would be hell to pay.
“Simple, I need your help, Liam.” This drew William and Louis’s full attention.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Long story short, Mycroft, my brother, noticed I was bored with my current list of cases. They’re all menial, tailing a husband that was suspected of cheating, looking for a lost cat… Easy cases that don’t actually give me a challenge. So, what does he do? He brings me a case that he found that looks fishy. Of course, it’s been almost two decades since and the authorities filed it away as a suicide, but it was enough to catch his eye so I figured ‘why not’ and took a gander. And he’s right. The death of the man, Magnus Honey, was ruled as a suicide, but many who knew him said he was too happy and he had a five-year-old daughter that he loved dearly - not what you normally see in a man who decides to take his own life.”
“I see… yes, that is suspicious. But why would you need my help on this case?”
“Well, one of the main suspects I have is Agatha Trunchbull. She was the step sister of the man’s wife who passed five years prior due to an accident, and apparently Magnus asked her to come live with him to help care for his daughter while he worked. She would be the one to take over his estate.”
“But wouldn’t the estate go to the daughter once she turned eighteen?”
“That’s what you would think, but the daughter signed a contract giving it all to her.”
“Holmes, you still haven’t answered my question.”
“I was getting to that! The woman runs a primary school in a village just outside of Buckinghamshire County. Coincidentally, one of the teachers there is retiring, and so a teaching position for the evening adult maths class and one of the primary school classes opened up. I’m too well known to be able to investigate without tipping off the suspect, but you on the other hand, Liam, are a professor and can infiltrate the school. You’ll know what to keep an eye out for, I’ve seen you deduce and look through evidence before like with that business on the train!”
“So, you basically want me take a leave from my current position at Durham University to help you track down a suspected killer?”
“It’d be your choice in the end.”
“Hmm… It’s an intriguing offer.”
“And?”
William smiled. “How could I say ‘no’ when you’ve come all this way to ask?”
“Ha! I knew you’d be interested, Liam! I’ll send you the plan soon!” Sherlock got up and shook William’s hand. The brothers walked him out and as soon as Sherlock had hailed a taxi and the door was closed, Louis spoke up.
“Brother, are you sure this is a wise thing to do?”
“Well, perhaps it is, perhaps it isn’t. But you must admit, Louis, that there are things in this case that don’t add up. It might very well be a child was made an orphan due to foul play, and if that murderer decided to open a school… well…”
Louis looked at his brother and sighed, a smile forming. “You never could ignore children being in danger, now could you?”
William smiled. “You know me too well.”
“I might not like Holmes, and this has nothing to do with our usual plans, but if you wish to assist him in this case, then I will help in any way you need me to.”
“Thank you, Louis. I know I can always count on you.”