It Started With Stealing | Sherlock Holmes

28 - F*** You, Jim

It had been around three months, Seb guessed. And were they any further with getting her back? No. But Jim had continued to reassure him that he had a plan for either outcome of their meeting next Sunday. Seb was still skeptical. He thought that Elizabeth was getting rather cosy with detective.

But then again, he also knew that she was a bit of a kleptomaniac. Could a thief really get on well with a detective? He guessed only time would tell.

Seb removed the earphones he was using to listen to the no longer live feed from the listening device and called to Jim, beckoning him over to the table of their little boathouse.

"What? Did she finally say something?"

Seb nodded, handing him the earphones as he replayed the last piece of dialogue. While Jim's face was serious, the moment he heard Elizabeth speak, a smirk crossed his lips. He gave a half hearted chuckle.

"She misses me, wouldn't you say?"

His right-hand man frowned, not quite sure if Jim was being serious or not. The psychopath dropped the earphones on the table and walked to the other side of the boat.

"Oh, my Lizzie. Just you wait until I see you."

*  *  *  *  *  *

"Morning!" John cheerily said as he entered the 221B apartment, "Sherlock come around yet, Elizabeth? Elizabeth?"

He had turned to see her curled up into a ball on the sofa, sniffling almost silently. His brow wrinkled as his eyes fell on a small broken device beside her laptop. What had happened? He approached her quietly and gently laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

She sniffled again, "I didn't know."

"Didn't know what?"

"That's Jim's been listening this entire time, John."

"Moriarty?"

"Yes." She finally turned around and sat up, gesturing to the pieces on the table, "He placed a listening device on my laptop. He knew about the masquerade. He knew about Shaun. Everything I've looked for, he knows about. And I didn't check earlier, John! I didn't think about it sooner. I mean, why else had my laptop been left undamaged? Shaun said. He said I would get people killed and he was right. I blamed Sherlock for Shaun's death but it was my fault, John. I didn't think and I - I got a friend killed, I could have gotten us all - killed."

Elizabeth placed her head in her hands, the frustration getting to her again. She very well couldn't say that Irene had met with her late last night. Well, she could have. She should have. But then they would have to know about her meeting with Jim. She didn't want to risk their lives like she had already done.

John looked down at her, sympathy glazing his eyes. He sat down beside her, silently considering the words he would use for a moment.

"It's not your fault Shaun died."

"Isn't it?"

"No. Elizabeth, listen to me. It wasn't your fault. You didn't think because other things were distracting you at the time. That was no one's fault. You can't have known he would do that. Moriarty's...unpredictable."

"But I know him, John. I should have known he would do something like this."

"How? Elizabeth, look at me. How were you to know?"

She met John's gaze, tears gathered in her eyes, lost for an answer, "I - I don't know."

"Exactly, Elizabeth, you don't know. No one could have known. Moriarty is an unpredictable psychopath. Plain and simple. And psychopaths are good at lying. He could have easily pulled the wool over your eyes as to hide his real self from you. And not to say that you're blind but he would have manipulated you to not see it. We're not fortune tellers. We don't know what the future holds. And sometimes, certain events in life are out of our hands." He paused, taking her hand reassuringly, "Sometimes it is what it is."