Sherlocked

The Stalker

Lia walked home from the university she taught at. She was an English teacher. She had been teaching for two years and she loved it. She loved her students, they convinced her to see the world through eyes that were not her own. Every day was new and refreshing.  

The wind blew against her body, sending a shiver up and down her spine. She pulled her jacket around her body and hugged her textbook to her chest.She glanced behind her, feeling as if she were being followed. A shadow moved behind a pile of bins not far behind her. It looked like a tall man. Lia walked a little faster, wanting to have a deadbolt lock between her and the shadow man.

 Her quick shuffle soon turned into a sprint to make it home, her heels clicked on the hard pavement. She heard the familiar sound of a man's shoes tapping out a similar rythm on the ground behind her. She huffed and ran faster.  

She tripped up the stairs to her flat and her papers went sailing all over the foyer floor as she slammed the wooden door and clicked the locks into place. She breathed deeply and knelt down to retrieve the tests from an earlier class that day.  

Later that night, she went around her flat locking and making sure all doors and windows were closed to the outside world. She was scared the man from before would try something while she slept.    

Days later, Lia was walking home again. She had gotten a letter from the mysterious shadow man. He had expressed how pretty he thought she was and how she shouldn't run from him. He would have her not matter what she did, one day or another. She had immediatly ripped the note up as soon as she read it. During her lunch she didn't eat.  

She had become jumpy during class. So much so her students took notice and asked her if she was alright. She tried assuring them that she was, but deep down she wasn't so sure she was. She turned down many date invites, scared that she would be followed and something bad would happen.  

An older woman was walking towards her with a small dog. The dog barked at Lia and she smiled at the woman, who shushed the dog quietly. Lia bent down and touched the dog's back. She scratched behind his ears and stood, to continue her walk home.  

As she neared her flat, a tall man stepped out an alley. Lia didn't notice until he grabbed her arm. The man held on tight and Lia screamed, kicking as hard as she could. The man growled and let her go. Lia ran as fast as she could home.    

The web article was pulled up on Sherlock's phone. I held it and read out the words while Sherlock examined something under his microscope. The ringer screamed at me and the webpage was replaced with a caller ID.  

"Hello?" I asked.  

"Yes is this Sherlock?" a woman asked. She began crying.  

"Uh, this is John Watson, I work with Sherlock, what's wrong?" I asked. Sherlock looked up at me and I shrugged.  

"I've been attacked"  

"Are you hurt? Have you called the police?"  

"I've just called. Can you come?" she asked.  

"We'll be there as soon as we can." I hung up and we grabbed our coats, heading for the door.    

An ambulance was sitting to the side of the road when we pulled up. The lights were flashing violently. A young woman was being wheeled out on a stretcher. She put a hand on the technicians arm as we approached.  

"They're taking me to the hospital for observation. They want me to speak with a shrink about the attack and get medication if I need it." the woman said.  

"What did the attacker look like?" I asked.  

"I couldn't tell much about him, but he's been following me home the past few days." Sherlock and I nodded and we moved back from the ambulance so the workers could load her in.  

"Call us if anything happens, ok?" I said. The girl nodded. Sherlock hailed a cab and we made our way back home.

 

"Lia Ray. 25. Single. She teaches English at the local college. I assume she walks home everynight because she lives so close. Not many friends" Sherlock mumbled as we sat down to coffee the next morning. I threw a confused glance his way. "Her name was in an article this morning, I simply looked that name up on Facebook. The profile's public. I can guess she may have her locator on, and that's how the stalker found out where she lives." he filled me in on the information he had stayed up gathering.  

"I have the day off. Want to pay Lia a visit?" I asked.    

Lia was laying back in her hospital bed. Dark cirlces hugged her eyes. She was very pale.  

"They haven't let you out yet?" I asked.  

"No, the police talked to me last night, and the doctor hasn't been by to shrink my brain yet, I guess when that happens, I'll be able to go home." she sat up a little and smiled at us.  

"Who is your admirer Miss Ray?" Sherlock asked, waving a smaller card toward her.  

"Sherlock that's not appropria-"  

"Admirer? What are you talking about?" Lia asked. Sherlock handed her the card and she read it quickly. "This wasn't here before my nap"  

"When did you go to sleep?" I asked.  

"Maybe an hour and a half ago" she said. Sherlock walked over to the wall beside the bed and pressed the black button.  

"Miss Ray? Is everything ok?" a woman asked.  

"Uh can you please come in here for one second" Sherlock asked. Seconds later, a nurse came jogging into the room. "Hello, my name is Sherlock. These flowers here, did anyone happen to see if they were brought by a delivery boy or someone else?"  

"I saw him, he was tall didn't see his face though. I was being summoned to start an IV" the nurse said. Sherlock thanked her and she left.  

"You're stalker was here while you were sleeping" he said. A doctor walked in and informed us that he would need to talk to Lia alone. We left quickly, telling Lia to call us if she needed help or had more information to share.    

Days went by without a word from Lia. Sherlock took on another case and I continued working, nervous to when we may hear from Lia again.  My phone beeped while I was filing some papers. I clicked on the text and read it.  

LR: This morning I tried a fun new seating style for the kids during the morning assembly. I helped to arrange them into rows of twenty one. The kids didn't really care, but I loved it. I liked the second column best.    

I stared at the text. I knew something wasn't right. I forwarded the text to Sherlock. I went back to filing, thinking hard about the text. My phone beeped again.  

SH: she was saying HE IS HERE    

I called the police and ran out the office. The cab stopped and I urged the driver to get to the address quickly.  Sherlock was standing behind police tape when I arrived.  

"You want to tell me how you found that one out so quickly?" I asked.  

"Well, when you look at the words 21 at a time you'll see a pattern in the second column that says that he was there with her." The police pulled a tall man out the flat and moments behind him was Lia, wrapped up in a blanket. She ran over to us and hugged us both.

 "I knew you would understand. Thank you!" she said, as she walked over to a policeman and answering questions.  

"Taxi!" Sherlock yelled. The cab pulled over. Sherlock looked at me.  

"I need to go back to the office. Files are waiting" I replied. Sherlock frowned and I gave the driver the address to the office.  

"I guess I'll go home and work on another case"