After a nice cup of tea at Mrs. Hudson's flat, I make my way to to pick up Sarah. I knock on her door shortly, then check the time. I'm early. Really early. She opens the door with a smile.

"You're early," she comments, holding her robe tightly closed.

"Sorry, my flatmate and I had a row and I needed to get away from it all. No rush to get ready, I enjoy your company." She smiles again.

"Right, well, come inside then. I won't be too long." She holds the door open for me to walk through, and I step into her flat. Closing the door quietly behind me, I turn to see her returning from the kitchen with tea. She hands me a mug while sipping from her own, and turns to point to the sofa. "Please make yourself at home."

"You've got a nice place," I tell her, eyes wandering over her belongings as she escapes to her bedroom to change. "You live here by yourself?"

"Yup, just me," her muffled reply comes from behind the door.

"Must get lonely," I mutter to myself, eyes landing on a small bookshelf near the window. "I could never do that." My eyes wander over the small trinkets decorating the shelves, adoring each of them. I pick up a small glass elephant figurine and examine it carefully, noticing each subtle detail. I hear Sarah walk back into the room, so I place the elephant back where it was. "Where did you get these?"

"Oh, loads of places. My mother travels a lot for her job, so she sends me little souvenirs when she goes somewhere new. I think the elephant is from Thailand?"

"Makes sense, they have beautiful sanctuaries there."

"What about you, do you collect anything?"

"I don't have a lot that's my own, honestly. When I got back from serving in the war, I only had the clothes on my back and my credentials. I've learned to live with just necessities."

"I'm sorry," she says softly, reaching to place her hand on my arm. I let us enjoy the moment of silence before turning to her.

"Ready to go?"


"It's years since anyone took me to the circus," Sarah comments as we walk closer to the theater.

"Well, I'm glad to make this date memorable," I joke back, earning a smile. We turn a corner and spot the theater, strings of paper lanterns adorning the courtyard.

"I'm guessing they're from China."

"Is that a problem?" I ask.

"No!" She answers quickly, grabbing my arm. "I was just expecting tigers and clowns and stuff like that, it's not a problem."

"Okay, then let's head inside."

We stand in the short queue for our tickets, and after a few minutes we are able to step towards the counter.

"I've got two reserved for tonight," I tell the employee, ready to pull out my ID.

"What name is it?" I hesitate. Would he put them under his name? Is he trying to embarrass me?

"... Holmes." The employee searches for the tickets in his supply.

"Actually, I have three in that name."

"That can't be right, there should be only two.

"And then I phoned back and got one for me as well," A voice from behind us states. It takes all of my willpower to not turn and punch him in the face. "I'm Sherlock."

"Jane, are you alright?" Sarah asks me gently, placing her hand softly on my arm.

"Sherlock, a word," I manage through gritted teeth. He follows me over to a quiet corner of the building, and I let him have it. "How could you do this to me? After what you did this afternoon? I honestly can't believe you right now."

"To be fair, I purchased the ticket before that happened," he tries to add, but I hold my hand up to stop him.

"You knew I needed space. You left for those two hours. But it takes more than two hours to get over something like what you did!"

"I tried-"

"And you failed." I take a breath in the silence, trying to calm myself. "I want to have a nice evening with a nice woman, and frankly you're ruining it. Just focus on the case while you're here, and leave us alone. Maybe then we can talk. Got it?" He nods silently, his face stoic.

"Jane, Sherlock," Sarah calls from the other side of the room. "They're starting soon."

"Coming," I call back, walking over to her. "Hope this show is worth it."

As we walk in, a drummer begins to play a steady beat. A woman stands next to a contraption, pulling a feather from her headdress and placing it in a scale. This sets the contraption off, an arrow shooting towards a board in the shape of a person. I recognize this as an ancient escapology act as another man steps forward.

"What are they going to do now?" I hear Sarah whisper to me.

"It's just a classic escape trick. He has to find his way out before the arrow fires," I explain in a similar hushed tone. We continue to watch as the man struggles against his bonds, the weight nearing closer to the sensitive scales. At the last second, he ducks and misses the arrow flying towards him. We begin clapping, and I glance around the room to notice that Sherlock had disappeared. Good.

"Ladies and gentlemen, from the distant moonlit shores of the Yangtze river, we present for your pleasure the deadly Chinese bird spider," the woman announces, making way for the acrobat to begin his act. I watch his technique carefully, observing his graceful movements with a knowing eye.

"Were you expecting anything like this?" Sarah whispers again, grabbing my hand in hers. I turn to look in her eyes.

"Actually yes," I admit, smiling. She smiles back before turning her attention to the act again. My gaze lingers on her profile for a few moments longer, then I force myself to look away. We continue to enjoy the acrobatics before two people suddenly come bursting through the curtain. Immediately, I look to them and notice Sherlock wrestling with a performer. Before I can process, I run towards them to help. The performer takes a swing at me, but I duck and land a punch to his face. He steps back, stunned for a moment, before lunging at me with his hands outstretched. I evade him, but fall into the curtain and make a cloud of dust appear as it falls to the floor. I try to find my way out of the suffocating fabric before I feel someone helping me. Sarah pulls it off of my head and helps me up. I look towards the woman performer in the wing and notice her taking a picture of us.

"Let's get out of here," I state quickly, grabbing Sarah by the hand and running from the theatre. I hear footsteps behind us, but realize that it's only Sherlock. We run until we no longer can, breathing heavily as we gain our bearings. "And to think I thought the date was going well."


"I sent a couple of cars. The old music hall is totally deserted," Dimmock states as we stand in Scotland Yard, waiting to discuss what's happened.

"I saw the mark at the theatre," Sherlock tells him, placing his hands in his pockets. "The tattoo we saw on the bodies. The mark of the Tong."

"They were part of a smuggling operation," I begin explaining. "One of them stole something when he was in China. Something valuable."

"These circus performers - they were gang members, sent here to get it back."

"Get what back?" Dimmock asks.

"...We don't really know that yet," I admit.

"You don't know? Mr. Holmes - I've done everything you asked. Lestrade - he seems to think your advice is worth something... I gave the order for a raid. Please tell me I'll have something to show for it. Other than a massive bill for overtime."


"They'll be back in China by tomorrow," I say quietly, thinking out loud. We stand around the flat, looking at the evidence we've collected so far. Sarah stands awkwardly near the door while Sherlock sits at his desk, hands steepled to his mouth.

"They won't leave," Sherlock assures me. "Not without finding what they came for. We need to find a hideout - a rendezvous. Somewhere in this message - it must tell us."

"Well. I think maybe I should leave you to it," Sarah states, stepping closer to the door.

"You can stay if you like," I say quickly, before Sherlock can say anything. "Sorry the house is such a mess, but please make yourself at home."

"Is it just me or is anyone else starving?" She jokes, trying to break the ice with Sherlock. I don't need to look at him to tell that he's rolling his eyes.

"I'll see what we have in." I head towards the kitchen and dig around, not seeing anything appetizing. At that moment, Mrs. Hudson comes in with a tray of snacks.

"I've done punch. And there's a bowl of nibbles," she whispers to me.

"You're a saint, bless you." I take the tray from her and bring it into the other room, setting it down on Sherlock's desk.

"So - these numbers. It's a cipher," I hear Sarah state, obviously trying to get along with the detective at work.

"Exactly," comes his short reply.

"And each pair of numbers is a word."

"How did you know?" I ask from the other side of the table, looking up at her.

"Two words are translated here."

"How did you do that?" Sherlock asks.

"I didn't. It was already written." She holds out the printout of the graffiti to Sherlock, his eyes scanning it quickly.

"Jane, look," he states, standing to show me the paper. I step closer, leaning to get a good look at it. "Soo Lin started to translate the code for us. We didn't see it. 'Nine Mill'?"

"Million?" I muse quietly.

"Nine million quid... For what? We need the end of the sentence." He rushes towards the door, throwing on his coat.

"Where are you going?" I ask, annoyed that he's running off again.

"To the Museum. The Restoration Office, we must have been staring at it."

"What, the book?"

"Of course, it's the key to cracking the cipher! Soo Lin used it to do this. Whilst you and I were running round the galleries she started to translate the code. That book is in her office!" With that, he runs out the door and into the street. I look over to Sarah.

"Well, at least we're alone," I joke, earning a smile. "Are you alright? After all the... everything that happened tonight?"

"Yeah. I didn't expect it, but it definitely was memorable."

"I hope this food is alright, we don't have much else in at the moment." I motion to the bowl of snacks on the tray Mrs. Hudson brought up.

"No, it's fine." She continues to look around our flat. "Is it always like this? You and him, your work, is it always so... labor intensive?"

"...So far," I hesitate to admit. "I was trying to have a normal night, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way."

"I mean - I love going out and wrestling with Chinese gangsters. But a girl can get too much," she jokes, laughing.

"Do you want take out?" She smiles wide.

"Yes please."

I pull out my phone to call my favorite Chinese restaurant, placing an order for my usual meal. I also get something that I think Sarah would like, hanging up once they tell me how long it will be. I place my phone back in my pocket and turn back to Sarah.

"This place has incredible service, very speedy delivery. Won't be too long," I tell her, stepping closer. She nods in understanding, smiling.

"I'm starving," she laughs. I bring my hand up, brushing a strand of hair away from her face.

"We've still got some time to ourselves," I say in a hushed tone, not wanting to break the intimate moment.

"What do you want to do?" Sarah asks in the same tone, a special glint in her eye.

"I don't know," I answer, leaning towards her. She leans in as well, our eyes hooded. The sudden buzz of the doorbell breaks our moment, making us part in shock.

"Blimey," I whisper, our opportunity now gone. "That was fast. I'll just pop down."

"You want me to lay the table?" I glance at the piles of papers everywhere.

"Eat off trays?" She nods, smiling. I run down the stairs to the door. "Sorry to keep you. How much do you want?"

"Do you have it? Do you have the treasure?" He asks instead, bringing my attention from my wallet to him.

"What?" I ask on instinct, watching him pull out a gun. "Wait, I can help you-" He swings the gun down on my head, knocking me unconscious.