The flat carried a darker atmosphere than it ever did that day. Sherlock and John trudged up the stairs dejectedly and departed to their rooms without a word, both deeply unsettled by the news.
Only by 8 p.m. that evening did the two emerge from their rooms at the response of a phone call.

RING! RING! RING!
John listened to the ringing of his phone on his bedside table, but he didn't stir. He didn't care if it was Mike, or the Yard, or the clinic, or anyone. He was done for the day and wasn't intending on leaving his room at all.
But eventually, after the chime of his phone rang out 3 times, the man groaned rather loudly in defeat and swung an arm to the side, grabbing his phone and automatically clicking the 'answer' button without glancing at the caller I.D.
"What?" John hissed into his phone.
"John?" A familiar voice shouted into the phone. John winced and drew the phone back a bit. "It's Anderson. Look, I know what has happened, but we need you and Sherlock back at the Yard."
"Why?" John questioned annoyingly. He really was sticking with his plans of not leaving the flat.
"Because. We've got a trail on Neo." Anderson said quickly. John couldn't help but feel the prick of curiosity in the back of his mind despite the looming depression over the situation with Lestrade. John didn't respond for a good two to three minutes, but Anderson remained on the other end patiently.
"We'll be there in a few minutes." John managed to say through gritted teeth. He truly was curious, and he needed something to get his mind off Greg.

Sherlock made sure for the third time that evening that his door was locked. The dimmed lights in his room gave off an eerie effect, but the detective didn't mind. Instead, the man stared intently at his reflection in the mirror. Sherlock took in his paler skin and his hollow cheeks. Something was wrong with him for the past two to three weeks or so, Sherlock knew it.
"John won't find out, John won't find out, John won't find out," Sherlock chanted as he pulled back the sleeves of his suit and piled them near the elbow, revealing the scattered blue bruises and few scabs against his alabaster arms. Right at that moment a wave of pain overtook the detective and Sherlock winced, gritting his teeth. He crumpled to the floor and groaned. The waves of pain had become routine now, occurring for over a week now, only getting worse each time. The pain usually centered around Sherlock's abdomen and partially around his lungs. His mind was what hurt the most however, his brain rattling against his skull in displeasure.
Sherlock wasn't sure whether the pains were what caused his thoughts to be less ordered, but he for one was sure that something was making them scatter more and more by the day.
The detective remained in a fetal position and gripped his knees against his chest tightly, clenching his jaw as if it would help ease the tidal wave of pain until it would pass.
Right at that moment a knock came from the door. Sherlock held back a groan.
"Sherlock?" John asked, knocking once more.
"What?" The detective said in a strained voice, trying to make it sound like he wasn't writhing in pain on the floor. His mind rivaled with itself. Just tell him. Just bloody tell him and it can end.
"We've got a trail on Neo." Neo. That bastard's the reason that Lestrade's in the hospital.
"Go on then. I'm done with the case." Sherlock spat. It wasn't the pain speaking now, but Sherlock's mind. He truly was done with the case, he didn't want anything to do with the man who had been the cause for his colleague landing in the hospital.
"Please don't tell me you're angry because he's apparently the reason Lestrade's in the hospital. If it weren't for him we wouldn't have ever found out about Lestrade having the disease." John said glumly at the memory. Sherlock scowled and slowly rose from the ground, the pain subsiding like it always did. The man quickly tugged his sleeves back into place and approached the door. He didn't respond to John's remark and proceeded to fiddle with the lock.
Sherlock, for the second time that week, had a difficult time with the lock. His slender fingers which usually unfastened the lock with ease fumbled with the metal latch despite how easy it truly was to unlock it. In a minute's time Sherlock pried open the lock and flung open the door frustratingly. He paid no mind to John and brushed past the smaller man.
"Are we going to the Yard?" John mused.
"Yes. Let's catch this bastard before he sends another innocent soul to the damn hospital." Sherlock replied menacingly, pulling on his overcoat and tossing John his. The two made their way out of the flat and eventually out of the building. They then proceeded with their usual routine of hailing a cab and the two departed for the Yard.

Anderson and Sally were placed in charge of the whole case since Lestrade had landed in the hospital.
Sherlock and John were distressed greatly after hearing this, knowing how "great" the relationship the four of them all had. But in memory of Lestrade, Sally and Anderson took it upon themselves to not be complete arses towards the flatmates. And with this, the four got along well enough to get things done.
"Alright then. We got a trail. A new girlfriend of Neo's who's serving as our 'spy' in some aspect has identified the place to where Neo flees each evening by planting a tracker we had lent to her on him. Anyways, we found that he goes down to the sewage systems and is following some devised path which leads him closer and closer to the exit leading to London's generators. The reason as to why he wants to get to the generators is still unknown." Sally stated, reciting the evidence off of papers she had in her hands.
"The bad thing is that Neo had somehow gotten rid of the tracker, and we have no current spares that actually work without losing their signal in the pipe systems. The only method we have left is to trail him ourselves and find out the purpose of going down to the sewers each evening." Anderson added.
Sherlock and John pushed the looming thought of Lestrade out of their minds and focused on the case.
"Alright, we've got the destination taken care of, but how does this still tie to the six deaths, as well as Antonia?" John questioned.
"Former love affair with Antonia. Left him for another man. We suspect that he killed her out of anger. The other suspects were picked by name so the anagram would work out. It's our best theory so far." Anderson responded. Sherlock perked up at this.
"That's just sick. Killing people so a riddle would work?" John spat out. Sherlock pursed his lips nervously.
"There's one more thing, John," Sherlock whispered. John turned around and glanced up at his friend, "I remembered where McAbee came from. That stupid show on the telly we were watching a week or so back. The contestant was-"
"William McAbee." John interjected, his eyes wide with remembrance.
"It's Neo. But why would he go on the show?" Anderson asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
"I know why," Sally stated, "I found out more about that sibling rivalry between William, I mean Neo, and Peter. It turns out that a year or so before his death, Peter went on the show under William's (Neo's) name. He dressed up and used methods of makeup and such to look like the swine he did, and made a fool of Neo since everyone thought it was him that actually went on the show and looked like that. This heated up the rivalry, and William had his name changed to Neo a few weeks after the incident to avoid further embarrassment and so that he wouldn't share the same last name as his sibling. Only months later Peter turned up dead. The reason as to why Peter even did what he did is still unknown. The only thing which the relatives admitted to and knew was the incident itself."
"That clears up things for the sibling rivalry, but I still don't see the connection this has with Antonia and the other victims." John announced. Sherlock glared at the man for a moment before shouting in realization.
"Holy. Shit. John, hand me a paper and pen, NOW." The detective ordered. John snapped into action and grabbed the requested materials off a nearby desk. Sherlock snatched it out of the man's hand and wrote down 'Neo Bats'. He started to scratch out and rearrange the words until he came up with a new phrase.
"'One stab'." Sherlock announced, revealing the anagram within the name. Sally slapped a hand over her mouth and John felt his mouth droop open.
"One stab was what killed Peter." John said quickly. "Neo was his killer, after all."
"The idiot changed his name in pride of something he would accomplish; killing the sibling that had brought upon his embarrassment and damage to identity. That was his greatest mistake," Sherlock deducted. He then stopped and thought for a moment before the gears in his mind started turning once more, "Sally, get a background check on Peter, now." The woman nodded once and dashed to a desk cluttered with papers and folders, searching through the contents until she got a file for Peter.
"There isn't much since we weren't focusing on him, so I'd need to do another round of interviews. I'll depart in a moment to take care of that. You three, in the meantime, can trail after Neo tonight. It's already 8:45 anyways. The faster we get to the bottom of this, the better." Sally stated flatly, grabbing the nearly-empty file, a notepad, and pencil before leaving the office.
Anderson shifted uncomfortably in his spot and started slowly backing away towards the office exit.
"How about you two take care of things? I'll go with Sally. We need less people crawling away in those sewers anyways." Anderson suggested, and left the office before John or Sherlock could have responded.
The two stood there for a moment before they snapped into action once more. Sherlock sighed and glanced down at John.
"Guess it's just the two of us." Sherlock said flatly. John nodded and motioned towards the door.
"As always." John responded.