Early the next morning, Sherlock was awake before John, and sat in his favorite chair sipping tea and eating biscuits provided by Mrs. Hudson, who reminded him repeatedly that she was not his maid. He gave her the barest trace of a smile, which was all she really needed to know that he appreciated her in his own odd way.
John entered the living room in his pajamas and dressing gown, still foggy from a late night with Sam.
"They found the body," said Sherlock, slurping his tea noisily.
John's sleepy eyes flew open at this. "What?!" he asked, to make sure he had heard correctly.
"It seems that human bones don't really decay in a compost heap," said Sherlock matter-of-factly. "Fortunately, Hunter doesn't know much about basic biology," he added.
John made a disgusted face and looked at his watch. It was only 7:00AM.
"You're up bright and early," he said, surprised that Sherlock was already dressed and actually eating breakfast for a change.
"Yes, well, we need to go to Scotland Yard this morning and straighten things up," he said pointedly.
"By things, you mean the Hunter case details?" asked John, not entirely certain what Sherlock meant.
"That. And the VeriCorp business," he said arching his eyebrow in distain.
"Ah," said John, finally catching on. Sherlock was still piqued at the Chief Superintendent's desire to bring in VeriCorp to show him up with their deception training techniques.
"Date went well," said Sherlock changing the subject. It was a statement, not a question.
"Yeah, yeah," said John. "Sam's really great."
Sherlock regarded John out of the corner of his eye but said nothing.
"Come on Sherlock, she did well on the case. Better than the rest of them," he added.
"Mmmmmmm," said Sherlock noncommittally.
When John & Sherlock arrived at NSY, they found DI Dimmock, Sally Donovan, the Chief and William Conroy from VeriCorp, all waiting for them in a large conference room. Lestrade came out from his office as soon as he saw them.
"I haven't told them yet," he said quietly. "It won't be pretty," he added. "The Chief won't like it."
"In that case, it will be glorious," said Sherlock acerbically.
Sam came in belatedly, as if she had also been waiting for them to arrive. She smiled widely at John and nodded at Sherlock, who barely registered the greeting.
They took seats and waited for the Chief to start.
"Well, ladies and gentleman. I'd like you all to share your statuses on the Hunter case. What is your take on yesterday's interview?"
William Conroy began with a lot of self confidence. "We know he's lying. There are clear markers in the interview. We think based on those markers we should pull him in for more questioning."
"That shouldn't be too hard," said Sherlock under his breath.
Conroy looked at Sam Sloan for backup, but she avoided eye contact and remained silent.
"I agree," chimed in Donovan, not wanting to pass up an opportunity to state her opinion. "I think we need to re-examine the physical evidence and get back inside the Hunter house to do a more thorough search."
DI Dimmock nodded is agreement with Sally, but didn't add anything.
The Chief nodded, then reluctantly turned to John & Sherlock.
"And you lot? What did you think," he added with clear distaste.
Sherlock steepled his fingers under his chin, took a deep breath and launched into his statement with relish.
"We have the motive, the murder weapon and body. Karl Hunter was taken into custody last evening," he said pausing on purpose for suspense. "Once his wife found out that he was a member of the Sport Horse Breeding of Great Britain and owned several horses, Karl Hunter snapped. He killed Eve Hunter by stabbing her with a syringe filled with acepromazine, a horse tranquilizer, which he acquired from his vet, Archie Brooks, who gave a statement last night. Hunter then disposed of her body in the West London Composting site, where the un-decomposed bones were found last night. He has made a full confession." When he stopped speaking, he pressed his lips together and looked as satisfied as the proverbial cat who ate a canary.
The Chief was momentarily stunned, as was everyone else in the room.
"Bloody hell!" he shouted. "Did you know about this?" he said glowering at Lestrade.
Lestrade looked defiant. "Well, yeah," he answered.
"Wait a minute," said Donovan. "Are you telling me you solved this whole case since yesterday's interview?" she asked incredulously.
"Yes," said Sherlock, clearly relishing his victory.
"Did you know about this, Sloan?" asked William Conroy, perplexed as to why she was silent.
Sam looked up and him and paused, considering her answer.
"Yes. I was with them when the case broke," she said. "These men are the most consummate detectives I have ever met," she continued. "Sherlock's powers of observation are uncanny, and he has a mastery of chemistry that is impressive."
She took a breath and continued. "John provides him constant support and his diligence and thorough practices help…fill in the blanks."
"Sam was great too, through this whole thing," chipped in John. "She really has a feel for reading people. She's brave and quick-thinking! Isn't she, Sherlock?"
Sherlock rolled his eyes and shrugged begrudgingly. William Conroy's face turned a brilliant shade of pink, mirroring the Chief Inspector's. They both seemed supremely annoyed at the turn of events.
"I can't believe you went behind my back, Sloan," said Conroy hotly. "We had a job to do here."
"Which was to solve the crime," she fired back in a challenging tone. "This shouldn't be a competition. It should be a joint venture. I would say it was damed successful!" Her chin jutted out obstinately. She was not going to be subdued by the overbearing men in the room.
"It was successful," finished Lestrade. "We got our man."
"They got our man," fumed the Chief, gesturing towards Sherlock, John and Sam. "Our own people are useless!" he shouted in a towering rage, causing Donovan and Dimmock to cringe. They weren't actually useless. Both had fine professional records. It was just that next to Sherlock, most people did seem like goldfish.
The Chief stalked out of the room, followed by Donovan and Dimmock, who both slunk out after shooting resentful looks towards Sherlock. Conroy gathered his papers aggressively.
"You'll be lucky if you still have a job after this stunt you just pulled," he said aggressively. "Keeping your own boss in the dark…" He stalked out of the room in a huff.
"Good work, you three," said Lestrade gratefully. "We'd still be floundering if it hadn't been for you."
"I might be available, if you have any openings," joked Sam, although she was now realizing the seriousness of her situation.
"Maybe you could consult for us once in awhile," said John, feeling sorry for her situation.
"Oh goody," said Sherlock sarcastically.
She smiled tentatively as she watched him saunter gracefully out of the room, turning up his coat collar for effect, leaving them both behind without explanation.
"He really is one of a kind," she said, fascinated by this brilliant, quirky man.
"He certainly is," agreed John.
Sam's phone signaled a text message.
"Oh. Excuse me a sec," she said to John. She walked over to the side of the room to check her phone.
The text was from William Conroy. "Nice job. Do you think they bought that?"
Sam texted back. "I'm in like flint with John. Not sure about Sherlock."
Conroy answered. "Stay close to them. Get as much info on them as you can."
Sam replied, "Will do."
Out in the hallway, Sherlock hung near the doorway watching Sam and John. Sherlock had studied VeriCorp's deception detection techniques enough to know that both Sam Sloan and William Conroy had put on a little show this morning. Conroy hadn't pursued any leads of his own. He had intentionally sent Sam to try to get near them. VeriCorp wanted Sam to get close to himself and John or to New Scotland Yard, but he wasn't sure just why. He would allow it to play out for awhile, maybe let Sam Sloan in on future cases, just to keep her close. Until he could figure her out, anyway. But he wouldn't want John to get hurt.
John and Sam came out to the hallway, surprised that he was still standing there waiting for them.
"Hey, Sherlock," said John, clearly surprised to see him still standing there.
"What do you say we go find another interesting case to work on?" said John, smiling at Sam.
"Sounds like fun," she answered taking his arm.
Sherlock fell into step behind them.
"The game is on," he said in a low whisper close to the back of Sam's head. Sam wasn't sure if he was talking about finding a new case, or talking about her. How could he possibly know about her? She would have to be very careful around this one. He was, after all, England's most brilliant consulting detective.