The Swan Queen | Sherlock

Reichenbach

           The click of the lock told me I'd made a big mistake. What once was an open door to me was now out of reach.

Richard or Jim, whoever he was, sighed and leaned against the door. He was looking down, I couldn't see his face, though I had an idea of what he was thinking.

"Oh, Sammy, you should have stopped talking when you had the chance..." He glanced up to look at me, and I saw it then, that face I had grown to know so well, a face I'd never forget. Every trace of timid Richard Brook was now gone. I only saw Moriarty. He sighed again, much more dramatically this time. "I blame myself for trying to keep you involved, I should have realised it would be your downfall."

My downfall?

"I must say though, for a moment, I thought I'd got to you. Trapped you in the web of lies."

"More fool you for ever thinking I wouldn't have loyalty to Sherlock. Even if I did believe you for a split second, it wouldn't have changed anything."

He smiled that devilish smile. "Of course it would have. While you may have been loyal to him in the eyes of the world, you wouldn't have looked at him the same, and he would have seen that."

Now it began to make sense. "That's your plan then, you're trying to tarnish his reputation?"

"Correction; not trying to, I am."

My heart began to race. My chest tightened. "It'll never work. Why would anyone believe you?"

"Because people are gullible, Sammy. They believe anything they read in the newspaper."

He had a point, and I loathed to admit it. "So this is the game you've been planning all along? Help to build up Sherlock's reputation until everyone knows who he is and then out him as a fraud who made everything up? It'll never work!" It might just work. People are quick to believe what they read, especially if it concerns someone like Sherlock who seems like an impossible man. Hell, even I was starting to have doubts and I've lived with him for years. I know the real him.

I tried to keep my expression firm, but my eyes were giving me away.

"It'll work. And you know it will."

"It won't. I won't let you do this to him."

"Oh, you won't? And how, pray tell, do you intend to protect him when you're in trouble yourself."

The gravity of the situation became painfully obvious in that moment. He was standing by the doorway, the only door, blocking my exit. Richard Brook I could no doubt have rammed out the way and made a run for it. But this was Jim Moriarty blocking my path. You can't run from him.

"You know, Sammy. It is a shame you were so gullible and came here today, otherwise you'd have been the perfect character witness for Sherlock. You might even have been able to convince people he was the real deal-"

"Because he is," I snapped.

"But that's the problem with you Holmes', you just have to know everything. You can't leave anything alone. That's why I was surprised the first time you turned Kitty down, but I knew it would only take a second attempt to get you. And here you are."

Curiosity really did kill the cat, huh...

"So now what?" I asked, "Are you going to kill me? Finally? After years of going back and forth, you're finally going to finish me off."