Sherlock - United Brothers

Chapter 3

Unbeknownst to John, the true reason behind why Sherlock had take it upon himself to find faults in his brother's comments was because he was more or less, playing a waiting game with him. Only he knew that a willing person from his notorious network had played a part in leaving a surprising message for the older brother. Unfortunately he couldn't be sure of the identity of the person responsible, who had stepped up to the plate.

"Your brother hasn't left...because his car's still parked in it's usual parking space outside here...but then again you pretty much know this already." While keeping close tabs on the comings and goings of Baker Street's residents and visitors, from the flat window, John had happened to catch a glimpse of the car parked outside between 221 Baker Street and Speedy's Sandwich Bar & Cafe. He wondered why he had bothered to open his mouth regarding this. Well his friend had more than likely probably figured this out by now anyway.

"Well it had to happen sooner or later, someone seizing the moment, with the crystal clear intention of making themselves known." The Consulting Detective soon presumed he had given away far too greater detail, too quickly. He hadn't actually intended to say anything at all but regrettably, a slip of the tongue was now perhaps bound to raise a few suspicions in John's mind.

Thankfully for him, John wasn't following the throwaway comment Sherlock had accidentally blurted out with regards to the graffiti on his brother's prized car. "Excuse me but what's that suppose to mean Sherlock?"

"I think one person from my homeless network has made their disliked feelings about Mycroft, loud and clear. You might as well, see the evidence for yourself before you argue a reason for why they simply had no perfect excuse to do what they felt they needed to do." Sherlock jumped up from his favourite armchair, threw aside his blue nightgown over the back of the armchair and retrieved his jacket. Soon enough the two of them were hurrying down two flights of stairs, past Mrs Hudson's small flat on the ground floor.

"Of course they had no bloody right. If your brother finds out who's responsible. The blame's bound to be pointed squarely at you Sherlock. Mycroft will accuse you of behaving childishly and immaturely, like a jealous younger brother, who doesn't think he's getting the praise he deserves.." John said.

Sherlock suddenly stopped himself in his tracks, from proceeding on towards the main front door. Both of them were now standing sideways by the new refurbished, rectangular mirror in the hallway. He was standing 20 centimeters in front of his Doctor friend, with his back turned to him. "Hmm, maybe I was wrong."

"What?, about what now?" John asked.

Believing this might be disrespectful, by keeping his head turned the other way, Sherlock decided to turn around to face John with a perceptive smile and explain what he accurately meant. "About you knowing just how long Mycroft can keep his cool and not buckle under immense pressure for. Normally he doesn't like being underestimated either, when someone attempts to play games with him. Believe me I've tried this as many times as possible and I've learnt that he doesn't like to be beaten while playing his favourite board game...Monopoly. When playing whatever game he's playing, he always prefers the winning mentality to help him beat an opponent."

"So he's more competitive than you are, Sherlock." John suggested while doing his utmost in keeping a straight face as well trying not to stop the likelihood of annoying him.

xxxxxxxxxxx

After reviewing the evident graffiti message on the side of his brother's car, they saw the older brother sitting alone through the window of Speedy's, the two of them jointly decided to go inside there to join him. "Secrets are the walls that keep us alone, protected from the strangers of the unknown. Of course you know in that dream palace of yours, the identity of the person responsible for this dearest brother but your gut feeling is clouding your judgement."

"So we can establish that they've officially spooked you then?" Sherlock commented. From time to time on one or two lighthearted occasions, he did take some delight in seeing his brother looking as nervous as a cat at a dog show.

"This isn't the time or place to be behaving like a know-it-all detective." Mycroft responded, managing to resist slamming the palm of his hand, heavily down on the table. "Your so called homeless network is centered within the capital, surely you can delve deeper into the running of it. Handpick out some of the guilty party perhaps."

"I'm not sure my followers will like being suspected or their day to day activities being watched by one of your people." Sherlock defended his homeless network even though he believed Mycroft was actually right, maybe someone was deceivingly infiltrating the network for their own benefit or was planted by one of his enemies.

"Well I'm afraid, you will need to do so...pronto. Before this person makes a flagship move and strikes while the iron's hot, in their personal vendetta against me and my colleagues." Mycroft reminded his brother.

"Isn't there still the matter of finding out who killed Andrew Miller unless there's an plausible connection between these two, maybe it's the same person responsible for both of these cases." John raised quite an interesting opinion, one which the two brothers hadn't realistically thought of.

"You are on an extraordinarily high roll today John." Sherlock knowingly grinned back at him and then at his surprised brother.

"Well I think it's perfectly clear to see, that you've made a long-lasting influence on him, brother of mine. It's no wonder, he's extremely quiet most of the time. He's practically correcting you on plenty of occasions." Mycroft fought back with his own amusing comment, it was enough to wipe the grin off Sherlock's face at least.

John further impressed the both of them, with what he reckoned the person might be potentially capable.

"Look what if this person wants something to gain from this, 15 minutes of fame by killing Andrew Miller because he got too close to witness something he wasn't meant to or something far worse, wants to bring down the network altogether from within. Final suggestion maybe they work for one of your haters...enemies."

"We don't know if there's a genuine connection as of yet. What can we possibly find out is whether the infiltrator is nearer to Baker Street." Sherlock clarified by making an interesting suggestion of his very own.

"Why would this person be in hiding within this street? Wouldn't they be further away rather closer than you think?" John did argue another brilliant case once again but Sherlock remained focused and determined on hopefully being proved right regarding this gut feeling of his.

"The homeless network consists of people across the length and bread of the UK, Birmingham, Cardiff, Sheffield and Liverpool, those cities allegedly consists of the most intelligent of the homeless network. The killer or our wanted person obviously wants us to think this. To throw us off the scent, needless to say whoever this person is, they're not the brightest spark I've yet to encounter." Sherlock explained his given reason.

"He's playing the more annoyingly Sociopath card. Okay Sherlock I will do some background check on your network people, see which ones have or don't have criminal records." Mycroft finally caved in to his brother's plan of action.

"You may claim you're helping but what you're really thinking is, that my plan isn't going to go succeed and that the person we're hoping to find, will no doubt probably be one hundred steps ahead of us" Sherlock didn't feel the fundamental need to construe what was secretly bothering his older brother because he had pretty much known this already. However as they had grown up together, Mother Holmes had taught both of the brothers, that siblings are bonded together by a profound respect for one another and that one of them can usually sense a case of trouble in their brother or sister.

"Not exactly, I've offered to provide you with assistance, so what more do you wish of me to do, boss DI Lestrade around and call him George or Gerald?" Mycroft sighed, emphasizing a suggested proposal. He overheard a loud, chesty and turned to see where it was coming from, he noticed that the cafe/bar owner was gesturing for the three men to leave, as it was now 6:30pm, roughly closing time.

xxxxxxxx

Mycroft was now heading home for the evening, in the very same car he had arrived within, in Baker Street. Bearing the weight of responsibility of the promise he had given was obviously on his mind. Her employer's uncommonly, subtle body language hadn't at all gone unnoticed by Anthea, who had sensed how stressed he seemingly looked. Normally he had the habit of shrugging off any questions about possible bad health, she had smartly known that cigarette smoking wasn't at the top of his priorities nowadays.

She never dared to ask him the most personal of questions and so only dared to ask a work related question instead. "What time would you like to be picked up for your meeting with Thomas Hoffman on Tuesday morning?" She asked.

"The usual time, 8.30. Best to make do with getting ahead of any expected traffic-jams or roadwork." He was hardly giving much away with regards to the earlier conversation he'd had with Sherlock and John in Speedy's. "It's been a strenuous day for me and in my mind as of now I feel I could do with a relaxing weekend. Gods know I haven't had one of those in a long time." Mycroft made a surprising acknowledgement. Although he dearly loved his job, sometimes he wished that his profession and his personal life wouldn't clash so often.

Of course he hadn't forgotten about the task of completing background checks on the homeless network, that remained a high priority for him to undertake. Once he got the information he could find, he planned on phoning his younger brother to inform on this new information. As he took out his expensive smartphone from his jacket pocket, his attention was suddenly drawn to the flashing light on the top right hand corner of the handset. A new message had been left for him.

"You will never find what you're looking for. The impossible will always remain impossible. Time is of the essence and that time will not be helpful nor relevant for you nor you brother...Mycroft." The message was clearly intended to plague and torment Mycroft's perspective of the things that meant the world to him, especially the safety and well being of his brother and his parents.

End of Chapter

All Reviews are welcome