He hung up and sat back down.
“Now, Ms. Cumberbatch. I think we need to have a talk.”
I glared at him. I did NOT want to listen to anything he had to say.
“Your ‘Boyfriend’ didn’t listen to my instructions. Now your precious baby is mine.”
He smiled at me. I finally figured out that he was going to take Catherine.
“Don’t you touch my daughter! You leave her alone!” I jumped at him, punching and kicking as hard as I could. He grabbed my wrists tightly, stopping my attempts at hurting him.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. We should work on controlling that temper, Elizabeth.”
He shoved me back down on the bench and re-cuffed me to the wall.
“I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet. My name is Jim Moriarty.”
I knew that name. Sherlock had mentioned it a few times before when we discussed his latest cases. He was the one who strapped bombs to people for fun. Now I was worried. What did he want with Kate and me? What did Sherlock have to do with all this? What instructions did Moriarty give him?
“Now, you’re probably wondering instructions I gave to Mr. Holmes. Well, I think I’ll let you figure that out on your own.” He smirked at me then went up to the front of the van and sat in the passenger seat. I relaxed. He wasn’t going to do anything crazy yet. In a few minutes, I was taken into an abandoned warehouse that smelled of mold and rodents. Then, the thug took me into a storage closet and threw me on a moth-ridden mattress. It hurt more than it normally would because I had just had a baby less than thirty-six hours ago. Moriarty stood over me and smiled.
“I’ve got to go, but don’t worry. You’ll see me again soon, Elizabeth Bernadette Cumberbatch.”
He turned and strolled out of the room. I sat up, trying to catch my breath.
I have to get out of here. I have to protect Kate. I tried to come up with escape plans, but all I could think about was how much pain was coursing through my veins. I had pain medication, but it was at my flat. I needed to call Sherlock. Make sure he would take care of Kate. He had never been around children before, so he probably didn’t know how to care for her. He would probably ask Mrs. Hudson for help. My captors’ minion came in every couple of hours and gave me something to eat. Not too much, but enough so I wouldn’t starve. Days passed. I wasn’t sure how many, though. My only way of telling time was when the guard brought my meals. On what I thought was the fifth day of my being away from Kate, Moriarty came to me with a proposition.
“So, I know how much you want to get back to your precious baby so I have come up with a trade. I will let you go home to Kate and in return,”
He paused, a smile slowly creeping up to his ears. Oh no, I thought. This can’t be good.
“In return, you kill Sherlock Holmes.”
I fought back a scream. Kill Sherlock? I couldn’t.
“If you refuse, Kate and I are going somewhere no one can find us. I’ll give you until tomorrow to decide.”
