Chapter Ten-
John was quickly becoming used to the idea that Sherlock was rarely wrong, if ever. It had taken Sherlock less than a minute to look up the correct Van Coon and where he lived. Five minutes after Sherlock found the address they were standing in front of a very posh apartment building in the middle of London. But, after Sherlock had buzzed Van Coon twice with no answer, John feared they had reached a dead end. They couldn't enter the building without either a key or being buzzed in.
"So what do we do now? Sit here and wait for him to come back?" John asked starting to lightly shiver from the cold. Sherlock, who was looking around them, gently pulled John to him causing him to blush. John didn't think he would ever get used to Sherlock showing him affection, it just didn't seem to go with him. He hadn't known Sherlock very long, but in his mind the words 'Sherlock' and 'affection' just did not mesh. And yet, Sherlock was constantly showing John some kind of affection, be it by holding his hand, wrapping an arm around him, or hugging him close.
"Just moved in?" Sherlock stated confusing John.
"What?" John asked.
"Floor above, new label." Sherlock pointed out and John looked at the label. Sherlock was right, it was a new label, but what about it made Sherlock so sure it was new, it could have just been replaced, and he told Sherlock that who shook his head and buzzed the person. "No one ever does that."
"Hello?" A woman asked cautiously as Sherlock smiled into the little Camera attached to her the buzzer.
"Hi, um, we live in the flat just below you." Sherlock lied sounding slightly embarrassed. "I don't think we've met."
"No." The woman said, sounding slightly more curious than cautious. "Well, er, I've just moved in." Sherlock looked away nodding before looking back at the camera with a sheepish look.
"Actually, we've just locked our keys in the flat." Sherlock told her.
"Do you want me to buzz you in?" The woman asked.
"Yeah. And can I use your balcony?" Sherlock asked dropping his act.
"What?" The woman asked and John knew that if they were going to get her to let them in, he would need to jump in.
"Yes, you see, neither of us have our keys on us. Stupid us, I know. But we were in a hurry." John told her. "But even though our door is locked, I know I left the balcony unlocked. If my mate could just drop from your balcony onto ours, then he could let me in."
"I don't know." The woman muttered.
"I know it will work, we used to have to do this all the time when we first moved in." John reassured her. It was silent from her side of the intercom for a long minute as John held his breath hoping she believed them and let them in.
"I guess if you're sure." She said slowly before buzzing them in. Sherlock took John by the hand and whisked them into the building before John could even thank her. They quickly located the elevators and called one, thankfully they didn't have to wait long. On Van Coon's floor John exited the elevator and quickly located the right door. He stood there for what felt like an eternity waiting for Sherlock to let him in. Had he fallen? Was he having to pick the lock? Did Sherlock even know how to pick a lock.
Movement on the other side of the door caught John's attention. Had Sherlock made it safely into the building? Or was Van Coon actually home? Hoping that it was Sherlock and not Van Coon, John rung the door bell. "Sherlock?" He called out. What was taking him so long to let him in? John couldn't hear any signs of a scuffle so Sherlock wasn't fighting anyone. "Sherlock, are you okay?" He asked when he didn't receive an answer from the Alpha. "Sherlock, if you can hear me, please let me in." John sucked in a breath when he caught what sounded like something crashing open. Was he actually fighting with someone?
"Don't touch anything." Sherlock ordered as he opened the door. "This is now a crime scene." And then the Alpha pulled out his phone and called Lestrade.
~Ten~
John stood over the dead body of Edward Van Coon. Van Coon had been an Alpha and, from the evidence, had taken his own life. John didn't miss the fact that had he not met Sherlock weeks ago, this would have been him. John took a shaky breath as Sherlock returned to the room slipping on forensic gloves. "Do you think he lost a lot of money? I mean suicide is pretty common among the city boys." He said only to receive a hard look from Sherlock. Had he said something wrong? Statistically, speaking, people who live closer to the middle of London do take their lives more than those who don't.
"We don't know that it was suicide." Sherlock told him, annoyed. John looked at him in shock, what did he mean by that. The evidence clearly pointed to suicide. What was it that Sherlock was seeing that stated other wise?
"But the evidence." John stated weakly. "You said that the bedroom door was locked form the inside, and you had to clime down the balcony just to get in." He said watching Sherlock open a suitcase and began rummage through it.
"Been away three days judging by the laundry." Sherlock deduced before looking over at John who had yet to move from his spot next to the bed. "Look at the case, there was something tightly packed inside it." Sherlock ordered but John was still stuck on the fact that Sherlock didn't believe it was a suicide because no matter how hard he tried, he could not find anything that said other wise. "John." He said with a small growl pulling John's attention back to the Alpha.
"I'll take your word for it." John muttered weakly causing concern to flash through Sherlock's eyes.
"Problem?" Sherlock asked taking a step closer to him.
"How can it not be suicide?" John asked. Sherlock sighed before turning his attention away form John to the Alpha on the bed, the poor Beta woman who was taking pictured of the crime scene having to scurry out of his way.
"Those symbols at the bank, the graffiti, why were they put there?" Sherlock asked as he began to examine the body.
"As some sort of code?" John asked.
"Obviously." Sherlock muttered. "Why were they painted? Want to communicate, why not use e-mail?"
"Maybe he wasn't answering." John suggested.
"Oh, good you follow." Sherlock said as he begun digging around Van Coon's pockets.
"Barely." John muttered causing Sherlock to glance at him before he began to examine Van Coon's fingers.
"What kind of a message would everyone try to avoid?" Sherlock hinted at trying to help John come to the same conclusion Sherlock had already come to. "What about this morning? Those letters you were looking at?"
"Bills?" John asked. What did bills have anything to do with this? John's eyes widened when Sherlock suddenly pulled something black and papery from Van Coon's mouth. And, unless Van Coon had placed that in his mouth before shooting himself, then Sherlock was right that this was not a suicide.
"Yes. He was being threatened." Sherlock told him examining the (was that origami?) newly acquired evidence before grabbing an evidence bag from the Beta forensic woman, and bagged it. The smell of another Alpha entered the room seconds before Sherlock straightened up, attention on the new Alpha. John turned to look at the Alpha. He was taller than John yet still slightly shorter than Sherlock with short, dark brown hair and annoyed eyes.
"Sergeant, we haven't met." Sherlock said offering his hand for the Alpha to take.
"Yeah, I know who you are and I'd prefer it if you didn't tamper with any of the evidence." The Alpha growled out, staking his claim of the area. John saw Sherlock's eyes narrow at the challenge. The two Alpha's staid glaring at each other for a minute before Sherlock slowly handed the evidence bag to the other Alpha. Yet, even though he had handed the bag over, John could tell that Sherlock was not giving in nor bowing out, he was just bidding his time before he struck back.
"I phoned Lestrade. Is he on his way?" Sherlock asked in a guarded voice.
"He's busy. I'm in charge." The Alpha growled out at him while baring his teeth. Though John wanted to cut into the duel between the two Alpha's, John knew that he shouldn't. When two Alpha's fought over territory it was unwise to interfere, you could be seriously hurt or mounted and publicly mated if you were an Omega like John. "And it's not Sergeant, it's Detective Inspector Dimmok." And then Dimmok's eyes were on John causing Sherlock to growl and pull him close. Dimmok gave his own growl before he turned and left the room. Sherlock seemed to take a few seconds to collect himself before he lead John after Dimmok.
"We're obviously looking at a suicide." Dimmok informed his team who were documenting any evidence in the rest of the apartment.
"I guess that's true if you ignore some evidence." John muttered as Sherlock released him to pace angrily.
"John is right. Suicide is one possible explanation of some of the facts." Sherlock stated and John had to bite his lip to stop the smile that threatened to appear on his face. They were at a crime scene, it was not proper to smile at a crime scene, no matter how amazing Sherlock's deduction skills were. "You've got a solution that you like, but you're choosing to ignore anything you see that doesn't comply with it." Sherlock growled at Dimmok who growled back.
"Like?" The Detective demanded.
"The wound's on the right side of his head." Sherlock pointed out.
"And?" The Detective questioned.
"Van Coon was left-handed." Sherlock stated before trying to contort himself as he mimicked trying to shoot himself with his left hand on the right side of his head. "Requires quite a bit of contortion." He taunted.
"Left-handed?" The Detective asked confused.
"I'm amazed you didn't notice, all you have to do is look around this flat." Sherlock said with a mocking smirk. "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. Need I go on?"
"Please." John breathed out without thought only to blush when Sherlock winked at him.
"No, I think you've covered it." Dimmok growled out.
"Oh, I might as well, I'm almost at the bottom of the list." Sherlock purred out, eyes never leaving John's as he pointed to the kitchen. "There's a knife on the bread board with butter on the right side of the blade because he used it with his left." Sherlock turned to glare at Dimmok. "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-" Dimmock growled out.
"He was waiting for the killer." Sherlock interrupted him with annoyance clear in his voice. "He'd been threatened."
"What?" The Detective asked as Sherlock stormed over to his coat and scarf.
"Today at the bank, sort of a warning." John told the Detective carefully, not knowing if the duel was over or not as Sherlock began to put his scarf on.
"He fired a shot when his attacker came in." Sherlock informed as he slipped his coat on.
"And the bullet?" Dimmok asked, his tone clearly stating he didn't believe Sherlock.
"Went through the open window." Sherlock explained as he put on his gloves.
"Oh, come on." The Detective scoffed as Sherlock returned to John's side ready to venture out once more. "What are the chances of that?"
"Wait until you get the ballistics report. The bullet in his brain wasn't fired from his gun, I guarantee it." Sherlock said before taking John by the wrist and began to lead him out of the apartment.
"But if his door was locked from the inside, how did the killer get in?" Dimmok called after them.
"Good, you're finally asking the right questions." Sherlock said before slamming the door shut. Without a word, Sherlock lead him back to the elevators and entered them. In the elevator, John gently removed Sherlock's fingers from around his wrist (they were starting to hurt) before slipping his hand into Sherlock's larger one and gave him a comforting squeeze.
"I don't like him." John told him causing Sherlock to chuckle as the elevator got to the ground floor.
"Hungry?" Sherlock asked.
"Starving." John told him with a smirk.
"Alright. We have one more stop before we can go home and get you something to eat."
~Ten~
John did not expect their 'one more stop' to be a high class restaurant in the middle of London. And had Sherlock not just told him that they would be going home to eat he would have thought Sherlock had brought him here to eat. Just the very thought of eating at a place like this had John itching to leave the restaurant. He knew that most Omega's loved to be pampered by their Alpha's and going to fancy restaurants like this, but not John. John would rather be in their dingy, yet still very homey, flat eating take-out and watching crap telly.
"It was a threat, that's what the graffiti meant." Sherlock informed Sebastian after having lead John (by hand) to the Alpha's table. John quickly took note of the four men sitting at the table they were standing next to, all but one of the men were Alphas, the other was a Beta.
"I'm kind of in a meeting. You can make an appointment with my secretary." Sebastian told Sherlock condescendingly causing the other three men to laugh as if Sebastian had just told a joke. John caught one of the Alphas checking him up and down before winking at him pissing him off. Just because he was broken and could not conceive did not mean he was some plaything for any and all Alpha's looking to get their rock's off without any consequences. John went to punch the Alpha, but before his could, he was suddenly flush up against Sherlock's side as he growled loudly at the Alpha who had hit on him, gaining the attention of everyone else in the restaurant.
"I don't think this can wait. Sorry, Sebastian." Sherlock growled out, turning to glare at him. "One of your traders, someone who worked in your office, was killed."
"What?" Sebastian asked.
"Van Coon. The police are at his flat." John growled out, he wanted this conversation to be done and over with so that they could leave and return home.
"Killed?" Sebastian asked.
"Sorry to interfere with everyone's digestions." Sherlock said sarcastically. "Still want to make an appointment? Would maybe 9:00 at Scotland Yard suit?" Sebastian nervously tugged at his collar before getting up and heading towards the restroom with them close behind. Sebastian began to wash his hands and John leaned against the counter and glared at him waiting to hear what he had to say, while Sherlock stood in front of the door to keep him from leaving until he was done with him.
"Harrow, Oxford. Very bright guy." Sebastian started. "Worked in Asia for a while, so..."
"You gave him the Hong Kong accounts." John stated the obvious receiving a look from the Alpha that was silently telling him to 'keep his Omega mouth shut' causing both John and Sherlock to growl at him.
"Lost five million in a single morning, made it all back a week later." Sebastian growled out. "Nerves of steel, Eddie had."
"Who'd want to kill him?" John asked, letting Sebastian know that he would not stay quiet.
"We all make enemies." Sebastian told him through clenched teeth.
"We don't all end up with a bullet through your temple." John pointed out as Sebastian's mobile alerted him of a message.
"Not usually. Excuse me." Sebastian said pulling out his phone to read the message. "It's my chairman. Police have been on to him." Sebastian looked up at Sherlock with a smirk. "Apparently they're telling him it was suicide."
"Well, they've got it wrong, Sebastian. He was murdered." Sherlock told him causing Sebastian's smirk to widen.
"Well, I'm afraid they don't see it like that. And neither does my boss. I hired you to do a job. Don't get sidetracked." He ordered before shoving Sherlock out of the way and exited the bathroom.
"I thought bankers were all supposed to be heartless bastards." John joked angrily before they, too, left the bathroom, only they didn't go back to the table like Sebastian, they left the restaurant completely.