After Sherlock had declared that he knew the link, a link that no one else could see, he ran out to the nearest road and flagged down a taxi. Sherlock and John jumped in and Sherlock told the driver to go to the London University.
When the cab pulled up outside the huge stone campus Sherlock hopped out and paid the driver before walking leisurely up towards the big wooden doors. "Ahh the smell of spot cream and hair gel, the aroma of the youth." John turned the big brass handle and flung the door open allowing Sherlock to sweep in and slam the door behind them. Sherlock walked across the marble floor to a big oak desk on the far side of the room and rung a small silver bell. After a few seconds a small woman of about 30, with light blond hair and horn rimmed glasses emerged from a door behind the desk. "Welcome to London university how may I help you?" she said politely.
"I'm Dr. John Watson and this is Sherlock Holmes, you may know us from the paper, we're here on Scotland Yard duty." John said before Sherlock could be rude.
"Oh yes the man with the funny hat and the bachelor." The receptionist said with a giggle.
"Yes I had a hat on and yes John is single but could you please show us to your chemistry labs, I'm starting to get bored." Sherlock said with a deep sigh.
"I would hurry up he shoots things when he's bored." John said sincerely.
"OK right this way" she said with a concerned expression, beginning to walk quickly down a long marble and oak hallway.
By the time they arrived at the science labs the walls had gone from expensive oak to sterilized metal and plastic.
The receptionist stopped at a big metal door with the words chemistry lab 6 Dr. James Masklett in bold black letters. "Here you go gentlemen I hope you find what you're looking for and if you have any problems please feel free to come and find me."
"Thank you very much" john said on behalf of him and Sherlock who had already opened the door to the lab and was arguing with a large burly man of about fifty with greying hair and black, rounded glasses, who john presumed was Dr. James Masklett. "I'd better go and sort him out" he said and with that he followed Sherlock inside.
"Oh great two people now, shall we have a party?" Dr. Masklett was shouting furiously.
I'm sorry sir, we're from Scotland Yard we just need to take a quick look around." John said, trying to calm him down.
"I don't care if you're from Scotland Yard you could be from Raxicoricofallipatorius for all I care, why do you need to take a look around my lab." He yelled.
"Because your lab partner, Alex Daniels, was murdered last night and we need to find something to help us find the murderer." Sherlock said without even a hint of sympathy.
"Oh, err, sorry I had no idea, please; knock your self out, take a look around." He said his expression softening and his face going bright red with embarrassment.
"Thank you" john said again whilst Sherlock began to root around in desk drawers. Sherlock opened a large door at the back of the room releasing steam and revealing a steep staircase descending down into darkness. "What's down there" Sherlock asked with a flourish of his hand towards the stairs.
"Oh that, that's just the cold storage for the acids and stuff." Dr. Masklett said.
"Mind if we have a look" Sherlock asked.
"Yeah sure, knock yourselves out" Dr. Masklett said again.
The three men descended the stairs into the small dark refrigerated room.
"Brrr it's freezing down here. John said, pulling his jacket in closer around his shoulders. Sherlock had begun to root around again ignoring john's comment about the temperature. After about five minutes of searching, Sherlock's voice came from behind a stack of barrels. "Dr. Masklett, can you come here for a second." Dr. Masklett walked over to Sherlock who pointed to a line of barrels.
"What about them?" Dr. Masklett asked.
"The name on them is TRIAROMY CO, now I know a lot about different companies but I've definitely never heard of this one." Sherlock said.
"Well neither have I, this was Alex's area, not mine, so I don't know where he gets his supplies from. He said.
"Do you know where we might find anything like transaction details, email references, you know that kinda stuff."
"Umm yeah that kinda stuff would be in the dean's office probably."
"Right that'll be our next destination then" Sherlock said sweeping out of the room and up the stairs, his long coat billowing behind him. Dr. Masklett and john didn't move and a few seconds later Sherlock's voice came from the top of the stairs, "where's the dean's office" he shouted. John and Dr. Masklett laughed and walked up the stairs after him.
After following Dr. Masklett for 10 minutes and getting lost 3 times with Dr. Masklett insisting he'd never been there before, but Sherlock knew he was lying and he'd forgotten where it was. When they finally arrived at the dean's office Dr. Masklett knocked and the clang of teacup on saucer and then "come in" was heard from beyond the door. Dr. Masklett opened the door and Sherlock and John followed him in. the Dean was a tall man of about thirty who was wearing an expensive suit and had his hair gelled back in a professional fashion. "How can I help you lads?"
"Good morning dean this is Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson they are here on Scotland Yard duty as Alex Daniels was murdered last night."
"Oh yes, I heard he wouldn't be returning, shame, he was a lovely fellow."
"Yeah so they just need to take a look at Alex's files if that's OK."
"Yes, that's fine, third drawer down on the left" he said helpfully but of course Sherlock already had his head buried in the drawer. A few minutes later he straightened up and flapped a piece of paper in the air. "Here we are" he said "this is just what I was looking for" he said waving it in john's face. "He'd been paying Jim Triaromy for about 22 months but in October 2011 he cancelled the membership, then a day later he got an email from this Jim asking why, he said because he smelt a rat and then that's it there's nothing else." He said. "Well thank you very much" Sherlock said, and with that he stormed out of the door followed by John, leaving the dean and Dr Masklett to look at each other in amazement.
