Selena took Dave's lead in her hand when he offered it to her. After closing the door behind her, she and Dave trotted across the street to catch up with John and Sherlock. She hadn't the slightest clue as to where they were going, but followed, staying as close to them as possible so she didn't get lost again. To Selena, everything in London looked the same. She couldn't possibly find her way around on her own so she would have to rely on Sherlock to direct her around the endless maze of streets until she became familiar with them – that is, if he accepts her. Remembering it all would not be easy; when it came to mapping places in her mind she would often get lost and confused and that part of her memory would fail her. Selena recalled learning about a study on London taxi drivers, and how the hippocampus in their brains where larger than those of people who weren't taxi drivers. That was how they managed to find their way around London so easily. I envy them so much right now, she thought to herself, a how small her brain felt.
"Where are we going?" Selena asked, struggling to keep up. She could also she that John was having a bit of trouble with his bad leg because Sherlock walked quite quickly. That was another thing she may have to grow accustomed too; walking fast, though her legs were much shorter than his. Damn you and your long legs.
"Northumberland Street is a five minute walk from here," Sherlock replied.
No idea where that is, again thinking about her brain, but continued walking.
"You think he's stupid enough to go there?" John referred to the murderer they were after.
"No, I think he's brilliant enough. I love the brilliant ones. They're always so desperate to get caught," Sherlock said with a smirk, pleased that they were dealing with someone of intelligence rather than some common mindless convict.
"Why?" John asked him.
Selena had a good idea as to why the 'brilliant ones' would want to get caught; it was all to do with recognition. "Appreciation, John," she answered him. Sherlock seemed to give her a side glance, as she took the words from his mouth. "They get a chance to be in the spotlight…"
"That's the frailty of genius, John, it needs an audience," Sherlock interrupted her. He wasn't used to someone else explaining things instead of him. Hmm… if a test of wills is what you want then that's fine by me. Selena and Sherlock indirectly declared war with each other over who explains what. Selena knew she wouldn't win, but it would be fun putting up a fight.
John accepted the explanation, though he still didn't understand completely. Sherlock went on about the intelligent murderer and Selena decided not to interrupt this time so as to not provoke him too much. "This is his hunting ground. Right here in the heart of the city. Now that we know his victims were abducted, that changes everything. Because all of his victims disappeared from busy streets, crowded places, but nobody saw them go."
Sherlock quickly brought his hands to his face, raising his voice slightly, "Think! Who do we trust even though we don't know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who hunts in the middle of the crowd?"
He likes being dramatic, Selena thought while try to think of an answer to the puzzle.
John hadn't even stopped to think about it when he asked, "Don't know, who?" You could at least try to give an answer, Selena rolled her eyes at him.
"Haven't the faintest. Hungry?" Sherlock headed towards a little restaurant across the road. Selena wasn't hungry after eating that cheese on toast, but may consider refuelling if she needed more energy for, perhaps running.
Selena left Dave by the door, as no dogs were allowed in the restaurant. He whined at her, but understood why he couldn't go it. "Hopefully we won't take too long," Selena reassured him, giving him a hug. He licked her face in return. "And don't go anywhere."
Selena stepped inside, immediately feeling the warmth. The three of them sat at a table near the window. Sherlock positioned himself where he could clearly see the address he intended to keep an eye on. Selena sat next to him, on the corner part of the seat, as it was the kind of seat similar to a sofa attached to the walls. John sat with his back to the window on Selena's other side. She guessed John was going to have some food, and thought if he didn't finish it, she could always help him out. This was a habit she had picked up when she was young; at the parent's house, you learned to eat quickly and if anything was left on your plate, someone would soon take it off you so as not to waste anything.
"22 Northumberland Street; keep your eyes on it," Sherlock instructed. Selena leaned back against the wall casually, seeming to stare out of the window distantly, although actually watching said address.
"He's not just going to ring the doorbell, he'd need to be mad," John pointed out, removing his jacket. Think about what you just said John…And that jumper makes you look old, Selena held back the urge to mock his terrible fashion sense.
"He has killed four people."
"Ok," John realised that the man must be at least the tiniest bit mad to kill four people.
A rather large waiter with a slight beard and his hair tied back greeted Sherlock, shaking his hand, "Anything on the menu, whatever you want, free. On the house, for you and your date."
Sherlock must have done this man a good favour for him to earn such respect. What, date? Selena wasn't sure who the waiter thought was Sherlock's date and shifted, unnerved.
"Do you want to eat?" Sherlock asked John.
John didn't answer but protested, "I'm not his date." Selena giggled quietly to herself, highly amused.
"This man got me off a murder charge," The waiter began telling John and Selena of his story.
"This is Angelo," Sherlock introduced him, "Three years ago I successfully proved to Lestrade at the time of a particularly vicious triple murder that Angelo was in a different part of town house-breaking."
"He cleared my name," Angelo continued.
"I cleared it a bit," Sherlock corrected him, not taking his eyes off the address. "Anything happening opposite?"
"Nothing. But for this man, I'd have gone to prison."
"You did go to prison," corrected Sherlock again.
Seeming not to want to carry on the conversation, Angelo said, "I'll get a candle for the table. It's more romantic."
"I'm not his date!" John protested again.
"Do people always think you two are gay?" Selena directed the question at John with a little smirk, knowing it would wind him up. He didn't answer but glared at her in response.
"You may as well eat," Sherlock said, putting his menu aside, still not taking his eyes off the house, "we might have a long wait."
"Aren't you going to eat something," Selena asked Sherlock, knowing that he hadn't eaten since she met him earlier.
"Brain is what's important, everything else is transport," he replied. Selena didn't quite understand what he meant but didn't say anymore.
Angelo placed a tea light in the centre of the table and John took a moment to scan the menu before starting a different topic of conversation. "People don't have arch enemies."
Sherlock was too engrossed in thought to immediately register that John had said something, "Sorry?"
"In real life there are no arch enemies. Doesn't happen."
"Doesn't it? Sounds a bit dull." Sherlock didn't sound particularly interested in the conversation and continued watching the different goings on outside. Selena nodded slightly in agreement. She thought that ordinary peoples' lives were boring because everything that happened to them was so mundane. At least an arch enemy would make things a little more interesting. One of the reasons Selena contacted Sherlock was that she wanted to have a life far more interesting than those of the ordinary, boring people.
"So who did I meet?"
"What do real people have then, in their 'real lives'?" Sherlock asked, not sounding the least bit intrigued.
"Friends? People they know, people they like, people they don't like. Girlfriends, boyfriends."
"Yes, as I was saying, dull."
"Friends aren't dull, not always," Selena joined in, "it depends on who your friends are that makes them either fun people or boring people." Selena had one or two fun friends, but anyone else was considered rather dull. The dull ones were those that were practically clones of every other person, the fun ones were those that were truly unique, completely different to everyone else; their own breed.
"You don't have a girlfriend then?" John asked, not taking much notice to Selena's input.
"Girlfriend? No, not really my area."
Selena found herself subconsciously listening more intently to this part of the conversation.
"Oh right. Do you have a boyfriend? Which is fine, by the way," John added hastily.
"I know it's fine." Sherlock had now taken his eyes off 22 Northumberland Street, but luckily for him Selena was still keeping watch, occasionally gazing at Dave to see if he was still okay.
"So you've got a boyfriend, then."
"No."
This is rather awkward… Selena was unsure whether to put a word in or just leave them to it. Sherlock narrowed his eyes at John suspiciously.
"Right, okay. You're unattached like me," John mumbled. Selena also eyed him in her peripheral vision. He's behaving rather suspiciously.
A silence hovered over them, while John took a few mouthfuls of food, Selena occasionally "borrowing" a bit, and Sherlock looked a little nervous before saying, "John, um…I think you should know that I consider myself married to my work and while I'm flattered by your interest…"
"No…"
"I'm really not looking for any…"
"I'm not asking…no. I'm just saying, it's all fine," John reassured Sherlock that he wasn't in any way attempting to ask him out. Darn…that's a bummer. Wait, what? Selena found herself having a conversation with herself in her mind. She did not know why she did, but it often helped when debating about something with herself, or when thinking about something in dept. It attracted less attention than talking to herself out loud.
The two of them watched each other for a moment. Sherlock relaxed, "Good. Thank you," he said relieved. John averted his gaze awkwardly.
After arguing with herself for a few moments about why on Earth she would think what she did, Selena decided that she needed to distract all three of them from the previous topic of conversation. Scanning the street, she noticed that a taxi had stopped outside 22 Northumberland Street. Nobody was getting in or out of the taxi, which seemed rather odd. Selena gave Sherlock a nudge, "That taxi has stopped with no one getting in or out."
Sherlock and John turned to face the suspect taxi. "Why a taxi?" murmured Sherlock, "Oh, that's clever. Is it clever? Why is it clever?"
"That's him?" John asked.
"Don't stare," Sherlock disciplined him like he was a child. Selena turned away so as not to look suspicious.
"You're staring," John retorted.
"We can't all stare, it'll look suspicious," Selena said sternly.
Sherlock hastily stood, grabbed his coat and left the restaurant. Selena quickly followed, leaving John to look confused before leaving also. Selena and Dave greeted each other and Sherlock kept his eyes on the taxi. A man was now sat in the back. As the taxi began to pull away, Sherlock ran into the road in front a car. The driver halted the car and pressed on the horn furiously as the detective leaped over the bonnet. Sherlock looked to be unharmed as he continued to run after the cab. Selena and Dave sprang across the road after them. John and Sherlock stopped when the cab turned right down some different road.
"I've got the cab number," John said.
"Good for you," Sherlock replied knowing the cab number wouldn't be very useful. Sherlock again adopted his vigorous-thought pose with his hands on either side of his head. "Right turn, one way, road works, traffic lights, bus lane, pedestrian crossing, left turn only, traffic lights." Sherlock recited, going through a visual map of the area in his mind. Quicker than a gazelle perused by a cheetah, he sprinted into a building on the right side of the road with John, Selena and Dave close behind.
"How the hell did you do that?" Selena yelled at him, but he didn't seem to hear. The group climbed a spiral staircase, leading to the roof of the building. Sherlock lead the chase, followed by Dave, then John and Selena who were struggling to keep up. Sherlock called to them to keep up. On the roof, they ran down another set of spiral stairs and leaped onto the roof of the neighbouring building. This is insane! Dave kept looking behind, checking that Selena was still with them, barking at her to keep up. Sherlock and Dave leaped over a narrow gap between one building and the next. John and Selena however, hesitated. Selena would probably need a run up to jump that gap.
"Come on, we're losing him!" Sherlock yelled across the gap. Selena stepped back a few paces then ran up to the gap and leaping across with John beside her. She landed heavily on the neighbouring roof, stopping herself from falling flat on her face with her hands. Oh God… Regaining her footing, she rejoined the chase. Running down some more stairs, and onto a street, Selena fancied she saw a street sign labelled Lexington Street. Was it Lexington Street? The team was going too fast for her to read any signs properly. At full sprint, Selena managed to catch up with the others. "I'm not a long distance runner!" she growled.
At the end of the street, the cab they were chasing drove past, seeming oblivious that it was being pursued. Picking up the pace, Sherlock turned right, "This way," he called. Dave and Selena followed him close behind, whereas John wasn't paying attention and headed in the opposite direction. "No, this way!" Selena and Sherlock yelled at him in synch. Dave too barked at him, meaning the same thing.
"Sorry," John apologised, sprinting back in the correct direction. Turning down a few side streets, Selena lost count how many, the team soon approached the street that the taxi would be driving on round about now. With a final burst of speed, Dave, Sherlock, Selena and John jumped in front of the taxi. Dave leaped onto the bonnet of the cab with his teeth bared, barking at the driver, causing him to screech to a halt.
"Police! Open her up!" Sherlock yelled at the driver, running round to the back to confront the passenger. The door opened and he sighed, disappointed. "No. Teeth, tan. What, Californian?" Sherlock reached for the passenger's luggage, inspecting the airport label. "LA, Santa Monica, just arrived."
Selena leaned with her hands on her knees, panting, retrieving her breath. Dave stood by her with his tongue lolling from his mouth, also panting, glaring at the taxi passenger.
"How could you possibly know that?" John asked between breaths.
"The luggage," Sherlock replied, "First trip to London right? Going by your final destination and the route the cabbie was taking you," he spoke to the Californian tourist.
"Sorry, are you guys the police?" he asked in his American accent. Urgh, his voice is annoying.
"Yeah," Sherlock lifted his hand, holding something that must have been some kind of identity badge to get away with claiming to be the "police", "Everything alright?" Selena chuckled at the numerous, ridiculous things that Sherlock seemed to be able to get away with.
"Yeah," the man declared all was well.
Before wandering off and leaving the man alone, Sherlock said, "Welcome to London." Selena walked away from the cab with Sherlock, taking Dave's lead in her hand again. "Bet that guy's having a great evening," she remarked.
"Hm?" Sherlock made a questioning noise.
"Three people and a dog chase his taxi, claiming to be the police, stop his taxi, find out he's American, then bugger off and leave him alone."
John approached, joining Sherlock and Selena and said, "Basically just a cab that happened to slow down."
"Basically,"
"Not the murderer,"
Sherlock confirmed John's point. John reached for Sherlock's hand, taking what it was holding; a police ID but not his own. "Where did you get this?" he asked, "Detective Inspector Lestrade," he read out the name on the badge.
"Yeah, I pickpocket him when he's annoying. You keep that one. I've got plenty at the flat."
Mischievous bloke, she chuckled.
Looking back at the cab, they saw that the passenger was talking to a real policeman. Oh dear…
"Got your breath back?" Sherlock asked them.
"Yep," Selena took in a deep breath.
"Ready when you are," John agreed.
Dave uttered a low bark in an affirmative. The four of them turned tail and sprinted down the street, in the direction the cab came from, back to Baker Street.
Sherlock opened the door of 221B Baker Street, and he and John leaned against the left wall in out of breath from running, laughing. Selena sat on the bottom step of the stairs in the middle of a laughing fit, resting her head against Dave's, who sat next to her.
"That was…" John breathed, "the most ridiculous thing…I've ever done."
"And you invaded Afghanistan."
John giggled, which seemed exceptionally girly compared to Sherlock's low chuckled.
"That wasn't just me." John took a deep breath, "Why aren't we back in the restaurant?"
"They can keep an eye out. It was a long shot anyway." Sherlock clutched his stomach which must have hurt from all that laughing.
"So what were we doing there?"
"Oh, just passing the time. And proving a point."
"What point?"
"You. Mrs Hudson!" Sherlock called down the hallway, "Dr Watson will take the room upstairs." So, John's moving in now?
"Says who?" John asked.
"Says the man at the door." With perfect timing, someone knocked on the door three times. Sherlock smiled at him, John look perplexed and went to answer the door. Selena hadn't noticed until now that John no had his walking stick and wasn't limping. A psychosomatic limp. "John's moving in?" she asked, unclear about the relationship between him and Sherlock.
"He was looking for a house share. I've managed to help him out a bit," Sherlock explained briefly. Selena began wondering again about if Sherlock would accept her as his assistant or not. So far she had already proved that she can think about the situation at hand and come up with possible solutions to problems, almost as well as Sherlock could. A fresh young mind like hers could always be useful to him – second opinions can be very valuable. Dave too had his uses; Sherlock may be able to notice almost everything but, despite his cleverness, he didn't have senses of scent or hearing like Dave's.
John returned with his abandoned walking stick in his hand. He must have left it in the restaurant as he didn't have in when they were chasing the cab. John smiled at Sherlock, knowing that he was correct about his limp being psychosomatic. Mrs Hudson approached them in the hallway looking very upset. "Sherlock, what have you done?" she asked.
Selena hadn't noticed, but Dave had been looking up the stares since they entered the house, meaning something wasn't quite right.
"Mrs Hudson?" Sherlock asked her, worried.
The woman gestured upstairs. Dave was the first the spring up the stairs, growling. The others followed, taking two steps at a time. The door to the living room was already opened, and Dave sprang at a man sat in one of the leather chairs, displaying his large vicious teeth. Selena quickly grabbed Dave's collar, pulling him backwards before he got the chance to clamp his jaws around the man's throat. "Dave, chill," she said sternly. She did not know who this man was, but she thought it would be better for her and Dave if the black dog didn't kill anyone with half a dozen policemen in the room. The policemen were rummaging through bookshelves, drawers and cupboards, seeming to be searching. Selena proceeded to calm Dave down, who stood where he was still growling at the strangers.
Sherlock entered the room and immediately confronted the man sat on the chair, "What are you doing?" Sounds like he knows this person, Selena thought, possible enemy?
"Well, I knew you'd find the case, I'm not stupid," the man replied to him. He remained where he sat and spoke calmly, suggesting that he and Sherlock's relationship wasn't an aggressive one.
"You can't just break into my flat."
"You can't withhold evidence – and I didn't break into your flat," The two argued, and Selena and John stood back out of the way.
"What do you call this then?" Sherlock yelled, gesturing at the policemen raiding the flat.
"It's a drugs bust."
"A what?" Selena turned to him, interested.
"Seriously? This guy – a junkie?" John asked, amused, "Have you met him?"
Sherlock turned to face John, looking down at him with a serious expression. "John…"
"I'm pretty sure you could search this flat all day, you wouldn't find anything that you could call recreational," John continued, not taking much notice to Sherlock.
"John you probably want to shut up now." He and Sherlock stared at each other for a moment until, finally getting the message, John asked in slight disbelief, "No…"
"What?"
"You?"
"Shut up!" Sherlock retorted at the accusation. "I'm not your sniffer dog," he addressed the man sat in the chair. Judging by the fact that he wasn't wearing a uniform and wasn't joining the others with the drugs bust, Selena guessed that he must be leading the operation, possibly a detective inspector? This could have been Lestrade that Sherlock stole IDs from, since the two had a sort of friendly relationship, suggesting that they often work together.
"No, Anderson's my sniffer dog," Lestrade motioned to a man in a suit in the kitchen. He raised his hand slightly to Sherlock.
"Anderson what are you doing here on a drugs bust?" Sherlock seemed outraged at Anderson's presence.
"Oh, I volunteered."
"They all did. They're not strictly speaking on the drug squad but they're very keen," Lestrade explained.
"Are these human eyes?" A woman with black frizzy hair came from the kitchen holding a jar of…eyes. That's just weird…
"Put those back!" Sherlock demanded.
"There were in the microwave."
"It's an experiment."
"You do experiments on eyes?" Selena asked slightly concerned.
"Yes, but not just eyes, other things too."
Selena decided to stand by John and avoid any possible conflict with either Sherlock or Lestrade. She didn't enjoy getting into silly little arguments over insignificant things, especially today of all days. "And how long have you known him?" she asked John, referring to Sherlock.
"I only just met him a couple of days ago,"
"You seem to make friends quickly," Selena remarked.
"I never asked, why are you here?" John queried. Selena began explaining to him about her interest in Sherlock's work and how she took the bull by the horns and asked if he needed an assistant.
"Good timing." Selena raised her eyebrow at John questioningly. "When I came to look at this flat earlier today, Sherlock said to Lestrade that he needed an assistant."
"I would have got here earlier but I couldn't find my way around this damn city," Selena scolded herself for letting Sherlock down with her lateness, although it wasn't entirely her fault.
"So, you're from Huddersfield, right?"
"Yes. It would probably be snowing about now." Selena thought of her home back in Golcar, a town not far from Huddersfield. If she had to go back there, it would all be that bad; she may not have achieved what she wanted but she still had Dave, her weird friends and the beautiful snow covered hills. Selena turned to John and asked him the question that had been nagging at her since she arrived in London, "Do you think he'll accept me as an assistant?"
John's brow furrowed as he thought for a moment. "I think he might. You showed him earlier that you knew how the murderer thinks and I think that is something he values. The way he reacted when you explained that to me says that he's not used to being around someone as intelligent as you – nearly as clever as himself."
Selena relaxed and a slight smile crossed her face. "But then again, you have only known each other a day."
"Well…yeah, that's true. We'll have to wait and see."
"Indeed," Selena snorted, "it certainly has been an interesting evening. I hope I can look forward to more."
John and Selena listened into Sherlock's conversations with Lestrade about someone called Rachel. Lestrade explained that Rachel was the dead woman's stillborn daughter and Sherlock was pondering why the woman would scratch her daughter's name on the floor while she was dying, convinced that she was trying to tell them something. John would join in the conversation, offering suggestions and ideas, while Sherlock paced back and forth, restlessly.
Mrs Hudson came up the stairs and stood in the doorway. "Isn't the doorbell working? Your taxi's here Sherlock."
Selena muttered to herself, "But Sherlock didn't order a taxi."
"Oh dear, they're making such a mess. What are they looking for?" asked the landlady. Selena left John to explain; for some reason, she had never been able to connect with people who weren't within her age range. Sherlock continued pacing until finally everyone's ramblings made him snap. "Shut up everybody, shut up! Don't move, don't speak, don't breathe, I'm trying to think. Anderson face the other way, you're putting me off," Sherlock yelled an outburst, causing everyone to freeze. Dave's fur bristled, and he snapped his jaws in annoyance in Sherlock's direction. After observing how Sherlock spoke to Anderson, it was clear that they did not get on with each other; Anderson appeared to resent Sherlock for whatever reason, and Sherlock had an amusing habit of insulting him whenever he got the chance.
"What about your taxi?" Mrs Hudson pestered him about the taxi that apparently Sherlock ordered.
"Mrs Hudson!" he snapped, causing her to scuttle away down the stairs. Sherlock suddenly calmed, his face turned up to the ceiling as if looking into some heavenly light. "Oh…She was clever, yes! She's cleverer than you lot a she's dead," Sherlock announced as sudden realisation hit him.
"That's a bit harsh," Selena commented, sitting on a chair in front of the fire that Lestrade had moved from. John sat on the one opposite, holding his now redundant walking stick.
"She didn't lose her phone, she never lost it. She planted it on him. When she got out of the car, she knew she was going to her death. She left the phone in order to lead us to her killer," Sherlock explained.
"That's what I said!" Selena declared, jumping out of the chair slightly, "Sort of." She lowered her gaze, feeling half a dozen pairs of eyes fixed on her. Lestrade looked at her, puzzled.
"How?" John asked, offended by Sherlock's earlier insult.
"What do you mean how? Rachel!"
All faces turned to him and an awkward silence loomed over 221B as no one else but Sherlock seemed to understand what the detective was getting at. He repeated himself in the hope that the penny would soon drop; still silence and blank expressions all round. "Look at you lot, you're all so vacant. Is it nice not being me? It must be so relaxing."
Selena struggled to suppress the urge to stand and punch Sherlock in his perfectly formed face, hopefully giving him a massive bruise so it no longer looked so perfect. Hang on, who said it was perfect? Shut up!
"Rachel is not a name," Sherlock explained further so that the others would understand.
"Then what is it?" John asked looking extremely agitated.
"On the luggage, there's a label. E-mail address," Sherlock gestured to the pink suitcase, instructing John to read it out. As he read off the label, Sherlock proceeded to type into his laptop. "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. There's a website for her account. Her username is her e-mail address and all together the now the password is…?"
"Rachel," John recalled, not amused by Sherlock's patronising tone as if he were talking to a class of kids with learning difficulties.
"So, we can read her e-mails. So what?" Anderson clearly wasn't impressed. Either that or he hid extremely well.
"Anderson, don't talk out loud, you lower the IQ of the whole street," Sherlock insulted him again. It would be interesting to follow the relationship between these two, Selena thought, chuckling to herself. "We can do much more than just read her e-mails. It's a smartphone, it's got GPS."
"Oh! So we can find out where the phone is online, and where the killer is," Selena finally understood, unlike most of the others in the room.
"Exactly," Sherlock seemed pleased that he wasn't the only one with any brains in the room.
"Unless he got rid of it," Lestrade butted in.
"He rang back after John texted him. He's still got it," Selena took it upon herself to explain what was discussed before they left for the restaurant. Sherlock pestered the laptop impatiently as it took its time to load. Mrs Hudson returned from downstairs looking very apprehensive, "Sherlock, dear, the taxi driver…"
Sherlock rose from his seat and replied to her, "Mrs Hudson, isn't it time for your evening soother," before directing Lestrade about what they'll need to find the phone quickly before the phone's battery ran out. Selena wondered what the situation was with the taxi; she would have known if Sherlock had ordered a taxi, since she was with him since they left the house. The cabbie could have got him confused with someone else, but it didn't sound like it, going by the amount of times the landlady tried to tell Sherlock about it. She went a stood by John who sat at the laptop, waiting for the map reference to appear. When it did, it showed something rather odd.
"Sherlock…" John must have thought so too.
"Where is it, quickly?" Sherlock impatiently looked over John's shoulder at the laptop.
"Here…it's here in 221 Baker Street."
"How can it be here? How?" Sherlock stood up straight, perplexed.
Lestrade made a suggestion, "Maybe it was in the case when you brought it back and it fell out somewhere?" Almost as obvious as John, Selena thought back to the many overt ideas John gave earlier.
"And I didn't notice? Me? I didn't notice?" Sherlock sounded almost insulted.
Lestrade addressed his officers to also look for Jennifer Wilson's phone. Instead of leaving Dave to be idle, Selena instructed him to help to look. He wouldn't recognise it by colour but hopefully, the case will still have enough of the woman's scent on it for Dave to be able to recognise something else that belonged to her. After having a good sniff of the case, he padded around the rest of the rooms, poking his nose into cupboards, shelves and anything else that the phone could possibly be in. The only other explanation was that the murderer was in the house. Although Selena didn't want to believe it, but she had only known Sherlock and John for a few hours – either of them could have been the murderer. Suddenly acutely aware of everyone around her, she tried to search for the phone again on the laptop in case it wasn't working properly.
Sherlock seemed rather distant; he was most likely lost in thought so Selena didn't bother asking how he was, for fear of annoying him. By seeing his earlier outburst, interrupting moments such as those was definitely not an option. John also noticed and chose to ask, "Sherlock, are you okay?"
"What?" Sherlock barely moved and it was clear in the way he spoke that something wasn't quite right, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." From what little Selena had seen, she thought that he'd usually be more self assured, I haven't known you for a day yet, but I can tell when you're lying. Sherlock buttoned up his jacket, still rather distant and left the room to go down stairs, "Just popping outside for a moment. Won't be long."
"Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine."
Selena narrowed her eyes in Sherlock's direction. There was no doubt that he was behaving strangely. "He's lying," she said to John once she was sure Sherlock was out of earshot. John tried the GPS tracker again hoping to be third time lucky. Selena stood aside watching the police officers busying themselves with Lestrade's orders. Again, Selena was questioned about her reasons for being there, her relationship with John and Sherlock and various other snippets of her life. She sighed deeply, fed up of being asked the same questions repeatedly. Speaking to both John and Lestrade, she recited the recent years of her life in Golcar, her interesting in psychology and criminals and Sherlock's work, the story of when she came to London up to now and of course about her loyal companion Dave. It didn't take very long as she didn't go into great detail about everything, knowing that she couldn't trust these people just yet. John stood looking out of a front window as Selena and Lestrade talked. Dave returned to her, no phone, nothing belonging to the victim held in his jaws.
"He got in the cab," John murmured, "Sherlock just got into the cab."
The woman who found the jar of eyes in the microwave entered and spoke up, "I told you, he does that. He's wasting your time. All our time."
She clearly doesn't like him, Selena thought that Sherlock and this woman didn't particularly get on either. Perhaps she's that Sergeant Donavan that made that disgusting comment about it. Selena gave her a glare as Lestrade ordered the officers to abandon the search and leave. "Why did he do that?" Lestrade whinged, "Why did he have to leave?"
"You know him better than I do," John had turned his attention from outside to Lestrade.
"I've known him for five years and no I don't." Lestrade pulled on his jacket preparing to leave.
"So why do you put up with him?"
"Because I'm desperate, that's why. And because Sherlock Holmes is a great man, and maybe one day, if we're very very lucky he may even be a good one." Lestrade turned and strode down the staircase to leave. John turned to Selena who said, "I'm going to try the GPS again. The phone can't be here."
Dave rested his black head on Selena's knee. As she waited for the computer to find the victim's phone she thought about day to day life at 221B Baker Street. All the running around probably wouldn't drive her up the wall as she was used to physical activity. Although, the dead bodies and people with behaviour and moods she can't anticipate might just do the trick. People with some form of psychosis – they are okay, but unpredictable people such as Sherlock were not.
Her thoughts were interrupted by an irritating, incessant beeping. A blue dot on the laptop screen indicated the whereabouts of Jennifer Wilson's phone – Roland-Kerr Further Education College? What was it doing there? And how? If it was in the house not long ago, how did it suddenly get over there? Selena traced the route on the map from 221B to the college.
"John, which direction did the taxi go in?" she asked urgently.
"Left down this road," John pointed to the map on the screen, "Why?"
"The killer had the phone right? He was in this house before and now he's suddenly over here. I think the killer left this house, and drove off in that taxi. It can't be Sherlock since if he had the phone we would have heard it when you texted the number. So, that leaves..."
"The cab driver?"
Selena nodded with a smirk, "Yep."
"But Sherlock was in the taxi with him." Worry crept into John's voice. Again with the obviousness.
"Well done," Selena commented sarcastically, "which probably means he'll end up like the pink lady and all the others if we don't help him." Selena roughly closed the laptop, pulled on her jacket and clipped Dave's lead onto his collar. "And maybe we'll catch the killer while we're at it. Oh, 'catch the killer', I like that," she giggled to herself excitedly, bounding on her toes out of the front door followed by John who was less enthusiastic. John called for a taxi, which stopped by the pavement for them. Selena instructed the driver where to take them and scrambled into the back of the car with the others.
"I'll phone Lestrade," John said, rummaging through his jacket pockets for his phone. Pressing a sequence of numbers and placing the phone to his ear, he waited for what felt like forever for someone to answer. Selena shifted, nervous and impatient and annoyed that Sherlock would get himself into such trouble. That could be one more thing she'd have to get used to – saving his life. Dave nuzzled her trying to calm her down and let her know that all will be fine. She smiled at him, thankful that she had him as such a loyal and loving friend.
Finally, someone on the other end answered John's call. "Yes, I need to speak to Detective Inspector Lestrade." Selena strained to listen to what the other person was saying but all she heard were incomprehensible mumbles. "No, Detective Inspector Lestrade, I need to speak to him."
Oh god, must be another thick skulled receptionist. This could take a while. The phone conversation with this person could take twice as long as one with a person with average intelligence. When John eventually got through and was handed over to Lestrade, he explained the situation, "We've found where the phone is and the murderer. We think he's the taxi driver that Sherlock went with," John paused for a moment as Lestrade spoke to him. John answered, "Roland-Kerr Further Education College. We're on our way there now." John paused again. "Okay, thank you," he then hung up. John addressed Selena, "He's on his way."
"Good, good." It didn't take more than five minutes after that before they arrived at the college. Another taxi was already parked outside which was most likely to be the one that Sherlock was brought in. Selena and Dave leapt out of the cab, while John addressed the cabbie and paid him. There were two buildings and no way of knowing which one Sherlock went in. Or was there? Dave could easily find Sherlock's scent and follow it. "Which one then?" John asked, gazing at the two buildings.
Selena thought for a moment before suggesting a plan, "We should check both of them. You go in that one," she gestured to the building on the left, "and me and Dave will check the other."
John complied and quickly trotted to the left building, while Selena and Dave made their way to the other. Selena pushed open the entrance door revealing a corridor lined with many doors which lead to classrooms and lecture theatres. She sighed, thinking about having to look in all of these rooms. She turned to Dave hoping he will be able to make it a bit easier, "Dave, try to find Sherlock's scent."
Dave looked up at her confused. He knew she was trying to tell him something but he didn't quite understand. He rarely recognises people by name, and he hadn't known Sherlock long enough to register his scent and use it as something like an identity tag. "Never mind, let's just look in the rooms." There wasn't time to try and explain so Selena and Dave dashed up and down the corridors, peering through the windows into the classrooms for any signs of Sherlock or the murderer. The floors appeared to shine, suggesting that they were cleaned recently and that the cleaners were probably still inside. Among the walls were advertising posters and campaigns for various things. Occasionally, the two of them would call but they never got any answer. When they were on the second floor, Dave suddenly stopped in his tracks and barked for Selena to do the same. His ears were perked and swivelled listening for a sound. The silence was broken by the faint sound of a door closing. It could have been the cleaners, or maybe even Sherlock. Dave barked again and sprang up another flight of stairs to the next floor up. They checked the rooms on this floor but didn't find anyone other than a couple of cleaners who watched them with gormless expressions as the woman and the dog ran past. Maybe it's the next floor, Selena had been thinking that same thought every time they found an empty storey. She flinched at another sound; a gunshot. Many thoughts crossed her mind at once as she followed the sound's echoes which lead her to the next floor and the end of the corridor. A pool of blood seeped from underneath the double doors of the room at the end. Dave lunged at the doors, forcing them open, oblivious to the function of door handles. Selena followed close behind and halted abruptly at the sight of the dead man on the floor. The man looked rather aged, his face frozen in a pained expression. In his left shoulder was a bullet wound, his blood pooling around it. Two pills, unknown to Selena lay on the floor by his body. Dave leaned with his muzzle, sniffed one of them and turned away snorting in disgust. Selena sighed, relieved noticing Sherlock stood over the body somewhat perturbed.
"Hey," Selena greeted him casually, despite the situation. "You okay?"
Sherlock pushed whatever he was thinking about to the back of his mind for the time being, "Yeah, I'm great, thanks." The room lit up with flashing blue lights, and the sound of sirens approached. The three of them waiting for Lestrade as expected and left the forensic team to analyse the crime scene and for the paramedics, who Selena was not expecting to see, to remove the cabbie's body.
"Shall we go?" Sherlock readjusted his coat collar and strode out of the classroom to the courtyard, not taking another look at the dead man on the floor. Selena hesitated before hastily joining him and questioning him about everything that occurred since he left the flat. Sherlock went through the method of how the taxi driver made his victims poison themselves and the 'game' he played with them. He also went through why the killer did what he did, about his children that he doesn't get to see and the aneurism in the right hemisphere of his brain. Apparently, the more people he killed, more money will go to his children when he dies.
Parked outside in the courtyard were a few police cars and an ambulance. A paramedic gestured for Sherlock to sit in the back of it and placed an orange blanket over him, which he repeatedly removed as they insisted he kept it. Selena lifted the tape surrounding the scene and approached John who stood back watching. "I found him," she pointed out the obvious, mocking John's own habit of doing so.
"Yes, I can see that," John chuckled, amused by Sherlock's blanket malarkey. "So, what happened?"
Selena recalled the story that Sherlock had told her, trying to pick up all the details. John's face pulled a number of expressions at different points; surprise at the mention of two pills and the 'game', disgust at the sponsorship thing, and a little shiftiness at the mention of a gunshot wound. "Except, no one knows who shot the guy," Selena eyed John suspiciously. John continued to look oblivious. "Come on, I know it was you, I'm not stupid," she was careful not to speak to loud so that no one overheard.
"How do you know?"
"Sherlock didn't do it. There were bullet holes in the windows of both buildings, suggesting that the shot was fired from that building you were in. Cleaners aren't going to clean windows with guns are they, which leaves you."
John gave in, "Okay, yes it was me, and you really are good."
Selena shifted uncomfortably at the praise, "Thanks. But how did get the gun anyway?"
"I'm an ex-soldier and I had one at my other flat that I brought with me to Baker Street after you arrived."
"I see." Selena noticed Sherlock approach them throwing the orange shock blanket in the front of a police car after having a conversation with Lestrade. John resumed his oblivious act about shooting the serial killer when Sherlock ducked under the police tape; although there was no doubt that he figured it out eventually. "Selena's been explaining everything. Two pills...dreadful business, isn't it?"
Sherlock gazed at him knowingly and said, "Good shot."
"Yes. Yes, must have been through that window," John continued. He was a terrible actor.
"You'd know. Need to get the powder burns out of your fingers. I don't suppose you'll serve time for this but let's avoid the court case."
John glanced around, like a meerkat watching for danger.
"Are you alright?" Sherlock asked him, concerned.
"Yes, of course I'm alright."
"You have must killed a man," Sherlock didn't sound convinced.
"Don't forget he used to be in the army, he'll be used to it by now. And that man did force people to commit suicide by toying with them – not a very nice person." Selena butt in, toning down the atmosphere.
"And a bloody awful cabbie," John commented, less seriously.
Sherlock chuckled in the pleasant tuneful way that he does, "That's true, you should have been the route he took us to get here."
The group made to leave the crime scene, past the police cars giggling like young school girls. Dave wagged his tail happily as he padded beside Selena. "Stop, we can't giggle it's a crime scene," John whispered as they passed Sergeant Donovan.
"You're the one who shot him," Sherlock thought he'd kindly point out, far too loudly for John's liking. Despite her efforts, Selena laughed a little more at John's attempt to tell Sherlock to keep his mouth shut after receiving a suspicious glare from Donovan.
"You were going to take that damn pill weren't you?" John stopped and asked Sherlock a little more seriously. Selena also stopped feeling a peculiar lump in her jacket pocket. Unzipping it, she found the almost empty packet of treats that she had forgotten about. She would often use them as an incentive for Dave to do something or as part of his training. Since Dave had been extremely helpful through this half of a case, she occupied herself for a few minutes by making Dave perform a few tricks and feeding him his reward. No doubt he was hungry after so much running around. Dave had obeyed several commands and performed a few tricks, including a little 'dance', as far as dog dancing goes, which Selena taught him out of interest and boredom, until someone mentioned 'dinner' and Dave cheekily snatched the last treat from her hand. John and Sherlock began walking again talking about a Chinese place, when a posh black car rolled up and stopped where they were. A man holding a folded up umbrella in one hand got out of the car and stopped before them.
"Sherlock, that's him, that's the man I was talking to you about," John alerted Sherlock who stood before the man as they confronted each other. Sherlock didn't look too pleased by his presence, "I know exactly who that is."
Selena stood out of the way with John, listening into the conversation. So this is the arch enemy John was talking about before? Doesn't look very threatening...but then looks can be deceiving. She held onto Dave's lead in case he felt the need to pounce.
"So, another case cracked. How very public-spirited. Though, that's never really your motivation is it?" The man sounded very sophisticated, his voice wasn't as deep as Sherlock's but they had similar ways with their words. He certainly didn't sound very threatening.
Sherlock looked away, annoyed, "What are you doing here?" Selena watched with increasing fascination.
"As ever, I'm concerned about you."
"Yes, I've been hearing of your 'concern'."
"Always so aggressive." Sherlock did sound to be the more aggressive one, but he did have a point about the 'concern'. Selena fought the overpowering urge to interrupt with a smart comment. "Did it ever occur to you that you and I belong on the same side?"
"Oddly enough...no," Sherlock replied with some arrogance. Selena snickered slightly at the comment.
"We have more in common than you'd like to believe. This petty feud between us is simply childish," The enemy adopted a serious tone, "People will suffer. And you know how it always upset Mummy." Both John and Selena looked up at the two of them completely confused. Now I'm not following. "Have I missed something," Selena whispered to John who shrugged and shook his head.
"I upset her? Me? It wasn't me that upset her, Mycroft," Sherlock raised his voice a little, taking offence at the accusation.
John finally intervened to figure out who Mummy was, "No wait, Mummy? Who's Mummy?"
"Mother. Our mother," Sherlock answered, holding Mycroft's gaze, "This is my brother Mycroft."
"Now it all makes sense!" Selena announced her relief. Mycroft shifted his gaze between her and John as if inspecting them.
"Putting on weight again?" Sherlock taunted him.
"Losing it, in fact," Mycroft retorted much displeased by his remark.
"He's your brother?" John asked, acting stupid again. Or maybe he wasn't acting this time.
"Yes, deary. Why does it always take so long for the penny to drop?" Selena mocked his poking him in the side of the head.
"So he's not...I don't know. Criminal mastermind?"
Sherlock looked his brother up and down. "Close enough."
"For goodness' sake," Mycroft protested "I occupy a minor position in the British Government."
"He is the British Government, when he's not too busy being the British Secret Service or the CIA on a freelance basis," Sherlock taunted him a bit more before bidding his brother farewell. "Good evening, Mycroft. Try not to start a war before I get home, you know what it does for the traffic." Sherlock strode away without another word to Mycroft. Selena trotted after him struggling to keep up with his long strides. John stopped again for a moment, conveniently right in front of the woman he intended to chat up, talking with Mycroft for a bit longer.
"So, food now?" Selena suggested eager for something to eat. She wouldn't normally eat so late, but today was an exception.
"Mm...Chinese?"
Selena subconsciously licked her lips at the thought. "I hope you intend to eat this time."
After his rejection, John jogged to catch up with the others. They exchanged a bit of banter, throwing friendly insults at each other and making one or two sly comments as the four of them made to wrap up the eventful and exhilarating evening with some well deserved dinner on everyone's part. Food, home, then sleep, Selena briefly planned the rest of her evening, I think I'm going to like it here. She grinned as Dave leaped up at her playfully, confirming her mental notion.
