I started, “Could it be—”
Sherlock cut me off immediately, “No John. It cannot be.”
“But Sherlock!”
“John it is never twins. It will never be twins. And I sincerely hope that one day you will understand that. Twins is never the answer and it never will be.”
“Then triplets!” I exclaimed.
“Oh Watson. The answer is never going to be twins, triplets, or any form of two same faces. No the answer is quite obvious and elementary.”
“Then why isn’t obvious to me?”
“Because as usual you see but do not observe. Jason Tai came home, drank water, and collapsed. Poisoned. Cyanide. He didn’t drink bottled water. He didn’t drink that gaseous water, whatever it is called. No. He drank tap water. Scotland Yard’s conclusion that he was poisoned via the water is wrong. As usual. He also didn’t have a special glass or mug or tumbler that he used all the time. He chose a glass at random from his cupboard. So their second conclusion that the glass had poison on it is also wrong. If we eliminate the water and the glass, what is left?”
I thought for a few moments and then responded, “The doorknob!”
“Yes. And given that Mrs. Tai supposedly was wearing gloves at the time she touched the doorknob and those gloves somehow ended up in the fire, she is the obvious murderer.”
“But Sherlock there was no doorknob!”
“That is what got Mrs. Tai caught. No doorknob? A locked house. No robbery. Husband comes home and collapses dead. Wife comes home and calls for help. And in the meantime the doorknob and the gloves that touched the doorknob disappeared? How? Anderson having to come to me for this case proves he will never amount too much. Anyways, putting this case aside, we have an even older case to revisit.”
“Which case?”
At that time the door opened and Mycroft came in, followed by Player. Mycroft looked in pain as Player lamented on, “…and then we can lie in wait and pounce on—”
Mycroft cut Player off, “Oh do please shut up.”
Player clamped his mouth shut as Holmes asked, “So Mycroft. Any new information from my dear old friend?”
It had been 3 months since Moriarty had resurfaced and Mycroft had been working around the clock trying to get some information on Moriarty, where he was hidden, and his next steps. Sherlock, in the meantime, had decided to lean back and wait for Moriarty to make his next move. Mycroft said, “You know I have new information. That is why I am here. But why did you have to stick this obnoxious kid with me?”
Player looked pained, “Obnoxious kid? I’m 25!”
“Oh my bad. Obnoxious adult then. Please stay away from me. I do not like you one bit and I would much rather go to another one of those meet and greets,” Mycroft shuddered, “then have to deal with you again.”
“Fine. Mr. Holmes thought it would be a good for both of us if I helped you out, but I got the message. I will stay away,” Player responded.
Then Player sat down with a huff as Mycroft turned his attention to Sherlock and said, “Moriarty is planning something big and it will start soon. It will most likely require you to run around the town. Legwork,” Mycroft shuddered again. “So get ready little brother.”
“Ooh fun. I can’t wait,” Sherlock said, with a gleeful smile.
And then as if that wasn’t enough, Mrs. Hudson came in with a letter, “Sherlock this just came for you. The kid said it’s urgent.”
“Thank you Mrs. Hudson. How is Emma Thatcher? Did she get married to John Rockfort?” Sherlock asked.
“Yes. After Emil’s suicide and attempt to trap her and John, she got over mourning his death rather quickly. They got married over the weekend. But how did you know?”
“You just told me,” Sherlock smiled, indicating the other letter in Mrs. Hudson’s hand. I looked at it and the envelope read “Mr. and Mrs. Rockfort” in the corner. Mrs. Hudson chuckled and left the room.
Sherlock opened his letter and commented, “Interesting. Well the game has begun.”
He handed the letter to Mycroft and leaned back in his armchair again. Mycroft read through it and asked, “So get up and start working. Stop this man before he does anything.”
“No. The obnoxious adult and Watson will work on this. Moriarty knows that he could have challenged me, but what he sent is not challenging so I refuse to budge,” Sherlock refused.
I took the letter from Mycroft and read it aloud, “The wait is over Sherlock. Let the games begin. Below you will find your first case. Solve each case, send me the answer, and maybe London will survive. Else I will be quite glad to take London down, with you in it.”
I turned over the page to reveal a Scrabble board and several scrambled words. Player commented, “Isn’t Moriarty supposed to be some evil genius? He’s sending a crossword puzzle?”
“No. It’s more of a game. But what are we supposed to do with this?” I questioned.
“Watson once again you see but do not observe. The Scrabble board is incomplete. You have scrambled words. Fill in the words. Once it is filled out, you’ll probably find a new message from Moriarty,” Sherlock responded.
Mrs. Hudson came back with another letter, “Sherlock one more letter for you.”
Sherlock took it and read it. He commented, “Interesting. Now we’re talking.”
“What do you mean?” Mycroft asked.
“Moriarty has also provided me with some cases. If I can solve his cases and get to him before his game runs its due course, we may have a chance to finally bring down his empire,” Sherlock responded.
“And you believe him?” Mycroft asked, incredulously.
“No. But it is definitely better than solving crossword puzzles and playing games. So, dear brother of mine, you will work with Player and Watson on the games, while I go about solving these cases. Let’s see who gets to Moriarty first. Now chop, chop. Get out of here,” Sherlock pushed us out of the room and closed the door in our face.
Mycroft sighed heavily, “Well let’s go to Diogenes Club. I’ve already been outside for too long.”
“Well, well, well. Not too bad. You both managed to solve this board quite well. Now go to this location and play his next game,” Mycroft said.
“Aren’t you going to be joining us?” Player asked.
“It took a great deal of work on my part just to come to Baker Street. I will not be subject to the footwork required of Sherlock’s profession. No, you both will do the footwork. Find the game and bring it back here. We can play it together, but I refuse to budge from this room now,” Mycroft refused.
“Fine, we’ll get the next game,” I agreed. “Should we also find out where Sherlock is?”
“No need. He will contact us when he needs to,” Mycroft replied.
Player and I shook our heads at that and stepped out.
About an hour later, we returned with the next game. It was an envelope addressed to me only. I opened it and read, “Well Dr. Watson congratulations on a game well-played. But now it’s time for your next game. I have provided you a few long lists and your job is to give Player and Mycroft one word that would help them guess most or all the words in your list. The more words they guess, the closer you get to the next game and finding out why I’m doing all this.”
Player asked, “Wait! How does he know that the 3 of us are playing his games?”
“Yes how does he know,” Mycroft commented, thoughtfully. Then he wrote something on a piece of paper and rang the bell. Anderson appeared. Mycroft handed the paper to Anderson and ordered, “Take this to my brother. You should find him in the lab.” Anderson nodded and left. Mycroft turned to me and said, “Well then Dr. Watson get on with it. Let’s play this drab game.”
“I don’t get it. Why couldn’t I just show you these words. There was no need to play the game. It gave us nothing,” Player responded.
“Au contraire. It gave Sherlock time,” Mycroft responded.
“What do you mean?”
“You are a smart person Player. Figure it out yourself. Why is Moriarty having us play these drab games while Sherlock is out there solving cases? The answer shouldn’t be too hard. In the meantime, Dr. Watson what is the next game we must play?”
“Pictionary,” I responded, looking at the new letter that had arrived a few minutes ago.
“Interesting. Now this is a game that I could possibly get on board with. Quite interesting indeed,” Mycroft said. “Well what are we waiting for? Chop chop. Get the game going. You’ll be drawing, Player will be trying to answer my question, and I’ll solve your words.”
“I must say that was quite fun. But we would have gotten more words if Dr. Watson’s drawings hadn’t been so obscure,” Mycroft commented.
“Obscure? I drew a circle with smaller coloured dots in it! How else was I supposed to indicate a cookie?” I asked, outraged.
“With a glass of milk, of course. Tut tut. Sherlock is right. You are a drama queen. Well Player, do you have an answer to my comment?”
“I do. He is keeping us all busy by pretending that these games and the cases that Mr. Holmes is solving will lead us to him. But, in reality, they are simply timepass so that he can do whatever it is he wants to do,” Player responded.
“Marvelous! You are quite clever indeed!” Mycroft said, enthusiastically. “Maybe you aren’t such an obnoxious adult after all.”
“But if we know that this is what Moriarty is trying to do, then why are we letting him get away with it? Why are we playing these dumb childish games, stretching them out unnecessarily? We could just easily find Moriarty and be done with it,” Player exclaimed.
“And how do you propose to find Moriarty?” Mycroft asked.
“Well there has to be some information somewhere!”
“There is none. Do you not think that in the past 3 months, if there was information, Sherlock and I would have found Moriarty?”
“But then how are you going to find Moriarty now?!!”
“Dear child, have you learnt nothing? Did I call you clever prematurely?” Mycroft mocked. “Dr. Watson, do you understand what is going on here?”
I was surprised to suddenly be involved in a conversation that I didn’t want to be involved in. “I…I have nothing to say. This is beyond me.”
“Oh my. Well instead of playing Moriarty’s game, let’s play a different game. 20 Questions. I’m sure you both remember how to play that. Then we can go onto Moriarty’s real life game of Monopoly. I will give each of you 20 questions. Ask away. Let’s see if you can’t solve this before you get to the 20th question,” Mycroft said, gleefully.
“Are you doing all this with a fake Mr. Holmes? Maybe the fake Mr. Holmes is running around, pretending to solve Moriarty’s cases, while the real Mr. Holmes is using the letters and cases to track Moriarty’s location,” Player suggested.
“Seriously what is it with the 2 of you and lookalikes? Dr. Watson is suggesting twins all the time and now you’re suggesting a lookalike Sherlock. It is not a lookalike Sherlock!” Mycroft exclaimed.
I suddenly had an epiphany. “I know. Sherlock is solving the cases, but he isn’t telling Moriarty right away. Instead he’s holding out and using the time to get closer and closer to Moriarty. You are the red herring. You working with us on these childish games is for Moriarty to feel like he’s got us wrapped around his finger. And you’re purposefully wasting time to give Sherlock more time to get closer to Moriarty. That’s why you keep taking breaks and that’s what all those telegrams are. Sherlock is keeping you apprised of his situation!”
“Well done Dr. Watson. That is correct,” Mycroft responded.
“Why didn’t you involve us earlier Mr. Holmes? We could have made these games even longer. Now we have to play a real life Monopoly all over London. Instead of taking a cab, we’ll walk everywhere. That will give Mr. Holmes enough time right?” Player asked.
“A noble thought Player. But don’t make it too obvious. This is why I did not involve you from the beginning. You would have wasted time unnecessarily and made the plan obvious. As it is, Sherlock is quite close to Moriarty. He has just gotten Lestrade and Gregson involved. This means that Moriarty may finally get caught with proof. In the menatime, go play Monopoly and whatever Moriarty’s next game is. Keep me apprised as and when you can and I’ll keep you updated as well,” Mycroft waved us away.
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While Dr. Watson and Player will play Monopoly, your game is Cards Against Humanity!
Each of you will get a PM from me with 15 white cards. Over the next 5 days, I will post two black cards at a time and give you 24 hours to respond to it with white cards to fill in the blanks. The idea is that you want to try and get the funniest sentence possible by filling in the blanks. Once I post the black cards, I will PM all players letting them know the location of the black cards and the deadline.
Sometimes there will be only 1 blank – in which case you send me 1 card. Sometimes there will be 2 blanks – in which case you send me 2 cards and point out the order in which your sentence should be read.
Once you use a white card, it cannot be used again. If you send me a repeat, I will reject it and I will NOT ask for another card either. It will be a 0 for you that round no matter what.
After 5 days, 2 judges and myself will choose the top 3 funniest options. The first place will get 10 points, the second place will get 7 points, and the third place will get 5 points from each judge. This means that if all 3 judges choose one option as the top place, that person could get 30 points for one card. Everyone else will get 0 this round.
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