The Reichenbach Fall: Chapter 8

                                    

                                          
Led in by groups of police officers, you all arrived at the deserted stretch of factories, the day was quiet and you had a strange feeling as you followed Lestrade and many others into the building, which was dark. He was giving orders for everyone to split up in groups and scour the factory for the children, but to keep quiet in case the kidnapper was still present. You followed Lestrade's group, splitting off from Sally as she gave more orders and led more officers swiftly down another part of the factory.
                          
You followed the beams of the officer's flashlights, searching for any sign you might find of the children. The deeper you got into the factory, you began to see a small trail of sweets wrappers. You rapidly followed it down a small hallway that was surrounded by pipes. The trail led you to a large pile of sweet wrappers that were scattered everywhere and a small unlit candle was sitting in the middle of the mess.
                          
"Sherlock." You whispered as you hurried towards the wrappers, looking them over. You lightly touched the candle and it still felt warm.
                          
"It's warm." You looked up at Sherlock who was now at your side, scanning the mess over with his eyes.
                          
"They're still here." Sherlock called out to the officers, who continued to search. You studied the wrappers all over the floor. This was all those children had to eat. Sherlock squatted down next to you, picking up a wrapper between his fingers and studying it.
                          
"Sweet wrappers. What's he been feeding you?" Sherlock twisted the wrapper in his fingers in thought. You watched him as he held his flashlight beam pointed on it, closely looking it over.
                          
"Hansel and Gretel." You whispered as you looked at the sweet wrapper, Sherlock looked towards you as he brought the wrapper towards his nose, giving it a sniff. He then touched it to his tongue and immediately recoiled, looking at the wrapper with large eyes.
                          
"Sherlock, what is it?" You looked at him, knowing he had tasted something that didn't mean anything good on the sweet wrapper.
                          
"Mercury." He looked at you, dropping the wrapper back to the floor. You shook your head as you stood back up to give Lestrade a grave look. He was searching nearby, but also noticed you and Sherlock had discovered something.
                          
"What?" He jogged towards the three of you and you shook your head down at the wrappers, pointing towards them.
                          
"The papers... they're..." You looked to Sherlock to explain.
                          
"They're painted with mercury." He informed Lestrade with his newly found information, standing up to his full height to look at him. John groaned in sorrow as he looked down at the wrappers, shaking his head.
                          
"Lethal." Sherlock looked to John and Lestrade before as he gazed down at the wrappers once again.
                          
"The more they ate..." You muttered.
                          
"It was killing them." John confirmed, his face set in a stoney expression.
                          
"But it's not enough to kill them on its own. Taken in large enough quantities, eventually it would kill them." You informed John, looking at the amount of wrappers that scattered the floor. There was no telling how much these kids ate and what condition they would be in now.
                          
"He didn't need to be there for the execution. Murder by remote control. He could be a thousand miles away." Sherlock said quietly as he stared off at nothing in particular. Of course he was talking about Moriarty. "The hungrier they got, the more they ate, the faster they died... Neat." Sherlock grinned at the wrappers, you smacked his arm.
                          
"Sherlock, kidnapped children?" Even you knew better than to compliment the thought out plan Moriarty had made to not be on the scene of the crime when the police arrived. He gave you an innocent look.