I Can't Stand You, Sherlock

Chapter 6: A Pound For A Life (Part 3)

Once again I found myself on the same street where the Welfore's lived. As I lead Sherlock to her house, I stopped as I realized that I didn't want to go back to the Welfore's house, I didn't want to deal with all of those emotions again.

Without realizing I stopped, Sherlock kept pressing onward. As much as I did not want to go, I knew Sherlock was not the kind of person for a grieving lady. I needed to be there to control him. I followed him past the house that the Welfore family lived on. I raised my eye brows at him, I thought we were going to talk to her and now I had no idea where we were going. If we were not talking to the mother we had to be talking to the gang, they should be close to here. "I did a case with the gang before." He said as he turned a street and walked into a café.

"They can't own this." I said as I looked around at all the little decorations on the pink walls. I wouldn't imagine a gang owning this. Out of all the run ins I've had with gangs it was always in gritty places, but this looked like it was owned by a grandmother.

We weren't even there for a minute until a man came up to us. "Holmes, you're not welcome here." A man said as he cracked his knuckles. He was a short man only about 2 inches talker then me with red hair. The way he stood with his legs firmly grounded said that he was a man of power and the many gold rings on his hands proved it.

"Bob we need to talk." Sherlock said and smiled pleasantly at him.

"Not with you, no." he stated and then crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fine, take her." Sherlock said and thrust me in front of him.

"What?" I said with a shocked look on my face as I looked back at Sherlock. He had to not be serious. What on earth was he thinking? Leaving me alone with them? This was why he wanted me to come, I was going to be his shield.

He was quite for a minute, I could feel his eyes on me even though I was looking at Sherlock and it made me feel uncomfortable. It was as if this man was seeing what I was going to do, if I was going to see past him like Sherlock. I looked at Sherlock to see if his face gave me any clues in what he was thinking. All his face said to me was wait.

I was mad that Sherlock even suggest this. Him and I both knew that I could hold my own but that was besides the point. He didn't ask me before hand if this was ok. I should just leave, right now, but there was something in his face that told me otherwise. He looked confidently at me as if he knew I could do great things. That was it, it'll show him not to make move like that again, I was going to leave.

"Ok, you need to leave though." The man finally said to Sherlock.

Without saying another word Sherlock walked out of the store and down the road. I watched him leave and when he was out of sight I looked back at Bob. "Don't you dare touch me." I stated fiercely to him.

"Wow, he's got a feisty companion. " Bob said and smiled. "Trust me, we're not like that. We like cooking now." he said and looked around at his little café.

I rolled my eyes at him. Yeah right, every gang has a front and this was theirs, no matter how miss leading this was, he was the bad guy in this story. My gut told me that much.

"So what do you want to ask me? I have 5 minutes." Bob said and took a seat at the nearest table.

"Why don't you like to talk to Sherlock but you will with me?" I asked as I took a seat across the table from him.

He didn't say anything for a minute but I knew what the answer was. Sherlock was able to pick apart untold secrets. He would be able to know he was up to something. But he didn't know me. If he thought I would be like John, he was wrong. I was nothing like him and I could do the same that Sherlock could. I knew he was up to something. "I rather not say. Next question."

"Do you know this man?" I said and took out a picture of Luke from my pocket.

"Nope, can't say I can. Now if that's all you wanted you can leave now." He said with a faint smile on his face. His face was calm like he was talking to a friend but I could feel his left foot going up and down at a fast pace under the table.

That's when I smiled back at him. "You know, I'm pretty good at reading people, just like Sherlock. Your face is calm but you're moving your foot around like you're afraid something will come out. that's why you set me at a time limit, you didn't want to dig yourself a hole with your words. But you know what, your body motions are just a dangerous." I said and smiled at him as he cool composer slowly went downhill. His confident look to his eyes stated to fade and he turned his head a centimeter to the left. I looked over his shoulder the same place he started to look and saw the door where he came from. He was making this too easy for me. " You did know Luke. He worked for you, I know he did. And he borrowed money from you didn't he. Then he ran off, this ticked you off didn't it so you went hunting for him. You found him a couple days ago and killed him."

"You don't have any proof that I did it." He said as a little bit of his confidence returned to his face.

"No, I don't but I do smell a faint smell of something making its way to the front of this café. Crack is it? Or is it a little stronger than that. You know, one call to the heath inspector will sort this all out..." I said as I got out my phone.

"Stop. Ok I'll spill." He said to me as he raised his hands to show he wanted me to stop.

"Good man." I said as I put my phone on the table.

"He did barrow money from me a while ago maybe like 6 years ago? And he stopped paying it off suddenly about two years ago. I started to look for him but I never was able to find him. I had other things on my mind so I just gave up. I let another one of my men try to find him. So for two years there was no word of anything but then suddenly two months ago there was a lead. He looked into farther and it got out of control. He killed him but it wasn't on my Command, you hear? I didn't tell him that Luke should be killed." He explained to me as he tried his best to remain innocent in this conversation.

"What is his name?" I said calmly even though I was full of excitement.

He let out a shaky breath. He was afraid of something still. "His brother, Raymond Welfore. He's crazy, that one is. The whole family's mad." He said and got up from his chair. "I think we're done here."

"Yes, I think we are." I nodded to him as I got up from my chair and walked out of the café. I couldn't believe that the two brothers were in the gang. What hurt my heart was that one of them killed the other. I got back to the Tube entrance, expecting to see Sherlock waiting for mee but he was nowhere to be seen. I picked up my phone and texted him.

Me: where are you?

Sherlock: at home.

Me: why didn't you wait for me? I have no money for the tube.

I waited for 15 minutes to get a reply but nothing came. Anger washed over me. He knew I had no way to get back and no money to pay for a ride. If I tried to walk it, it would take me all night long. I walked around angrily at the entrance of the Tube station wondering what I should do but then it hit me. No one was watching me and so I didn't have to follow the rules.

I walked up a man with a suit and picked his back pocket easily like I used to do. It was like second nature to me and I doubt he even felt anything. It felt good, like a little rush, I hadn't done something like that in so long. It was just like getting back on a bike. I looked around me to see a bunch of people dressed well. It was rush hour and I could easily pick up 200 dollars from this stop alone. I walked up to a women this time and stuck my hand down her purse and took out her Coach wallet.

I walked away from the Tube stop and quickly looked through the first wallet and found a 20 pond note. I frowned at it, I expected more but then again no one carried bank notes any more, just take a little plastic card, it was easier. I didn't have time to crack the card though, plus I couldn't get risked getting caught. I pulled out the money and stuffed it in my pocket then tossed the wallet on the ground where someone else would find it and then walked off. A little bit off from where I tossed the first wallet, I looked through the Coach wallet and pulled out 100 pounds. Now this is what I was looking for. Satisfied with what I got, tossed the wallet in the trash, got a ticket for Baker Street, and some snack food from a vender for the way home.

By time I got out of the tube on Baker street, it was raining. I sprinted home but by time I ended up on the front door I was soaked. If he didn't leave me this wouldn't have happened. I fiddled with the keys until I got into the house and stomped upstairs, ready to give Sherlock a piece of my mind.

"You infuriate me. I hope you know that." I said as I walked into Sherlock's flat.

"That's new." Sherlock said as he stood on his head with his back against the wall.

I looked at him from head to toe. "Should I even ask?"

"You know a small group of monks in the Himalayans do this to become one with their body and be more open to ideas."

"Oh yeah because making all your blood rush to your head is always such a smart idea." I said sarcastically to him.

"So what did you find out?"

"That Luke's brother killed him."

"His name?"

"Raymond Welfore."

"Good, I was right."

"Then why do I even need to help you?" I yelled at him.

"I need you, more than you would believe." He said and paused then continued saying, "Well let us call Lestrude we need to find Raymond."

"Why didn't you find him yet?"

"I was waiting on you."

I rolled my eyes as he got out his phone and texted Lestrude. Most of the time I could not understand his thinking. Did I want to understand it? No.

"He'll meet us at the station. He's already there for questioning." Sherlock said and then went back to stand on his head again.

I changed my now wet clothes and then followed Sherlock back outside. This time we took a cab to get to the police station. I looked up at the station and frown at the last memory I had of this place.

"Rori, come on now." Sherlock said as he opened the front door to the tall looming building.

We walked through halls and up a flight of stairs, soon we found ourselves in this little room with a window looking to a man with his hands in cuffs.

"We've been going about this for an hour or two, he won't speak." Lestrude said to us as we looked through a blacked out window at a mid 20's man in the room over. He looked like his brother and I recognized him from some of the pictures I saw at his mother's house. He looked so sad, like he was in pain. I didn't understand why. He made the move to kill him. He shouldn't be a acting like this, unless he was a good actor.

"Give it a go." Lestrude said causing me and Sherlock to look at him simultaneously. "I mean, Holmes, try your best."

Without saying a word Sherlock walked into he room to talk to Raymond. But he didn't walk into the room, it was like he ran into it nd slammed the door behind him. Everything was in a brisk manner, I wondered what his goal was in doing this. "What are you? Some psychopath that likes to kill family members?" Sherlock asked him fast manor.

He looked at Sherlock and then looked down at the table again without saying anything.

For the next 15 minutes Sherlock tried his best to break him but Raymond never said a word. I knew he wouldn't though, while Sherlock was busy doing what he thought was the best way to get information out of him, I was thinking of another plan. I had played what Raymond was playing before. It works well if the cops don't have any solid proof on you. The only down side was you would be here for hours. But a part of me didn't think he was playing that game, he was truly sad.

From all the pictures I saw at his mother's house it looked like he was the youngest. What if because he was the youngest he was shoved under the rug, he wasn't loved enough? What if in that one moment he thought it would be just easier to kill his brother, not only for his family but for his gang maybe then he thought he would take his place in the family tree and get a promotion in the gang. Instead of that though every thing changed upside down, he got kicked out of his gang and his mother is just too sad about Luke that she doesn't care about Raymond. His whole plan back fired and now he had nothing. "That's it!" I shouted causing the Inspector to jump and look at me with a questionable look on his face.

"What?" he said.

"I want to talk to him."

"Sorry newbie's don't get that privilege."

"Oh and Sherlock is doing such a good job at this moment." I said and rolled my eyes at him as I tried to prove my point. "Please, just five minutes."

He thought about it and with a sigh, tapped on the glass to call Sherlock out. "Five minutes, no more."

"Thank you."

"What the, Lestrude, I almost got it out of him. I could feel it." Sherlock said as he came out of the room.

"Let's face it Sherlock, you have gotten .0 from when you first came in. It's my turn now." I said being a little cocky. But I had could because I knew I could do this. Unlike Sherlock I understood the feeling of not being loved. I understood what it felt like to be willing to do terrible things because of it. I knew I could get through to him.

I took a deep breath and I walked into the room. I needed to be soft and kind to him, he was fragile. Raymond looked as sad as ever as his looked at the table. "Raymond?" I asked softly.

He looked up at me and then looked back down at the table.

I took a seat across from him and sighed. "It's ok, you don't have to talk to me. But I know you can hear me." I said and paused thinking about what to say next. He was broken and fragile and one word out of place could mess this all up. I needed to be precise but careful, something that. I hadn't tried that for more then 8 months. I knew that I was going to be a bit rusty. "I know why you did it." He didn't say anything back to me so I continued, "I know how it feels to be not loved, to be push off to the side like your nothing." I paused waiting for him to say something. I hoped that would break him a little, just enough for him so say something back to me.

"You don't understand anything!" he shouted at me after about a minute of silence went by.

I shoot my head, holding back a smile. "That's were you wrong, I do. What did your mum say when you told her that her greatest son died? She was always proud of him more than you, wasn't she?"

He spoke up, saying, "I tried to be like him, I did. I tried so hard but in the end it was never enough."

"Why did you do it then?"

"I, I just wanted to be loved." He said, his voice cracking at the end. His brown hair covered his face as he looked at the table but I knew he had tears in his eyes. "I thought that if he was gone, I would take his place and I would get a better job in the gang. I would be more successful. Nothing turned out right."

I looked back at the mirror that I knew the captain and Sherlock were. I flaunted a small smiled, I was right, I knew I could do it. This would show them. Next time I wanted to be the first person to go in for questioning. Just 5 minutes was all I needed.

I thought back to the day when I saw Luke dead in the stair way. He used money to kill him but how? I closed my eyes and thought about how the stairwell looked. What was out of place? I couldn't think of anything. It all seemed normal when I went there. I thought about the how I went up the stairs and how the railing, it was grooved. Like a knife was dug into the middle of it. No way, that was just for decoration, it couldn't be. "The railing, you killed him by just letting go of a coin on the 10th floor. Just one coin as he was about to go up. How did you manage that?" A kill like that had to take precision and I wasn't sure if he was capable of that.

He looked up at me with tears running down his face and I knew I wasn't going to get anything more out of him. "A knife, twiddling down the steps, it must have taken a year just for that alone." I said and got up from my seat. It all made sense now. "Good night Raymond Welfore."

I walked out of the room and back to Lestrude and Sherlock. Lestrude had a shocked look like he was amazed that I talked to him that easily while Sherlock's face was blank and unreadable.

"There you go." I shrugged to them. "Can I leave now?" I asked, eager to leave this place.

"Sure, I'll get one of my men to take you home."

"No, I'll just take the Tube, I like the ride." I said and walked out of the room where they where.

I thought about Raymond as I road home. I couldn't believe that I did that for the cops. I worked with them to being a criminal behind bars. I swore that I would never help them out like that but in that moment I couldn't help myself. I saw what he was doing and I understood why he did it. It was like a puzzle and I couldn't stop myself from completing it. How long would I have to be doing this until I liked breaking people in front of the police? a month? A year? It scared me. I could feel myself changing and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

I walked home in the dark but I was fine with that. I use to wonder the streets at night all the time, it cleared my mind. It was nice to be out when no one was in your way, distracting you. When no one was out, that was when I liked London the most.

it was cold, all the leafs had fallen off the trees by now and were on the ground. it was only a month away from Christmas. The best memories I had from my life with my mum had been from Christmas. It seemed like the only part of the year where she loved me and would care for me like a normal mum would. That might have been because she was drunk a lot of that time during Christmas.

I walked into 221 baker street flat quietly hoping that Miss Hudson wouldn't hear me and luckily she didn't. I went to my room and got the paper that had Luke's case on it. I didn't need to write anything more on this case, it was solved but I'm not sure if I wanted it solved. I felt sorry for him. if I didn't say anything he wouldn't be going to jail and his mother would still love him. Now it was all over. He would be lucky if his own mother would say goodbye to him.

· He was a lawyer.

· He was devoted to his work. Working long hours and weekends.

· He was outgoing and a happy person.

· He didn't talk about his past or his family much.

· He grew up in a poor part of London.

· He was single (so love couldn't be a factor.)

· Pound coin killed him. (Sending a message?)

· New name, Luke Welfore. Had fake identity.

· Raymond Welfore killed his brother for more love.

· Case solved.