A/N: I don't own any of the Elementary characters and I am not making any money from writing this.

Please forgive any minor spelling or grammar mistakes, English is not my native language.

This story takes place somewhere early in season four. Definitely before my other case!fic, "A". I wanted to explore a character of Randy, introduced in the episode 2x11 "Internal Adult", and some of Sherlock's... questionable tactics and "preferences" hinted at in 2x15 "Corpse de Ballet" (that is also where Sherlock's "disclaimer" was featured). So this. And don't worry, I'm working on sequel to "A".

I imagine Randy being portrayed by the same actor he was on the show: Stephen Tyrone Williams.

Cast

Emily Procter as Jenny Sanders/Susan Walters

Missy Crider as secretary Mandy Brooks

Jay R Ferguson as Nick Hawkes

Amber Tamblyn as Lydia Day

Stephen Tyrone Williams as Randy

Jillian Bowen as Lyndsey Dawns

Seamus Dever as Stephen Smith

Joan rubbed her eyes as she walked into the kitchen, still sleepy. She was wearing her red robe, white T-shirt and fuzzy slippers. It was only after she filled her coffee pot with water that she noticed Sherlock sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, shirtless, bunch of papers and photographs on the floor around him.

"Good morning", she said.

"Good morning", Sherlock said. He ran a hand through his hair. "Excuse my manners, it's been a long night."

Joan frowned. "Maybe for you", she commented, starting to make herself some hot coffee. "What have you been doing?"

Sherlock sighed. "It's about Randy."

Joan frowned. "Randy?"

Sherlock rubbed his eyes. "He is getting ready for a job interview and is uncertain of how to behave or what to do if somebody finds about his past and brings it up." He looked down at the documents. "I've been working on the plan to help him, starting with researching about his, possibly, future place of employement. And other options, just in case."

Joan pouted. "Stalking. Cute."

Sherlock sulked. "It isn't stalking if you only study publicly available records. Or easily obtainable private records", he said under his breath.

"Does Randy know about that?", Joan asked, adding coffee to an already boiling water.

"He will when the time will be right", Sherlock assured her. Joan noticed a piece of paper on the near by table, with a writing on it that appeared familiar: she picked it up and, upon examining it closely, read: "COITUS IN PROGRESS OR RECENTLY CONCLUDED."

"Well, I'm glad that I woke up late this morning", she commented, putting the sign down.

"Just for a brief relaxation", Sherlock said calmly. "She came late and left early, as agreed to."

He was about to crack open another file when his ringtone went off. He jumped off the floor, picked up his phone that had been laying on the floor near by and, upon seeing Gregson's caller ID, answered immediately.

"Hallo?"

"We need you, and Joan", Thomas said, his tone of voice firm and serious, even more than usual. "Murder."

Sherlock remained silent for a moment. Joan glanced at him. "OK, I think we can make it in about half an hour."

"Hurry up", Thomas ordered.

Sherlock frowned. "What is a big emergency?", he asked.

Thomas sighed. "The victim is DA George Arrow."

#

While they followed Thomas Gregson under the crime scene tape and then into the living room, both Sherlock and Joan couldn't help but admire how big and well decorated the victim's house was. Of course, for Sherlock, it was also a source of annoyance.

"He was found dead in his living room, shot four times in the chest", Thomas informed them. "The maid discovered the body this morning at five am. GSR test is negative. He was murdered last night between eight and eleven pm. As far as she knows, he lived alone, wasn't seeing anyone lately, didn't act out of the ordinary-other than being even more busy than usual. His ex wife lives in Philadelphia, his son is away on college."

George's body was laying face up on the living room floor, near the coffee table, his shirt riddled with four bloody bullet holes to the chest area. He was a tall and strong Caucasian man with short black hair and black eyes. The drawers had been ransacked, stuff scattering around. There was even a pillow on the floor near the body. In front of the coffee table was a stool with plasma TV on it, to the left from the stool a small CD case. Next to the TV was the bedroom door, a cupboard with CD player on it near the couch, and then the entrance to the big dining room in the other end of the house. Joan stood and took a good look at the room while Sherlock was listening to captain Gregson, in the same time observing the scene.

"So far it looks like a burglary gone wrong", Thomas said. "The money and creit cards from his wallet are missing, as well as his watch, apparently DVD player, toaster and juicer from the kitchen, some paintings and photographs-there are many on the walls and there are some nails but nothing hanging from there. There may be more, the maid couldn't positively identify it all and we have yet to inspect the receipts in the house. We haven't ruled out other possibilities though." He turned around. "The killer broke in through the window in the back. All the doors and other windows are locked from the inside. We still have to figure out how did he disable the alarm system though. There is a security camera outside, near the front door. The devices containing the tapes was here", he said, pointing to the small table in the hallway. "The killer took it."

Joan turned towards Thomas just about the time Sherlock was about to take a better look at the body.

"It wasn't a burglary gone wrong. Somebody just made it to look that way", she exclaimed.

Thomas glared at her. "And how do you know that?", he asked.

Joan walked over to the near by cupboard and pointed to the drawers. "First of all, smeared traces of blood on the drawers, wallet, jewelry box over there and several other items in the house, as well as the fact that one of the shell casings is partially covered by the couch cushion that also has small traces of blood on it, mean that the most of the burglary, probably all of it actually, took place after the murder. Even if the burglar was under stress, why would he waste time with pulling the money and credit cards out of the wallet and jewelry out of the jewelry box? Why not just take the box and the wallet with him? Like somebody wanted to make sure that we consider this a burglary gone wrong." She frowned, looking back at Thomas. "Where do you usually keep your driver's licence?", she asked.

Thomas stared at Joan for a moment, surprised by the question. Sherlock just looked from the side, a mixture of curiosity and proud on his face. "In the wallet", Thomas eventually answered.

Joan continued. "Mr. Arrow's wallet is laying on this cupboard", she said, pointing at the wallet. She took a step closer, switching her attention to the family photographs on the cupboards and the walls, many of them taken in that living room. "Judging by these photographs, that is where it would usually be placed. The killer ransacked the bottom drawers, pulling out the old clothing and scattering it around. And yet, mr. Arrow's driving licence is laying on the top of the pile."

She walked over to the near by trophy case, followed by Thomas, while Sherlock just observed with a look of satisfaction on his face.

"The killer also ransacked the bottom drawers, only to find a bunch of old receipts and magazines", she explained, looking at the pile on the floor. "There is a golden ear ring laying on the top of this receipt. Somebody had made the mess first, then stole the money and valuables." She exhaled before turning back to face Thomas. "This was all about estaging the scene, not about the financial gain."

Thomas took a look over the crime scene, waiting for the information to sink in. "Let's examine the broken window then", he decided and walked down to the other end of the house, with Sherlock and Joan in tow. He stood aside as they approached the killer's presumed point of entry.

The window was big, with clean glass and nice, heavy white frame. It was now wide opened (with obvious scratches on the frame and the lock from the outside), overlooking the big, nicely kept back yard.

"There are some dents and the marks in the ground in the yard, but nothing clear", Thomas explained as Sherlock and Joan stared at the window and the yard outside intently, both trying to spot clues that laid there and make sense out of them. Sherlock ran his fingers down the scratches and pulled at the window frame and the knobs quite strongly a few times before inspecting the impressions in the ground.

"Mr. Arrow knew the killer", Sherlock suddenly explained, turning to face his two surprised colleagues. He immediately went on to make an explanation. "He let the killer inside", he stated before tracking his finger over the damage on the window frame. "There are no traces of dirt anywhere in the house", he explained, looking down at the floor again for a moment. "No evidence of it being cleaned up either." He then pointed to the scratch marks on the window frame, around the lock. "This damage is way too radnom and minor to be consistent with succesfully breaking through such a high quality, locked window." He gazed down the near by hallway. "That is why the alarm didn't go off: mr. Arrow had turned it off himself. I'm sure that the device's hard drive records will confirm that." He paced around the room, trying to sort his thoughts. "Mr. Arrow turned the alarm off, unlocked the door and let the killer in. He closed and then locked the door behind and then turned the alarm back on, or the killer did so after murdering him to make it for a more convincing set up. After murdering mr. Arrow, the killer unlocked the window from the inside and sneaked out. Due to already being in the house, never actually applying any force and the window being quite the distance away from the alarm device, the alarm, although a high quality one, didn't go off, especially if the killer was moving slowly." He coughed. "The perpetrator sneaked out through the window, did some minor damage to the window frame and the lock-probably with a screwdriver, I'd say-so it would look like the killer had broken inside, then fled", he concluded, waving with his hand at the yard. "That also explains why the killer took the security footages from the camera placed near the front door."

Without another word, he turned around and walked back into the living room, towards the body. Thomas and Joan followed him.

"Like I said, ME estimates that he was murdered the last night between eight and eleven pm", Thomas repeated. Sherlock quickly inspected the dining room, then went to the victim's bedroom, closing the door behind. "Two neighbors saw a red Mustang driving by at about ten pm last night, but didn't get the licence plates or any distinctive characteristics and can't describe the driver."

"His right shoe is positioned lower than his left one", Joan pointed out, while Sherlock was looking at the body in silence, deep in thought. "The shoe polish on it is slightly smeared", she added before her eyes trailed down to study the marks on the floor. It was about that time that Sherlock got out of the victim's bedroom, closing the door behind. "There are some scuff marks on the floor and the coffee table is a bit crooked to the side. He put up a struggle. Probably kicked the attacker in the leg or stomach."

"Maybe the killer planned to shoot mr. while he had his back turned to him or her but had spotted the reflection on this scotch bottle, turned around and fought back", Sherlock suggested, pointing to the scotch bottle on the table. "It is a pretty good reflective surface, and scuff marks on the floor seem to be consistent with such movements."

"George was quite strong", Thomas noted. "We'll check local hospitals, just in case. If anything, we know that our killer probably has a nasty fresh bruise or two. Maybe forensics will find DNA or trace evidence on that shoe. That could help us find him or her."

"Her", Sherlock suddenly exclaimed, his gaze fixated on the body, making both Joan and Thomas turn facing him. "Our killer is a woman", he calmly exclaimed.

Thomas stared at Sherlock in surprise. "How so?", he asked.

Sherlock turned towards him. "There is a still strong scent of, women's parfume, a pretty high quality one too, in this room, mixed with an equally strong scent of gunshot residue", he explained. "Those same two scents are present at the front door, hallway, bedroom and at the opened window. There are no similar scents or bottles of that parfume anywhere else in the house. The impression in the ground in the back yard are mostly unclear and partial, useless, but one was obviously made by a high heel." He then turned towards the near by bedroom door. "I've noticed slight traces of blood on the door knob to the victim's bedroom too", he explained. "Nothing in there appears to be disturbed, not even the case drawer, but on his writing desk there is a printer, but no computer. Mr. Arrow did live alone, to the best of the maid's knowledge, all of the clothing in the closet seems to belong to him and all the bed sheets and pillows look clean and tidy. However, in the bathroom near the bedroom, I've recovered an obviously recently purchased bottle of Viagra with three pills missing. And a receipt in the trash can in the bedroom, showing that mr. Arrow had purchased that medicine a week prior to his death. He was obviously seeing someone."

Just as he had finished, several items on the bear by coffee table caught his attention. He leaned over, observing them closely.

"A pen and a marker, a glass of scotch few inches away, and a big empty space in between", he exclaimed, not looking up. He cheeked the couch cushions. "Dents to the cushion positioned in front of that area of the coffee table." He looked up at Thomas and Joan. "I smelled alcohol on the victim's body. He had been, or was about to, work on something, maybe a case, before he met his demise. Now those materials are gone", he concluded before standing up. After looking around some more, he noticed something strange on the CD player on the cupboard near the couch. He took a step closer while the anticipation rushed through his body. He ran to the CD case and examined it carefully, then walked back over to the CD player and gave the blood splatters on it one more look.

"Look at this blood splatters on the CD player close to the body", he exclaimed, looking up at his colleagues. Thomas frowned. "At first, they look quite consistent with the gunshout wounds. And they are-but not completely. They are unsually wide, and shaky looking at the edges", he said, gesticulating a bit with his hands. "Like the surface they had been laying on, while still wet, was warm and a bit vibrating. Human blood can remain wet in this room, in this time of hour, under this conditions, for about half an hour. This CD player had been turned on during or shortly after the murder. The CD player is now cold and turned off, but a few hours had passed since the murder and this type of CD player is programmed to authomatically turn itself off if ten minutes pass without a new CD being put to it and set to play, to save electricity in case the owner had fallen asleep or left in a hurry, forgetting to turn it off."

Joan frowned. "So, he was listening to the music at the time of his murder. Not weird."

Sherlock pointed to the near by CD case. "All the CD boxes over there are lined up and appear intact. It would take some time to examine them all, but it is very unlikely that he would have taken one CD, put it to play and then immediately close the box and put it back on the shelf. Or that a person of his weath would have purchased a pirated CD and decide to listen to it that very night. There are no other CDs, CD boxes or even wrappers anywhere else in the house. I've checked." He frowned. "Also, don't you think it's odd that the killer has stolen most of valuables, even a toaster and a juicer, but left the CD player?"

Joan frowned. "So, the killer put the CD to play before or after she murdered George." She took a look around. "Why?"

"Maybe she was in a mood for a "joy of music". Or she is playing with us", Sherlock suggested before taking the CD out and looking at it's surface. Thomas and Joan approached him in order to examine the CD by themselves.

"An album, by a singer named Susan Walters", Thomas read.

Joan glared at Sherlock. ""The" Susan Walters?"

Sherlock nodded his head. "Susan Walters is an name. Her real name is/was Jenny Sanders. New York's most prolific serial killer. One of George Arrow's first big cases. She was released from prison two years ago, after serving twenty two years. If I am not mistaken, January 28th is an anniversary of her conviction."

They all sighed and exchanged looks.

~OPENING ROLES AND CREDITS~