Chapter 12
John
"I'm fine, John," Rose croaks out. John prescribes rest for her. Sherlock accompanies them back to the flat.
"John? Do I have to?" Rose whines.
"Yes!" John answers for the umpteenth time. They were in 221b, after coming back from Soo Lin's flat. Rose had been strangled into unconsciousness by the killer of Brian Lukis and Eddie Van Coon. God, bloody Dimmock was right. You do get hurt in this business.
Rose flops onto the sofa. "I don't need rest, John. I'm fine."
"Doctor's orders." John pulls a blanket over her. "I'm going to make you some tea and soup, and you will drink both if I have to shove it down your throat." John goes into the kitchen and motions for Sherlock to follow.
"Please tell me you did something while Rose was being strangled," John says as he boils some water. "And not that you just stood there and watched, or that you just continued to look for clues."
"The attacker used Rose as a human shield. I would have done something, but he…" Sherlock pauses.
"He what?"
"He would have killed her," Sherlock finishes lamely.
"He almost did, Sherlock!" John breathes through his nostrils in an attempt to calm down. John puts the soup on the stove. "She had a gun. Why didn't you take it?"
"She tried to throw it to me, but the assassin jerked at the last second, so it flew out of my reach."
"And you couldn't run over and grab it?"
Sherlock sighs. "I froze, John. I froze. It never happened to me before, and it was all I could do just to watch."
John isn't going to forgive him so easily, though. As he pours the soup into a bowl, he asks, "So you were just going to watch as the life went out of her eyes?"
"I'm sorry, John," Sherlock whispers, guilt evidence in his voice.
"Just tell me something, Sherlock. Do you care about Rose at all?" John looks Sherlock in the eye.
Sherlock looks away. John sighs and pours the tea into a mug. He brings the mug and bowl out to Rose, who is texting away on her new phone.
"What are you doing?" John asks as he sets the food and drink down.
"Texting. John, even a two-year old could see that," Rose smiles.
"And who are you texting?" John inquires, politely as he can.
"Andy."
"Who's Andy?"
"A guy I met," Rose says breezily.
John and Sherlock raise an eyebrow in unison.
"I thought you wouldn't be interested in boys," Sherlock says, off-handedly.
"I'm not."
John's eyebrow disappears into his hair. "Oh, are girls more your thing? Which is completely and totally fine, by the way," he adds hastily. Smooth, John. Sound a bit familiar? He bit a smile back, remembering that infinitely awkward conversation at Angelo's.
"I know it's fine," Rose says, turning to face the adults.
"But you had a boyfriend." John is puzzled.
"I did."
John and Sherlock wait.
"Oh, I see. You immediately assume that because I'm texting a bloke, I must be interested? How dull," Rose says coldly. "This is for the case."
"I told you to get some rest!" John is exasperated. Why won't she listen? God…
Rose turns back to her phone. "I can rest when I'm dead."
John grits his teeth at that. Sherlock stiffens. Rose doesn't notice.
"Man can't text halfway fast enough!" she growls. She leaps off the couch and heads for the door. "I'm going to go see him." She runs out of the flat.
"I should confiscate her phone," John mutters. He glances at Sherlock. "Are we going to follow her?"
"I suppose."
Outside, though, Raz spots them. "Sherlock!" he yells.
"Oh, look who it is," John says.
He runs over to them and says, "Found something you'll like." Raz leads them through London.
"Tuesday morning, all you have to do is show up and say the bag was yours," John tells him as they walk.
"Forget about your court date," Sherlock snaps. Raz doesn't say anything. He brings them to an underground room. It looks like a skateboarding park, with graffiti galore on the walls and pillars.
"If you want to hide a tree, then a forest is the best place to do it, wouldn't you say?" asks Sherlock. "People would walk straight past, not knowing, unable to decipher the message."
"There," Raz points. "I spotted it earlier."
"And that's the exact same paint?" Sherlock confirms.
"Yeah," Raz answers.
"John, if we're going to decipher this code, we're going to need to look for more evidence," says Sherlock. John and Sherlock split up and look for clues.
Sherlock finds an empty spray paint can. It's yellow, and he wipes his thumb across the nozzle, to smell how fresh it is.
John wanders through hallways and corridors, looking for any sign of the graffiti.
Sherlock finds an advertisement for a Chinese circus. He tears a piece of the poster off and keeps walking.
John finally stumbles across the graffiti. It's huge, and encompasses an entire wall. He calls Sherlock several times. No answer. Typical. The one time I find something and call him, he doesn't answer. He snaps a few pictures really quick and runs off to find Sherlock.
John spots him by railway tracks. "Answer your phone, I've been calling you!" he pants. "I've found it." Sherlock follows John.
John leads him back to the wall of graffiti. He slows, unsure suddenly. "It's been painted over," he says. "I don't understand. It, it was here. Ten minutes ago, I saw it. A lot of graffiti."
"Somebody doesn't want me to see it," Sherlock says. He grabs John by the sides of his head suddenly.
"John, concentrate! I need you to concentrate. Close your eyes!"
"What? Why? What are you doing?"
"I need you to maximize your visual memory." Sherlock spins John around slowly. "Try to picture what you saw. Can you picture it?"
"Yeah."
"Can you remember it?"
"Yes, definitely."
"Can you remember the pattern?"
"Yes!"
"How much can you remember it?"
"Well, don't worry!"
"Because the average human memory on visual matters is only sixty-two percent accurate."
"Well don't worry, I can remember all of it."
"Really?"
"Yeah, well, at least I would, if I could get to my pockets!" John breaks away from Sherlock and fumbles around. "Took a photograph." He shows Sherlock.
God, it's as if I'm an imbecile! Which, to him, I probably am… John muses.
oOo
Back at the flat, John contemplates sleep. Sherlock just stares at the pictures, trying to make sense of the symbols.
"Always in pairs, John," Sherlock tells him. "The numbers come with partners."
"God, I need to sleep," John whispers. Please, Sherlock, please. Allow me ten minutes of sleep.
"Why did he paint it so near the tracks?"
"No idea," John answers.
"Thousands of people pass by there everyday," Sherlock whispers.
"Just twenty minutes," John mumbles.
"Of course," Sherlock breathes. "Of course! He wants information, he's trying to communicate with his people in the underworld. Whatever was stolen, he wants it back. Somewhere, here, in code." Sherlock just stares at the pictures for a minute. He whips out his phone and texts Rose.
Any leads on Soo Lin Yao? –SH
Why? –RS
Do you have any leads? –SH
Depends on if you tell me why. –RS
We need her. Can't break the code without her. –SH
I already knew that. –RS
Do you have any leads? –SH Sherlock types, frustrated.
Yes. –RS
Where is she? –SH
I don't know where she is now, but I know where she will be. I'm at the National Antiquities Museum. Andy left me a key. There's a side door on the east side that's open. Come quickly, she'll be here soon. –RS
"Come on, John. We can't crack this code without Soo Lin Yao." Sherlock brings the pictures with him.
"Oh, good."
oOo
Rose meets them at the Chinese exhibit. She puts her finger to her lips, telling them to be quiet. She motions for Sherlock to give her gun back, which he does.
She whispers, "She's going to come for those teapots. They're her obsession. She is going to unlock the exhibit, there, and bring the teapots to her desk. Sherlock, you're going to surprise her. Please catch the teapot if she drops it. It's ancient." As she finishes talking, the trio hears a metal scraping against stone.
Rose and John hurry to hide. Sherlock moves behind a door. The lights go out, and a shadowy figure walks towards the teapot exhibit. The person unlocks the glass cabinet, and walks away with a teapot.
The shadowy person fills the teapot with water, pouring water over the teacups and swirling water around inside the teapot. Sherlock chooses this moment to startle the figure.
"Fancy a biscuit with that?"
The person gasps and drops the teapot. With amazing reflexes, Sherlock catches it.
"Centuries old. Don't want to break that," Sherlock says with a smirk on his face. Rose turns on the lights to reveal the face of Soo Lin Yao.
"Hello," Sherlock says.
"You saw the cipher. Then you know he is coming for me," Soo Lin says, looking at all three of them. John sits opposite Soo Lin, Rose stands at the far end of the table, and Sherlock sits next to her.
"You've been clever to avoid him so far," is Sherlock's response.
"I had to finish, to finish this work," Soo Lin says simply. "It's only a matter of time. I know he will find me."
"Who is he? Have you met him before?" Sherlock asks.
"When I was a girl, living back in China. I recognized his, signature."
"The cipher," Sherlock states. It's not a question.
"Only he would do this," Soo Lin says. "Zhizhu."
"Zhizhu?" John asks.
"Mandarin for bird-spider. Considering his skills, I guess it's close enough," Rose answers.
Soo Lin unlaces her sneaker and shows the three of them the heel of her right foot. There is a black lotus flower tattooed on her heel.
"You know this mark?"
"Yes," Sherlock and Rose answer.
"It's the mark of the Tong," Sherlock says.
"Hm?" John is confused.
"Ancient crime syndicate, based in China," Sherlock tells him. John nods and looks back at Soo Lin.
"Every foot soldier bears the mark. Everyone who holes for them," Soo Lin says.
"Holes?" John asks. Soo Lin glares at him pointedly. "You mean, you were a smuggler?"
Rose looks at John sadly. John catches her sad smile. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. Look at Rose. She was forced to kill people. Smuggling isn't so bad, compared to that.
Soo Lin puts her shoe back on. "I was fifteen." Rose's age. "My parents were dead. I had no livelihood, no way of surviving, day-to-day. Except to work for the bosses."
"Who are they?" Sherlock asks.
"They are called," Soo Lin pauses, gathering courage, "the Black Lotus."
Sherlock files that information away for later.
Soo Lin continues speaking. "By the time I was sixteen, I was smuggling thousands of pounds' worth of drugs across the border into Hong Kong.
"But I managed to leave that life behind me. I came to England. They gave me a job, here," Soo Lin smiles, as if she can still barely believe it. Now, she's protecting Chinese history, instead of mucking it up, John thinks.
"Everything was good." Soo Lin continues. "New life."
"But he came looking for you," Sherlock says.
"Yes." Soo Lin looks terrified. She swallows back tears. "I had hoped, after five years, maybe they would have forgotten me." Soo Lin's lips close in a tight line, stifling sobs. "But they never really let you leave."
Rose looks stricken at those words. If John and Sherlock had seen her, they would have instantly known her train of thought. Her expression is naked. Every façade has disappeared.
She is reliving every encounter she ever had with Moriarty. From the night her parents died to only a few days ago. Memories seared into her brain are flashing across her mind's eye. His empty eyes, a void. The way he would terrify her into obedience. The way he would punish her every time she rebelled. The things he taught her, how to observe, how to analyze, how to think. But she sets her face into a stone mask.
"In a small community like ours, they are never very far away. He came to my flat," Soo Lin keeps talking. "He asked me to help him, to track down something that had been stolen."
"And you have no idea what it was?" John inquires.
Soo Lin shakes her head. "I refused to help."
John leans forward. "So you knew him well, when you were living back in China?"
"Oh, yes," Soo Lin answers. "He's my brother.
"Two orphans. We had no choice. We could work for the Black Lotus, or starve on the streets, like beggars."
Rose looks at Soo Lin Yao. She continues, "My brother is their puppet, in the power of the one they call Shan, Black Lotus general. I turned my brother away. He said I had betrayed him. The next day I came to work, and the cipher was waiting."
Sherlock pulls out the pictures of the ciphers he had printed out. "Can you decipher these?"
Soo Lin starts from the beginning. "These are numbers."
"Yes, I know," Sherlock says.
"Here, the line across the man's eyes, is the Chinese number one."
"And this one is number fifteen," Sherlock says impatiently. "But what's the code?"
Soo Lin looks at him. "All the smugglers know it. It's based upon a book-"
The lights go out.
Sherlock straightens and listens.
"He is here. Zhizhu," Soo Lin whispers. "He has found me."
Sherlock runs off. John, in a stage whisper, says, "Sherlock! Sherlock, wait!"
After it's apparent that Sherlock has no intention of listening, he takes Soo Lin by the hand and has her hide behind one of the desks. Rose follows. "Get down, get down."
John hears shots. He turns to Soo Lin and tells her, "I have to go and help him." Looking at Rose, he tells her, "Keep her safe." Rose nods, and John runs out.
Rose whispers to Soo Lin, "I'm going to sit in front of you. Spread your legs." Soo Lin does as Rose says. Rose sits in front of Soo Lin, establishing herself as a human shield. She brings her gun out of her pocket and takes off the safety.
Rose whispers to Soo Lin, "I promise you, you are going to live through this. The Black Lotus has no say over your life, whether you live or die. You are going to live a long and happy life after tonight. I promise."
Soo Lin chuckles softly. "I believe you. You are full of fire, little girl. How could I not believe you will keep me safe?"
Rose smiles in the darkness. "Name's Rose. My story is, uh, kind of like yours. My parents died, and this maniac kidnapped me and taught me things I didn't want to be taught. I learned how to use this stupid gun." Rose glares at it, as if the gun was responsible for all her problems. "I learned how to steal people's lives. But I didn't want to. I left."
"And these men, they help you stay sane after all you've been through?"
Rose looks forward. "In a way. I get to use my knowledge of things to help save people. That's more than I can ask for." She pauses. "Why didn't you fly to, I don't know, America, or Canada, once you knew the Tong were after you? Why did you stay and risk your life?"
"I had to finish my work. I was so close to finishing."
Rose contemplates that. She says, "There was a bloke at the museum. His name's Andy."
Soo Lin blushes. "What about him?"
"Well, he likes you. More than in a friendly way. He was the one who noticed that you disappeared."
"He is very nice," Soo Lin agrees.
"After tonight, are you going to see him again?"
"Maybe. Probably."
"Soo Lin, do you have a thing for him?" Rose feels Soo Lin's pulse start to race. "You do!" she whispers, smiling.
"Tell you what. After tonight, I'm going to set you two up. On a proper date. You and him, yeah?"
Soo Lin turns tomato red, glad that Rose can't see her. "I liked him before. I just couldn't bring myself to date him. I was a criminal. I didn't want him to hate me."
"God, Soo Lin, are you blind? The man is infatuated with you! I think you could be an alien with three heads and he'd still love you," Rose laughs quietly.
"We should meet up again, after tonight. I can meet you at your flat," Rose suggests.
"Sounds good."
Rose turns to look at Soo Lin. "Seriously?"
At that precise moment, Rose hears two shots. Soo Lin's face contorts to one of agony. Soo Lin clutches her side. Rose looks at Soo Lin's left side, and her eyes widen.
A red stain is growing. Two bullets have entered Soo Lin's torso. Rose leaps up and covers Soo Lin's left side, to protect her from further bullets. Soo Lin slumps down on the stone floor.
"No! Soo Lin, I promised!" she gasps. Rose exposes the wound and examines it, trying to find the bullets.
Soo Lin only groans in response.
"You are going to live a long life, a long and happy life! I'm not going to let you die!" Rose pulls out her phone and dials 999. She hastily says National Antiquities Museum and ambulance, and then hangs up.
Rose tries to staunch the bleeding, but there's blood, so much blood. Soo Lin looks at Rose with glassy eyes.
"It's okay. I knew he would find me," Soo Lin coughs, blood splattering her lips.
"No! It's not okay!" Rose leans into Soo Lin. "You have to go on that date with Andy, remember? Hang on. Ambulance are coming. Please, Soo Lin. Please, hang on for him," Rose breathes.
Soo Lin closes her eyes, and Rose can see that she's trying to stay. She's trying not to slip away. But it's hard. It's very, very hard. Rose knows from experience.
"I can't." The two most heartbreaking words Rose has ever heard in her life.
"Yes, you can. Stay, Soo Lin. Stay," Rose whispers, tears in her eyes. She knows that it's almost impossible for a victim to live after they've given up.
"Tell him I'm sorry."
Soo Lin's breaths wrack her body one last time, and then her body is still. Rose stares in shock. She blinks back her tears and whispers her last goodbye to Soo Lin. One last goodbye, too late.
"Rest in peace. May you live happier then you ever did on this godforsaken planet."
Rose slowly turns away and faces the empty room. Somewhere lays an assassin.
"She was supposed to live!" Her words reverberate throughout the room. "She was going to live a long and happy life, free from you! But no, you just couldn't help yourself. You had to go and kill her! Your own sister!" Rose screams. She takes a deep breath.
"Don't play games with me," Rose snarls. "You killed someone I liked. And that is not a good place to stand. Fear every strange noise you hear. Fear every shadow you see. Fear me, Spider."
Rose receives silence in return, but she knows that the Spider has heeded her warning. Rose spins around to see the teapot. Her rage overwhelms her, and she smashes the ancient relic to bits. If it hadn't been for the stupid teapots, she might have lived.
"Rose?" Sherlock approaches her, gently. He stands by her and examines Soo Lin.
Rose feels dead and numb inside. Every breath is laborious. Every movement a Herculean achievement.
"Rose? Oh God," John says. He spots the body.
Police and ambulance are outside. Too late.
oOo
"How many murders is it going to take before you start believing that this maniac's out there?" John asks Dimmock. They're back at Scotland Yard.
Dimmock says nothing and walks straight past them.
"A young girl was gunned down tonight. That's three victims in three days. You're supposed to be finding him!" John is furious. Dimmock continues to ignore him.
Sherlock tries his hand. "Brian Lukis and Eddie Van Coon were working for a gang of international smugglers. A gang called the Black Lotus. Operating here, in London, right under your nose."
Dimmock is rattled. "Can you prove that?"
Sherlock straightens, as if Dimmock just insulted him.
oOo
At Bart's, Molly Hooper is choosing what to eat in the cafeteria. She is startled by Sherlock Holmes.
"What are you thinking? Pork or the pasta?" Sherlock startles her.
"Oh, it's you," Molly says shyly.
"I'd stick with the pasta. Don't want roast pork if you're slicing up cadavers," Sherlock says.
"What are you having?"
"Don't eat while I'm working. Digesting slows me down."
"So you're working here tonight?" Molly asks, a note of hope in her voice.
"I need to examine some bodies."
"Some?"
"Eddie Van Coon and Brian Lukis."
Molly checks her clipboard. "They're on my list," she says, comprehension slowly dawning on her.
"Could you wheel them out again for me?" Sherlock asks.
"W-Well, their paperwork's already gone through. Sorry," Molly says.
Sherlock looks confused for a moment. Then, his eyes flicker to Molly's hair. "You've changed your hair," he notices.
"What?" Molly looks confused.
"The style. It's usually parted in the middle."
"Yes, well-"
"No, it's good. It suits you better this way," Sherlock says, smiling at her. Molly turns around and leads him to the bodies.
Molly starts to unzip the bags.
"We're just interested in the feet," comes Sherlock's melodic voice.
"The feet?" Molly clarifies.
"Yes. Do you mind if we have a look at them?" Sherlock smiles at Molly again, but she doesn't notice.
"Where's Rose?" Dimmock asks.
"At the flat. Why?" Sherlock answers
"No reason."
Molly unzips the bottom zipper to reveal Lukis' feet. A tattoo was on his right heel.
"Now Van Coon," Sherlock tells Molly. She unzips Van Coon's bag. Van Coon had the same tattoo, on the same foot.
"Oh," Sherlock says triumphantly.
"So," Dimmock starts.
"So, either these two men happened to visit the same Chinese tattoo parlor, or I am telling the truth."
Dimmock sees he's beaten. "What do you want?"
"I want every book from Lukis' apartment, and Van Coon's."
"Their books?" Dimmock asks.
oOo
John opens the door of their flat. He hears loud music coming from a pair of speakers set to full volume. Rose is lost in thought.
"Rose!" John shouts, but she can't hear him, the music is so loud. "Rose!"
Sherlock wrinkles his nose in disgust at the music. He unplugs the speakers.
"Turn it back on, I was listening to that," Rose snaps.
"Where did you get all this?" John asks.
"All what?" Rose has her eyes closed, so she doesn't see John gesturing to the new technology.
"The speakers, the iPod, and the headphones. Where did you get them?"
"I bought them," is her serene reply. "Turn the music back on."
"Where did you get the money?" John asks.
"I used Sherlock's card."
"What?" Sherlock is outraged. "You used my card for something as dull as music players? It's not even good music," he mutters.
"Music helps me think. I pay no attention to the lyrics. My only focus is the beat of the music," Rose replies. "I also bought a book."
"Oh. Well, if it helps you think, good. But don't play it out here. Play it in John's room or something."
"Rose, you can't just take his card and buy stuff you want with it," John says.
"Isn't that what a card is for?"
"Give me the card," John commands her. Rose gives him the card.
"It's not just a criminal organization. It's a cult," Sherlock removes his jacket and scarf and hangs them on the back of the door. "The brother was corrupted by one of its leaders."
"Soo Lin mentioned a name," John says.
"Shan," Rose tells him. "Black Lotus general."
"We're still no closer to finding him," John says.
"Wrong," Sherlock says. "We've got almost everything we need to know. She gave us most of the missing pieces."
John merely looks at him.
"Why did he need to visit his sister? Why did he need her expertise?"
"She worked at the museum."
"Exactly."
"She was an expert in antiquities." John makes the connection. "Of course, I see."
"Valuable antiquities, John. Ancient Chinese relics purchased on the black market. China's home to a thousand treasures, all hidden after Mao's revolution."
"The Black Lotus is selling them?"
Sherlock checks something online.
Rose calls out in a condescending voice, "Yes. I've already checked."
"Checked what?" John asks.
"There are valuable Chinese items up for auction. Some are from an anonymous vendor. Every time something has been up for sale by the anonymous vendor, it has corresponded with Lukis' or Van Coon's trips to China."
"So what if one of them got greedy while they were in China? What if one of them stole something?" Sherlock asks Rose.
"It must have been something small and ordinary looking to the thief. But, it would have to be of immense value to the smugglers, because it was noticed so quickly," Rose says.
Just then, Mrs. Hudson knocks on the door. "Are we collecting for charity, Sherlock?"
"What?"
"A young man is outside with crates of books."
About fifteen minutes later, all of the books from Lukis' and Van Coon's apartment are in the flat of 221b.
"So, the numbers are references," Sherlock says.
"Two books," says John.
"Specific pages, and specific words on those pages."
"Right, so, fifteen and one," John trails off.
"Turn to page fifteen and it's the first word that you read," Sherlock says.
"Okay, but what's the message?" John asks.
"Depends on the book. That's the cunning of the book code." Sherlock faces the piles of books. "It has to be one that they both own."
"Okay, fine. Well, this shouldn't take too long, then," John says, a little sarcastically.
Rose springs off the couch, and with maniac energy, starts rummaging around through the crates. Sherlock and John stare at her. In about two minutes, she's cleaned out an entire crate.
Dimmock walks in. "We found these at the museum." He holds up the pictures of the cipher. "Is this your handwriting?" he asks John.
"Uh, we hoped that Soo Lin could decipher it for us," John says softly.
Dimmock nods. "Anything else I can do? To assist you, I mean?"
"Some silence right now would be marvelous," Sherlock tells him.
"We're good, right now. But thanks for asking," Rose says without looking at the man.
Dimmock leaves. The trio stay up all night to find the book. John's watch beeps. He looks at it and groans. I have to go to work, and I have had no sleep. He leaves. Neither Rose nor Sherlock notice, he thinks.
oOo
"A book that everyone would own, Rose. What book does everybody own?"
"Plus, the first word on page fifteen has to terrify the living daylights out of three people. What word does that?" Rose muses.
oOo
John comes back hours later, and both geniuses are still at it. I'm going to bet neither one of them stopped at all when I was gone.
"I need to get some air. We're going out tonight," Sherlock informs John.
"Actually, I've got a date."
"What?" It's not that hard to believe, is it?
"Where two people who like each other go out and have fun?" John asks. Has he really never heard of a date before?
"That's what I was suggesting." I'm sorry?
"No, it wasn't. At least, I hope not."
"Sherlock, he meant two people who like each other romantically," Rose tells Sherlock. She's still looking for the book.
"Where are you taking her?" Sherlock asks.
"Cinema."
"Dull. Boring. Predictable." Sherlock hands John something else. "Why don't you try this? In London for one night only."
John chuckles. "Thanks, but I don't come to you for dating advice."
oOo
"It's been years since someone took me to the circus," Sarah tells John as they walk in.
"Yeah, a friend recommended it," John replies. A Chinese circus, Sherlock? Coincidence? I think not!
"Two tickets, please." John tells the man at the desk.
"What's the name?"
"Holmes."
"Sorry, sir, but I have four in that name," the man says.
"No, I don't think so. We only booked two," John says.
"And then I phoned and got two more as well," says Sherlock. He walks towards the couple, Rose at his heels.
"I'm Sherlock. This is Rose," Sherlock introduces himself and Rose to Sarah.
"Um, hi," Sarah says.
"Hello!" Sherlock dashes off.
"Dreadfully sorry about my dad. John told us that he was taking a friend to the movies, and Dad suggested this instead. John thought it was a great idea, and Dad phoned on the spot. Later, he decided that we should go as well. He can be a bit, um, eccentric," Rose tells Sarah apologetically.
"Oh, okay," Sarah laughs. She's more comfortable now.
"Please, don't let us interrupt your evening. I've got to go find the crazy guy now. Have a nice night!" Rose says goodbye and dashes off to find Sherlock.
"Sherlock!" Rose finds him standing in a corner. "Sherlock, we are not going to interrupt their evening, is that clear? John deserves one night off."
"But I need his help!" Sherlock whines.
"I know I'm not as good as John, but you've got me. Plus, Sarah seems nice," Rose tells him. Sherlock looks at her strangely.
The circus begins, and Rose keeps Sherlock well away from John and Sarah. Sherlock notices a door going to backstage in the middle of the escapology act.
"Follow me," Sherlock says. He sneaks backstage, and Rose follows.
