Sherlock Holmes in America
"Consider this a personal favour" Mycroft said as John entered the living room of 221b Baker Street. Sherlock was staring into his microscope in the kitchen, while his brother became increasingly more agitated. "Ah John, maybe you can convince Sherlock."
John looked at Mycroft, confused. "Since when has Sherlock ever listened to me?" he laughed, "Is this a 'matter of national security' again?"
Mycroft smiled, putting John on edge. "Not this time, it turns out there is another consulting detective in the world. She helps out the NYPD, but in the middle of hunting a serial killer, she's gone missing." He explained.
John sits on a spare chair and waits for more details, but Mycroft is busy trying to get Sherlock's attention.
"So do they think the serial killer took the consultant?" John asked after a moment.
Mycroft looked over at him, "Yes, they are certain of it, but since they can't crack the cipher, they have no idea on how to proceed. This is where you come in."
"They are expecting to find this 'consultant' alive?" Sherlock asked, still staring into the microscope.
Mycroft sighed, "Her name is Lisa Adler, and if there is the slightest chance of finding her alive or catching the killer, you need to be across the Atlantic immediately."
"Fine, I'll go." Sherlock said, pushing himself back from the microscope and giving up on his research. He wouldn't be getting peace and quiet anytime soon, with any luck the cipher would take more than 5 minutes to solve.
Sherlock and John arrived in New York and were taken straight to the precinct to be briefed. They were presented with the case file and given a small office to work in. Sherlock sat at the table and began to look over the file, laying out the separate ciphers with their solutions.
"Hardly surprised they've got this far" Sherlock muttered without looking up, "these ciphers are just a simple alberti code."
John took the seat next to Sherlock and looked at the random lines of letters; they made no sense to him. "So we should have no problems solving the most recent one" John said, more as a question than a statement.
"The most recent one is different, numerical. It looks like it could be a Biphid cipher or a Polybius square." Sherlock said, rearranging the papers back together. The past ciphers were clearly going to be of no help.
John looked at the cipher; it was a string of fourteen double digits, too long to be coordinates. "But you can solve it?" he asked.
Sherlock looked at him blankly, "Of course, but not here." He said.
After much discussion with the captain of the precinct, Sherlock and John took a cab to a hotel. The captain had emphasized how critical time was, and then informed them they would be having some help. "I don't need help, I need quiet." Sherlock told him, but the captain had insisted. Lisa's assistant would be meeting them at the hotel.
When they finally make it to the hotel room, Sherlock sent John off to find 'decent tea' and nicotine patches, and then spread his note out on one of the beds.
John returned soon after with a bag of bits, plugged the kettle in and sat down on the comfy chair to wait.
"There must be a significant keyword" Sherlock muttered to himself, "but one the killer would know." He leafed through the pages, noting names and places.
John watched him patiently, knowing there wasn't much he could do yet. His thoughts were distracted by a quiet knock on the door. Sherlock glanced up at the door, and then to John, who took the hint, opened the door and came face to face with a friendly looking girl with a nervous smile.
She blushed as she spoke "Hey, I'm Clare Lasdun. Are you Sherlock Holmes?"
John laughed quietly, "No, I'm Dr John Watson, Sherlock is over there working on the cipher." He pointed casually, keeping his eyes on the American girl.
"Oh, sorry, the captain called and told me you would be here. I work with Lisa Adler, I was hoping I could help out." She explained, looking a little sheepish.
Sherlock heard the conversation, sighed deeply, and shouted over to the doorway "Had Ms Adler figured out the reason for this series of murders?"
John and Clare moved to stand near Sherlock as he continued to work, closing the door gently. "I'm not sure, but I have some of her notebooks. She did mumble about it clearly being a man, and a show-off, but that's pretty standard I think."
"Well then…" Sherlock said then paused, just as the kettle clicked, "It could be a Biphid cipher, Polybius square, two-square or four-square."
John looked at Clare, and then at the kettle "Did you understand any of that?"
Clare smiled, "Not a word, but he reminds me of Lisa" she said, and then sighed, "I really hope we get there in time."
John got three cups ready, and poured out the hot water, "She has the best chance possible now" he told her.
Sherlock, John and Clare worked into the night. Sherlock focussed on the current cipher, while John and Clare went through all the previous ciphers, looking for any kind of pattern. By morning, when the captain called John for an update, they had a lot of new information. Sherlock was acting suspicious, and left the room as John spoke on the phone.
"Yes, we're working our way through it now. Sherlock has a good idea of what type of cipher" John said into the phone, "Yes, Clare made it here, and she's been very helpful."
Sherlock came dashing into the room, and took the phone from John. "The pieces of paper that the ciphers were written on were cut after they had been written, fingerprints may remain on the cuttings you might want to check the trash. Also the victims might be tied to different buildings than the ones they were found in, there appears to be a pattern emerging, I suggest gathering everybody's work and school history. I'll call you back when I know the destination the new cipher is pointing to." He said, and then hung up. "Come along, we have somewhere to be." He said, grabbing his notebook and heading back out the door. John and Clare followed behind, "Where are you going?" John shouted. Clare grabbed his arm, "Shhh, I've seen that look on Lisa's face. That is the face of knowledge he isn't ready to share."
Outside the hotel one of the staff handed Sherlock the keys to a car, which he promptly passed to Clare, "You better drive." He said, climbing into the passenger seat.
"Where are we going?" Clare asked, turning over the engine.
"Have you heard of a place called Wyndham Mansion?" Sherlock asked with a smug glow on his face. Clare's face said it all, she knew exactly where that was and set off weaving through the New York traffic.
An hour and a half later, and after some creative driving, Clare pulled up outside Wyndham Mansion. Sherlock and John climbed out of the car and looked at the building, surprised it was still standing. Clare ran from the car towards the mansion, pulling a gun from inside her coat. John and Sherlock followed close behind, "Clare, be careful." John shouted.
Clare circled the Mansion quickly, looking in the windows that were remaining, and through the gaps in the wall. Around at the front of the house, she carefully opened the front door and slipped inside. She pointed to the body of a woman laid on the floor, before doing a quick sweep of the safe areas of the building.
"This looks wrong, not as neat as the others, and the cipher isn't on the body." Clare said, looking around the room.
Sherlock scanned the scene, clearly making mental notes, and then spied the cipher, "Ah! Found it, and it looks like a simple one again. John, call the captain, tell him where this building is, and tell him the cipher was different because the killer was aiming to trap Ms Adler. By the looks of this scene, he managed it." He said, then left and headed towards the car, followed closely by Clare.
"So you think she solved it, and came here alone?" Clare asked, in disbelief.
Sherlock leant against the car and looked at her, "Is Ms Adler a caring person?" he asked
Clare looked confused, "Yes she is, why?"
Sherlock smiled, "The killer made the cipher more difficult, so that it would take her longer to solve. By the time she knew the destination, she probably just wanted to get here to see if she could save the victim, and the mind can become very focussed in stressful situations, almost blinkered.
"So are we going to find her in the same manner?" Clare said, beginning to ear up, but fighting it.
"Not if we get there on time," he said, and then paused as he looked at the cipher, "Oh this is painfully simple. I can already see which one it is."
John appeared at the car, "The captain wasn't impressed we were here without him, we better get going." He said, climbing into the car.
"Right then, where are we heading to next?" Clare said, starting the car and pulling onto the main road.
Sherlock looked over his scribbling, "The power station in Yonkers." He said confidently. Clare took off down the road as fast as she dared, after about ten minutes she saw the local police racing to the scene they has just left, and put her foot down a little further.
Within an hour, they pulled up in the car park next to the old Yonker's steam power station. Clare set off towards the building, but John caught up with her, "There's no point running in there to get yourself killed, let's take this one slowly." He said. Clare nodded in reply. They set off cautiously towards the building, Clare heading round the back to look for alternative entry points, Sherlock and John making their way to the front door. Peeking through the main doors they see nothing but darkness, with silent signals they split up to look for the killer and for Lisa Adler.
Each of them took a different route, using their ears until their eyes adjusted to the darkness. They all heard the argument at the same time, and converged on the source from different directions. Suddenly Clare appeared in the room with the owner of the male side of the argument, having followed him from further down the building. Sherlock and John could both see the man, frozen to the spot in Clare's gun sights, but he was also looking around the room suspiciously. John dropped into the adjoining room from his mezzanine viewpoint, and grabbed a loose piece of pipe. Peeping through the door he saw Clare, who was looking increasingly concerned, the man having moved across the room and still denying knowledge of any kidnapping.
Suddenly the man pulled a gun from behind a piece of machinery and shot Clare in the shoulder, she fell to the floor only letting a gentle moan escape. John watched the man circle around the machinery to approach Clare, and took his opportunity to run out from his hiding spot behind a door. John made a loud clatter as he almost fell into the room, the gunman turned to face him but before he got chance to pull the trigger, John threw his pipe at the man. This knocked the man off balance, causing him to stumble backwards, and fall into the sights of Clare who wasted to time in shooting the man in the arm.
John watched the man drop the gun before he jumped to knock the man over, as he fell, the man struck his head on the wall, knocking him out.
John helped Clare to her feet and tried to inspect the wound, "It's not too bad; I just dropped to the floor hoping to distract him. Didn't help you practically fell into the room" she laughed. "Where's Sherlock?"
They hobbled out of the room, after hog-tying the gunman, to see Sherlock walking down the length of the building towards them, calmly talking to Lisa Adler.
Clare gasped and ran towards her friend, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Oh Lisa, I thought I'd lost you."
"Calm down, I'm fine. I told you he wasn't smart enough to kill me." Lisa explained, "Sherlock and I have been discussing the cipher, it showed such a lack of imagination. No wonder you found him so easily, I'm disappointed in myself for falling for such a trick."
"The cipher was easy, especially since the victim's ID had been left in the wrong pocket. She was clearly left handed; but her driver's license was in her right pocket. It minimised the data he could have used, not very inventive." Sherlock added, smiling at Lisa.
"I only got a second to glance at the final cipher before he knocked me out, but it looked like a ROT13, I think he really wanted to be caught." Lisa laughed.
John and Clare looked at each other, then at Sherlock and Lisa, it was startling how similar the teams were, but I suppose every Sherlock needs a Watson.