**I do not own Sherlock! I only own Sarafina and Liza Holmes!**
Chapter 4
At Lukis' flat, Sherlock ducks under police tape at the bottom of the stairs and walks upstairs, followed by Dimmock, John, and Liza. Looking at everything, he walks into the living room. There's an empty suitcase on the floor and a black origami flower nearby, similar to the one Sherlock had pulled from Van Coon's mouth. Books are scattered on the desk, bookshelf, and the floor, along with several newspapers. He walks to the kitchen area and looks out the window at the nearby buildings. As he pushes the curtains back for a better look, he smirks.
"Four floors up. That's why they think they're safe. Put a chain across the door and bolt it shut; think they're impregnable." He walks to the middle of the room. "They don't reckon for one second that there's another way in." He turns towards the stairs and sees a skylight above the landing.
"I don't understand." Dimmock says. Sherlock goes onto the landing. Liza follows.
"The killer can climb…" She says quietly. Sherlock nods his head and hops up on something to get closer to the skylight.
"What are you doing?" Dimmock asks.
"He clings to the walls like an insect." Sherlock replies as he unhooks the latch and pushes the window up. "That's how he got in." Sherlock adds quietly.
"What?!"
"Climbed up the side of the walls, ran along the roof, dropped in through this skylight."
"You're not serious! Like Spiderman?!"
"He scaled six floors of a Docklands apartment building, jumped the balcony to kill Van Coon." Dimmock laughs in disbelief.
"Oh, ho-hold on!"
"And of course that's how he got into the bank. He ran along the window ledge and onto the terrace." He steps down and looks around. "We have to find out what connects these two men." He looks over to a pile of books scattered up the side of the staircase. He jumps down a few stairs, with Liza in tow, and picks up a book. He opens the front page to reveal that it had been borrowed from West Kensington Library. Liza looks over his shoulder. "Field trip!" She says quietly. He rolls his eyes and slams the book shut. He keeps it with him as he heads down the stairs.
After the taxi ride, they arrive at West Kensington Library. They hop on an escalator and Sherlock finds his way to the aisle where Lukis' book had come from.
"Date stamped on the book is the same day that he died." He checks the reference number on the bottom of the books spine and goes to the place along the shelves and starts to pull out books and examine them. John and Liza join in. Almost immediately, John finds something.
"Sherlock." Sherlock turns and walks over to him and grabs a handful (a huge one if I do say so myself *faints*) of books. He pulls out another huge handful of books with the other hand to reveal the two spray-painted symbols on the back of the shelf that matched the ones in Sir William Shad's office. Back at 221B, photos of the shelf had been added to the collection of photos around the mirror in the living room. Sherlock, John, and Liza all stand at the fireplace looking at the pictures.
"So, the killer goes to the bank, leaves a threatening cipher for Van Coon; Van Coon panics, returns to his apartment, locks himself in. Hours later, he dies."
"The killer finds Lukis at the library; he writes the cipher on the shelf where he knows it'll be seen; Lukis goes home." John adds.
"Later that night, he dies too." Liza adds in as well.
"Why did they die, Sherlock?" John asks softly. Sherlock runs his fingers over the picture of the graffiti on the portrait from the bank.
"Only the cipher can tell us." He taps his finger against the photo thoughtfully as his expression sharpens.
"Looks like someone has an idea." Liza sing-songed.
Later, the boys and Liza walk through the centre of Trafalgar Square, heading towards the National Gallery.
"The worlds run on codes and ciphers, John. From the million-pound security system at the bank, to the PIN machine you took exception to, cryptography inhabits our every waking moment."
"Yes, okay, but…"
"…but it's all computer-generated: electronic codes, electronic ciphering methods. This is different. It's an ancient device. Modern code-breaking methods won't unravel it."
"Where are we headed?"
"I need to ask some advice."
"What?! Sorry?!" Sherlock looks at him darkly as John smiles in disbelief.
"You heard me perfectly. I'm not saying it again."
"You need advice?"
"On painting, yes. I need to talk to an expert." Liza gasps.
"You mean we're going to see…?" She pauses and Sherlock rolls his eyes.
"Liza, this primary school crush of yours has to stop."
"Crush? On who?" John asks. Liza grins.
"You'll see." She starts walking faster and Sherlock looks at John and rolls his eyes. John smiles and they head towards the entrance to the gallery. They then go around to the rear of the building where a young man has spray-stenciled onto a grey metal door the image of a policeman holding a rifle with both his hands. The policeman has a pig's snout instead of a human nose. There's a large canvas bag at his feet and he is holding spray cans in each hand. He had sprayed his tag, "RAZ" below the painting and was making the finishing touches to his 'artwork'. Unperturbed, he continues spraying as they walk up to him, Liza still grinning like an idiot.
"Part of a new exhibition." 'Raz' says.
"Interesting." Sherlock says disinterestedly.
"I call it Urban Bloodlust Frenzy." He says chuckling.
"Catchy." John comments.
"Cool." Liza says dreamily.
"Hey, you brought Liza with you. How ya doin, love?" Raz replies. Liza just about falls over and looks at Sherlock.
"He knows my name!" She whispers excitedly. He rolls his eyes.
"Well of course he does, you make it a point to mention it every chance you get." She smacks him on the arm.
"I've got two minutes before a Community Support Officer comes round that corner." He stops spraying and looks at Sherlock. "Can we do this while I'm workin'?" Sherlock takes his phone out of his coat pocket and holds it out to Raz. He turns around and tosses a spray can at John. He instinctively catches it and looks at Sherlock and Raz, bewildered. Raz takes Sherlock's phone and scrolls through the pictures of the yellow ciphers from Sir William's office and the library.
"Know the author." Sherlock asks.
"Recognize the paint. It's like Michigan; hardcore propellant. I'd say zinc." Liza turns to John.
"He's so smart." He rolls his eyes and turns back to the conversation.
"What about the symbols: d'you recognize them?" Raz squints at the pictures.
"Not even sure it's a proper language." John looks at Liza.
"Yeah, he's a real Albert Einstein…" She smacks him on the arm.
"Two men have been murdered, Raz. Deciphering this is the key to finding out who killed them."
"What, and this is all you've got to go on? It's hardly much, now, is it?"
"Are you gonna help us or not?"
"I'll ask around."
"Somebody must know something about it."
"Oi!" A voice calls out. They look round and see two Community Support Officers hurrying towards them. Sherlock grabs the phone back from Raz and runs in the opposite direction with Liza behind him. Raz drops his spray can, kicks the bag towards John, and runs. John turns towards the officers. "What the hell do you think you're doing? This gallery is a listed public building."
"No, no, wait, wait. It's not me who painted that." He holds up the can. "I was just holding this for…" He turns and, for the first time, realizes he's been abandoned. He sighs quietly as the officer kicks open the bag, only to reveal more spray cans inside. He looks pointedly at John.
"Bit of an enthusiast, are we?" John stares at them blankly and turns to do the same with the graffiti on the door, contemplating how he was going to explain his way out of this.
Poor John. Well, it is his fault for just standing there anyways. So, how'd you like it? I thought id give Liza a little schoolgirl crush on Raz, just to spice things up a bit. Shes also very violent in this chapter. Anyways, loved the reviews on the last chapter. Keep em coming! I love to hear from you guys. :)