Thank you to everyone who is reading, alerting, favoriting etc, but especially to DonnaDonnaNoble and Linnadra for reviewing.

Also, thought it's best to let you know that things might be slowing up for a while cos I've got exams. Sorry!

Enjoy :)

"What on Earth?" Edith exclaimed as Sherlock burst through the door with two large boxes.

"Books." He said, putting them down on the floor then stepping over them and walking further into the room. "Every book belonging to Van Coon and every book belonging to Lukis."

"Oh, because that makes perfect sense!" She snapped, sarcastically.

"Where do you want these?" One of the policemen asked from the door.

"Anywhere." Sherlock replied, opening up his laptop.

Edith watched as more boxes were brought up, and shifted the original two so that they were no longer in the way of the door. "Care to explain?" she asked, once the other men had left. Sherlock moved his head to indicate he was listening, but didn't actually look at her. Sighing in frustration she carried on. "First we retrace the steps of two dead men and end up in china town, then I have a row with a police officer, because you want someone to patrol a Chinese gift shop, and he threatens to charge me with wasting police time, while you get some 'help' on painting from some hooligan and tell me that you'll meet me here in an hour."

"So?"

"So, that was this morning, or early afternoon, or something, and now I'm tired and I don't understand why the flat now looks like we are collecting for charity." She waved her hand in the direction of the books.

"I've got some people looking out for more traces of the paint. Then I talked to someone at the National Antiques Museum. She confirmed that Van Coon and Lukis were both smugglers and the Lucky Cat is their drop off point, but she also told me about the code. It's a book code! The numbers, they're always in pairs, to give you the page, and then the word. All we have to do is to find the right book." Sherlock took two books out of the top box, and started sifting through. "Edith, I need you to help me. Make yourself a coffee and a sandwich, and then sit here." He took a note pad and a pen out of the desk draw. "Any books I give you write down the first word on the 15th page. Somehow we'll find it."

~X~

Edith wanted to shut her eyes and sleep, but there were so many books left to sort out. She found herself staring absentmindedly at Sherlock in his dark purple shirt, when her phone rang. Upturning a number of books, she answered it sleepily.

"Hello?"

"Is that Edith Crawley, Sybil's sister?"

"Yes, why who is this?"

"My name's Tom. I'm Sybil's boyfriend. Look, Sybil's had an accident at army training and we're now in Winchester Hospital. She's awake, but she's got concussion and they've recommended that she goes home. The problem is Sybil doesn't want to face a car journey to Yorkshire, or her dad. Your dad, sorry. Anyway she wondered if you could maybe help? I could check us into a hotel if not but…"

"Wait, wait wait, what?" Edith stopped the young man.

"Sybil has got concussion."

"Yeah, I got that. Are you trying to ask if she can stay here?" In her sleepy state and his clear panic, they were going to have to take this conversation slowly.

"Yes, if that's okay."

"Err, I should think that's fine. Shall I meet you at the hospital?"

"Um, I suppose that would be best."

"Is this Sybil's mobile?"

"Yup."

"Right, I'll call you when I'm nearer."

"Okay. See you in a bit." He hung up, and Edith willed herself to wake up, and process what was going on. Quickly she grabbed her handbag and pulled on her boots.

"I'm going out for a bit. I'll probably have company when I get back." She got a murmur in response from Sherlock, who piled another two books on the desk next to her list. She rolled her eyes at him and clattered down the stairs, shutting the front door behind her. Edith shivered, and pulled her coat tighter around herself as she walked to the tube station, hoping desperately that tubes ran at whatever time it was. She managed to get to Waterloo, where she found a train bound for Winchester. On the train she cringed at her weary reflection on her phone, and tried to neaten herself up, before sitting back and watching London crawl past.

The stop-start journey was getting a bit tedious. It seemed like late night trains had a tendency to stop at more stations, most of which were empty anyway, but as they rattled into one of these stations, something caught Edith's eye. She abandoned her seat and walked along the train until she was directly opposite it; a wall painted with the same Chinese numbers, in the same yellow paint. She took a picture and sent it to Sherlock with a short message of 'Hope this helps! Xx'

~X~

Edith got a taxi from the station to the hospital and called Tom, on her way there. On arrival she spoke to a receptionist and was shown to Sybil's room.

"Edith!" Sybil exclaimed. "Oh, God I was so happy when Tom got hold of you. I wasn't sure if you'd still be up, but I really didn't want to call home."

"Sybil, it's okay. So what happened?"

"I'm not really sure. I thought I walked into something – like the assault course, but someone told me that I'd been hit round the head by someone's rifle. Anyway, I was moved from onsite to here pretty quickly and Tom turned up before I was conscious. We'd arranged to meet up and when I didn't show, he came looking for me. I don't know how he got in, but he'd be able to talk himself into anywhere if necessary. He's just gone for a coffee, so he'll be back in a minute. So, why were you up?"

"Oh, I was helping Sherlock sort books out. He doesn't believe in sleep when he's working."

"Ah, that's not good. Ooh coffee!" Tom walked in with a steaming cup, which Sybil quickly took from him, with a subtle flutter of eyelashes, and sipped at it greedily.

"You shouldn't be drinking that, if you've got concussion." Edith reprimanded her.

"I know, but I've been craving it since I woke up." She handed the cup back. "Edith, this is Tom. Tom, this is Edith." Sybil noticed his wary look. "Don't worry, she's not like Mary. She won't murder you. At the moment she's living in London with, um, well, someone who hasn't been flung at one of us."

Edith laughed. "His name is Sherlock. He's a consulting detective."

"I think I've seen his website; it was about tobacco or something." Tom commented.

"Yeah, I keep telling him to change it, but he won't."

"Does he smoke?" Sybil asked quickly, her nursing instinct appearing again.

"I think he would given half the chance. Thankfully he just covers himself in nicotine patches."

"Will he mind if Sybil stays with you?" Tom asked.

"No. He'll probably be working anyway, so I'll apologise in advance for the flat being a mess. When are you allowed out?"

"They wanted to get rid of me earlier, but I told them that the only place I could go was Yorkshire, so they let me stay. They didn't want me to have such a long journey." Sybil explained.

"Oh, are you allowed on a train? I didn't think about that on the way here."

"Don't know really, but Tom could drive us." Sybil looked at her boyfriend, who nodded.

TBC...