Sherlock and Joon finally meet up with Lestrade.
Lestrade: Who's this?
Sherlock: She's with me.
Lestrade: But... who is she?
Sherlock: Does it matter? I said she's with me. So, what are we doing next to a bush outside your old room?
Lestrade: It's the crime scene. I can give you two minutes, before we risk getting caught by the school.
Sherlock: We may need more time.
Lestrade: Now, we haven't touched anything yet. Her name's Jennifer Wilson, and she's supposed to be staying in my old room. She apparently left her driver's license. Her roommate said she went missing earlier in the week. This missing girl's roommate had gone to class, and then the girl was gone when she'd gotten back. She'd also said that some of her roommate's things had gone missing with her, too.
Lestrade hands the license over to Sherlock, who then pockets it.
Lestrade: You know technically we're not supposed to have this. Her roommate's been trying to get in touch with Jennifer's family.
There's a pause as Sherlock starts to process the information.
Sherlock: Shut up.
Lestrade: I didn't say anything.
Sherlock: But you were thinking. It's annoying.
Lestrade and Joon look at each other like "what's wrong with this crazy chick?"
Sherlock goes up closer to the bush directly underneath the window of her old room.
We look closer and see a pink piece of construction paper shoved into the bush. Sherlock pulls it out. It says "Rache," handwritten in all caps. The E looks sloppily written, like the writer's hand had jerked away from the paper in the middle of writing.
A small title flashes on the screen, one of Sherlock's deductions: "Left-handed writer?" This is followed by another: "Rache, German noun, meaning revenge..." This second deduction fades into another: "Or... Short for the name Rachel?"
Sherlock tosses the note aside as she leans in even closer to the bush, almost to the point of falling in. She grabs a compact pink umbrella from deeper inside the bush. She undoes the strap holding it together, and then extends it open. A few drops of water drip off it.
A small title flashes on the screen, another deduction: "Wet? Why?"
Sherlock smiles and sets down the umbrella.
Lestrade: Got anything?
Sherlock: Not much.
Anderson walks over and picks up the note.
Anderson: She's German. Rache. It's German for revenge. She could be trying to tell us...
Sherlock puts a finger up to Anderson's mouth, shushing the other girl in a rather childish manner.
Sherlock: (Interrupting:) Yes, thank you for your input.
She lightly shoves Anderson out of the way, towards Sally and the stairwell. Anderson drops the note.
Anderson: But... Wait...
Sherlock steps back over to Joon and Lestrade.
Lestrade: So, she's German?
Sherlock: Of course she's not! Wilson isn't even a German name! But she is paying out-of-state tuition. So far, so obvious.
Joon: Sorry... Obvious?
Sherlock: Driver's license, remember?
She pulls it out of her pocket, waves it around a moment, and then puts it back.
Lestrade: What about that note, though?
Sherlock: Joon, what do you think?
Joon: Of the message?
Lestrade: I've got a whole team of criminology students to work that out!
SHERLOCK
Who? Sally and Anderson? They won't work with me.
Lestrade: I'm breaking a bunch of rules letting you over here!
Sherlock: Yes, because you need me.
Lestrade: (A beat, then:) Yes. I do... God help me.
Sherlock: Joon?
Joon: Huh?
She looks from Sherlock to Lestrade.
Lestrade: Oh, do what she says. Help yourself.
Lestrade steps over to the stairwell with Sally and Anderson.
Lestrade: I guess we just sit here and watch them for a bit.
Sherlock goes and grabs the note and brings it over to Joon, and they look it over. The two begin whispering to each other.
Sherlock: Well, Joon?
Joon: What am I doing here?
Sherlock: Helping me make a point.
Joon: We're just supposed to be roommates. I'm supposed to be helping you with homework and crap like that.
Sherlock: Well, this is more fun than school.
Joon: Fun? There's a missing girl!
Sherlock: Perfectly sound analysis, but I was hoping you'd go a bit deeper.
Lestrade walks back over.
Lestrade: Alright, what've you got?
Joon takes the note from Sherlock and looks closer at it. She then goes to pick up the umbrella to look at it.
Joon: Yep.
She looks over at Lestrade, and then at Sherlock.
Joon: Well, uh...
Sherlock: You know what it is.
Joon: She's one of the missing girls. The fourth...?
Lestrade: Sherlock, I said two minutes! I need anything you've got!
Sherlock: The girl is a freshman, and in the Arts Living Learning Community, based on the fact that she's supposed to be staying on the first floor of Dickenson Hall. Your old room, to be exact, judging by which bush we found evidence in, and which window it was under. Judging by the pink things and movie posters you can see through the window on what's obviously her side of the room, the pink paper of the note, and the pink umbrella, she was either a film major or a communications major. It's an alarming amount of pink. Based on the fact that she's from out-of-state, and the fact that she'd disappeared right around move-in, I'd think she'd must have had a pretty large suitcase to bring enough clothes and things to last the semester, or at least until she could go home for Thanksgiving break.
Lestrade: Suitcase? What...?
Sherlock: Yes, suitcase.
Lestrade: Oh, for God's sake, if you're just making this up...
Sherlock: Lestrade, you said that the roommate told you some of the missing girl's things went missing at the same time. Obviously she took enough of them to need to need to take her suitcase with her. It's simple.
Joon: That's brilliant.
Sherlock glances over at her roommate.
Joon: Sorry.
Lestrade: But why the wet umbrella?
Sherlock: It's obvious, isn't it?
Joon: It's not obvious to me...
Sherlock: Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains? It must be so boring! She poured water all over the umbrella and closed it up to make it look like she'd been out in the rain, but look the note. Look your surroundings. Everything's dry. It hasn't rained since before move-in. So... The umbrella is a red herring.
Joon: That's fantastic.
Sherlock: You do know you keep saying those things out loud, right?
Joon: Sorry. I'll shut up now.
Sherlock: No, it's... It's cool.
Lestrade: Why do you keep saying suitcase?
Sherlock: Yes, where is it? She must've had a phone, or a laptop, or an iPad, too. Find out who Rachel is.
Lestrade: Wait, she was writing Rachel?
Sherlock: (Sarcastically:) No, she was writing an angry note in German! Of course she was writing Rachel!
Sherlock starts getting a bit worked up, pacing around.
Sherlock: There's no other word it could be! But the question is, why did she leave a note when she was obviously going to unwillingly disappear for a while?
Lestrade: Oh. My. God. How did you know she'd taken her suitcase with her?
Sherlock: We already went over this. The roommate said she'd taken things with her, and judging by the state of the missing girl's half of the room, it's barely been lived in. Only decorations seem to be left. Now where is it? If we find the suitcase, we can probably find the girl... Or come close to finding the girl.
Lestrade: Well, obviously it's not here.
Sherlock: Say that again.
Lestrade: Obviously... it's... not... here?
Sherlock starts to go over to the stairwell, jumping on the chance to look for the suitcase.
Sherlock: (To Sally and Anderson:) Suitcase! Have either of you two found a suitcase?
Lestrade: There isn't a suitcase!
Sherlock turns back to Lestrade.
Sherlock: This girl apparently came and left. Three girls didn't show up to live with you three...
She points to Lestrade, Sally, and Anderson.
Sherlock: There are clear signs. Even you can't miss them!
Lestrade: Right. Yeah. Thanks. And...?
Sherlock: It's kidnapping. All of them. I don't know how. These girls didn't just quit school on their own. They're serial kidnappings. We've got ourselves a serial kidnapper. I love those. There's always something to look forward to.
Sherlock continues walking over to the stairwell.
Lestrade: Why do you say that?
Sherlock:Her suitcase! Oh, come on! Where is her suitcase? Did she eat it? She had to have taken it with her when she left. There's got to be a reason why these girls disappeared so close to moving in. There's got to be a way to find and identify this last girl's suitcase. The suitcase is the key.
She pushes past Sally and Anderson, and stops outside the door to the stairwell, turning to Lestrade and Joon.
Sherlock: Oh...! Oh!
Lestrade: Sherlock? What is it? What?
Sherlock: Serial kidnappers, always hard. You have to wait for them to make a mistake.
Lestrade: We can't just wait!
Sherlock: Oh, we're done waiting! Look at all this, really look! Houston, we have a mistake! Find out who Jennifer Wilson's family and friends are. Find Rachel!
Sherlock turns and starts to go through the stairwell.
Lestrade: Of course. Yeah. But what mistake?
Sherlock turns back for a second.
Sherlock: Pink! And the fact that it's Wednesday feels significant for some reason. But PINK!
Sherlock runs through the stairwell.
Anderson: OK, let's get on with it.
Joon starts to follow Sherlock as Lestrade talks to Sally and Anderson.
And we follow through to: