The Doctor's Daughter | Wholock {1}

The Detective's Apprentice

Here's a sneak peak at the first chapter in Kimmy's second story, The Detective's Apprentice.

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When they finally reached the living room, the first thing Kimmy noticed was the body lying in the middle of the floor. While Sherlock walked over to take a closer look, she turned in a circle to observe the room. It was a nice flat, spacious, with an amazing kitchen. There was another hallway that she assumed led to the bedrooms, which she didn't need to see. The living room alone told her nearly everything she needed to know.

"Kimmy, come here, please," Sherlock instructed. His apprentice obeyed, walking over and crouching next to him. "Figured it out yet?"

"Of course," she answered. "Sometimes it really amazes me that they can't figure it out themselves."

"Just wait 'til you're my age," he said, standing up. Kimmy looked at the body a few moments longer while Sherlock quickly walked through the kitchen, stopping only for a few seconds to flip through the calendar on the refrigerator.

"So, what've you got?" Lestrade asked when Sherlock returned to the living room, standing beside Kimmy.

"Would you like to take this one?" Sherlock offered, looking down at her with a mischievous shine in his eyes.

"I'd actually like to hear Inspector Devereaux's thoughts," she answered.

"He's an addict," the horrid inspector stated simply. "Overdosed. Case closed, end of story."

Kimmy and Sherlock shared a glance that seemed to say the poor fool. Kimmy arched an eyebrow, silently asking if Sherlock wanted to start. He dipped his head towards her, giving her permission to begin. The two had mastered these silent conversations after only a few months working together.

Kimmy turned back to the inspectors and said, "You're not wrong, Inspector, the victim was an addict."

"Heroin, I'd say," Sherlock added without missing a beat, "given the telltale scars on his arms."

"But you failed to notice the clear signed that this was a murder," Kimmy continued.

"Look at the scars," Sherlock instructed. "If you count them, there is almost the same number on each."

"It's because the victim is ambidextrous," the young blonde explained. "He'd inject into his left arm one time and his right the next."

"Classic case of obsessive compulsive disorder. You can tell just by looking around the flat. Nearly everything is perfectly symmetrical."

"But if you look at his arms, his right has one more mark than it should. He couldn't have broken his pattern like that. It would have driven him crazy."

"So, the killer injected him with a lethal dose without knowing about his OCD," Sherlock summarized. "Her first mistake."

"Obviously, it was a woman," Kimmy added before Devereaux could make a snide remark. "You can still smell her perfume in the air."

"You can also smell alcohol on the victim," Sherlock added. "She met him at a pub. All she had to do was wait until he was drunk, then convince him to bring her here."

"She easily could have slipped something into his drink, yet she came here to kill him. This was either personal or she was hired and specifically told to make it look like an overdose."

"The calendar in the kitchen doesn't have anything written on it and he was a disturbing amount of video games. He doesn't get out much so it's very unlikely that he would have an angry ex-girlfriend. Murder for hire is looking good."

"Looking at his arms again you can tell he's been an addict for a long time—and that it hasn't been a cheap habit," Kimmy pointed out. "All of the appliances are high-end, his phone is the latest model, and, as Sherlock pointed out, he's an avid gamer and owns nearly every system stretching back to the original Nintendo. No evidence of monetary support from family or a real job, so he shouldn't be able to afford all this. So, how is he doing in and supporting his addiction?"

"Clearly, he's a dealer as well as a user," Sherlock answered before either inspector had the chance. "Probably angered one of his rivals by dealing in the same area."

"The rival was afraid he'd get caught if he carried out the murder himself, so he hired the woman to do it."

"She followed the victim to the bar, convinced him to bring her here, waited until he passed out from the alcohol, killed him, and left."

"Any questions?" Kimmy asked smugly, looking at a dumbstruck Devereaux. She couldn't help but smirk in triumph.