Gregory Lestrade sat at the table feeling uncomfortable while Sally Donovan addressed the press.
"The body of Beth Davenport, Junior Minister for Transport, was found late last night on a building site in Greater London," she said. "Preliminary investigations suggest suicide. We can confirm that Davenport's death closely resembles those of Sir Jeffrey Patterson and James Phillimore."
"In light of this, these incidents are now being treated as linked. Although the investigation is ongoing, Detective Inspector Lestrade will take questions now."
She stepped aside so that he could take the podium, giving him a sympathetic look as she did so.
"Detective Inspector, how can suicides be linked?"
Good question. Whoever heard of serial suicides? That was the problem, though. So far, there was no other explanation.
"Well, they all took the same poison," he explained, although this was really no explanation at all, "they were all found in places they had no reason to be, none of them had shown any prior indications of –"
"But you can't have serial suicides," another reporter interrupted.
In the privacy of his head, Greg cursed. He'd been hoping nobody would bring that up.
"Well, apparently you can," he replied, staring at the reporter as though daring her to contradict him.
"These three people, there's nothing that links them?" the first reporter cut in smoothly. Obviously she understood Greg's mood, even if her colleague didn't.
"Apart from the method of their deaths? No, no other link has been found, but we have our best people on the job –"
He was interrupted this time by a cacophony of mobile ringtones. Oh no. Not now.
"If you've all got texts please ignore them," Sally was suddenly beside him, talking through the microphone.
"It just says 'Wrong'," said that same impertinent reporter, who Greg was beginning to really dislike.
"Well, if you'd turned off your phone as you were asked to before we started, you wouldn't know anything about a message, so I think it's safe to ignore," Sally said sharply. "In fact, since it's obvious nobody followed instructions, can everyone turn off their phones now, please?"
There was a resentful rustle as people turned off their phones, or at least put them on silent.
"One more question," Sally allowed, stepping back from the podium.
"Simon Parker, Daily Mail. If these are murders, how can people keep themselves safe?" a third reporter asked.
"Obviously, this is a frightening time for people, but all anyone has to do is exercise reasonable precautions. We are all as safe as we want to be."
As he finished speaking, there was the sound of a single text alert and all eyes moved toward the reporter who'd been irritating Greg all morning.
Clearly enjoying the attention despite the murderous look Sally sent her way, the girl fished her phone from her purse.
"It says 'Wrong' again," she proclaimed.
"How did he get through this time?" Greg asked wearily.
He was back at The Yard speaking to Sanjit Pasram, the new IT geek they'd hired specifically to deal with Sherlock's attacks. Had been forced to hire.
"We're not completely sure yet, Sir," Sanjit said. "Nobody should have been able to get a signal in there, let alone a text message. But he'll have left traces, and we can follow them."
"Okay, thanks," he dismissed the kid.
He flipped open his own phone as Sally came in and then handed it to her.
You know where to find me - SH
"Do we need to find him, Sir?" she asked.
"What do you mean, Donovan?"
"You know what I think of Sherlock Holmes, Sir, but he keeps telling us we're wrong. Maybe we should listen to him for once."
"Frankly, Sir, this case is a dead end. Maybe Sherlock can let us in on some of his ideas," she said.
"You don't seriously think he'd tell us anything, do you?" Greg objected. "You know what he's like. He can't work with people. Especially not you and Anderson."
"Do we need him to work with people, Sir?" Sally asked. "He did just imply he has vital information about our case in front of an entire room full of people."
Greg stared at Donovan. That was… That was brilliant.