Chapter 3: Jo.

Sherlock turned around, picked his coat and scarf up and put them on. 'I did. Told Mike this morning that I must be a hard man to find a flatmate for and here he is, just after lunch, with an old friend clearly just home from military service in Afghanistan.' He turned back around and walked towards where Mike and Jo were stood. 'Not hard to work out, was it?'

Jo just looked at him, raising an eyebrow. 'How did you know about Afghanistan?' Sherlock ignored her question, deciding to explain later, picked up his phone and put it in his pocket. 'I've got my eye on a nice little place in central London, we'll meet there tomorrow.' He stood next to Jo for a second and added 'Sorry, got to dash. I left my riding crop in the mortuary.' He looked down and carried on walking towards the door. 'Is that it?' Jo asked him. 'Is that what?' Sherlock asked, turning back around and looking at her. 'We've only just met and we're going to look at a flat together.' Jo replied, frowning. Sherlock just shot her another smile, looking right into her eyes. 'Problem?'

Jo bit her lip, studying the detective's face. He was incredibly handsome with curly, black hair, and beautifully sculpted cheekbones. He had clear, blue eyes too, just like hers. Stop it! Jo thought to herself. You can't fancy your flatmate! 'We don't know a thing about each other, I don't know where we're meeting, and I don't even know your name,' she somehow managed to say.

Sherlock just took a breath, not looking away from her eyes for a second. 'I know you're an Army doctor and you've been invalided home from Afghanistan. I know you've got a brother who's worried about you, but you won't go to him for help because you don't approve of him, possibly because he's an alcoholic, more likely because he recently walked out on his wife. And I know that your therapist thinks your limp's psychosomatic, quite correctly I'm afraid. That's enough to be going on with, don't you think?' Jo's mouth fell open, and Sherlock took this as a sign to leave the room, closing the door behind him.

A couple of seconds later, he returned again, poking his head around the door to say 'the name's Sherlock Holmes, and the address is 221b Baker Street. Afternoon!' He winked at Jo and Mike, then closed the door again. Jo turned around to Mike, her mouth still hanging open. 'Yeah, he's always like that.' Mike said, laughing.

Jo and Mike managed to find their way out, said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. As she sat in the taxi on the way back to her flat, Jo was still trying to work out what had just happened. How the hell had Sherlock been able to take one look at her and know practically everything about her?

'That's five quid then, please,' the cab driver said as he pulled up outside her block of flats. Jo quickly pulled a fiver out of her jeans pocket and smiled at the cabbie. 'Cheers.' She opened the door and got out of the taxi, reached into her bag and pulled out her key. She pushed the door open to the building and limped inside. Luckily, her flat was on the first floor, so she turned the corner and unlocked the door. She was actually quite excited about looking at the 221b tomorrow, as she hadn't had a flatmate for a few years. However, she did feel quite nervous because she was going to look at a flat with someone she'd only just met.

Jo tossed her keys onto one of the counters in the kitchen after she'd locked back up, walked into the living room and collapsed on the sofa. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and flicked through it, completely forgetting that Sherlock had sent a text from it until she went onto her sent messages and saw a text to a number that she didn't recognise. It read:

If brother has green ladder arrest brother.
SH

What the hell's that supposed to mean? Jo thought to herself, confused.