Chapter Seven

It was Day Three of Sherlock's Jury Service experience and he arrived at the court house at nine thirty on the dot, mindful of the judge's instruction to be in situ, in Court Room Five, at ten o'clock sharp.

He passed through security without incident and made his way to the Jury Assembly Room, where he helped himself to his now customary double espresso and took his seat in the far corner of the room, from where he could observe all the comings and goings.

The members of the sitting jury for Court Room five, who had been sent out to deliberate the day before, were all sitting together to his left. They obviously had not yet reached a verdict and, from their body language, he could see that there was discontent within the group.

Two ladies, sitting slightly apart from the others, were engaged in a whispered exchange punctuated by frequent side-long glances at another jury member - the foreman, Sherlock deduced. There was clearly some difference of opinion which the two conspirators shared but the rest of the jury didn't and, therefore, had been unable to come to a majority verdict. For this reason, the deliberations had run to a second day, which no one seemed terribly happy about.

Observing this scene, Sherlock gave a rye smile. The two ladies were clearly in breach of Rule Number 2 which stipulated that, during the trial, one can only discuss the case with the eleven other jurors and only when they were all together and there was no risk of being overheard. In this instance, although the jurors were in principle all together, the other ten were not privy to this conversation and there was every possibility that anyone waiting at the canteen counter, directly behind the two ladies, would be able to overhear their whispered conversation.

Sherlock flipped through the Rules pamphlet in his mind's eye, to the part about what to do if one felt the rules had been broken.

It is your DUTY to REPORT any BREACHES of these rules, he 'read'.

When did he become some an expert on the rules, he mused?

The night before, after the children had been put to bed, Molly had insisted he sit down and read the through the 'Your legal Responsibilities as a Juror' pamphlet from cover to cover, and had then taken the precaution of testing him on the content.

'What does it say about looking for information about your case?' she asked, giving him a piercing stare.

'Did you ever consider becoming an interrogator rather than a pathologist?' he asked.

'Don't change the subject. And answer the question!' Molly replied, sharply.

Sherlock sighed deeply then recited,

'It is illegal for you to look for any information at all about your case on the internet or elsewhere during the trial. This means you cannot look for any information about any person involved in the case. This means any defendant, witness or anyone associated with the case including the judge and legal teams; the crime or the crime scene; the law and legal terms used in the case; or court procedures. It is also illegal for you to ask anyone else to look for you.'

'Very good,' said Molly. 'Now, what does it say about News stories about your case?'

It says that if you see or hear any news stories about your case you should pay no attention to them because all the information you need to decide the case will be given to the jury in the evidence you hear in court and the instructions on the law that the judge gives you…Look, can we stop this?' Sherlock huffed. 'It should be obvious by now that I have committed the entire document to memory.'

'I know you too well, Mr Holmes,' Molly retorted, through pursed lips. 'Memorising these rules would not trouble you. It's the likelihood of you deleting them from your memory that concerns me.'

Sherlock reached over and gently pulled the pamphlet from Molly's hand and moved up close to his wife on the sofa.

'I do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will not to do that and, from now on, I will obey the rules to the letter,' he assured her and sealed his promise with a kiss.

So, since he had made that commitment, should he now 'out' these two ladies to the Clerk of the Court who had just come to collect the sitting jurors and whisk them off to the deliberating room? Ah, too late… They'd already gone. Sherlock settled back into his seat and tried to blot out the disapproving glare of Mind Palace Molly.

It was almost ten o'clock and, in a very short time, he would be on his way down to Court Room Five to begin his jury service proper. He felt a slight frisson of excitement, which he quickly suppressed. This case was barely a Four, he reminded himself.

Time passed as Sherlock dipped in and out of his Mind Palace, reciting the Periodic Table to himself, calculating pi to thirty decimal places and, as a last resort, listing the first ten thousand prime numbers. He looked at the huge wall clock. It was twelve noon! The judge had said be ready to go at ten a.m. What on earth was holding things up?

'Jury for Court Room Five,' announced a voice and, with great relief, Sherlock jumped to his feet and strode ahead of the other eleven jurors down to the court room, where he stood to one side, allowing his four fellow members of the back row to take their seats before he took his.

Once they were all seated and the exit door was closed, the judge spoke.

'Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, firstly, I must apologise for the delay this morning and thank you for your patience.'

Don't thank me, thought Sherlock, I have no patience!

'Now, unfortunately – and this should not trouble you, since it is a matter for the court to deal with and, therefore, none of your concern – there has been an objection made to myself from the Council for the Defence and, as a result, this case cannot proceed at this time, in this court and with this jury.'

There was an almost unanimous gasp from the jurors, not least from Sherlock himself.

What on earth? Just when things appeared to be getting started…!

He felt…how did he feel? He searched his database of emotional responses for the closest match and came up with…'disappointed'! How did that happen? He didn't even want to do jury service so what was the problem? He couldn't put his finger on exactly when the switch had occurred, only that he had been really looking forward to getting his teeth into this case

'Consequently, I am now discharging this jury. Please leave the court,' the judge concluded.

It took a moment or two for the jury members to process the information that they had been dismissed but the Clerk of the Court who had accompanied them down from the Jury Assembly Room was beckoning, urging them to stand and file out of the court. One by one, they complied, amid a great deal of disgruntled mumbling and chuntering. Sherlock brooded, silently.

Back in the Purgatory Room, as Sherlock had renamed it, the group was met by Head Jury Wrangler, Barbara.

'I do apologise, ladies and gentlemen, this is just one of those things that occasionally happens. But I must prevail upon your patience a little longer while I find out what is to be done with you. If you wouldn't mind sitting over there…' she pointed to Sherlock's 'special' corner of the room '…and I'll get back to you as soon as I know what's happening.'

Sherlock made a beeline for the coffee machine - a ploy to delay taking a seat until the other jurors had taken theirs. He prodded the machine into life and tapped his finger, irritably, on the counter while he waited for it to heat up then served himself a flat white.

One hour later, Sherlock was still brooding and the flat white had gone cold on the table beside him, when Barbara approached, wringing her hands.

'Well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you again for your patience but I do have some bad news. The case you were assigned to will now be heard in Court Room Three by the judge and jury assigned to that room. And, since we have no new cases beginning tomorrow or Friday – and I have more than enough jurors to call on next week, I am taking the decision to dismiss you all. Your jury service is now concluded. So, all that remains is for you all to complete your expenses claims forms and either give them to me, now, or pop them in the post and you will receive your remunerations within a week or two. Thank you.'

With a dismissive smile, Barbara turned on her heel and trotted back to the desk in the corner. The now defunct jury for Court Room Five was already dispersing. Most of them headed straight for the exit but a couple went over to the canteen counter to collect the lunches they had ordered in advance and would now be taking away with them.

Sherlock let them all get away before he rose, slowly, and made his way out of the building. He would take a walk beside the river, to clear his mind of this whole Jury Service debacle…

'Mr Holmes?'

He turned to see a figure in a wig and gown hurrying down the courthouse steps toward him. He recognised the man as one of the Prosecution team for the GBH case.

What now? he thought, irritably.

'Mr Sherlock Holmes?' his pursuer asked. 'The famous Consulting Detective?'

'Consulting Detective? Yes. Famous? I wouldn't know,' Sherlock snapped. Was this one of those strange 'fan' people who popped up from time to time? Would he, at any moment, be asking for a 'selfie', whatever one of those was. 'Can I help you with something?'

'I do hope so, Mr Holmes. My lead counsel and I would like to call you as an expert witness for the prosecution of the Limehouse assault case.'

Sherlock frowned. His only previous experience as an expert witness had ended rather badly, he seemed to remember.

'Mr Holmes, the prosecution team are not at all sure we can secure a guilty verdict in this case. Some of the evidence is circumstantial, flimsy at best. We would be so grateful if you would take a look at the evidence and give us your expert opinion.'

Sherlock paused for a moment, mulling over this proposition, and came to a decision.

'Very well, Mr…'

'Davies, Angus Davies, Second Chair for the Prosecution.'

'Very well, Mr Davies. I will take a look at your evidence and if I find clear proof of guilt, I will be more than happy to appear as an expert witness for the Prosecution. However, if I find clear evidence of innocence, I will be offering my services to the Defence team.'

He quirked an eyebrow in the direction of the earnest young man, seeking a response.

'That will be perfectly satisfactory, Mr Holmes,' Angus Davies replied, offering his hand to seal the agreement before turning and leading the way back into the court house.

ooOoo

So Sherlock did get his day in court...just not quite as he had imagined.

I hope you enjoyed this 'bit of fun' story. Thank you all for reading and, especially, for reviewing. :)