Three
Hey guys. My thoughts are with all my readers in London at the moment. Be safe guys; I hope those riots die down soon. For those in other countries keep thinking about places in the world where it may not be as safe as you are right now to put your head on a pillow and fall asleep. Anyway…
Charlie POV:
Charlie watched in amusement as Sherlock leapt over the back of his chair in excitement and began to rush around the room.
"Shouldn't we be talking to the police?" John asked and both his companions turned to fix him with a similar looks of 'are you serious'.
"There's no time to talk to the police." Sherlock said and grabbed his jacket.
"So why are you talking to us?" Charlie asked.
"Because your Aunt took my skull." Sherlock said and Charlie smirked.
"I told her you wouldn't like it." She said and Sherlock looked at her.
"When?"
"Before I met you two, I was dumping my stuff in the bedroom and she remarked on how much she didn't like you talking to it; she's awfully fond of you." Charlie said and Sherlock snorted
"Come on Charlotte." He said and she whacked him hard on the back of his head.
"Don't call me that." She said and he chuckled.
"We're chasing a serial killer." John piped up and the two stopped staring at each other to look at him.
"And I said dangerous and here you are." He said and Charlie looked at her phone in confusion. She looked down at her jeans, faded black shirt and leather motorcycle jacket wondering if her scuffed converses would make it past her next birthday. She grabbed Sherlock, not sure where they were heading but excited to get out of the apartment. She grinned at the sound of John swearing and following them a few moments later.
Sherlock POV:
"What? You ink he's stupid enough to go there?" John asked incredulously and Sherlock wondered how boring it was in normal peoples brains; so relaxing.
"No, I think he's brilliant enough. I love the brilliant ones, always so desperate get caught."
"Why?"
"They need an audience," Charlie answered as they headed down cold Northumberland Street towards Angelo's.
"Most serial killers are narcissists, they thrive on recognition." She continued and John nodded.
"Think!" Sherlock just about shouted and several passing people gave him strange look.
"Who hunts in the middle of a crowd? Who do we trust even though we don't know them?"
"I don't know. Who?" John asked and Sherlock laughed. Charlie looked very serious and didn't answer. She was by far one of the most interesting people he had met and definitely the most interesting woman he'd ever met. Must be the hair; he decided then mentally kicked himself.
"Haven't the foggiest. Hungry anyone?" He said and directed them into the warm, red light of Angelo's café. Guiding them to a window seat and never taking his eyes off 22 Northumberland Street.
"That must be 22 Northumberland Street then." Charlie asked and he nodded, barely looking around when Angelo turned up with their menus.
"Sherlock! Anything on the menu, anything you want is free. Same for your friends." He said and Sherlock turned to see him staring at Charlie who, like him, had been staring at the address She now smiled awkwardly at Angelo who began to explain how Sherlock had cleared his name.
"This is Angelo, a few years back I managed to convince Inspector Lestrade that at the time of a particularly vicious triple homicide Angelo here was in another part of town housebreaking." He said and Charlie extended her hand. Angelo kissed it gently. Charlie smiled a bit more.
"Cleared my name he did." Angelo said proudly and Charlie raised her water glass to Sherlock.
"I cleared it a bit." He muttered.
"Anything you need?" Angelo asked as John perused the menus, Charlie shook her head and Sherlock merely looked away. John ordered and they all sat in silence until Angelo returned with a candle which he placed in front of Charlie with a wink. Charlie looked at him confusedly but thanked him before turning her attention to the white tablecloth in front of him.
"People don't have arch enemies. Not in real life." John said.
"Really? How dull." Sherlock muttered.
"So who did we meet?" Charlie asked quietly and Sherlock momentarily thought about answering her honestly but shook it off.
"What do people have then? In real life." He asked instead and she shrugged which made them both smirk.
"Friends, people they like, people they don't like, girlfriends, boyfriends..." John said as he ticked them off.
"Like I said, dull." Sherlock muttered and thought that was the end of the discussion. Turned out that after Angelo returned with the food John just had another bout of questions which for some reason seemed to involve his love life, or as he thought about it, lack thereof. He could see that Charlie was rather amused.
"Boyfriend then? Which is completely fine..." John asked and erlock felt a brief feeling of amusement.
"Oh I know its fine." A small smile tugged at his lips
"But no."
"So you're unattached then...like me..." John began. Sherlock clicked two and two together. Awkwardly he tried to sort out this situation.
"John I'm flattered but I consider myself married to my work..."
John backtracked instantly.
"No, no I'm just say that it's all fine." John struggled to say whilst his face flushed beet red.
"It's alright John, I'm sure if Sherlock was into that kind of thing he' be genuinely flattered." Charlie teased and John started to cough into his pasta. Sherlock felt a small smile twitch at the corners of his mouth.
"Holy cow hell just froze over." Charlie exclaimed and Sherlock looked at r with a quirked eyebrow.
"John," She whispered.
"I think our little Shirley had his first real smile." She said and John chuckled at Sherlock whose face suddenly darken. He faced away from them to glare into the street.
""Taxi, across the street. No one getting in, no one getting out. Why a taxi?"
They turned to look.
"Don't stare."
"You just told us to look!"
"Yes but we can't all stare."
He saw her roll her eyes and smirked. Well what did she honestly expect after a comment like that? Suddenly he was on his feet and rushing out the door, running into the traffic and sliding over the bonnet of one of the cars. A thump behind him told him Charlie was on his heels and an apology told him John wasn't far away either. The taxi began to leave and drew further away. In an instant he had stopped; desperately remembering the map of this particular section of London. Street names, traffic light and short cuts streamed through his head and he grabbed Charlie by her sleeve and dragged her into a nearby alley. They were up on the roofs and running swiftly over the streets of Soho. He cleared a gap with ease and waited slightly while Charlie jumped it without hesitation. John faltered.
"Come on, we're losing him." He yelled and didn't wait for John to catch up but simple raced down a iron stairway and into another alley. Cars moved up ahead and he turned right, Charlie running easily by his side. She seemed to barely touch the ground as she ran, her breathing even as she raced through the dark streets of London.
"Come on John." He yelled over his shoulder. The taxi stopped and Sherlock ripped open to door, startling the passenger inside. He saw in a moment it wasn't the right man. He was terrified and his suitcases told him he was from California. He leant on the side o the taxi and spoke breathlessly to the poor man; feeling a little foolish a leading Charlie through Soho on a wild goose chase.
"Are you the police?" The man asked and Charlie smiled.
"Yes sir, non-uniform sector." She said and he gave her a quick up and down. Sherlock felt annoyed why did every man he meet seemed to not stop ogling her like a piece of meat.
"Is everything okay?" He asked and the man nodded mutely.
"Well welcome to London." Sherlock backed off as Charlie waved goodbye. The taxi drove off and the three of them stood back to catch their breaths, Charlie suddenly doubled over.
"Not the murderer then. Wrong country, good alibi." Charlie stated.
"What?" Sherlock asked, John was just standing there smiling.
"Nothing. Just...Welcome to London? Seriously? And that badge...Where did you get it?" He asked. He held it up and watched Charlie read the name.
"DI Lestrade?"
"Yeah, I pickpocket him when he's annoying. Here, call it a welcome gift; I've got plenty back at the flat."
She caught it and smirked. She glanced down the street and Sherlock followed her gaze. There were two uniformed policemen on their way towards them and the taxi passenger was just finishing his discussion with them.
"Got your breath back?" Sherlock asked and Charlie nodded. John spoke.
"Ready when you are." The three of them bailed, running as fast as possible down the busy street.
Charlie POV
The three of them burst into the apartment at 221 Baker Street, completely out of breath and laughing hysterically as they leant against the wall.
"That was the most ridiculous thing I have ever done." John said through his laughter.
"And you invaded Afghanistan." Sherlock said and Charlie simply laughed harder, tears of mirth sliding down her face. They were interrupted by a knock at the door. John went to answer it and found Angelo standing there holding his forgotten walking stick.
"Ah thanks." He said and turned to find Sherlock studying the opposite wall with avid attention. He was about to say something when Aunt Em ran into the room in tears and in a state of near hysteria.
"Oh Sherlock, what have you done?" She asked and Charlie ran forward to support her.
"Mrs. Hudson?" He asked and she pointed upstairs.
"Upstairs, just burst in waving a warrant." She said and collapsed in Charlie's arms.
"Go sort out Lestrade, I'll be up in a moment and kick his arse." She said and watched as the boys disappeared. Carefully she herded her aunt back to her room, sat her down on her lounge and clasped her aunt to her in one of her rare hugs. The shock of such an action had her aunt out of hysterics in a moment.
"Are you alright Aunty Em?" Charlie asked and the older woman nodded, wiping tears from her cheeks and smiling.
"Of course, just gave me a bit of a fright. They came in saying something about a drug bust. Oh I hope Sherlock hasn't done anything wrong." She said and Charlie sighed.
"I surprisingly doubt that Aunty Em, Sherlock wouldn't do stuff like that in the middle of a case." She said and her aunt nodded vigorously.
"Of course, he's just like you with those mysteries we made you for Christmas." Her aunt said and Charlie nodded.
"Exactly, just like my mysteries." All these emotions were making her very uncomfortable but it was her aunt; the only family member she could stand being around and Lestrade was going to hear about this.
"Do you think you can manage?" She asked Em. She nodded and pushed Charlie to the door.
"Tell them that if they break anything they can pay for it." She said and Charlie nodded. She walked upstairs to find their apartment crawling with police officers. Sherlock was in the middle of telling John to shut up in the centre of the room and Lestrade was gazing around smugly. Charlie up to him and pressed a trembling finger to his chest.
'You absolute asshole." She screamed and he jumped about a foot in the air.
'My aunt is downstairs crying because of you and your team, she thought something had happened… you scared her half to hell and set up a pretend drug bust to bully us."
"We knew he'd find the case."
"I'm not your sniffer dog!" Sherlock called from behind her.
"No, Anderson's my sniffer dog." Lestrade shot back. Charlie gazed at the waving man and Sherlock almost lost the plot.
"Anderson at are you doing on a drugs bust?" He yelled.
"Oh I volunteered." The man said spitefully.
"They all did." Lestrade said and Charlie nearly lost the plot.
"Technically none of them are on the drugs team but they were very keen." Donovan appeared from the kitchen with a jar in her hand.
"Are these human eyes?" She asked.
"Put those back!"
"They were in the microwave."
"It's an experiment." Charlie snatched the jar from her and placed it backing the microwave without a word. She returned to her position beneath Lestrade's nose and glared u at him. Lestrade tried to look as superior as he could with a red haired woman in front of him who gazed at his and his team in fury and whose entire body seemed to shake with suppressed anger.
"Keep looking everyone, unless of course you want to start actually helping us…" This was aimed at Sherlock.
"This is childish."
"I'm dealing with a child."
"So you set up a pretend drugs bust to bully me?"
"Stops being pretend if we find anything."
"I don't even smoke anymore." Sherlock complained and rolled back his sleeve to reveal a nicotine patch. Lestrade did the same and they stared at the similar patches in silence.
"We found Rachel." He said after a moment and Charlie stopped death staring him.
"Really? We need her in… interview her. Who is she?" Sherlock asked.
"Jennifer Wilson's stillborn daughter. She died 14 years ago." Charlie and Sherlock exchanged confused looks. John however just looked sadly at the two of them.
"What?" She asked and he just shook his head.
"Her daughter's name...why?" Sherlock asked and she shrugged.
"Never mind that! We found the case. Someone told us that it would be with the murderer and here it is in the hands of our favourite psychopath!" Anderson said and Charlie sighed heavily but Sherlock beat her to it.
"I'm a high function sociopath, do your research." He said viciousy and Charlie nodded.
"I'm surprised he didn't know that after I told his little girlfriend the same thing." She said and he looked at her in surprise.
"You did?"
"Yeah, BA in Psychology and everything, not to mention being one myself." She said and he smiled slightly.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it, really don't." She said and he laughed.
"Anyway, Jennifer Wilson...why would she do that? Why?"
"Why think about her daughter in her last moments? Yeah, sociopath, seeing it now." Anderson said snidely and Charlie glared at him. All these idiots were driving her mad, no wonder Sherlock was the way he was, being normal would probably kill him if he spent it around Anderson.
"No, she didn't just think of her. She scratched her name into the floor with her finger nails. It would take effort, it would have hurt! Why?"
John piped up
"Well you said he makes them take the pills...maybe he speaks to them, used the death of her daughter to make her do it."
"Yeah but that was ages ago! Why would she still be upset?"
There was a silence so thick you could have cut it with a knife.
"Not good?" He guessed.
"Bit not good, yeah." John replied in the now silent room.
"If you were dying, if you were being murdered, what would you say?" He asked and Charlie watched John stumble some lame answer and Sherlock nearly loose it all over again.
"Jennifer, running all those lovers, she was clever. Cleverer than you lot and she's dead." He yelled as her aunt entered the room.
"Sherlock your cab's here." She said and he frowned.
"I didn't order a taxi. Go away." Charlie poked him lightly.
"Oh their making such a mess of things." Aunty Em said distractedly.
"SHUT UP!" Sherlock suddenly exploded and the whole room went still.
"Everybody shut up! Don't move, don't breathe...Anderson face the other way, your face is putting me off!"
"What? My face?" Charlie laughed and sat down on a spare space on the kitchen bench. Sherlock was now pacing.
"Anderson, turn your back." Lestrade commanded.
"Oh for God's sake..." Anderson snarled but faced the opposite wall.
"What about your taxi?" Her aunt cried.
"MRS HUDSON!" Sherlock and even Charlie flinched a small bit. She threw him a dark look as her aunt scurried off. Suddenly Sherlock got a look on his face that stated to everyone in the room that he was having a massive case-related epiphany.
"Oh! Yes, she was clever! She's cleverer than you lot and she's dead! Don't you see? She didn't lose her phone! She planted it! When she got out of that car she knew she was going to her death. She left it to lead us to her killer!"
"How?"
"What do you mean how? Oh look at all your faces, is it nice not being me. It must be so relaxing. You're all look so vacant. Except…" Charlie jumped off the table and ran to the pink case and flipped the name tag.
"He has her phone?"
"Yes."
"Then we have her password and our ticket to finding her killer." Charlie cried and hurried to the laptop.
"John read me that email address." She demanded and John read it out.
"So we can read her emails, Whoop-de-do." Anderson said.
"Shut up Anderson, you lower the entire IQ of the street. Besides we can do much more than read her emails. It's a smart phone, it's got GPS so that if you lose it you can find it. She's leading us to her killer!"
He took a step backwards as Mrs Hudson walked back upstairs.
"Sherlock this taxi driver..." She began.
"Isn't it time for you evening soother Mrs Hudson?" he said harshly "We'll need to move fast – phone batteries don't last forever..."
"Sherlock?" Charlie spoke, eyes glued to the screen. He continued to talk.
"Sherlock?" She tried again.
"Shirley!" He turned to face her, eyebrows raised she smirked.
"That one is now official." She muttered.
"What?"
"It's here. How is that possible? We texted him and he called back!"
"Try again." Suggested John and Sherlock picked up his phone which had vibrated on the table in front of them. He carefully read a text.
"Yeah...try again. I'm just popping out. Won't be long." She watched him walk outside. A man suddenly walked in carrying a book she now recognized as her diary.
"Give that to me!" She screamed and marched up to him. She tried to snatch it away but he clung onto it and it turned into a tug of war. Suddenly to whole spine gave way and the book ripped cleanly into two, its pages fluttering to the floor like snow. The room went silent as the sound of hand meeting flesh filled the room. Charlie bent down and through sudden tears began to clasp the pages to her. John moved help her but to stopped him
"I don't want anyone going into my room. I got here this morning and what things I have are the few things my mother allowed me to take before she had my landlady kick me out." She said and picked up the torn book. Thanking God she was a sociopath she placed the book calmly on the table ad looked at John.
"When you get that address let me know." She said calmly and slowly pulled on her jacket and gloves. She gave the police a polite nod then walked out into the cold night air.
One more chapter for the whole A Study in Pink theme. For those who were worrying that this is going to be entirely based on the show don't worry. I'm planning to add on to their lives inbetween cases in the coming chapters. Thanks for reading XX