Entry 24

"I...must confess something..." Moran started, staring at her feet.

"You attempted to assassinate me," Shirleigh said bluntly.

"What?" Juniper rose from her chair, staring at her companion in complete shock.

"I should have known you would have figured that out by now," Moran chuckled to herself before a more solemn expression overcame her features. "I am afraid that is what I had come to tell you."

"It is of no surprise to me, really," Shirleigh said, looking rather apathetic. "It makes sense considering you were the one who came upon her body after her fall. When you looked up, you undoubtedly saw me atop the building and decided that I had murdered your friend."

Moran shifted her weight as she remembered the grim scene at the Chichester Cathedral.

"I won't lie," she began. "I had a clean shot. But when I saw Juniper talking with you, she looked so happy. It reminded me of when Jade would come and speak to me and we would talk for hours. To take something away that brought somebody else so much joy..."

Moran covered her mouth and tears flowed down her cheeks. Her muffled cries filled the silence in the room for a few moments.

"You have become soft after leaving the Army," Shirleigh said.

"I suppose so," Moran chuckled, wiping away her tears. "I'm sorry."

A look of terrible fury was plastered across Juniper's face as she watched Moran. Hearing that someone would have taken her friend away because of a false accusation brought about an anger she had never felt before. But being the empath that Juniper is, she starts to feel a certain sadness take hold after seeing Moran's despair and allows this anger to pass. Nothing good ever came from holding such emotions inside oneself, although it would take our ginger Scotswoman a long while before forgiving Moran.

"You had feelings for Moriarty, no?" Shirleigh stated amid the cries. "I do not doubt that somebody else who has had one whom they cared about taken from them would go to the same lengths."

"Shirleigh..." Juniper's shoulders relaxed.

Moran lifted her head, her eyes as red as a rabbit's and face stained with tears.

"I still have much to learn when it comes to...a plethora of emotions, many I have forgotten how to express myself, but I have heard that 'love' is particularly strong among the bunch."

Shirleigh's eyebrows were drawn together in contemplation, a crease forming between them. She did not fully grasp the concept of "love" but it was undoubtedly one of the most prevalent and to her, the most confusing.

"You were a marksman of great renown, chosen to be an assassin because of your ability to lock away your emotions when it mattered most," Shirleigh continued in her usual methodical manner. "No one would be able to put two and two together given the current state of you. See, Watson? They only get in the way. Emotions."

And just when she was doing so well, Juniper thought to herself.

"Perhaps you might make a decent assassin yourself," Moran suggested with a hint of snarkiness in her tone. "You always come across as apathetic and emotionless."

Juniper knew that this was not true. Perhaps it was the fact that she spent so much time around Shirleigh, but she knew that her partner felt more than what she expressed. For one reason or another, the detective could not convey them or had chosen to lock them away.

Juniper had recalled what Shirleigh had said just a few moments ago about forgetting how to express a variety of emotions. Was there a reason for this? All Juniper knew was that when she looked into her friend's oceanic eyes, there were waves of emotions that cascaded through them. Why did everyone else think otherwise?

"I seriously do not know what Jade saw in you. She bottled up how she felt about you because she knew what you would say if she ever told you her feelings. She cared about you a lot, you know. Maybe a little too much."

There was a sudden change in Shirleigh's demeanour at the mention of Moriarty's feelings. Even though she is known as a great mind to those who know her, she has difficulty picking up on the feelings she has grown unfamiliar with. To hear that someone who visited her so often had felt such a way about her for such a long time, pained her every time someone brought it up.

Moran shifted her weight and planted a hand on a hip as she stared down Shirleigh through her eyelashes. Her cheeks were tear-stained and her eyes still puffy but she carried an entirely different aura about her at this very moment. Juniper couldn't resist shivering after chills shot up her spine.

"I should've taken that shot."

"But you didn't."

"You know what? Everything I said was a lie."

"We all know that's the lie."

Juniper watched as her flatmate and would-have-been assassin began to butt heads with another and couldn't help but feel relieved. Something seemed right about this situation and she smiled to herself.

"I'll get you when you least expect it, Holmes."

"I would like to see you try."

Moran had seen herself out the door and slammed it shut in her wake.

"Army?" Juniper asked.

"Shivani Moran. Eagle-eyed marksman for the Indian Army. She retired at a young age for unknown reasons. For ten years, she never failed to assassinate any of her targets. Until now."

A knock came at the door and Shirleigh grumbled something inaudible to herself before reaching for the handle.

"Moran, if you have come to continue your pestering..."

After flinging the door open, Shirleigh was face-to-face with a young man whose smile shone brighter than the sun.

"Shirleigh! It really is you!"

The door was promptly closed.

"Who was that?" Juniper asked, a confused and rather concerned look on her face as she tried peeking out into the hallway.

"No one."

"Shirleigh, please!"

The knocking on the door continued, and the man's pleas started to sound more like desperate cries—fake, desperate cries.

Juniper stared at her flatmate who stood in front of the door. Shirleigh rubbed her temples and aggressively ruffled her hair when the pleas failed to cease.

The door was flung open and the young man's demeanour instantly changed, his eyes now beaming with gratitude.

"You won't regret this! I'll even throw in a signed promo photograph as thanks!"

"I don't want your autograph."

»»————-　♔　————-««

Juniper held the rather glossy autographed photo in her hands, turning it from side to side allowing the light to reflect off the holographic embossing, the man's signature plastered across it in marker too thick to read. Shirleigh had passed it on to her after the man signed it. 

They all sat at the rectangular worktable in the living room. The man stared patiently in Shirleigh's direction but her eyes were focused on her flatmate's expressions toward the photograph.

"Apologies," Juniper said finally tearing her eyes away from the photo. "What is your name?"

"Oh! That's my fault," the man rose to his feet, removed the glove from his right hand and stretched his arm across the table. Luckily, Juniper was too taken aback to react to the gesture for he suddenly withdrew it as if he had remembered something.  A somewhat apologetic smile was plastered on his face as he continued. "Ichiro Adler. I'm an idol and knew Shirleigh when we were younger."

"Wait, seriously?" Juniper exclaimed forgetting what had captured her attention for a moment as she turned to face her partner.

"He wasn't an idol when we knew each other several years back," Shirleigh stated, her eyes narrowing, now leering at Ichiro. "And it seems that this fact has brought him some trouble."

Ichiro sat down in his seat and began to take on more paranoid behaviours. It was at this sight that Shirleigh's interest was piqued and she sat up straight in her chair.

"You're being followed."

Ichiro lowered his head confirming her suspicions. She glanced over in Juniper's direction who nodded in acknowledgement and drew the curtains.

"How long?"

"For a few weeks now," Ichiro responded still staring into his lap. "I've seen her at every concert..."

"Is that not a normal thing for fans to do?" Juniper wondered. "I tend to hear of people concert hopping and travelling alongside their favourite performers."

"It is normal. I see a lot of repeat attendees, and I enjoy getting to know them," Ichiro lifted his gaze. "Except I met her before I became an idol...under entirely different circumstances. And I know exactly what she wants."

"From before you became an idol? Was she a friend? Did the two of you have a falling out perhaps?"

"No," Shirleigh said. "It is quite the opposite. At least on her end. Is that it?"

Ichiro nodded.

"Would you mind telling us how you met and the events leading up to now? You can speak freely in front of Watson and me. We are here to assist you."

Ichiro lifted his head, his parted bangs swaying from side to side. Reassured, he gave a small smile and folded his hands on the tabletop and Juniper caught another glimpse of the thing that intrigued her earlier. Ichiro's right hand was a prosthetic. A beautiful translucent blue prosthetic that almost resembled the sky.

Shirleigh leaned forward with her elbows on the table and fingertips pressed together. She whispered something only she could hear, a look of curiosity in her eyes.

"Tell me about your days of espionage."