221B: Old School Ties

[marysutherland]

BBC Sherlock

Rating 12 (implied violence)

Spoilers: for The Reichenbach Fall

Mycroft had to admit that Kitty Riley had a certain rat-like cunning. She could say anything about Sherlock's past, of course, now he was dead, but it had been ingenious to bribe someone to obtain an old school report.  What she'd found was certainly lurid enough for the red tops; no bland generalities from the eccentric masters at their public school.

"Holmes' intelligence is matched only by his obnoxious behaviour" from the maths master; Mr Hall in Classics commenting, "He would do well to remember the need for diplomacy as well as brilliance; crowing over the mistakes of others is hardly fair play." Next came the damning sentence scrawled by a housemaster: "The boy is frankly untrustworthy." And last of all, the headmaster's conclusion: "We feel that your son would be better continuing his schooling elsewhere. There is a curious lack of empathy visible, which has led to certain unfortunate incidents. A consultation with a child psychiatrist might be recommended."

"Not a pretty picture, is it, Ms Riley?" Mycroft said. "Hoping for another front page article, were you?"

Kitty didn't reply.

"A pity you didn't understand the difference between "Holmes major" and "Holmes minor," he went on, as she beat her hands vainly against the walls of the interrogation cell. "And so didn't spot that report didn't refer to my brother."