Alice watched him, the furrowing of his brow, the creasing of the skin around his lips as he opened him mouth to speak but no words came out. She found her tongue slipping out to moisten her lips, ending in a small nip of the bottom one. She let her eyes wander to his fingers, how they held the book, smoothing over the cover and turning it every so often.
Finally, he spoke, eyes narrowing and the small smirk on her face grew into a wide grin. “Good. Now you’re asking the right kind of questions.” She turned from him, running her fingers through her hair before reaching down to run a finger along the rifle that was hidden. “Barrel ending in a slotted flash suppressor, barrel’s bore chrome lined, with a detachable PSO-1 optical sight. Well. Perfectly legal, no need for you to go to the Yard about this, though, from your curiosity alone, I highly doubt you’d do that.” She turned around and flashed him a large smile.
“The gun came into my possession during a trade. They were a soldier, returning from overseas after being shot. They came into the bookshop, wanting a rare edition, though they did not have enough money. He came back the next day with it, offering it as payment. Him being a soldier, I decided to give him a break and accepted it. Now, I need to find a way to sell it.” What she left out was the fact that a criminal would be arriving in the next few days to pick it up.
“Sorry for that being so dull. Anything else you’d like to ask me about? Anything around the shop that seems… out of place?” She almost wanted him to discover her, wanted someone to know what she actually did. Perhaps in the back of her mind, she wanted to be saved from it. This business was going to get her killed one day and she would then be buried in the cemetery along with her mother and father. Another ordinary person, gone.
Alice found herself playing with the chain around her neck that held the skeleton key that unlocked the back room where most of the exchanges between criminals took place. She made sure not to look in the direction of the room or give any signs about it. Alice let her eyes stare into his, a sort of flare sparkling in the irises.
“Come on Mr. Holmes… Do you think there’s more than meets the eye? Or am I simply just a part time librarian with a bookshop? I’m curious what else you can guess about me and my work from what you see.”
Sherlock returned the grin, his eyes shining at the prospect of her challenge. "No, I needn't inform the Detective Inspector...not quite yet. While your story certainly seems plausible, I'm not entirely certain it's the whole story." Placing the book on the counter, he slowly brought his hands behind his back. He gave the room a once-over, eyes darting about, quickly scanning everything in sight as his grin faded into a sly smile.
She really was making this too easy for him. Her words were heavily weighted with secrecy and mystery. That in itself was a dead giveaway. And trading books for guns? Hardly likely. "Well, Miss Turner, you've given me quite a lot to draw from. Enough to know you're more than simply a bibliophile with a lot of extra time on her hands. Your profound knowledge of the rifle currently in your possession tells me you've most likely had some sort of experience or another with them before." He eyed her fiddling with her necklace, watching as she slightly jostled the skeleton key on the end. Now what could that possibly be for? Looking over her shoulder, he spied the old door to the back room. From the distance, he could just make out what appeared to be, of all things, a bullet hole. Bingo.
He turned back to face her with a knowing smile. She was watching him carefully, he could almost feel her eyes boring into him. A tad unnerving, especially for the detective, but intriguing nonetheless. He watched her for a moment, noting the worry lines on her face and shadows of sleep-deprivation beneath her eyes. She was a tired woman. Tired, it seemed, of the self-demanding, risky way that echoed throughout her life. Nothing a run-of-the-mill librarian would ever be concerned about.
"Perhaps" he continued "that key around your neck unlocks more than just that back door." He raised a brow, daring her to deny it, then slowly sauntered over to the back room entrance. "Shall we?"
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