The consulting detective waited in the mouth of an alley opposite Scotland Yard. He watched every person who stepped out of the glass doors. The genius stood on the edge, ready to leap after the man he was waiting for. His eyes scanned the people who moved around on the pavements.
Men in expensive suits bustled along the street side by side with women in posh blouses, each in a rush to reach their next meeting. They, experienced Londoners, dodged the shoppers and tourists who crowded the pavements and wandered along aimlessly.
Movement from the doors made the detective look over to the front of Scotland Yard. The man he had been waiting for came limping out. Doctor John Watson. The cane that Sherlock knew John should have was nowhere to be seen and the doctor was beginning to struggle without it. He had obviously thought that he could last with leaving the cane at his house.
The doctor quickly hurried down the steps so that he was beside the road. People barged into the hobbling doctor as he attempted stop in their flow. The short man stuck his hand out to hail a passing cab and Sherlock sprang into action. He rushed to the curb and threw his arm up to get the attention of a passing cab driver.
A familiar black car pulled up in front of the tall man almost immediately. Sherlock saw John sigh as the vehicle had passed straight passed him.
The sociopath clambered into the cab and lent forward to look like he was speaking with the driver when actually watching the blonde doctor across the road.
"Where to?" The cabbie asked after Sherlock hadn't spoken.
"When my friend there gets into a cab we will be following him." The genius stated quickly.
"Ummm," The man shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure."
The man didn't trust that Sherlock was John's friend.
"I'll pay double." Sherlock bribed with even looking at the cabbie.
He could practically hear the cogs turning in the driver's head as be weighed up the pros and cons.
"Fine." The cabbie grumbled just in time as a taxi stopped in front of John.
Sherlock's cabbie pulled away slowly from the curb and got behind the other taxi. They began to follow John slowly and discreetly. Sherlock had to admit that his taxi driver was good at this. He always stayed one or two cars back to avoid detection and weaved in between traffic as if he was ferrying a normal passenger.
The journey began to go on for longer than the consulting detective had expected.
A frown slowly formed on the sociopath's face as the drove further and further away from the centre of London. Surely John didn't travel this far in everyday?
The tall skyscrapers were doing dwindling down to just tall apartments and buildings, all the large offices of the major coperations had been left behind.
They were entering a darker and rougher side of London and Sherlock could see the cab driver getting increasingly shifty and alert. He probably didn't come into this area often.
They had been travelling for almost 45 minutes now and Sherlock was sure that John knew that he was being followed after all, the roads were almost empty.
The sociopath tapped his foot on the floor of the taxi in impatience. Where are they going?
The cabbie switched the lights on as the shadows grew longer. They carried on through the rough neighbourhood. John's cab suddenly took a sudden turn into an apartment complex and Sherlock's driver braked sharply at the entrance of the road. The road itself was potholed and cracked while large trees hung overhead making it dark. Sherlock could imagine it being a crime scene one day, a scene of a murder.
"Sorry mate," The cabbie turned to speak with the detective. "I'm not going down there."
"Fine," The genius huffed. "Stay here. I'll need a lift back to London after I write down the address."
The cabbie agreed hesitantly. Sherlock slid out of the car and strode down the dark road towards the flats that be could see on the other end of the 300 meter stretch. He wouldn't admit that he was also uncomfortable here.
I'm sorry that it is a short chapter but I wanted to leave it there so I have time to describe the flats.
Lockie x