greatestdefective | Telepathic IC 'Inbox' and Messenger Bird Reception

[Normally it's Holmes usually sulking around in strange places, but today it's Naruhodou. He's sprawled out on the second floor, a pile of what appeared to be junk around him. His energy seem rather low, there was even a low mist forming around him, his gaze unfocused as he was lost in thought.]

[Sherlock's good pal had been missing for about a week now and one didn't need to be a Great Detective to know why. Naruhodou was sent home. Sherlock had joked about it before, he's sure, even if he can't remember the context. He only knows that he regrets it, now. With Naruhodou's absence, the house had immediately become a lot less like a home and a lot more like any old building.

Needless to say, when he leaves his room, he's just as lost in thought as Naruhodou is. He barely notices the mist or the 'junk'- it's commonplace these days anyway- and he certainly doesn't notice someone is lying in the middle of it. So he keeps walking until his bare right foot sets itself down on a pocketwatch. He yelps, stumbles and trips over Naruhodou's body.

A loud crash later, he's fallen through an open doorway and into a spare guest room.]

Ah! What-? [He sits up with a start. If he was dead to the world then, he's sure alive now. He shakes his head, glancing in the direction of the room where Holmes as fallen into. He proceeds to crawl over to the doorway, not quite back to his senses to get onto his feet.] H-Holmes-san?

[Holmes is just kinda rolling over the floor as much as he can, considering he's all curled up and both hands are holding onto his foot. Hot dang that smarts. Some of the wallpaper has curled and stained in response to his dismay, oops.]

Mr. Naruhodou, why the deuce- [...] ... Mr. Naruhodou?

[He sits up quite suddenly, wide eyes taking in the sight before him. The mist clears away immediately and the scene is illuminated with a bright light.]

. . . [His moment of shock slowly turns into a moment of great relief as he smiles warmly to his detective friend.] H-Hey...I'm back. [He'd say more, but he's honestly not sure where to even start.]

[He's back... He's back!!

Holmes scampers forward and basically throws himself on top of Naruhodou, arms slinging around the guy's neck. And yes, there are sparkles.]

Mr. Naruhodou! You've returned! ... Again! I thought that this time- perhaps- Good heavens! Stop giving me such frights!

Grrk! [A hug, yes Holmes has always been rather eccentric, but this completely catches him off guard. The Holmes he left back home certainly wouldn't do this, and that's the most recent memory he has at the moment. He manages to get his arms around him though, patting him on the back.] H-hah...sorry about that. And come on, wasn't my amulet still around? A great detective must investigate all possibilities before making a conclusion.

[He tries to put him some good humor, but he can see how upsetting his disappearance has made him. He has been with him in this world since the beginning afterall.] I didn't come back empty handed at least.

[Was the amulet still around? Logically, it must've been, but Holmes hadn't seen it anywhere. Their house is too grand a mess. So... Yeah, there was a 'worst case scenario' there that made Holmes pretty downcast for about a week.

One final squeeze, then he releases Naruhodou and sits up straight again to survey their surroundings.]

Evidently... What is all this?

[At the question, there was a solemn expression on his face.] Evidence on Detective Gregson's murder case. [A light shrug.] I guess I finally caught up with you.

['Gregson's murder case'... The words seem to roll around inside Sherlock's head for a few seconds, banging against proverbial walls as they go. This is evidence for the case he hasn't gotten to investigate yet-- the case he heard about mere minutes before returning to Empatheias.

Gregson...

The lights flicker pretty badly as he darts forward, trying to grab as much of the evidence as he can in one go. Pictures, files, whatever will stick to his greedy fingers.]

Give it here, let me see!

H-Hold on. Be gentle with those! [He's not going to stop him, but he also needs them for the trial! Everything is there, from his autopsy to what he had been carrying. There were a few other things that appear unrelated to the case though, like Klimt's autopsy report and pieces of paper that had writing in Japanese.]

[Sherlock is outright ignoring all the stuff that seems unrelated. He flips through the papers and photos until one particular item catches his eye: the crime scene photo. Irrefutable, undeniable evidence that everything Gina had said that day was true. Gregson is dead. Shot, by the looks of it.

The temperature drops, a layer of frost dawning on everything glass and metal.]

Who... Who did this?

[He still remembers the conclusion he reached shortly after Asougi's arrival- the truth behind the exchange project. He also remembers that Asougi claimed he wouldn't have done it. Naruhodou trusted him, so Sherlock would trust him as well. But if not Asougi, then who?]

[Naruhodou rubs his arms, shivering from the sudden coldness in the air. Right, this is a thing that happens here. The cause of it only saddens him, seeing the detective down and upset by the loss. As he recalls, he just barely missed his chance to investigate.]

I. . .still can't say just yet, but I was close. I think. [He comes over, settling down beside him.] Maybe you can deduce something from all of this. I'd like to know what you think. [It might be a good exercise to keep his spirits up. Although...he's worry that he'll think, when he sees a certain trunk.]

[Can he deduce something? ...It's possible. If he has all the evidence and Naruhodou shares some testimony, then yes. Yes, he should definitely be able to form a good theory. He's not the World's Greatest Detective for nothing. If he can't solve a friend's murder, he might as well resign.

So he slams the picture down on the floor and raises his head to look over the rest of the evidence.]

Yes, yes! Right! Let's get organized! I want crime scene evidence over here on the left, then evidence from other locations on the right! The autopsy report and things like that can go in the middle. Chop, chop!

Ah, uh, right! [He stumbles a bit as he goes to do as he's told. It was a lot to get through, but he manages to separate the items accordingly to Holmes' demands. The autopsy report, photo of Gregson and the diagram of the crime scene were placed in one pile, the crime scene pile had:
The red wig
Pocketwatch
A small police officer figure
Gregson's trunk
A pistol

In the pile of evidence from other locations, there was:
The Detective's ID
The Article on the Red Headed League
A photo of Everyday Mittlemont
Another photo
Fireworks
A steamship ticket for the RFS Bara Block, which had a letter of introduction written on the back.

There was a fourth pile, of items that may or may not be associated with the case:
Klimt's Autopsy report
A Photo
A Head Jailer Disciplinary Dismissal Notice for Everyday
The Asougi Files]

There's a few things missing, fixtures at the crime scene. [. . .] What we were led to believe was where the crime occurred least. [Would he catch on?] Obviously, they weren't going to come with me here. It was...a billboard, a candleholder and a photo of Mrs. Mittlemont.

[Good lord that's a lot of evidence. The autopsy report is good to have, at least. That one always has a lot of hidden nuggets of info.]

Very well... Hm...

[His gaze gets stuck on the picture of Everyday Mittlemont for a very long moment, because... hasn't he seen this before? Just before being taken to Empatheias. What was that about, again? It's the same for the Red-headed League article. It's ringing some distant bells, but he can't quite recall what those bells signify.

Once his eyes reach the memorial photo, he blinks and takes it in hand. Miss Susato already holds a bittersweet feeling to her, but it's the man next to her who really stands out. He looks just like in the memories Naruhodou shared, except dressed in the sort of outfit Holmes himself remembers.]

Oh...

[Naruhodou kept himself out of Holmes' way to let him do his work, only saying something if spoken to. When the detective becomes fixated on a certain photo though and he sees what's on it, he breaks his silence.]

That...was taken on that same day. Professor Mikotoba and Judge Jigoku arrived in London to attend the Scientific Symposium. [It's probably going to hit him, that he had just missed seeing his partner.]

[The fact that it's hit Holmes before softens the blow a bit. He'd known that Mikotoba would arrive for the Symposium- had even heard about the ship's arrival that day. Still, this photograph really rubs it in. It's a good thing the cold was still sorta lingering, or there would've been a bit of temperature whiplash going on.

No time for that now.]

This photo... It was taken on the morning hours of the exact same day? Gina Lestrade came to our office several hours after this, I believe. And Gregson would've likely been murdered sometime during the night, wouldn't he? Do we have a time of death? [He puts the photograph down, instead reaching for the autopsy report.]

Wha? Oh. [He had gotten lost himself while Holmes was talking, so it takes him a moment to register what he was asking.] Well, that's that thing. There wasn't one. You see this note here? [He points to where "Impossible to estimate" was written for the time of death.] Originally nothing was written there. I had to ask the coroner to give me that information, because she was told not to put anything down for some reason. The evidence points to him dying the evening before, but she found something contradicting that.

[He glances over at the photo of Gregson, lacking a certain piece of item.] The detective had some fish and chips that were already rotting when he arrived to the coroner. So. . .there's a chance someone tempered with his time of death somehow, by at least a day.

[The time of death was tampered with and the coroner was told not to write that down? If the fish and chips were already heading into decay, whatever happened to Gregson wouldn't have been triggered the night before- he was always eating those things, so they would always be consumed on the day of purchase. There's no question. They're talking about a matter of days where Gregson was, at the very least, unable to snack.]

... Who told the coroner to withhold those details?

[. . .He is someone that Naruhodou has honestly been uncertain about these last few days back home.] The Chief Magistrate Hart Vortex. Apparently, it was obvious when he died that it didn't matter. And yet. . .she never put down the time anyway.

[Hart Vortex... Sherlock's gaze shoots to the last pile of evidence. The Asougi files and Klimt's autopsy report are both present, so they must've been deemed relevant to this case. Then there's the photo of the Van Zieks brothers and Gregson, as well. It can't be a coincidence.]

Mr. Naruhodou, do you recall what I deduced about the assassination exchange shortly after Mr. Asougi arrived here? About the connection between Dr. Watson and Inspector Gregson?

[He frowns, crossing his arms.] I have to be honest, it's been a lot longer for me to remember, but. . .they were both involved with the Professor's case. Dr. Watson was the one who performed the autopsy report of the final victim and Detective Gregson was the head detective at the time, right?

[A moments pause as his eyes widen.] Wait...are you saying, what I think you're going to say?

[He draws in a deep breath through his nose before speaking.] The Professor case was an exceedingly complicated one, not to mention delicate. The Van Zieks family were treasured nobles and when the older brother, Klimt, lost his life... Well, some took it more personal than others.

[Holmes takes the picture of the brothers and Gregson in hand, staring down at it. Barok van Zieks had been arrested as the defendant, he still remembers this much, but he refuses to believe it. The Grim Reaper of Old Bailey wouldn't harm a hair on Gregson's head.]

Barok van Zieks was the one who stood in court to prosecute Genshin Asougi. He wanted to avenge his brother's death, even if it meant condemning an old friend. However, before that, the case had been officially assigned to Hart Vortex, who was still a prosecutor at the time. It wasn't until the Professor case was supposedly closed that he was promoted to Chief Magistrate.

[He folds his hands together, thinking quietly to himself. There was an inkling, just a feeling in the back of his mind that the source of all the darkness in London, was lurking just out in the open.] . . .Prosecutor Van Zieks told me about that, how he begged Chief Vortex to let him prosecute that trial instead and he allowed it. It wasn't long after that trial, that people were mysteriously killed after receiving a not guilty verdict, and people started calling Van Zieks the Grim Reaper, eventhough the Grim Reaper turned out to be a group of people.

[The detail about him becoming the Chief Magistrate afterwards is news to him though.] You think...he could be the mastermind behind everything? It wouldn't be hard for someone in Vortex's position to be able to make those kinds of orders.

Backdated 8/18

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Yells at wiki links. WHY THEY SO TINY

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