Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade pressed the palms of his hands into his drowsy eyes. Christ… He thought to himself. He pulled his hands from his eyes and blinked a few times, trying to will his exhaustion away.

Earlier that evening, Lestrade had been sitting at his desk in his office at New Scotland Yard, filling out copious amounts of paperwork related to a case involving the arrest of a notorious gang of bank robbers. For once, he hadn't needed Sherlock Holmes' assistance with the case, and he sat back in his chair, silently pleased at his success. He could only imagine that Sherlock, if he were present, would probably be complaining that the DI hadn't been able to catch the criminals sooner, spewing off some baffling deductions that would have led to a more timely arrest. This would most assuredly be followed by a litany of insults and complaints about the incompetency of NSY. Lestrade had tried to push the thought from his mind when police sergeant Sally Donovan entered his office.

"Sir, there's been a body found in Bethnal Green, in an alley." She announced upon her entrance.

Lestrade had sighed. He'd been close to the end of his shift, but a dead body could not wait and could not be ignored.

Now, Lestrade took in the scene in front of him, trying to make sense of the evidence.

A young man, 29 years of age, had been found in an alleyway earlier in the evening by a group of young women who were drunkenly trying to find their way home. Confusedly, one of the women had stumbled into the alley, insisting that it was a shortcut. As her friends followed her into the alley, one of them became sick and vomited next to a dumpster where, to her horror, she found the body of Nicholas Simon. Simon had been shot in the chest.

As the police secured the alleyway and closed off the adjoining street, Lestrade had arrived on scene with the forensics team and they immediately got to work at trying to piece together the sequence of events that had led to the man's unfortunate death that night.

Lestrade examined the body. It seemed that Nicholas had been in a panic, running from someone or something just before his death. His jumper was on inside out and backwards, his belt was buckled, but his pants were unbuttoned, and his shoes were untied. Lestrade noted the information, but didn't see how it would serve a purpose in solving the man's murder. In Lestrade's mind, it just showed that the man knew his attacker and was afraid of him, trying to escape him without even being able to dress himself first. The fact that he was shot in the chest also indicated that he would've been facing whoever had shot him.

After several hours, the police had collected statements from the drunken women, and many interviews from witnesses claiming to have seen the victim running down the street in the moments before he disappeared into the alleyway. An older couple, who had been out for an evening stroll, stated that they saw the victim run by them like a 'sack of monkeys', whatever that means… Another witness remembered seeing the victim running away because of the visible tag showing on the man's jumper. A neighbor, whose flat overlooked the alley, claimed to have heard a gunshot, but didn't see anyone in the alley when she looked out her window, the body being hidden behind the dumpster.

Lestrade was waiting for CCTV tapes so that they might be able to catch the murderer's face as they entered the alley. That information was still being collected and sorted, though.

As Lestrade was reviewing the information he'd collected in his head, his mobile phone rang in his pocket. Upon a quick glance at the caller ID, he answered, seeing that it was the Chief Superintendent.

"Hello?"

"Lestrade, it's me, Steve."

"Yeah, hello. What's going on?" Lestrade knew that if his boss was calling him, he was about to get information that was probably going to complicate his current case.

"That boy you found tonight, Nicholas Simon?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, apparently his next of kin have been notified. I guess he's a distant cousin of one of the Cabinet members. The Press is likely going to get involved, once the news gets out and I've already received a call from a member of the government. He was… encouraging me to insure that this case is solved as quickly as possible as there is considerable concern that this incident is going to bring unwanted attention to a person of note. Something tells me that if we don't get this thing figured out swiftly, there is a potential for some… interference, if you catch my drift. "

Lestrade could only imagine what sort of interference a Cabinet member could cause… suddenly, the thought of a certain man in a three-piece suit appeared in his head and he shuddered.

"Right…" he muttered, a bit bewildered. He knew his boss was deliberately being vague, refusing to use names and leaving out bits of information, but the message was clear. Solve the case as fast as possible, avoiding the press, so that the Cabinet member receives little attention.

"Well, we've got our best team on it, sir. I'm sure we'll have it figured out in no time." Greg tried his best to sound optimistic, but he knew that there were currently no leads.

"Good. I'm counting on you, Lestrade," Replied the Chief Superintendent, "I'll let you go so you can get back to work."

"Thanks. Bye now." Lestrade hung up his phone and sighed. He knew if he had any chance of solving this in a timely fashion, he was going to need to ask one tall, dark haired, consulting detective for help.

As he made his way out of the alley and towards Sergeant Donovan, he took out his phone and called Sherlock.

The phone rang, but there was no answer. Shit.

He tried calling John, but there was also no answer.

Lestrade took a peek at his watch. Well, it was 3AM. What did he expect?

He sent a text to both men, and then told Donovan to get the scene cleared up and the body to the morgue. They needed the street open again before the morning rush, or else it would draw even more attention to the case.