Sherlock stared intently at the body laid down in front of him. His eyes gazed over the cause of death, a deep purple black bruise covered the victim's neck, also the males lips were tinted blue insinuating that his body was starved of oxygen. Death; strangled.
Molly and John watched from the distance, their eyes frantically following the detective's every move. Leila stayed back, carelessly flipping a coin over an over, her gaze sometimes returning to the black haired male, every time causing guilt to wash over her making her return to her simple minded game.
"John!" Sherlock called, his voice faltering slightly, he held the corpse's arm up for a closer inspection. John made his way over to the steel slab, his eyes unblinkingly staring at the male that laid upon it, his eyes in which John presumed used to be a vibrant green were now dull and lifeless.
"What do you notice about the body?" Sherlock asked in such a manner that practically screamed: 'I know what is, but I'm going to let you try even though you won't get it.' John averted his gaze from the corpse's haunting eyes and gulped.
"Well...urmm." John mumbled staring back down at the deceased man. "Cause of death, strangled. You can see this from..."
"Yes, yes. That's obvious. Look closer." Sherlock interrupted. John squinted his eyes, attempting to see if there was anything there of greater significance than the actual cause of death.
"The object that was used to strangle him was..."
"3cm rope. Yes, we know that but what else?" Sherlock interrupted yet again with a tone of annoyance. John scanned over the body, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. John sighed in defeat, turning to face his friend who was eager to point out what he missed.
"The tattoo on the left arm is too black." John furrowed his brow in confusion as it wasn't the voice of the man that stood in front of him that spoke. They both turned simultaneously back towards the body, their eyes locking on the female that stood behind it. "It has most definitely been drawn on. It's neatly done, easily believable into thinking it's a tattoo. But the ink Is too black." Leila continued shyly, not making any eye contact with the two men staring curiously at her.
"Indeed." Sherlock stated. An awkward silence broke out between the three, Sherlock coughed.
"Let's go examine the other body." He rushed past John and over to the next body.
"Is he always like this?" Leila questioned, John shrugged a smile pulling at his lips.
"You get used to it." he replied before following in pursuit of Sherlock. "So when are you going to tell us what these people have in common? Apart from them being dead that is." Sherlock looked over at John in disappointment.
"Don't be stupid John. I've already told you." Sherlock insulted. John stared back at him, still not understanding. "For gods sake John! The tattoos are what they have in common!" Leila and John looked down to where Sherlock was pointing.
Molly now intrigued, silently walked over to see what all the commotion was about. Neatly written across the neck of this victim was one word in inky black.
"What does 'Kapma' mean?" Molly asked, her eyes focused on the swirling letters.
"It means 'Karma' in Bulgarian." Sherlock answered.
"Karma? Hang on, isn't that what's been written on the other guys arm?" John replied. Sherlock simply smirked.
"That's how two separate cases are now linked."