Later, Sherlock is driving them across the moors.
"So, the email from Kirsty – the, er, missing luminous rabbit." Says John.
"Kirsty Stapleton, whose mother specialises in genetic manipulation." Says Elisabeth.
"She made her daughter's rabbit glow in the dark."
"Probably a fluorescent gene removed and spliced into the specimen. Simple enough these days."
"So ..."
He looks across to Elisabeth and waits for her to continue the sentence.
"So we know that Doctor Stapleton performs secret genetic experiments on animals. The question is: has she been working on something deadlier than a rabbit?" Says Elisabeth.
"To be fair, that is quite a wide field."
Elisabeth looks round at John in startled surprise as if realising that that's true.
HENRY KNIGHT'S HOUSE.
****************************
His home is enormous – a four-storey stone building that was probably a very important property in the area in the past. A large old-fashioned glass conservatory is attached to the rear of the building on the ground floor and a modern two-storey glass extension has been built onto the side of the house to join it to another two-storey stone building nearby. Sherlock and John go into the conservatory, which looks very run-down and clearly hasn't had a paint job in years, and walk across to the door on the opposite side. Sherlock rings the doorbell and Henry opens the door.
"Hi." Greets Henry
"Hi." Says John.
"Come in, come in."
Wiping his feet on the doormat, Sherlock walks in and heads down the hallway. John and Elisabeth follow more slowly, John stops to look into a large high-ceilinged sitting room before following Henry again.
"This is, uh ... Are you, um ..." Starts John.
He searches for the right word for a moment before finding it.
"... rich?" He asks.
"Yeah." Answers Henry.
"Right."
Henry leads off again. Sherlock throws a dark look at John before following him.
Not long afterwards, in the kitchen in the glass extension, Sherlock spoons two sugar lumps into his mug and stirs them in. He then passes them to Elisabeth who's sitting next to him. He is sitting on a stool at the central island and Elisabeth and John are next to him. Henry is standing at the side of the island gazing down at the work surface.
"It's-it's a couple of words. It's what I keep seeing. "Liberty" ..." Says Henry.
"Liberty." Repeats John, reaching for his notebook.
""Liberty" and ... "in." It's just that." Says Henry.
He picks up the bottle of milk that's on the island.
"Are you finished?" He asks.
"Mm." Answers John.
Henry turns around to put the milk into the fridge. John looks at the others.
"Mean anything to you?" Asks John.
""Liberty in death" – isn't that the expression? The only true freedom." Says Sherlock.
John nods in agreement as Henry turns back around, sighing. Sherlock takes a drink from his mug.
"What now, then?" Asks Henry.
YOU ARE READING
Hounds Experiments & Relationships (A BBC Sherlock Fan-fiction)
Fanfiction(It is preferred to read The Art Of Deduction before reading this story as it is a prequel of sorts.) The Backstory to how Sherlock Holmes And Elisabeth Carroll got together. Enjoy :)
