Once in the cab, Sherlock pulled out his phone. He was typing away.

Danielle was freaking out.

Her phone was the definition of a ticking time bomb. Any minute her phone was gonna explode with angry texts from Felix or Paul or Mum or oh god all three texting at once.

Maybe it would be easier if she just died.

Like, right now.

Just dropped dead.

In the back of the taxi.

Danielle figured that was the easier option, than talking to her brothers or her mother.

"Danielle. Stop fretting." Sherlock prompted.

She nearly jumped into John. "Sorry?"

"You keep tapping your foot. It's distracting." Sherlock clarified.

Danielle's cheeks went red. "Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine." Sherlock continued texting away. "Just distracting."

"Right. Yeah." Danielle nervously brushed back her hair, keeping her gaze staring down at her shirt. "Sorry."

Sherlock made no reply.

Danielle actually felt worse.

Soon after, they pulled into the block of flats where Van Coon was living. Danielle nervously stood behind the men, while Sherlock buzzed the button.

"Did something happen?" Sherlock asked, without looking at Danielle.

"No-"

"Her brother worked there." John revealed. "She knocked him down a peg."

"John!" Danielle hissed, worrying even worse now.

"Threatened to tell his girlfriend he was cheating on her." John gave a small grin.

Danielle groaned, hiding her face in her hands. "Oh god he must hate me."

"Well he doesn't sound all that nice anyway." John shrugged.

"He's my brother! I shouldn't have done that-"

"Was he the one that told Sebastian you were the 'boring landylady' one?" Sherlock asked.

Danielle's cheeks heated under her hands. "Yes."

Sherlock hummed. "Sounds like he earned it." Danielle refused to respond to that- which wasn't just an excuse because she forgot how to make words, nah...shut up.

Sherlock pressed down on the buzzer again.

"So what do we do now?" John asked, when no one answered Sherlock's buzz. "Sit here and wait for him to come back?"

"We could buzz someone else." Danielle suggested.

"Just moved in." Sherlock tapped one of the labels

"What?" John asked.

"The floor above. New label." Sherlock explained.

Danielle made a noise of understanding- even if she only just barely understood.

"Could have just replaced it." John remarked.

Sherlock pushed on 'Wintle's' buzzer. He gave John a look. "No-one ever does that."

"Hello?" A woman's voice came out.

Sherlock smiled into the camera- innocent looking at a rabbit. Danielle and John knew better though- that he could actually turn into that bunny from Monty Python. "Hi! Um, I live in the flat just below you. I-I don't think we've met." He smiled again, oh so normal.

"No, well, uh, I've just moved in."

Sherlock gave John a know-it-all grin. Danielle turned her head to hide a chuckle. John rolled his eyes at them both. "Actually, I've just locked my keys in my flat." Sherlock lied.

"D'you want me to buzz you in?"

"Yeah. And can I use your balcony?" Sherlock requested.

"What?"

==NKMHLY==

John pressed the buzzer again. "Sherlock."

"I think he knows we're out here by now." Danielle told John.

John gave her an annoyed look- more annoyed at Sherlock than at her. "Yeah but I don't think he knows we'd like to not be standing outside." He buzzed again. "Sherlock, are you okay?"

Danielle blew out a puff of air. "Think he forgot us."

John huffed. "Yeah he did." He buzzed again. "Yeah, any time you feel like letting me in."

After a moment, the door buzzed them in.

Turns out there was a reason Mr Van Coon wasn't answering the buzzer.

==NKMHLY==

Danielle's heart went out to the poor man who was dead.

But he worked in the same place as her brother, so he probably thought she was a boring landlady and that her sister was an 'uppity fashion one'. So he probably wouldn't have been very nice about it.

So...Danielle couldn't find herself feeling that bad.

She and Sherlock were looking down at the dead body. Sherlock was looking in his usual way, with no emotion. Danielle was trying to figure out what emotion she should actually be feeling.

Behind them- working on standing at Danielle's side, when the officer taking pictures of the dead body left- John had a much better idea of how he felt.

"D'you think he'd lost a lot of money?" John asked Sherock. The detective didn't answer. "I mean, suicide is pretty common among City boys."

Sherlock "We don't know that it was suicide." Sherlock told them. He walked to Van Coon's suitcase.

"Feel like the bullet in his brain says otherwise." Danielle remarked.

"Even that, the door was locked from the inside; you had to climb down the balcony." John reminded Sherlock.

Sherlock was looking around in the suitcase. "Been away three days, judging by the laundry." Sherlock pushed himself to his feet. "Look at the case. There was something tightly packed inside it."

"Good, thanks." Danielle dismissed the suggestion.

"Thanks – I'll take your word for it." John agreed.

"Problem?" Sherlock asked.

"Yeah, I'm not desperate to root around some bloke's dirty underwear." John replied.

Danielle had done enough that growing up, always having to do the laundry while her mother was busy cooking. Her brothers were pigs.

Sherlock walked to the foot of the bed, observing various other facts that were going over Danielle's head. "Those symbols at the bank – the graffiti. Why were they put there?"

"What, some sort of code?" John asked.

"Obviously." Sherlock replied. He began searching Van Coon's body. Danielle was still unsure if she was supposed to be feeling regret over that or not. "Why were they painted? If you want to communicate, why not use email?"

"Well, maybe he wasn't answering." John reasoned.

"Oh good. You follow." Sherlock cheered flatly.

"No." John replied.

Sherlock gave him a look. "Danielle, do you get it?"

"...yes." She lied. "But just in case explain it anyway for John." At John's look, Danielle mouthed an apology.

"What kind of a message would everyone try to avoid?" Sherlock explained, probably holding back a sigh.

"Oh! A bill." Danielle reasoned.

"Yes! Finally." Sherlock sighed in a dramatic fashion. He opened Van Coon's mouth- and yes, Danielle decided she was disgusted now. Especially when he pulled an origami bird out of the mouth. "Yes. He was being threatened."

"Not by the gas board." John mused.

"...if it is, I feel like moving." Danielle heard herself saying.

Sherlock and John fought (poorly) to hide grins at her remark.

Someone walked in at that exact moment. The grins were much better hidden at the sight of the man. He walked straight up to Sherlock Holmes. Boy, Danielle thought, that man does not look pleased.

"Ah, Sergeant. We haven't met." Sherlock held out his hand- which Danielle thought was only polite.

Instead of accepting the shake, the Sergeant moved his hands onto his hips. "Yeah, I know who you are; and I'd prefer it if you didn't tamper with any of the evidence." The man gave Sherlock a long hard glare.

Sherlock lowered the raised hand. He gave the sergeant an evidence bag with the black origami bird inside it. "I've phoned Lestrade. Is he on his way?" Sherlock asked.

"He's busy. I'm in charge." The man revealed. "And it's not Sergeant; it's Detective Inspector. Dimmock."

Sherlock turned to John and Danielle, surprise written all over his face.

The three followed Detective Inspector Dimmock into the living room, where more forensic team members were searching the flat. Dimmock gave the origami bird to one of them. "We're obviously looking at a suicide." Dimmock remarked.

"That does seem the only explanation of all the facts." John agreed.

"Right, I mean. I guess." Danielle added.

"Wrong. It's one possible explanation of some of the facts." Sherlock turned his annoyed expression around to Dimmock. "You've got a solution that you like, but you're choosing to ignore anything you see that doesn't comply with it."

"Like?" Dimmock asked. Which anyone one knows Sherlock knew it was the wrong question to ask. You're basically giving him permission to ramble.

"The wound was on the right side of his head." Sherlock replied, clearly holding back what he thought was obvious and working his way down.

"And?" Dimmock was apparently trying to be rambled to death.

"Van Coon was left-handed." Sherlock explained. He twisted his left arm about, trying to point a finger gun at his skull. Danielle's head tilted as she followed the movements. "Requires quite a bit of contortion."

"Left-handed?" Dimmock repeated.

"Oh, I'm amazed you didn't notice. All you have to do is look around this flat." Sherlock snarked and Danielle braced herself for the verbal lashing he was about to give that she would know doubt feel vicariously. "Coffee table on the left-hand side; coffee mug handle pointing to the left. Power sockets: habitually used the ones on the left. Pen and paper on the left-hand side of the phone because he picked it up with his right and took down messages with his left. D'you want me to go on?"

"No, I think you've covered it." John remarked, using the expression and tone of a man who knew he'd be ignored.

"Oh, I might as well; I'm almost at the bottom of the list." Sherlock replied. More to himself than to John.

John nodded- probably agreeing that he hadn't even needed to speak since Sherlock was going to go on anyway.

It was moments like that, that made Danielle wish she had a camera.

"There's a knife on the breadboard with butter on the right side of the blade because he used it with his left." Sherlock finished off the list. "It's highly unlikely that a left-handed man would shoot himself in the right side of his head. Conclusion: someone broke in here and murdered him. Only explanation of all the facts."

"But the gun: why-" Dimmock began.

"He was waiting for the killer. He'd been threatened." Sherlock explained. He went to gather his belongings so he could leave.

"What?" Dimmock asked.

"Oh he works at this bank- they left him a warning at his office. It's why we're here. We were looking for him, seeing why he hadn't turned up at work." Danielle rambled. "It was a whole thing."

"He fired a shot when his attacker came in." Sherlock tossed in for good measure.

"And the bullet?" Dimmock pointed out to them the lack of additional bullet holes in the flat.

"Went through the open window." Sherlock excused. Danielle hummed, cause that sounded really cool.

"Oh, come on! What are the chances of that?!" Dimmock scoffed.

"Wait until you get the ballistics report. The bullet in his brain wasn't fired from his gun. I guarantee it." Sherlock promised.

"But if his door was locked from the inside, how did the killer get in?" Dimmock questioned, suspiciously glancing at Sherlock then John then Danielle.

"Good!" Sherlock praised sarcastically. "You're finally asking the right questions." He pulled his glove on, then sauntered out of the flat.

John shrugged to Dimmock, pointing towards Sherlock in apology.

Danielle shrugged too, holding up her arms in a 'we can't control him' way before following after the boys.

==NKMHLY==

AN: Well it's late but I blame Endgame for that. Anybody else agree?

Thanks to lostfeather1, animegal1357, tvxqteentop, You-Know-What-Happened-Here, and Drunk Juggler for favoriting

Thanks to lostfeather1, Micha247, Forever Fanfiction Lover22, lady candace, animegal1357, hmusser, darknesslost, tvxqteentop, You-Know-What-Happened-Here, and windwolf1988 for following