Yahtzee Roll #6: Fill 2: Secondhand spice
Jun. 25th, 2025 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stonepicnicking_okapiTitle: Secondhand spice
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt: tangy
Summary: Stella and Sally have dinner and discuss a case.
Stella couldn’t say what exactly brought her back to Gossington Manor Care on her next day off. Something in what Sally had said piqued her curiosity. On the pretext of bringing her grandmother’s friend an old photograph, she returned at a time when she suspected residents would be most active.
She looked around the main room, wondering which of the old dears might be Heather Badcock. In her looking, Stella garnered some curious glances herself and one polite inquiry from staff.
She feigned confusion, explained her errand, and was directed to one of the patient rooms.
Stella was headed down the corridor when an old lady in a wheelchair stopped her and demanded to see the photograph in Stella’s hand.
“Two fathers and two sons yet only three in the picture, how?” asked the old lady brusquely.
“A grandfather, a father, and a son,” replied Stella.”
The old lady’s face lit up. “You. The other one was stupid.” She clasped Stella’s hand in both of hers, and
Stella felt something small and metal pressed to her palm. She closed her own hands round the old lady’s bony, wrinkled, spotted ones, then slid them away and pocketed the object with comment.
“Are you Mrs. Badcock?” asked Stella.
“Miss,” corrected the old lady. “What is blacker each time it’s cleaned and whiter the more it’s used?”
“A chalkboard.”
The old lady nodded. “First girl.” Then she rolled away in her wheelchair. “You’ll do.”
--
“It’s a key,” said Stella that evening. She placed it on the table between their plates, a tangy, spicy barbeque for her and a jerk chicken for Sally.
Sally picked up the key and studied it. “To a small lock or padlock. Or…”
“Diary?”
“Possibly. I wonder what it means. Junk? Or she stole it from one of the other residents?”
“I’m not ready to dismiss it so easily. I have an urge to go back and see what happens next.”
“You should. But don’t be disappointed if it isn’t the puzzle you were hoping for. Or if you never discover the solution to it. Real life isn’t like a crossword puzzle where all the letters fit and the answers are in the back of the book.” She nodded at Stella’s plate. “How is it?”
“It’s delicious. You don’t like spice?”
“Firsthand, no, but second hand…” She gave Stella a look, and Stella leaned forward and puckered her lips.
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt: tangy
Summary: Stella and Sally have dinner and discuss a case.
Stella couldn’t say what exactly brought her back to Gossington Manor Care on her next day off. Something in what Sally had said piqued her curiosity. On the pretext of bringing her grandmother’s friend an old photograph, she returned at a time when she suspected residents would be most active.
She looked around the main room, wondering which of the old dears might be Heather Badcock. In her looking, Stella garnered some curious glances herself and one polite inquiry from staff.
She feigned confusion, explained her errand, and was directed to one of the patient rooms.
Stella was headed down the corridor when an old lady in a wheelchair stopped her and demanded to see the photograph in Stella’s hand.
“Two fathers and two sons yet only three in the picture, how?” asked the old lady brusquely.
“A grandfather, a father, and a son,” replied Stella.”
The old lady’s face lit up. “You. The other one was stupid.” She clasped Stella’s hand in both of hers, and
Stella felt something small and metal pressed to her palm. She closed her own hands round the old lady’s bony, wrinkled, spotted ones, then slid them away and pocketed the object with comment.
“Are you Mrs. Badcock?” asked Stella.
“Miss,” corrected the old lady. “What is blacker each time it’s cleaned and whiter the more it’s used?”
“A chalkboard.”
The old lady nodded. “First girl.” Then she rolled away in her wheelchair. “You’ll do.”
--
“It’s a key,” said Stella that evening. She placed it on the table between their plates, a tangy, spicy barbeque for her and a jerk chicken for Sally.
Sally picked up the key and studied it. “To a small lock or padlock. Or…”
“Diary?”
“Possibly. I wonder what it means. Junk? Or she stole it from one of the other residents?”
“I’m not ready to dismiss it so easily. I have an urge to go back and see what happens next.”
“You should. But don’t be disappointed if it isn’t the puzzle you were hoping for. Or if you never discover the solution to it. Real life isn’t like a crossword puzzle where all the letters fit and the answers are in the back of the book.” She nodded at Stella’s plate. “How is it?”
“It’s delicious. You don’t like spice?”
“Firsthand, no, but second hand…” She gave Stella a look, and Stella leaned forward and puckered her lips.