24 - The Woman

A/N - I don't know if I need to say this but just in case: mature themes in this chapter.

Also, there is another Doctor Who reference in the dialogue! Simply can't refuse a lil DW ref 😄

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Naked.

Stark naked.

She was stark naked and didn't give a single damn.

When Miss Adler appeared in the doorway with nothing but a pair of stilettos on, both of Sherlock and Elizabeth's jaws dropped in shock. They knew she was a sex worker but they didn't expect a greeting like that.

With a smile and a sultry sway of her hips, she approached the couch where they sat, "Oh, it's always hard to remember an alias when you've had a fright. Isn't it?"

As she did approach, Elizabeth felt the overwhelming need to get up and just walk over to the window, leaving Sherlock sat on the couch. Then she kind of regretted her actions because of what happened next.

The Woman paused in front of Sherlock for single second before straddling his legs and kneeling on the sofa - simply to remove the priest's dog collar from his shirt. Elizabeth couldn't quite comprehend what was happening and remained speechless at her actions.

"Well, there now. We're both defrocked...Mr Sherlock Holmes." She smirked.

Remaining relatively calm and unperturbed by her seductive display, the detective replied, "Miss Adler, I presume."

"Look at those cheekbones." The Woman tilted her head slightly, "I could cut myself slapping that face...would you like me to try?" Her eyes narrowed at him before she fiercely bit and held the white strip between her teeth.

"What. The. Hell..." Elizabeth breathed.

And just then, John walked in, still looking at the towel and bowl of water he had collected. Boy, did he have a shock coming to him when he looked up.

"Right, this should do it." And when he did, a shock John did get.

He looked between the three people in the room, mainly at Miss Adler and yet also trying to avoid looking at her altogether. Equally, finding her displaying herself to Sherlock in such a compromising way was probably a hard thought to ignore.

Elizabeth didn't even want to know how Jim knew her at this point.

"I've missed something, haven't I?" John frowned, now looking between The Woman and the bowl of water.

Sherlock just turned his head away from John, looking as though he wanted to die. It was at this point that the Dominatrix decided to stand up and remove the priest's dog collar from her mouth. Her blood-red painted lips turned up in a small smile as she welcomed her third guest.

"Please, sit down. Or if you'd like some tea, I can call the maid."

Sherlock refused, "I had some at the palace."

"I know." Miss Adler said, throwing herself down on the small, elegant armchair, and being sure to sit in such a way that she hid most of her body.

"Clearly."

There was silence. Elizabeth still hung back by the windows, perfectly comfortable being the ghost in the room. Perhaps, if Miss Adler didn't realise that she was 'Jim's thief', she would never get the message. And if she never got the message then he could hardly blame Elizabeth. But then he would blame The Woman. She wasn't too sure how well that one would go down.

Clearing his throat beforehand, John broke the peace, "I had a tea too, at the palace. If anyone's interested."

The thief pulled a look at the army doctor mouthing: really?

John shrugged.

This clearly didn't take the tension between the detective and The Woman off the table though. For Miss Adler's soft, blue, doe eyes gazed at Sherlock as he sat there, another alluring smirk crossing her lips. Sherlock couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her.

And this made Elizabeth somewhat jealous. Of course, she laughed the notion of jealousy off in her head. She wasn't. She couldn't. Why would she be? And he was on the good side of the law. She was a good-for-nothing thief. It could hardly work, could it? Why did she even wonder if it could work?

"Sherlock?" Elizabeth felt the need to prompt the conversation to continue.

Irene looked over her shoulder straight at Elizabeth, as did Sherlock. Never before had she felt more in the spotlight as she did now. And she missed Sherlock's long, analytical gaze at her when Irene spoke.

"Elizabeth, you can sit down. You don't have to hover by the curtains."

She froze when Irene said her name. Of course, to Sherlock and John, it could easily be explained by the fact she had been watching them, and therefore, of course she knew her name. But no. That just meant that Irene did know who she was.

"Um, no, I'm good. Thanks."

"Nonsense. Please, sit down, Miss Parrish." Miss Adler insisted.

Not wanting to be petty, she gave in and went to sit next to Sherlock, who was now gazing at John, which his friend frowned at. He felt that his friend was deducing but why was he deducing him?

Elizabeth shuffled in her seat slightly, uncomfortable under the gaze of Irene.

"You are a pretty little thing. You're incredibly unfortunate to not have had the same greeting as I gave Mr Holmes." She paused, amused by the red that rose in her cheeks, "Tell me, I have to know now, what are you to them?" Her eyes narrowed as she asked this, "Flatmate? Friend? Partner?"

Elizabeth said nothing.

But Miss Adler pressed further, pursing her lips as she thought, "Concubine? Prostitute?"

The irony in her suggestions was evident enough.

All the while Sherlock had still been staring at Miss Adler as she spoke, until she asked the last the two. Then, he frowned at her implication. Well, one - they weren't royalty so the former of the last two positions mentioned meant nothing. But second - Sherlock would never. Neither would John.

Elizabeth knew exactly what she was doing though. Planting a seed of doubt in her mind. But the joke was on her. Because the seed of doubt was already present, ever present in fact. She thought about it everyday.

"Information." She replied quietly.

Both John and Sherlock looked at Elizabeth when she said that but she didn't reciprocate the action and instead stared down at her hands, again fiddling with her ring. Miss Adler tilted her head with intrigue. The two men looked back to each other with an unreadable look but if Miss Adler had to guess, it would be of guilt and regret.

Speaking her reality once again, she repeated, "I'm just information."

The Woman nodded, taking in every bit of body language and speech like a sponge. It would be useful information for later. Changing the subject swiftly, her gaze fell back on Sherlock.

"Do you know the big problem with a disguise, Mr Holmes? However hard you try, it's always a self-portrait."

He frowned, undoing the top buttons of his shirt, "You think I'm a vicar with a bleeding face?"

"No, I think you're damaged, delusional and believe in a higher power. In your case, it's yourself."

He paused his actions as she smugly looked at him. Delusional was probably the best descriptor at this current moment. He was delusional if he believed he could only continue to view Elizabeth as temporary help to track down Moriarty. She was just as much a part of their little group now as Molly and Lestrade were. Sure, she had done bad things in the past and clearly had a relapse at the palace but people could change. She could change.

"Hmm, and somebody loves you. If I had to punch that face, I'd avoid your nose and teeth too." Miss Adler looked to John.

While Elizabeth was mildly annoyed with Miss Adler, she had to admire her humorous response. She kind of liked her for that. If only she didn't work with Jim.

"Ha-ha." Came John's sarcastic response, "Could you put something on, please? Er, anything at all. A napkin?" He held the towel up in his hand as an example.

"Why? Are you feeling exposed?" The Woman leaned forward as though she were a predator preparing to catch prey.

Yes. Extremely. At least that's what Elizabeth would have said if it hadn't been for Sherlock grabbing his beautiful coat and standing up.

"I don't think John knows where to look."

Irene approached John quickly, hedgehog versus vixen, "No. I think he knows exactly where."

Not that it was an attack but it was a challenge. John tried to keep straight eye contact with her. Which he was relatively successful at doing. Given The Woman also happened to be stood directly in front of Elizabeth, the thief wiped her hands over her eyes.

"I'm not sure about you."

Sherlock faced away from Irene as he handed her his coat, "If I was to look at naked women, I'd borrow John's laptop."

"You do borrow my laptop."

"I confiscate it."

After she had the coat on, she sat on the sofa beside Elizabeth, "Never mind, we've got better things to talk about." She smiled at the thief beside her before looking at Sherlock, "Now. Tell me. I need to know - how was it done?"

Both John and Elizabeth looked at The Woman, puzzled by her question.

"What?" Sherlock was also confused for the first time in a blue moon.

"The hiker with the bashed-in head - how was he killed?"

The detective shook his head, "That's not why I'm here."

"No, you're here for the photographs," She paused, removing her stilettos, "But that's never going to happen and as we're chatting anyway - "

"That story's not out." John interrupted, "How do you know about it?"

"I know one of the policemen. Well, I know what he likes." Miss Adler looked at Elizabeth and offered her the heels, "I'm sure you'd look ravishing in these, Lizzie."

Elizabeth froze at the nickname. Okay. So, if knowing her name wasn't confirmation enough then that definitely was. She knew Jim had said not to give it away that she knew of The Woman but she was making it really hard. Instead, she glared at Miss Adler.

But her lips stretched into a thin smile, "Take them. Call them a peace offering." Miss Adler placed them in Elizabeth's lap but Elizabeth shook her head, noting the odd choice of words.

"I can't - "

"You can. I can't take back a gift. Perhaps you can woo the detective with them - "

"Okay - you can stop there." Elizabeth took hold of the shoes, now alarmed by what she was implying, and stood up, dropping the heels on the armchair as she headed back over to the window.

Miss Adler's gaze fell back upon the stilettos, clearly a little disturbed that Elizabeth wouldn't accept them. Sherlock noticed this, of course, as well as the light blush that returned to the thief's cheeks at the idea of 'wooing' him. He didn't know how to interpret that. Feeling rather embarrassed at the thought himself, he thought that may be the case.

"So you...like policemen?" John now sat down beside her as he continued the conversation.

"I like detective stories. And detectives."
Brainy is the new sexy."

"Pozishonofdecar - " The flurry of jumbled letters that left his lips drew everyone's attention back to Sherlock.

And even when he realised that his brain had sort of taken off without the rest of his rational self, he quickly recovered, beginning to pace the floor of the room.

"Uh - the position of the car relative to the hiker, that and the fact that the death blow was to the back of the head, that's all you need to know."

"Okay, tell me: how was be murdered?"

"He wasn't."

"You don't think it was murder?"

"I know it wasn't."

"How?"

"The same way I know that the victim was a sportsman, recently returned from foreign travel and that the photographs I'm looking for are in this room."

"Okay, but how?"

"So they are in this room. Thank you." His lips almost teased a smile.

And Elizabeth couldn't help but smile at this. She loved this part. When he got all smart-arsey. In fact, she agreed with Miss Adler that brainy was the new sexy. Not that she would admit it out loud to herself though. Because it would never work, of course. And seemingly, Sherlock appeared more interested in The Woman than herself. There was the jealousy popping it's head through the door again.

"John, Elizabeth, man the door, let no-one in."

"I want Elizabeth to stay." The Woman spoke up.

Unanimously, they all questioned "Why?"

Miss Adler gazed at Elizabeth who reciprocated this look of intrigue before answering, "Because I like her. She brightens up the room, don't you think?"

Both women looked to Sherlock for an answer. At the end of the day, Elizabeth was still to listen to him.

Sherlock looked between the two, eyes narrowing slightly, "Fine then." And he nodded for John to continue outside the room alone.

Miss Adler patted the seat beside her again. Reluctantly, Elizabeth went to sit down again but left a notable gap between them. If she didn't know any better, then she might have been flattered. The real question she was asking herself though is why Miss Adler wanted her nearby.

The detective continued with the case, "Two men alone in the countryside, several yards apart and one car."

"Oh, I...I thought you were looking for photos now."

"No, no." Sherlock said, scanning the room and pausing by the fireplace, "Looking takes ages. I'm just going to find them, but you're moderately clever and we've got a moment so let's pass the time."

"I'm not the only clever one here." She corrected.

Sherlock looked to Elizabeth who was scowling at him for forgetting her and so he quickly added, "You're *both* moderately clever."

"Two men, a car, nobody else. Driver's trying to fix his engine. Getting nowhere. And the hiker is taking a moment, looking at the sky. Watching birds? Any moment now, something is going to happen. What?"

"The hiker is going to die."

"No. That's the result. What's going to happen?"

"I don't understand."

Elizabeth frowned, "Neither do I."

"Oh. Well try to."

"Why?"

"Because you cater to the whims of the pathetic and take your clothes off to make an impression. Stop boring me and think. It's the new sexy." He instructed The Woman.

"The car is going to -

" - Backfire." Elizabeth finished, feeling almost competitive. Jealousy was really pushing through here.

"There's going to be a loud noise." Sherlock added.

"So what?"

"Oh, noises are important. Noises can tell you everything. For instance..." He paused.

Shrill ringing from the fire alarm caused both women to look to the door. Except Miss Adler immediately looked to the mirror on the wall above the fireplace after. And there, in that look, she had revealed the location of the pictures they were after.

"Thank you." Sherlock said before he strolled over to the fireplace, "On hearing a smoke alarm, a mother would look towards her child. Amazing how fire exposes our priorities."

"You picked the wrong detective to tangle with." Elizabeth muttered to Miss Adler.

But she barely heard her, as The Woman was too busy watching Sherlock find the secret button under the mantle. The mirror began climbing the wall slowly to reveal a safe in the wall. Sherlock turned back around with a triumphant look and Miss Adler stood in mild panic.

"Really hope you don't have a baby in here." Sherlock smirked, looking at Elizabeth as he did and she couldn't help but smile back.

He shouted, "All right, John, you can turn it off now...I said you can turn it off now!"

Within a few short moments, the alarm went off. Sherlock then beckoned the thief, "I believe I may require your assistance, Elizabeth."

She happily obliged. Having cracked many safes in her time, she was picturing this to be a breeze as she approached the wall with the detective.

"Hmm. Should always use gloves with these things, you know."

Behind them, The Woman scowled holes into their torsos. Particularly Sherlock's.

"Heaviest oil deposit's always on the first key used - that's quite clearly the three - but after that the sequence is almost impossible to read. I'd say from the make it's a six-digit code," He quietened his voice so only Elizabeth would hear, "Would you agree?"

She nodded, "I thought I was the pro burglar?"

"Never hurts to learn something new each day."

"Oh, sure." She teased, "What safe did you want to get into?"

"Mycroft's, of course." Sherlock threw her a bemused look before speaking up again so Miss Adler would hear, "Can't be your birthday. No disrespect but you were clearly born in the eighties; the eight's barely used, so..."

She interrupted, "I'd tell you the code right now, but you know what?"

The thief and detective turned to face her with questionable gazes.

Her tone became more bitter as she continued, "I already have."

They frowned.

"Think."

Elizabeth looked at Sherlock, "I could always get - "

But the door opened and, quite unexpectedly, a man, dressed in all black and holding a gun, strolled into the room. The pair looked from the gunman, to each other and then to the Dominatrix, who clearly didn't dominate over her domain any more.

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