Safe As Houses
Chapter 10
BBC sherlock fanfiction, no copyright infringement intended.
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Warnings: Slash, Heavy graphic drug use, Addiction, Homelessness, not betaed (sorry)
Detective Sergeant Moriarty was in the central CCTV surveillance room that was able to view any camera in Central London. There was a huge wall of monitors in front of him, and he was tracking the dip squad teams as they done their street level surveillance around London. He was glued to the screens, brown eyes flicking from one to another, taking the details in.
Now last night as he had been hacksawing off the hand of a Polish pickpocket, he had started screaming something through the gag, anything to stop the blades slow progression through the bone. He heard something like `information` and `consulting pick-pocket` which peaked Moriarty`s interest. He left the hacksaw blade jammed in the bone, and picked one of his bloody latex gloves off by the wrist to reach into his inside breast pocket. Moriarty withdrew a flick knife and swiftly put it under the duct tape gag and cutting it.
"What was that Borys, I couldn`t hear you." He asked.
"The Consulting pick-pocket, he tells us where the police are. Best pick pocket in London!" The man hyperventilated, eyes fixed on the blood pouring from his wrist to run down the chair arm and to add to the growing pool of blood soaking into the carpet.
"The best pick-pocket?" Now this was interesting. The man had started blubbering, and Moriarty grew inpatient. "You`ll have to hurry up if you want to save that hand."
The man nodded, "He tell us where the police are. He`s the best, but he don`t work for anyone. Never caught. We give him drugs and money, and..." He glanced down at his hand, and started sobbing again.
"Borys...concentrate." Moriarty warned darkly, his still latexed hand touched the hacksaw handle in warning.
"He tell us about the police, so we know where to go."
"Huh..." Moriarty mulled the information over. Borys` ring had been particularly evasive of their surveillance, "Borys that doesn`t mean you can stop talking."
"I-I..." The polish man stuttered. "Name is Sherlock, but no address, phone always changing. Tall, dark brown hair. I think he`s homeless, so he always watching the police...but I can arrange meeting! I`ll set up a meeting!" He tried desperately.
Moriarty considered this briefly, "Naaaah. Thanks Borys." Moriarty put his latex glove back on and re-ductaped the man`s mouth, more secure this time. "But nobody likes a snitch." Moriarty told him before going back to sawing.
But that little tit bit of information had intrigued him, that he spent half a day combing the files for a Sherlock, but nothing. Not even a name that resembled Sherlock in the records.
So now he had spent the past 3 days watching the CCTV cameras, looking for anyone around the undercover teams. People thought his method`s eccentric, but since he had come in to the team, the figures had spoke for themselves so he was left to follow up his leads on his own.
He watched the camera tailing DSs Donovan and Anderson as they patrolled up and down Oxford street. They were watching a suspicious group, but Moriarty wasn`t interested in them, they were too obvious, obvious enough for Donovan and Anderson to trail.
But a tall figure with his back to the camera caught his attention, he was leaning against one of the black railings near the pedestrian crossing. "Him." He told the operator at the camera controls. "I want to see his face, do we have another angle."
"Yeah..." The operator said, and the camera feed view changed to the opposite time.
"Closer." Moriarty directed and the camera zoomed in. Dark hair, tall, not a tourist, but didn`t look homeless. At first look it seemed like he was just waiting for someone, but actually he was watching Donovan and Anderson, who were completely oblivious. Morons, Moriarty thought.
"Keep an eye on him." Moriarty told the operator, he checked the battery on his police radio on his belt hidden by his beige jacket. "If he moves radio me."
Sherlock watched the familiar pair of coppers, he had seen them several times around the place, always stalking for low level pick-pockets. Their sweep patterns had changed again, so Sherlock decided to tail them for a few hours, seeing if there was anything different in their strategies.
He had stayed at John`s for a few nights, before he needed to come out and score. The doctor seemed to tolerate his presence, and now Sherlock was working on this case for a few vested parties it was just convenient to keep all research at John`s. When he figured this out he`d go, but for now it was convenient.
The coke kept him alert, and he thought hard about Operation Spider-web as he watched the two talk in hushed tones.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by a slight man beside him. "Are you looking for a good time?" The man asked suggestively.
Sherlock looked at him, noted the union jack LONDON cap, light jacket and jeans that screamed TOURIST.
"Soho`s that way." He waved the man off, irritated at having his chain of thought interrupted by someone trying to pick him up for a blow job in an alleyway.
The man just smiled not being put off, straight white teeth showing. "Or are you looking for someone`s wallet to pick-pocket."
That caught Sherlock`s attention, and he looked more closely at the man. No not a tourist, plain clothes detective, Sherlock kept his calm, and didn`t respond.
The man casually joined him on the railings. "Or are you looking at those two numptys, watching the thieving numptys."
Sherlock gave him his full attention, but he was more than a little surprised.
The DS could read it, "Oh yes Sherlock, I know about you. I`ve been watching you on the cameras. Watching you, watching them, watching the others, it`s getting all rather complicated isn`t it."
"What do you want?" Sherlock asked lowly, this could be his connection. This man was police, but there was something very very off about him.
""Just want to say Hi." The police man said in a sing-song tone, "I`m DS Moriarty, I`m on the dip squad. But I`m not like them." He indicated Donovan and Anderson, who hadn`t even noticed him. "The little robo-cops, my god they arrest some low level dipper and you should hear them congratulate themselves, never mind they`re back out on the streets in 3 months. No immagination, they just don`t think big enough."
"And you`re different?" Sherlock asked, the throngs of people passing around them as they talked, in their own little word.
"Well, I don`t like to brag but..." Moriarty put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Things getting tough for your clients? You trying to give them a hand?" He asked chuckling to himself at the dark joke.
Sherlock`s eyes narrowed. Borys had been killed a few days ago. "What are you doing?"
"My job Sherlock, protecting the streets of London." Moriarty lied.
"No..." Sherlock read his body language. "You enjoy it."
"Nothing wrong with enjoying your work. Speaking of which, you not gonna do any lifting today, go on, give me a chance to arrest you." Moriarty egged him on. "Or do I just need to search you, see what goodies you`ve got in your pockets."
Sherlock`s body tensed, Borys had talked, he must have. This policeman knew too much, yet he hadn`t just arrested him.
"But what fun would that be, that`s just to easy to get you on a possession charge." Moriarty admitted, jumping up onto the railings, he wasn`t going to go chasing after Sherlock, he had no intention of arresting him really. "I`m actually really glad I found out about you, it just makes things so much more fun. Like I thought this was going to be boring, but now I know you`re around well, we can play this little game a bit longer."
"People are dying..." Sherlock said testing, it was a leap, he may be a copper but he seemed unbalanced enough to just be involved somehow in the murders.
Moriarty`s expression darkened. "That`s what people do, especially when they`re on the wrong side of the law. Criminals, homeless drug addicts...it`s a dangerous lifestyle." The subtle threat hung there out in the open.
Sherlock had enough data for now, and stepped away from the policeman intent to lose him in the crowds.
"Catch you later." Moriarty said back in his sing-song from the railing.
Sherlock turned to look back at him as he walked away. "No you won`t."
The game was on.
Author`s notes
Moriarty is soooo much fun to write, not sure what that says about me. I didn`t plan this to be a casefic when I started, but I guess it`s turned into a conspiracy fic.