"They'll be back in China by tomorrow," John said as the four of them sat in Hayden's living room, Sherlock immediately started looking at the pictures hanging over Hayden's mantle.
"No, they won't leave without what they came for," Sherlock replied absently, "We need to find their hideout; the rendezvous."
Hayden joined Sherlock in observing the pictures but found that she couldn't focus on them. Instead, she turned to go into the kitchen and was surprised to see Sarah hovering in the doorway, having forgotten she was there.
"Sarah, would you like some tea?" Hayden asked, not waiting for a response as she entered the kitchen and started gathering what she would need.
"Oh, would you like some help?" Sarah asked, taking a cup from Hayden's hands. The woman glared at the doctor before letting out a deep breath.
"I'll be fine," Hayden assured, "if you could just wait out in the living room that would be great, I don't really like other people in my kitchen."
"Oh, uh, sorry I just-" Sarah started, "I'll go out there then."
"Thank you, Sarah," Hayden smiled reassuringly at the woman before getting back to work.
"Somewhere in this message, it must tell us," Sherlock murmured as he and John continued to stare at the mantle, ignoring the two women.
"Well, I think perhaps I should leave you to it," Sarah sighed and Hayden shook her head, knowing that she had been a large part of the woman feeling uncomfortable.
"No, no, you don't have to go... " John reassured, looking at Sherlock before turning back to Sarah, "You can stay."
"Yes, it would be better to study if you left now," Sherlock said at the same time as John.
"He's kidding. Please stay if you'd like." John assured after glaring at Sherlock.
"Is it just me, or is anyone else starving?" Sarah asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Ooh, God," Sherlock groaned, rolling her eyes.
"John," Hayden called, getting the man's attention, "I've got some cookies, excuse me, biscuits, for you and Sarah."
"Hayden, you're a saint," John murmured, planting a kiss into Hayden's hair.
"Thank Mrs. Hudson," Hayden laughed, swatting John's arm, "I asked her to lay out a plate on our taxi ride over. Too bad it's not Monday though, she would have been at the supermarket."
John raised an eyebrow and Hayden and she grinned at him, "Her words, not mine."
So this is what you do, you, Hayden, and John. You solve puzzles for a living," Sarah said, watching Sherlock filter through some files that Hayden had been looking through earlier.
"Consulting detective," Sherlock corrected, not looking at the woman.
"Oh," Sarah accepted, glancing back to see if John or Hayden would save her anytime soon.
"I stand by my previous statement, saint you are," John said, with a grin, sneaking a cookie for himself.
"Yoda am I," Hayden teased with a grin, "Saint, I am not."
"You're insufferable," John groaned teasingly,
"I am not Sherlock," Hayden grinned back.
"What are these squiggles?" Sarah wondered, taking a closer look at the pictures.
"They're numbers," Sherlock said, his voice faux calm, "An ancient Chinese dialect."
"Oh, right!" Sarah giggled, Sherlock, making her nervous, "Yeah, well, of course, I should have known that."
"So these numbers – it's a cipher," Sarah said, taking one of the pictures off the mantle to get a closer look.
"Exactly," Sherlock said tightly, knowing that both Hayden and John would be upset if he snapped at the woman and not wanting to put up with them.
"And each pair of numbers is a word," Sarah noted, seeing the deciphering that Soo Lin had already done.
"How did you know that?" Sherlock asked, finally looking at the woman
"Well, two words have already been translated, here," Sarah pointed out, surprised that the consulting detective hadn't already noticed.
"John," Sherlock called, drawing both John and Hayden out of the kitchen.
"Mmm?" John answered
"John, look at this," Sherlock says, taking the photo out of its evidence bag and showing it to the man, "Soo Lin at the museum – she started to translate the code for us. We didn't see it! NINE, MILL."
"Does that mean 'millions'?" John asked, squinting at the photo.
"Nine million quid. For what?" Sherlock agreed before going to pick up his coat and scarf from where he had thrown them earlier. "We need to know the end of this sentence."
"Where are you going?" John wondered as he, Hayden and Sarah watched Sherlock rush to put on his coat.
"To the museum; to the restoration room." He grimaced, exasperated with himself "Oh, we must have been staring right at it!"
"At-at what?" John wondered, completely lost.
"The book, John. The book – the key to cracking the cipher!" Sherlock explained, "Soo Lin used it to do this! Whilst we were running around the gallery, she started to translate the code. It must be on her desk."
With that, Sherlock was gone.