It wasn't long after that the taxi dropped them in front of a Brooklyn mall. Watson had to cringe a bit inwardly. It was the very mall she had been ice skating at with her friend and her friend's little daughter yesterday. Holmes seemed oblivious to anything, but the case ahead of them, eagerly jumping out of the taxi and letting Watson keep in mind actually paying the driver, before following him inside.
A small crowd already had gathered near the entrance, curiously trying to catch a peek behind the watchful cops and cars blocking the view. Well, Watson obviously wasn't the only one, who had frequently visited the mall. It was Christmas shopping time and the malls were filled with people at this time of the year. She was just glad, that whatever had happened, had apparently taken place in the closing hours and so not had had any child witnesses.
Captain Gregson was already awaiting them at the entrance of the mall, as per usual greeting them with a curt nod and not bothering for any small-talk.
"The cleaners found the corpse. Apparently he's been killed shortly after the mall closed, so far there are no witnesses, apparently the security cameras also have been hacked, for their is no footage of the murder or anything on them." he briefed the two of them, while they walked towards the murder scene.
"The culprit probably knows the mall and it's ways. I suspect he stole footage from the days before and made them show on the monitors the day of the murder, while he was out for his gruesome business. Nothing too hard to achieve. Recording and replacing mall footage, that is." Holmes said.
"Yeah, our tech guys are already at it." Gregson merely said while they walked.
"Might I also request access to the footage of the last weeks, Captain?" Holmes piped up.
"Sure, help yourself." the Captain nodded, motioning for one of the cops to go get a copy for Holmes as well.
When they approached the sight of the murder, Watson again felt her interns grow somewhat tense. It wasn't like she hadn't already seen plenty of murder scenes, it was just that only yesterday she had come here with a little girl, who had run to sit on Santa's lap at this very stage. The plush rendeers were still standing around, as well as the overly trashy christmas trees, the fake snow, the empty parcels that were merely empty boxes wrapped to resemble gifts and last but not least, the big wooden chair on which Santa had been sitting.
And there he still said. Only that he no longer looked as kind and friendly as yesterday.
The man's body was positively mauled. Watson had seen much in her time, but this was definitely among the top ten. The corpse was still wearing his entire Santa attire, just the jacket was opened and so was his chest. The rib cage was broken open and where his heart should have been, it no longer was, but it was replaced by what looked like a much smaller heart. Holmes already was at it, buzzing about the dead man's body, sniffing and peeking, prodding and inspecting, while Watson stepped up to Bell.
"Hey." he greeted, "Terrible picture isn't it? You alright?" he quirked a brow somewhat, when seeing how Watson was unusually pale around the scene.
"Yeah, I'm fine...it's just, I was here yesterday with a friend and her daughter and she actually sat on the man's knee." Watson told.
"Oh. That's awful, you…" Bell began, but was interrupted by Holmes.
"Watson!" he called, looking over his shoulder, motioning for her to come over. Bell shot her a somewhat concerned glance, but Watson merely mentioned for him that it was alright, before she went to Holmes.
"Can you identify this heart for me? My suspicion is either dog or pig." he said.
"I'm no veterinarian, I can't tell apart all heart of the world, oh my god, they actually sewed it back into the guy, this is disgusting. Who would do something like that?" she shook her head.
"Maybe he also was forced into a hell of blinking lights and cosy atmosphere?"
"Get over it, it's just some lights and a tree. I also endure all your weird...experiments." Watson rolled her eyes.
"You endure them? Well, I'm sorry if I bother you with doing my best in your education as an investigator…" Sherlock huffed.
"I think it's a dog. We used to practice on pigs hearts a lot in med school and they usually all had defects due to the feeding they get." Watson decided to just stop the conversation.
Lucky enough, it worked, for Holmes bounced on his heels some.
"Excellent!" he said.
"Excellent?" Watson questioned.
"Excellent! You can buy pigs hearts in every butchery I imagine, however, unless you life in certain parts of mostly the asian continent getting your hands on a dog's heart is a lot harder!" he told and Watson nodded in agreement.
"Right! They would need to get it from a vet. Either purchase or steal it."
"Exactly!" Holmes said with a grin on his face.
"We probably best look up all nearby vets and see, if some of them have been robbed of animal bodies lately." Watson suggested.
"Or see, if they are shady enough to sell the mortal remains of a beloved family pet."
"Yes, or that." Watson said with a slight shake of her head.
"Best of luck then, we stay in contact via messages!" Holmes then told, which made Watson go after him quickly.
"Wait, wait, wait do you mean I should go alone?"
"Yes, of course. See it as today's exercise." he told her simply. Watson looked at him a long moment, not able to help herself, but feel something was smelling fishy here.
"And what will you be doing?" she asked.
"I need to join the Captain questioning the cleaner who found the body, as well as I would like to talk to Santa Clause's employer, not to mention there are a couple hundred hours mall footage waiting for me...or would you prefer joining me watching?" Holmes told with his face giving away nothing.
"No, I'm fine." Watson quickly said, she definitely lacked the patience to watch an empty mall until tomorrow morning.
"I'll talk to you later." she added, before turning to leave. Yet, not without shooting Holmes another suspicious glance, yet his face was still empty. She feared she'd get to know if her fears were to be proven right soon enough, though.