Sherlock Holmes falls in love

By Verónica Fernández.

Everything started the night in which my boss contacted me. My next duty was clearly simple. I needed to defeat my only rival. It was said that he was a snake in the grass capable of ruining my boss´ business with the Police Force.   

I was very well known as a methodical secret detective of peculiar intelligence; analytic, smart, industrious, a bit eccentric. If you ask me, I would say a bit fool as well, but anyway, no one knew that by then, not even I, not even Watson, not even my rival. “I’ll start right away,” I told my boss. I would’ve liked to think that I said that because of my enthusiastic attitude towards my job; the truth was that it was boring being alone night after night. 

Right after the phone call, I went to the bar. I had been told my rival would be there by midnight. It was twenty to twelve so I stood by the entrance, silently, expecting him in the shadows. I remember that it was a pitch black night and the brightest full moon I had ever seen enchanted me immediately, so it took me by great surprise when I suddenly noticed that my rival was walking towards the entrance. For the first time in my life I felt I was in complete loss of words. 

My rival was a man in his late 40´s. He liked tobacco as much as I for what I could see, and by the way he looked down on the girls around, he wasn’t interested in women.  I had a few spirits and the next minute my rival and I were talking. “My name is E,” I remember telling him.  That was the moment in which he first looked at me.  I still remember the sparks behind his eyes.  He noticed something in me and I was certainly counting on that. I knew perfectly well he would show a bit of attention. I didn’t need to lie; smart people wouldn’t lie. I simply kept silence waiting for his reply. Watson, who had just arrived, stared at me suspiciously. Actually, getting rid of Watson was much easier than I thought it would be. I just pretended that my automobile had run out of petrol, so I asked my rival to come with me to find some. Finally, I was alone with him. 

Since that moment on, we met regularly. Actually, it was the first of many delightful meetings alone with him. Although we established a deep relationship, we both knew the truth, but neither of us had the courage to mention anything about it. Something unspoken remained between us; our secret. Like I’d said, I was a fool. I fell in love with him. I fell in love with Sherlock.  He always knew it was him I was meant to defeat and he just kept on pretending. As a matter of fact, he never asked me about my real name, he simply called me “E”. As I mentioned before, I didn’t need to lie. Smart people  wouldn’t lie. Would they? 

Elizabeth.