Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 5 of Supposed to Be. Thank you to all of those who have left reviews. It really does mean a lot to me that you are all enjoying this story. It really does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying the story. I hope that you guys continue to enjoy this story. We're not too far off of finishing the very first episode off in this story. I know I'm making it much longer than what it needs to be for each part, but I want to try to get the most out of it and try to develop my character into the story. Without further ado Chapter 5. Enjoy!
Chapter 5
Not too far after that Sherlock and Iseabail had left, John caught up to them in the street and the three of them continued down the road.
"Where are we going?" John questioned as he kept his pace up with the two of them.
"Northumberland Street's a five-minute walk from here." Sherlock explained to John as they walked.
"You think he's stupid enough to go there?"
Sherlock smiled expectantly. "No – I think he's brilliant enough. I love the brilliant ones. They're always so desperate to get caught."
"Why?"
"Appreciation! Applause! At long last the spotlight. That's the frailty of genius, John: it needs an audience."
John looked at him pointedly. "Yeah."
Oblivious to the implication, Sherlock spun around to indicate the entire area as he continued to walk.
Iseabail simply shook her head as she slowly walked with Sherlock knowing that he wasn't going to get the look that John had given to him.
"This is his hunting ground, right here in the heart of the city. Now that we know his victims were abducted, that changes everything. Because all of his victims disappeared from busy streets, crowded places, but nobody saw them go." He held his hands up on either side of his head trying to focus his thoughts. "Think! Who do we trust, even though we don't know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who hunts in the middle of a crowd?"
"Dunno. Who?"
Sherlock shrugged his shoulders. "Haven't the faintest. Hungry?" He asked lowering his hands, before leading John and Iseabail to a small restaurant and inside of it.
The waiter near the door clearly knows who he is and gestured to a reserved table at the front window.
"Thank you, Billy." Sherlock said as he took his coat off. He sat down on the bench seat at the side of the table and immediately turned sideways so that he could see clearly out the window.
Billy took the reserved sign off of the table.
Iseabail and John sat down with their backs towards the window. They both removed their jackets.
Sherlock nodded over to a building over the road. "Twenty-two Northumberland Street. Keep your eyes on it."
"He isn't just gonna ring the doorbell, though, is he? He'd need to be mad."
"He has killed four people."
"Okay."
"We just need to keep an eye on it… it could be anyone…"
The owner of the restaurant came over pleased to see Sherlock and Iseabail there. "Sherlock." He shook hands with him. "Iseabail." He then shook her hand as well. "Anything on the menu, whatever you want, free." He laid 3 menus onto the table. "On the house, for you and for your date."
"Angelo, it's not a date. It's more of a business meeting."
Angelo nodded his head.
"Do you want to eat?" Sherlock questioned looking at John.
"I'm not his date." John protested.
"This man got me off a murder charge."
"This is Angelo."
Angelo offered his hand to John, who shook it.
"Three years ago I successfully proved to Lestrade at the time of a particularly vicious triple murder that Angelo was in a completely different part of town, house-breaking."
"He cleared my name."
"I cleared it a bit. Anything happening opposite?"
"Nothing." He looked at John again. "But for this man, I'd have gone to prison."
"You did go to prison." Iseabail pointed out being the arresting officer for his case.
Angelo walked away to go and get some water for them to drink.
Sherlock put his own menu down onto the table. "You may as well eat. We might have a long wait."
Angelo came back with three glasses of water for them. He put them onto the table and smiled before walking away.
SHSHSH
Later, John had a plate of food in front of him and was eating it.
Sherlock's attention was fixed out the window and he was quietly drumming his fingers on the table.
Iseabail took a drink of water letting out a breath looking out the window, her brows furrowed together. She had a strange feeling that Sherlock was onto something and it was something major.
"People don't have arch-enemies." John said as he stopped eating for a moment.
It took just a moment, but Sherlock finally looked back at John. "I'm sorry?"
"In real life. There are no arch-enemies in real life. Doesn't happen."
"Doesn't it? Sounds a bit dull." Sherlock said looking back out the window.
"So who did I meet?"
"What do real people have, then, in their 'real lives'?"
"Friends; people they know; people they like; people they don't like ... Girlfriends, boyfriends …"
"Yes, well, as I was saying – dull."
Iseabail shook her head. "Dull, perhaps too dull." She said as she looked out the window with her lips pursed together in nerves.
"You don't have a girlfriend, then?" John asked, looking at Sherlock.
"Girlfriend? No, not really my area."
"I don't think you'll ever get a significant other." Iseabail said, looking over at Sherlock musing a little. She knew that when it came to things Sherlock was a bit backwards.
"Mm." A moment passed before he realized the possible significance of the statement. "Oh, right. D'you have a boyfriend?"
Sherlock turned to John sharply.
"Which is fine, by the way."
"I know it's fine."
John smiled and indicated that he wasn't signifying anything negative by what he had said. "So you've got a boyfriend then?"
"No."
Iseabail let out a soft laugh watching John as his smile became a little fixed and awkward.
"Right. Okay. You're unattached. Like me." He looked down at his plate, apparently running out of things to say. "Fine." He cleared his throat. "Good." He went back to eating.
Sherlock looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but then he looked back to the window again. However he then went back through what John had said. He looked a bit startled before turning his head back towards John again. "John, um ... I think you should know that I consider myself married to my work, and while I'm flattered by your interest, I'm really not looking for any …"
"No." He turned his head briefly to clear his throat. "No, I'm not asking. No." His gaze fixed to Sherlock, trying to convey his sincerity. "I'm just saying, it's all fine."
Sherlock looked at John for a moment, then nodded his head. "Good. Thank you." He turned his attention back to the street.
Iseabail let out a soft laugh shaking her head lightly.
John looked away with a bemused expression on his face.
Sherlock then nodded out the window. "Look across the street. Taxi."
John twisted in his seat to look out the window where a taxi was parked at the side of the road with its back end towards the restaurant.
"Stopped. Nobody getting in, and nobody getting out."
Iseabail watched carefully wondering what was going to happen next.
"Why a taxi? Oh, that's clever. Is it clever? Why is it clever?" Sherlock questioned himself thinking.
"That's him?" John questioned.
"Don't stare."
John turned and looked at him. "You're staring."
"We can't all stare." Iseabail said as she got up to her feet with Sherlock.
Sherlock grabbed his coat and scarf as Iseabail grabbed her coat. The two of them headed towards the door.
John picked up his own jacket and followed completely forgetting to take his walking cane with him.
Outside the door, Sherlock shrugged himself into his coat while keeping his eyes fixed on the taxi.
The passenger continued to look around him, then turned and looked out the back window. His gaze falls on the restaurant and he looks at it for a few moments while Sherlock stares back at him, then the man turned forward to the front of the vehicle and the taxi began to pull away from the curb.
Sherlock immediately headed towards it without even bothering to check the road that he was running into and almost got hit by a car.
Iseabail let out a groan. "Sherlock!" She hollered at him as he ran. She shook her head. "Moron."
John put his hand on the bonnet and vaulted over the car apologizing to the driver. "Sorry." He chased after Sherlock.
Iseabail went around the back of the car and chased after the two men cursing in her mind. She didn't think that Sherlock would be that stupid to run in front of a car and almost getting hit and then John his new roommate doing the same thing.
Sherlock came to a halt and Iseabail and John caught up to him and stopped right beside him.
"I've got the cab number." John said panting.
"Good for you." Sherlock said as he brought his hands up to the sides of his head and began to concentrate.
Iseabail let out a breath shaking her head lightly.
"Right turn, one way, roadworks, traffic lights, bus lane, pedestrian crossing, left turn only, traffic lights." He lifted his head up and saw a man unlocking the door to a nearby building. Sherlock raced towards the man and grabbed him, shoving him out of the way before charging into the building.
"Oi!"
John and Iseabail hurried after Sherlock, John raising an apologetic hand to the man as they went by.
"Sorry."
The three of them raced up the stairs and out onto a metal spiral fire escape staircase leading to the roof.
Sherlock took two steps to even three steps at a time while John and Iseabail struggled to keep up with him. "Come on, John." Reaching the top of the stairs, Sherlock ran to the edge and looked over before seeing a shorter metal spiral staircase leading down the side of the building to another door one floor lower. He galloped down the stairs and climbed onto the railing before leaping across the gap to the next building.
John raced after him with Iseabail right behind him, he skidded to a halt when he realised that the gap was too big for him to jump across.
Iseabail jumped across the gap to the other building quickly following Sherlock.
"Come on, John. We're losing him!" Sherlock called back as he ran.
John was able to join them once he had gotten his nerve to jump across the gap.
Finally the three of them dropped down onto a walkway along the side of the building and the three of them ran onwards. They made their way down another staircase, then ran to a ledge and then dropped down into an alleyway before running again.
Sherlock led John and Iseabail down the alley way. Sherlock turned the corner and raced down the last part of the alley to see the taxi drive past heading to the left. "Ah, no!" Without breaking his stride, he raced out of the end of the alley and turned right. "This way."
Instinctively John turned to the left to pursue the taxi.
"No, this way!"
"Sorry." John said turning and heading in the opposite direction, following Sherlock and Iseabail.
They head down more alleyways and side streets towards the interception point in Wardour street.
Sherlock raced out of a side street and hurled himself into the path of the approaching cab which came to a screeching halt as he crashed into the bonnet. Scrabbling in his left hand coat pocket, Sherlock pulled out an id badge and flashed it at the driver as he ran to the right hand side of the cab. "Police! Open her up!" Panting heavily, he tugged open the rear door and stared at the passenger, who looked back at him anxiously. Instantly Sherlock straightened up in exasperation just as John and Iseabail joined him. "No." He leaned down again to look at the passenger a second time. "Teeth, tan: what – Californian?" He looked at something on the floor in front of the passenger. "L.A., Santa Monica. Just arrived." He straightened up again, grimacing.
"How can you possibly know that?" John questioned trying to catch his breath.
"The luggage." Sherlock looked down at the suitcase on the floor of the car and its luggage label showed that the man had flown from LAX to LHR. "It's probably your first trip to London, right, going by your final destination and the route the cabbie was taking you?"
"Sorry – are you guys the police?" The passenger questioned his furrow.
"Yeah." Sherlock said flashing the id badge briefly to the man. "Everything all right?"
The passenger smiled. "Yeah."
Sherlock paused for a moment wondering how to finish the conversation, then smiled falsely at the man. "Welcome to London." He immediately walked away, leaving John staring blankly for a moment.
Iseabail quickly followed Sherlock shaking her head. She knew that this was going to be a long report file due to Sherlock getting a little too involved in what was going on. She stopped where Sherlock had stopped.
John caught up to them. "Basically just a cab that happened to slow down."
"Basically."
"Not the murderer."
"Not the murderer, no."
"Wrong country, good alibi."
"As they go."
John noticed Sherlock switching the id card from one hand to the other. "Hey, where-where did you get this? Here." He reached for the card and Sherlock released it. "Right." He looked at the name on the card. "Detective Inspector Lestrade?"
"Yeah. I pickpocket him when he's annoying. You can keep that one, I've got plenty at the flat."
John nodded, and then looked down at the card again before lifting his head laughing silently.
"What?"
"Nothing, just: "Welcome to London.""
Sherlock chuckled, looking down at the road to where a police officer had apparently gone to investigate why the cab had stopped in the middle of the road. The passenger had gotten out and pointed towards the 3 of them. "Got your breath back?"
"Ready when you are."
The three of them took off down the road.
"Sherlock we're going to have a long talk about you having Detective Inspector Lestrade's id." Iseabail said, scolding the curly haired man as she rushed after the two men.
Sherlock let out a laugh knowing that Iseabail was bound by the law and he was most likely in trouble, but he knew that she wouldn't report him to her superiors about the whole thing.
"You shouldn't have any of those ids you know it too."
Sherlock rolled his eyes. "I know… normally you would have been alright with it."
Iseabail let out a breath shaking her head as she followed the boys back to Bakers Street.
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This is the end of Chapter 5. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I'm excited that we're getting closer and closer to the end of this episode. I promise that there will be fillers in future chapters to kind of blend it into the story better. If there is anything that you'd perhaps like to see please let me know. I hope to update soon with the next chapter. Until next time.