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alaylithTitle: The stars twinkle
Theme: July Writing Prompt 2014 Amnesty #04
Prompt: Stellar. the crab nebula. Use this however it inspires you.
Author: Alaylith
Rating: PG
Universe: BBC (S1); based on ACD "Silver Blaze"
Characters: Sherlock, John
WordCount: 1.112
Summary: Sherlock and John discuss the case and John finally gets to know everything he missed, like who the murderer was.
A/N: And that's it! Managed all July&Amnesty prompts! :)
This is by the way a very boring ficlet, I just needed to finish all the loose ends of the case. I really, really do not like to write casefics. :/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is the middle of the night, but John can not sleep. He has slept for days after all and now, after finally having woken up, he can't go back to sleep.
Sherlock sits in his chair beside the bed, his face illuminated by the light of his smartphone, as the rest of the room is completely dark.
John turns his head to look out of the window and he can clearly see the stars in the sky.
As his window leads to the small garden behind the hospital and not the street, it is dark enough for the stars to be quite visible from his room.
It is a beautiful sight and John can feel himself relax as he watches the stars twinkle.
"Sherlock?" he asks after a few minutes of silence and he can hear a short pause in the tapping, which then continues.
"You are still not well enough," Sherlock answers and John turns back around to blink at him. "What?"
"You are still not well enough," Sherlock repeats and then looks up at John. "I will not tell you everything and keep you from your rest."
"I am resting! See, I am lying down, I am covered by a blanket and my head lies on a pillow. Resting."
John waves with the corner of the blanket and Sherlock grins, putting his phone away.
"I am going to make it short," Sherlock starts, folding his hands in front of his chin.
"You already know that the person getting the horse out of the stable had to be someone well known by the dog."
"Which are only a few people," John continues. "Most likely it was Straker himself, as no one else left the stable."
"Exactly, Straker himself led the horse into the moor. Question now was why.
At first you might think that this man Derbyshire might be responsible for it, as we found his receipt on Straker's body.
That is why I contacted one of my men in London to check this Derbyshire," Sherlock explains and John nods.
"I remember you writing that message. But you also sent an image of Stroker's photo, did you not?"
Sherlock blinks surprised, but then he grins broadly with a hint of pride in his eyes. "Bravo, John. How observant of you."
John grins as well and Sherlock sobers again before continuing.
"As it turned out Derbyshire really was responsible, because the tailor recognized the name and the man."
"He knew Stroker?"
"Yes, but not as Stroker, but as Derbyshire."
"What?" John raises a bit, but then falls back with a grimace as the movement hurts his head.
"Stroker had a second identity as Derbyshire?"
"Yes and with it an affair. The other woman has quite expensive tastes, as we had seen and so Stroker alias Derbyshire had debts.
To get money he made bets - after all he knew enough about horse racing and he also had insider knowledge.
All this went well for a while, until Silas Brown - also making and taking illegal bets as well - found out."
"Yeah, that journal we found in Brown's house - it was a list of bets and Derbyshire was on it," John remembers dimly, the happenings of the night not really clear anylonger.
"So he confronted Stroker with the truth?"
Sherlock, seeing the pain in John's eyes, decides to hurry on. "Not only that, he blackmailed Stroker. That is also the reason for Stroker taking Silver Blaze out into the moor.
You remember the cataract knife we found beside Stroker's body. You might also remember me being quite interested in the cattle near the stable."
"The animals were limping," John murmurs, him eyes growing wide in understanding. Then he growls. "That bastard!"
Sherlock nods and leans back in his chair, stretching his long legs.
"Stroker used the cattle to train, before he took the horse. I believe Brown demanded from Stroker to handicap Silver Blaze and this is the way he choose to do it.
He took the horse, found Simpson's scarf out in the moor and used it as a blindfold for the horse.
Then he tried to use the knife and..."
John looks back at Sherlock's hesitation, but he is surprised to see a glow of satisfaction on his friend's face.
"Horses are remarkable creatures and Silver Blaze proofed that he is quite intelligent. He must have known that Stroker intended him harm and seeing the knife or the candle light, he bolted.
But not before dealing a deadly blow to Stroker."
"Silver Blaze killed him?" John asks lowly and Sherlock nods. "Purely in self-defense, John, I assure you.
Running away Silver Blaze must have seen the stable of Brown in the distance and wandered over there. Brown found the horse and tried to keep it.
He uses black paint to cover the white patches and put the horse into his own stable."
Sherlock grins again, looking amusedly at John. "You might remember him - you met him in the stable, scaring him with the bucket."
"That was him?"
"Yes, when we were in Brown's house you wiped your hands because you saw in the light that they were dirty. In truth it was a bit of the paint from the horse's brow you wiped of when you touched him."
John nods slowly, unconsciously rubbing his hands on the blanket and Sherlock can how John's face starts to relax in tiredness.
"So - Stroker was Derbyshire, Brown blackmailed him, Stroker tried to hurt Silver Blaze, Silver Blaze killed Stroker and Brown then tried to hide the horse.
Brown realised we - or at least you - knew the truth and tried to kill us. What happened to him? Did Gregory arrest him?"
John looks at Sherlock, but is taken aback by the rage he can see on the other man's face. And also by the gratification he can see.
"There was no need to arrest Brown. He is dead, John. The horses panicked, escaped and trampled him to death. A most fitting punishment I think."
John shudders as he imagines that, also remembering the pain the man inflicted upon him wih his whip and boots. He can not really disagree with Sherlock.
"Anything else?" Sherlock asks, but John slowly shakes his head, closing his eyes. "No... at least not at the moment. I will ask you later, 'kay?"
"Of course, maybe you should rest now," Sherlock says and takes his phone out of his pocket again.
"I'm 'ready resting...," John murmurs quietly and then falls asleep.
After watching him for a few moments, Sherlock turns his attention back to his phone and silence once again fills the room.
And outside the window the stars continue twinkle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Theme: July Writing Prompt 2014 Amnesty #04
Prompt: Stellar. the crab nebula. Use this however it inspires you.
Author: Alaylith
Rating: PG
Universe: BBC (S1); based on ACD "Silver Blaze"
Characters: Sherlock, John
WordCount: 1.112
Summary: Sherlock and John discuss the case and John finally gets to know everything he missed, like who the murderer was.
A/N: And that's it! Managed all July&Amnesty prompts! :)
This is by the way a very boring ficlet, I just needed to finish all the loose ends of the case. I really, really do not like to write casefics. :/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is the middle of the night, but John can not sleep. He has slept for days after all and now, after finally having woken up, he can't go back to sleep.
Sherlock sits in his chair beside the bed, his face illuminated by the light of his smartphone, as the rest of the room is completely dark.
John turns his head to look out of the window and he can clearly see the stars in the sky.
As his window leads to the small garden behind the hospital and not the street, it is dark enough for the stars to be quite visible from his room.
It is a beautiful sight and John can feel himself relax as he watches the stars twinkle.
"Sherlock?" he asks after a few minutes of silence and he can hear a short pause in the tapping, which then continues.
"You are still not well enough," Sherlock answers and John turns back around to blink at him. "What?"
"You are still not well enough," Sherlock repeats and then looks up at John. "I will not tell you everything and keep you from your rest."
"I am resting! See, I am lying down, I am covered by a blanket and my head lies on a pillow. Resting."
John waves with the corner of the blanket and Sherlock grins, putting his phone away.
"I am going to make it short," Sherlock starts, folding his hands in front of his chin.
"You already know that the person getting the horse out of the stable had to be someone well known by the dog."
"Which are only a few people," John continues. "Most likely it was Straker himself, as no one else left the stable."
"Exactly, Straker himself led the horse into the moor. Question now was why.
At first you might think that this man Derbyshire might be responsible for it, as we found his receipt on Straker's body.
That is why I contacted one of my men in London to check this Derbyshire," Sherlock explains and John nods.
"I remember you writing that message. But you also sent an image of Stroker's photo, did you not?"
Sherlock blinks surprised, but then he grins broadly with a hint of pride in his eyes. "Bravo, John. How observant of you."
John grins as well and Sherlock sobers again before continuing.
"As it turned out Derbyshire really was responsible, because the tailor recognized the name and the man."
"He knew Stroker?"
"Yes, but not as Stroker, but as Derbyshire."
"What?" John raises a bit, but then falls back with a grimace as the movement hurts his head.
"Stroker had a second identity as Derbyshire?"
"Yes and with it an affair. The other woman has quite expensive tastes, as we had seen and so Stroker alias Derbyshire had debts.
To get money he made bets - after all he knew enough about horse racing and he also had insider knowledge.
All this went well for a while, until Silas Brown - also making and taking illegal bets as well - found out."
"Yeah, that journal we found in Brown's house - it was a list of bets and Derbyshire was on it," John remembers dimly, the happenings of the night not really clear anylonger.
"So he confronted Stroker with the truth?"
Sherlock, seeing the pain in John's eyes, decides to hurry on. "Not only that, he blackmailed Stroker. That is also the reason for Stroker taking Silver Blaze out into the moor.
You remember the cataract knife we found beside Stroker's body. You might also remember me being quite interested in the cattle near the stable."
"The animals were limping," John murmurs, him eyes growing wide in understanding. Then he growls. "That bastard!"
Sherlock nods and leans back in his chair, stretching his long legs.
"Stroker used the cattle to train, before he took the horse. I believe Brown demanded from Stroker to handicap Silver Blaze and this is the way he choose to do it.
He took the horse, found Simpson's scarf out in the moor and used it as a blindfold for the horse.
Then he tried to use the knife and..."
John looks back at Sherlock's hesitation, but he is surprised to see a glow of satisfaction on his friend's face.
"Horses are remarkable creatures and Silver Blaze proofed that he is quite intelligent. He must have known that Stroker intended him harm and seeing the knife or the candle light, he bolted.
But not before dealing a deadly blow to Stroker."
"Silver Blaze killed him?" John asks lowly and Sherlock nods. "Purely in self-defense, John, I assure you.
Running away Silver Blaze must have seen the stable of Brown in the distance and wandered over there. Brown found the horse and tried to keep it.
He uses black paint to cover the white patches and put the horse into his own stable."
Sherlock grins again, looking amusedly at John. "You might remember him - you met him in the stable, scaring him with the bucket."
"That was him?"
"Yes, when we were in Brown's house you wiped your hands because you saw in the light that they were dirty. In truth it was a bit of the paint from the horse's brow you wiped of when you touched him."
John nods slowly, unconsciously rubbing his hands on the blanket and Sherlock can how John's face starts to relax in tiredness.
"So - Stroker was Derbyshire, Brown blackmailed him, Stroker tried to hurt Silver Blaze, Silver Blaze killed Stroker and Brown then tried to hide the horse.
Brown realised we - or at least you - knew the truth and tried to kill us. What happened to him? Did Gregory arrest him?"
John looks at Sherlock, but is taken aback by the rage he can see on the other man's face. And also by the gratification he can see.
"There was no need to arrest Brown. He is dead, John. The horses panicked, escaped and trampled him to death. A most fitting punishment I think."
John shudders as he imagines that, also remembering the pain the man inflicted upon him wih his whip and boots. He can not really disagree with Sherlock.
"Anything else?" Sherlock asks, but John slowly shakes his head, closing his eyes. "No... at least not at the moment. I will ask you later, 'kay?"
"Of course, maybe you should rest now," Sherlock says and takes his phone out of his pocket again.
"I'm 'ready resting...," John murmurs quietly and then falls asleep.
After watching him for a few moments, Sherlock turns his attention back to his phone and silence once again fills the room.
And outside the window the stars continue twinkle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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