Chapter Eight

The two men sat in silence, Sherlock deep in thought and John simply watching the world fly by the windows of the cab. John considered opening his mouth to speak, although, he was fairly sure Sherlock would yell at him if he did that and so avoided opening his mouth. He attempted to entertain himself through some other means. He drummed his fingers up his legs, readjusted his coat and counted yellow cars until the silence really started getting to him.

"Sherlock why were you going off about Ophelia? The victim's name is Olivia."

"No John, he's mimicking Shakespeare deaths. The first one is Ophelia from Hamlet. He wanted it to look like a suicide, it also explains the flowers. In the final part of her madness she hands out the flowers to the king, queen and her brother, hence why they were tangled in her hair. It's also why she had to drown, Ophelia falls in the lake. This one is a little more complicated and I can't remember which play it's from which is why we're going home and I'm borrowing your laptop."

"No. Use your own."

"Yours is nicer."

"I don't care; I'm getting fed up with you hacking my laptop."

"It wouldn't be hacking if you just told me your new password each time."

"I'm not telling you this one."

"Oh? Why's that, is it embarrassing?" Sherlock teased, John sat in silence trying not to blush. "It is isn't it? Let's see… sherl0ck is sexy? I want Sherlock's sherc0ck? Sherl0ck H0lmes get in my red pants? Oh I know, it's I love Sherlock Holmes." Sherlock laughed, John didn't reply and blushed a vivid shade of red. "Oh my god it is isn't it! John you teenage girl you!"

Sherlock began chuckling uncontrollably, his face also turning a vivid shade of red, but not for the same reasons. In between body shaking laughs Sherlock gasped out several sentences that sounded like they involved the words "Adorable" and "Cute". John stretched over and hit Sherlock fairly gently a few times in a feeble attempt to get him to shut up.

"Is this going on the blog?" Sherlock asked, a gleeful expression on his face, "Can we please involve this fact when we write up the case?"

"When I write up the case. And no we can not!" John muttered, growing redder by the second.

"I write up cases too!" Sherlock argued."

"No Sherlock, you sit in the background reminding me not to forget to mention how 'spectacularly ignorant' you are,"

"I help, besides, you frequently insult me, and I'm only reminding you not to forget."

"Firstly, no. You don't. Secondly, I called you spectacularly ignorant once. Once. And that was because you had no basic knowledge of the solar system!"

"It was irrelevant!"

"It wasn't and you know it Sherlock. Also, how on earth did you come to the decision that Marlowe was more interesting that Shakespeare?"

"The death John, Marlowe's death. It's ambiguous, so many possibilities. Was he murdered, was he accidentally stabbed in a pub brawl or was it assassination? No one knows John! There is the constant possibility that he may have been murdered or assassinated."

"Of course, he's interesting in the sense of a cold case. For a moment I almost believed you admired his work from a literary point of view. How ridiculous of me."

"In the sense of a murder case, Shakespeare also becomes interesting. We have to consider the possibility that Shakespeare was Marlowe's murderer, despite how unlikely it is. If we were to consider his motive there is the possibility that Shakespeare murdered Marlowe. For instance, Shakespeare was greatly influenced by Marlowe and became the next large play write after Marlowe's death. Was he simply removing the competition, was he jealous of Marlowe's talents, or was he in fact completely innocent? It's most likely he's innocent due to Marlowe's religious beliefs, or lack of them, however there is always a possibility. We will never know!"

"There's no need to make it sound so dramatic Sherlock."

"Ah but you have to admit it's a half decent case John."

"Only a 'half decent' case? From the way you were raving on about it I was going to put it at, at least a ten. Unfortunately though, it's a cold case, and unlikely to be one that you will never solve."

"You doubt my abilities John."

"Maybe." John smirked, flicking a look at Sherlock. "What are we doing when we get home?"

"Trying to find this Shakespeare play. If anything it will at least help us work out the killer's motives, although, it's unlikely we'll be able to predict his future movements it will at least help up a little bit."

"Any idea on where we're starting?"

"No clue."

"So you don't have every Shakespeare play memorised in your head?"

"John, I thought we established, I'm not a fan of Shakespeare in a literary sense, maybe as a murderer, but other than that not at all."

"Well those handcuffs are likely to represent something, maybe crime and punishment?"

"Brilliant John."

"And if that doesn't work we should always look into the history of the abandoned factory. That may also be symbolic of something."

"Also brilliant." Sherlock complimented, John shot him a grin.

"I do have my moments you know."