Chapter Seven-
Running after Sherlock who was chasing after the taxi they had spotted from Angelo's was not John first idea of a date. But then, when one was possibly with Sherlock, a normal date was too dull. His heart lept into his throat when Sherlock suddenly rolled off the hood of a car that slammed on their breaks just before actually hitting the Alpha. John slid across the hood after Sherlock while apologizing to the owner of the car.
"I've got the cab number." John informed Sherlock when he stopped after the taxi had vanished from sight.
"Good for you." Sherlock muttered before beginning to spout out directions. "Right turn, one way, roadworks, traffic lights, bus lane, pedestrian crossing, left turn only, traffic light." Once finished with whatever he was doing, Sherlock took off and John quickly followed.
"Sorry." John apologized after Sherlock shoved a man out of his way into an apartment building. John chased him up the flight of stairs until the came to the roof. Where was Sherlock taking them?
"Come on John." Sherlock ordered causing John to run faster. They ran across roof tops with John easily keeping up with Sherlock until they came across a gap that seemed slightly to large for John to jump causing him to slide to a stop. "Come on John! We're losing him!" Sherlock cried having also stopped when he realized John was no longer following him. John backed up and took a running leap and made the gap before they continued running.
Soon, they had managed to drop back down to street level where they ran down alley after alley. At the end of one alley, John saw the taxi drive by them. "Oh! This way!" Sherlock ordered and John followed. After more alleys, Sherlock ran out of an alley and into the street right in front of the taxi causing it to slam on it's breaks. "Police! Open her up." Sherlock growled pulling out a badge from his coat pocket.
Sherlock went to the back of the taxi to were the passenger was sitting and threw the door open. After taking one look at the passenger he groaned in annoyance. "No..." He said shaking his head. "Teeth, tan. What, Californian?" He asked before checking the man's luggage that was at his feet. "LA, Santa Monica. Just arrived."
"How could you possibly that?" John panted out. He hadn't run like that since boot camp.
"The luggage." Sherlock said. "Ah, 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 man asked.
"Yeah." Sherlock said flashing his badge. "Everything all right?"
"Yeah." The man answered with a little nervous laugh.
"Welcome to London." Sherlock said causing John to laugh before he stalked off.
"Uh, any problems, just let us know." John said after he had stopped laughing. He shut the taxi door before walking over to Sherlock who was waiting for him. "Basically just a cab that happened to slow down."
"Basically." Sherlock agreed.
"Not the murderer." John said.
"Not the murderer, no." Sherlock agreed again.
"Wrong country, good alibi." John said.
"As they go." Sherlock said as John took the badge from him.
"Where did you get this?" John asked. "Detective Inspector Lestrade?" He read.
"Yeah. I pickpocket him when he's annoying." Sherlock admitted. "You can keep that one, I've got plenty at the flat." That caused John to start laughing again. "What?"
"Nothing, just... 'Welcome to London.'" John quoted as they looked over to see the passenger talking to a real police man.
"Got your breath back?" Sherlock asked as John's laughter subsided to giggles.
"Ready when you are." John said before they both took off.
~Seven~
"Okay." John panted out after they had stepped into the safety of 221B Baker Street. "That was ridiculous. That was the most ridiculous thing I've ever done." John said resting against the wall. He looked over at Sherlock when he rested against the wall with his shoulder touching John's.
"And you invaded Afghanistan." Sherlock said causing both of them to laugh as John shifted to rest against Sherlock.
"That wasn't just me." John said as Sherlock rested his cheek on top of his head. "Why aren't we back at the restaurant?"
"They can keep an eye out." Sherlock said. "It was a long shot anyway."
"So what were we doing there?" John asked.
"Getting you something to eat." Sherlock said. "And proving a point."
"What point?" John asked.
"You." Sherlock said. "Mrs Hudson! Dr Watson will be moving in."
"Says who?" John asked.
"Says the man at the door." Sherlock said just before someone knocked on the door confusing John. After receiving a gentle nudge from Sherlock towards the door, John walked over to the door and opened it to find Angelo standing there holding his cane. It was then that John realized he hadn't been limping or using his cane since they began chasing the taxi.
"Sherlock texted me. He said you forgot this." Angelo said and John looked back at Sherlock, who had moved to stand behind John, in amazement.
"Er, thank you. Thank you." John told Angelo taking the cane. Sherlock backed up and let John back into the house and shut the door. John turned to face Sherlock who tilted his head down towards John's, he was going to kiss him! Sherlock was going to kiss him!
"Sherlock, what have you done?" Mrs Hudson asked in concerned fear causing Sherlock to look at her.
"Mrs Hudson?" Sherlock asked worried.
"Upstairs." She told them. Sherlock gripped John's hand and quickly lead them up the stairs to find Lestrade and his team tearing up the place.
"What are you doing?" Sherlock growled releasing John's hand and storming over to Lestrade who was lounging in Sherlock's chair as if he owned it.
"Well, I knew you'd find the case, I'm not stupid." Lestrade said as Sherlock began to pace in anger reminding John of a caged tiger.
"You can't just break into my flat. Do you know how long it will take to get your stench out of here!?" Sherlock growled.
"You can't withhold evidence, and I didn't break into your flat." Lestrade said.
"What do you call this?!" Sherlock roared motioning to the team tearing up the flat.
"It's a drug bust." Lestrade said shocking John. Sherlock couldn't possibly use drugs. He wouldn't dare risk destroying his mind like that? Would he?
"Seriously? This guy, a junkie?" John asked in disbelief and Sherlock tensed up before quickly making his way over to John and pulling him protectively and possessively against him, effectively cutting off anymore of John's arguments.
"John." Sherlock warned and John looked at him in shock.
"No." John whispered and Sherlock's eyes suddenly became guarded.
"What?" He demanded.
"You?" John asked. Why?
"I'll explain later." Sherlock whispered soothingly before turning his attention back to Lestrade. "I'm not your sniffer dog."
"No, Anderson's my sniffer dog." Lestrade informed.
"What? I..." Sherlock started before the kitchen door opened to show a pissed off Anderson and a deep growl flew from Sherlock. "Anderson, what are you doing here on a drugs bust?"
"Oh, I volunteered." Anderson said darkly. Sherlock growled again and let go of John to run his hands through his hair while pacing yet again.
"They all did. They're not strictly speaking on the drug squad, but they're very keen." Lestrade informed them.
"Are these human eyes?" Sally asked holding a jar of eyes.
"Put those back!" Sherlock ordered.
"They were in the microwave." Sally said.
"It's an experiment!" He growled out and John made a mental note to bleach the microwave once the experiment was done.
"Keep looking, guys." Lestrade told his team. "Or you could help us properly and I'll stand them down."
"This is childish." Sherlock growled.
"Well, I'm dealing with a child." Lestrade said. "Sherlock, this is our case. I'm letting you in, but you do not go off on your own. Clear?"
"What, so-so-so you set up a pretend drugs bust to bully me?" Sherlock asked, stuttering in anger.
"It stops being pretend if they find anything." Lestrade told him seriously.
"I am clean!" Sherlock roared.
"Is your flat?" Anderson asked.
"All of it?" Lestrade asked.
"Don't even smoke." Sherlock growled before unbuttoning the sleeve of his suit and rolling it up to show Lestrade the nicotine patch.
"Neither do I." Lestrade said also rolling up his sleeve to show a nicotine patch. "So let's work together." Sherlock stormed over to John and pulled him to him again, and buried his nose in John hair. John didn't know how to act. They had just gone on their first date and now Sherlock was using John's scent to try and calm himself down. "We've found Rachel."
"Who is she?" Sherlock asked, his voice muffled by John's hair.
"Jennifer Wilson's only daughter." Lestrade informed.
"Her daughter?" Sherlock asked removing his nose from John's hair, but still held on to him. "Why would she write her daughter's name? Why?"
"Never mind that, we found the case." Anderson said. "According to someone the murderer has the case and we found it in the hands of our favourite psychopath." John balled his fist up and tried to removed himself from Sherlock to go punch Anderson in the face, but Sherlock refused to let him go.
"I'm not a psychopath, Anderson." Sherlock growled. "I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do you research." He then turned his attention to Lestrade. "You need to bring Rachel in, you need to question her. I need to question her."
"She's dead." Lestrade told him.
"Excellent. How and when, why?" Sherlock asked in lightning speed. "Is there a connection? There has to be."
"Well, I doubt it, since she's been dead for 14 years. Technically she was never alive." Lestrade said and John sucked in a breath at that causing Sherlock to tighten his hold for a second. "Rachel was Jennifer Wilson's stillborn daughter, 14 years ago."
"No, that's... That's not right. How? Why would she do that? Why?" Sherlock asked.
"Why would she think of her daughter in her last moments? Yup, sociopath, I'm seeing it now." Anderson said.
"She didn't think about her daughter. She scratched her name on the floor with her finger nails. She was dying. It took effort, it would have hurt." Sherlock hissed at Anderson before releasing John to start pacing again, this time in thought rather than anger.
"'They take the poisons themselves', that's what you said." John said. "He makes them take it. Well, maybe he talks to them. Maybe used the death of her daughter somehow."
"Yeah, but that was ages ago. Why would she still be upset?" Sherlock asked. There was a tense silence in the room as Sherlock realized what he said and who he said it to. "Not good?"
"Bit not good, yeah." John told him. And suddenly Sherlock had John in his arms again.
"If you were dying..." Sherlock started before stopping with a low growl. He shook his head and then seemed to try again. "If you were dying... If you'd been murdered in your last few second, what would you say?"
"Please, God, let me live." John said, saying the exact words he said in Afghanistan.
"Use your imagination!" Sherlock snapped at him.
"I don't have to!" John snapped back. It seemed to take Sherlock a few seconds to understand what John was saying because a second later Sherlock had pulled him to him. "Yeah, but if you were clever, really clever. Jennifer Wilson running all those lovers, she was clever. She's trying to tell us something."
"Isn't the doorbell working? Your taxi's here, Sherlock." Mrs Hudson said.
"I didn't order a taxi. Go away." Sherlock told her before beginning to pace again.
"Oh, dear. They're making such a mess. What are they looking for?" Mrs Hudson asked.
"It's a drug's bust, Mrs Hudson." John told her.
"But they're just for my hip. They're herbal soothers." Mrs Hudson said worried.
"Shut up, everybody! Shut up! Don't move, don't speak, don't breath. I'm trying to think. Anderson, face the other way. You're putting me off." Sherlock roared.
"What? My face is?" Anderson asked.
"Everybody quiet and still. Anderson, turn your back." Lestrade said.
"Oh, for God's sake!" Anderson complained.
"Your back, now, please." Lestrade roared.
"Come on, think. Quick!" Sherlock began to mutter.
"What about your taxi?" Mrs Hudson asked.
"Mrs Hudson!" Sherlock roared just as John yelled:
"Password!" Sherlock looked at him. "It's her password. Rachel is her password." Sherlock's face lit up.
"Oh. Ah!" He said moving over to John and rubbed his hands up and down his arms. "She was clever. Clever, yes! And so are you for figuring it out." He whispered resting his forehead on John's. "She's cleverer than you lot," He hissed at Lestrade and his team, "and she's dead. Do you see, do you get it? She didn't lose her phone, she never lost it. She planted it on him. When she got out of the car, she knew that she was going to her death. She left the phone in order to lead us to her killer."
"But how?" Lestrade asked.
"What do you mean, how? John just said it. Rachel!" The blank look Sherlock received from Lestrade and his team caused him to groan. "Look at you lot, John obviously excluded. You're all so vacant. Is it nice not being me? It must be so relaxing." It felt good to know that Sherlock was not including him in that lot. "Rachel is not a name. John, on the luggage, there's a label. E-mail address." He said giving John a little shove towards the case as he rushed to his laptop.
"jennie dot pink at mephone dot org dot uk." John read to him.
"Oh, I've been too slow. She didn't have a laptop, which means she did her business on her phone. So it's a Smartphone, it's e-mail enabled. So those are website for her account. The username is her e-mail address, and all together now, the password is?"
"Rachel." Anderson said. "So we can read her e-mails. So what?"
"Anderson, don't talk out loud. You lower the IQ of the whole street." Sherlock growled. "We can do much more than just read her e-mails. It's a Smartphone, it's got GPS. Which means if you lose it you can locate it online. She's leading up directly to the man who killed her."
"Unless he got rid of it." Lestrade said.
"We know he didn't." John told him.
"Come on, come on. Quickly!" Sherlock hissed at his computer.
"Sherlock, dear. This taxi driver..." Mrs Hudson began as Sherlock got up from his desk and over to her.
"Mrs Hudson, isn't it time for your evening soother?" He asked. "Get vehicles, get a helicopter. We're gonna have to move fast. This phone battery won't last forever."
"We'll just have a map reference, not a name." Lestrade said as John watched the screen for when the GPS activated.
"It's a start." Sherlock said.
"Sherlock?" John called when the GPS said the phone was in the flat.
"Narrows it down from just anyone on London. It's the first proper lead that we've had." Sherlock continued speaking with Lestrade.
"Sherlock?" John called again. Something wasn't right, he was positive that the phone had not been in the flat before. He had texted it and whoever had the phone called back. So why was the phone now in the flat?
"Where is it? Quickly, where?" Sherlock asked running over to him.
"Here. It's in 221B Baker Street." John told him as they shared a look.
"How can it be here?" Sherlock asked. "How?"
"Well, maybe it was in the case when you brought it back and it fell out somewhere." Lestrade suggested. That would have made sense had they not received a call from the phone.
"What, and I didn't notice it? Me? I didn't notice?" Sherlock asked.
"That's not possible, Inspector, we texted him and he called back." John told him.
"Guys, we're also looking for a mobile somewhere here, belonged to the victim..." Lestrade said obviously ignoring what John had told him. John groaned and sat back in the desk chair running his hands through his hair going over everything that night. Sherlock had asked some questions earlier that night, questions neither of them had the answer to. Maybe if John could figure out that answers then they could solve the case.
"Who do we trust even if we don't know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who hunts in the middle of a crowd?"
John looked up at Sherlock when his phone alerted him that he had a text message. He read it and got a strange look in his eyes as he looked out the door. The cabbie that had come to get him turned and walked back down the stairs.
"Sherlock, you okay?" John asked standing up from the desk.
"What?" Sherlock asked distractedly. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."
"Did you figure something out?" John asked moving to stand in front of him.
"No." Sherlock said.
"Are you sure?" John asked.
"Yeah." Sherlock said before moving around John and out the door.
"Where are you going?" John asked.
"Fresh air, just popping outside for a moment. Won't be long." Sherlock told him.
"Do you want me to come with you?" John asked. Something was wrong. He could feel it.
"Stay there." Sherlock ordered. Once John had heard the door shut, he flew over to the window and watched as Sherlock and the cabbie began to have a conversation as he tried calling the phone. And then, Sherlock got into the taxi.
"Why did you get into the cab?" John muttered catching everyone's attention. "He just got into a cab."
"I told you, he does that. He bloody left again." Sally said in annoyance. "We're wasting our time!" Sally growled to the team.
"I'm calling the phone, it's ringing out." John told Lestrade.
"And if it's ringing, it's not here." Lestrade said realizing what John and Sherlock had been telling him.
"I'll try the search again." John said refreshing the page.
"Does it matter? Does any of it? He's just a lunatic, and he'll always let you down. And you're wasting your time. All our time." Sally told them and John moved to punch her in the face, only being stopped by Lestrade.
"Okay, everybody, we're done here." Lestrade said and everyone stopped what they were doing and left leaving only him and Lestrade. "Why did he do that? Why did he have to leave?"
"You know him better than I do." John said as Lestrade slipped his coat on.
"I've known him for five years, and no, I don't. Didn't even know he was interested in mating anyone." Lestrade said and John had to fight a blush.
"So, why do you put up with him?" John asked.
"Because I'm desperate, that's why." Lestrade said before leaving, he stopped at the door and turned to look at John. "And because Sherlock Holmes is a great man, and I think one day, if we're very, very lucky, he might even be a good one." And then he left. John sat at the desk wondering why Sherlock had gotten into the cab. And then it clicked. It was the cabbie!