Chapter Two:
10 minutes later Sherlock walked in through the main entrance at the Theatre Royale, with John close at his heels.
The security-guard, who under normal circumstances would have had to allow them entry was to busy flirting with the female receptionist to notice the two men storming through the foyer. It wasn't until the two men were at the entry to the main auditorium, that the security-guard noticed them and quickly left the receptionist in order to stop the intruders.
"Oi! You two stop.. you have to be checked in at the reception area in order to be allowed entry!" The guard yelled after them. John looked back at him, and gave an apologetic expression, but kept up his pace in order to follow the consulting detective, who had chosen to completely ignore the guard and was now walking down the long aisle towards the stage.
"Hey! I'm not screwing around here! If you don't stop and follow me back to the foyer, I'll have to turn you in to the police!"
Lestrade heard the guard's yells and walked down from the stage in order to greet Sherlock and John. He nodded at the guard and sent him a 'thumb up' to let him know the two men could be let off the hook. The guard sighed and cursed as he turned around and left the auditorium again.
"We've established that it was most likely an accident or a suicide" Lestrade said as soon as Sherlock and John reached him, "so I'm afraid there isn't much of a case for you after all." Sherlock stopped and glared at Lestrade.
"You said on the phone it might have been a homicide.." Sherlock started. Before he had a chance to continue, with what would probably end up as an insult, Lestrade explained:
"Yeah, that was our original thought, but then forensics came along, and they're pretty sure it's either a suicide or just a work accident."
"Forensics?" Sherlock questioned. "Oh, don't tell me... Anderson."
"Well, yeah, but..." Before Lestrade had a chance to finish the sentence, Sherlock had started walking towards the crime scene. "Sherlock, he is our forensics expert. Your personal issues with the man, doesn't make him any less capable of doing his job!" Lestrade called after him and started following the tall detective.
"Oh, please.. personal issues?" Sherlock started in a mocking tone, "I don't have personal issues with anyone. Anderson simply has a way of missing crucial facts. In fact, Detective Inspector, I wouldn't be surprised if there are killers walking free, due to Anderson's ignorance."
"Sherlock, please..." John was about to tell off the consulting detective, when he was cut off by a loud female scream, which made all three men stop and turn towards the sound.
"Honestly, you bloody idiot! Are you trying to apply body piercings? Watch where you prick those fucking needles." A tall dark haired woman yelled at the little blond woman, who was trying to do costume-fitting on the brunette's dress.
John and Lestrade was looking at the two females, whilst Sherlock had turned on his heel and continued to walk towards the crime-scene, muttering something about actresses being way too over-dramatic.
"Hang on, isn't that... what's her name.. oh yeah, Ellie Nightingale?" John asked Lestrade, as the two men started following Sherlock.
"Yeah, that's her." Lestrade answered. "She's the female lead in the production. My wife.. well, ex-wife, I suppose, has dragged me to so many shows, all because she had the lead."
"You make that sound as if it was a bad thing?" John said sceptically, and elaborated; "she's gorgeous.. and she can actually act! Wouldn't it have been worse if she'd dragged you to see every new, I don't know, Orlando Bloom film, or something?"
"That is true." Lestrade said with a grin.
"If you two have finished drooling over the dramatic young woman, could we maybe get to the reason John and I are here?" Sherlock suddenly called back to them.
"Ironic how he's the one to criticise someone for being dramatic, isn't it?" Lestrade asked John, with a lowered voice, to which John simply nodded, though he couldn't help but grin too.
Sherlock had been leaning over the body for 3 minutes, taking in every little detail, before he stepped back and looked towards the ceiling, then to the scaffold from which the victim had fallen or jumped, and then he looked to Lestrade;
"It is as I thought.." Sherlock stated with a smirk. Lestrade gestured for him to elaborate. "Anderson should be fired. Mr. Jones here didn't jump or fall.. He was pushed off the scaffold."
"How can you possibly tell?" Lestrade asked sceptically, "if this is just your way of trying to make me fire Anderson, then let it go; it isn't gonna happen!"
"No, this is me telling you that once again Anderson has reached the wrong conclusion." Sherlock said calmly and continued; "First of all Mr. Jones is wearing his glasses. That alone rules out the possibility of suicide; people with weak sight always takes off their glasses before jumping, because they are to cowardice to watch as they hit the ground.
Then there's his hands. Look at them." Lestrade and John did as instructed, as Sherlock went on; "as you can tell from the faint bruises, Mr. Jones was clutching onto the edge of the scaffold – but that doesn't mean it wasn't an accident" Sherlock mocked an interjection before Lestrade or John could say anything, and continued; "no, however if you look at his knuckles you can tell someone stomped on his hands, in fact hard enough to probably break a few of the fingers, but as the bruises and swelling aren't more obvious this most have happened just before he died, otherwise the blood would have run to the knuckles and turned his fingers blue and they would have been at least double the size they are now."
Sherlock continued to inform Lestrade of his findings for another 5 minutes, which led to Lestrade agreeing with Sherlock, that the only possibility was murder.
"Now that we've established that this was in fact murder, would you mind if I questioned the cast and crew?" Sherlock asked the Detective Inspector.
"You think someone from the production had something to do with this?" John questioned.
"Yes, obviously." Sherlock sighed, rolling his eyes.
"OK, fine." Lestrade said, "but you do not under any circumstances deliberately insult anyone!"
Sherlock nodded before turning on his heel to find a suitable place for the interrogations.
"To be fair, Greg, I don't think Sherlock ever insults anyone intentionally.." John said, but then as he gave it another though, he had to add; "well, apart from Anderson."
I am so sorry for the delay... I don't mean the one year gap, though I'm sorry for that too - I was gonna start updating this story on a regular basis after I wrote that message a few weeks back, but I had such a hard time piecing this chapter together!
When I get further into the story, the updating will happen on a more regular basis - I know it will, cause I've already written most of the *important* scenes, I just had a lotof trouble with the beginning of the story.
Also, seeing as Series 2 has aired, I feel I must pin point where we are, canon-vice (canonic? You know what I mean, right?)
This story is set after "The Hounds of Baskerville" and before "The Reichenbach Fall" - yes, this will (most likely) be important later on... if not in here, then in the sequel, that much I can tell you =P