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Sherlock walked up the steps leading to his and John's flat, unable to shake off the feeling that something was wrong. Well, maybe not wrong, but definitely different. Never mind that he had left it no more than twenty minutes ago after a small fight broke out between himself and John. It was rather silly, but John had practically shouted at him to stop pacing the room, and so he had yelled back that he was bored, and needed to find a case, and later announced he was going out to Bart's to find some new human body part to experiment on.
He had barely made it there when he received a text from John informing him that there was a case he might be interested in and to go back to the flat. Which indeed brought him back to said place.
Now standing in the bottom landing of the stairs, he noted that there was something definitely different about the entry to their flat, and yet, he could not correctly deduce what it was. He simply could not tell who was in there, besides John and Lestrade, that part was quite simple really. John was the one to text Sherlock not ten minutes ago to come back to the flat for there was a case he might be interested in, therefore John was still inside.
Then there was Lestrade. John said case, not client, meaning a person did not walk up to their doorstep like they usually do, instead Lestrade himself had brought information. Something big most likely. John had deemed it necessary for him to come back after he practically forced him out, therefore it was big. Then again, he could simply be attempting to get him something to do, which was often the case. But no, that was not it, Lestrade was in there with John. The fact that John had texted meant that Lestrade stayed with John, which also meant it was something that Lestrade either wanted to tell Sherlock himself and keep quiet from the rest of the world for a bit longer than usual or wanted immediate feedback on, which then would prove to be a very easy case and therefore simply boring, and definitely not the effort to come back.
All this lead to the second disparity from most other visits Lestrade would pay them, including the very rare causal ones. There was a third person in the flat, someone that was brought in by Lestrade himself. But who?
It was most definitely not Mycroft. All the signs that usually announced his brother were thankfully not there. The gauge of the stride marked by the semi-dry footprints along with the hand prints on the stair railing indicated a smaller person, scared perhaps, definitely nervous. Or maybe exited. Was Andersen in there? No, this was not a raid. John said case. Andersen, although he often volunteered to search the flat for 'incriminating' evidence, would not bother to make the trip here to simply inform Sherlock of something that may very well bring him a much needed distraction. Neither would Donovan. Besides if it was her there would be the faint lingering smell of Andersen's deodorant to prove it. So, it was not a member of the Scotland Yard. But who then?
Who did Lestrade bring over to his flat, but most importantly why?