The next day, Charlotte found herself in the basement of the Jude & Miller Corporation, surrounded by boxes of dated files. Centrally located in London, J&M was an inconspicuous building with heavy security, dark hallways, and an unwelcoming interior.
Sherlock, John, and Charlotte had spent the past few hours digging through the archives, looking for any clues on where the files could have ended up. Sherlock had a theory, supplied by information from his homeless network: the files themselves would of been near impossible to get out of the building with all of the security checks. It's likely someone had simply hid them away,
Charlotte could sense Sherlock's impatience. Seeing his forehead twisted in deep concentration, she couldn't help but smile to herself. This moment reminded her of their summers so many years ago.
Charlotte's parents owned a summer home outside of London. Not knowing any other children, she had spent most of her time alone. It wasn't until she overheard an older boy arguing with a younger one that she became excited, instantly running up to them any chance that she got.
It took several weeks, if not summers, for the Holmes brothers to warm up to Charlotte. During his summers at University, Sherlock and Charlotte would spend hours outside reading, often without conversation. With no demands or expectations, they became companions. They enjoyed the company the other could provide, never anything more.
It took tragedy for Charlotte to realize how she felt. How to act on it, unfortunately, never came to her.
Returning her attention to the basement, she let out a sign. It felt as if they had turned the entire basement over, with no clear end in sight. Most of the files were missing important pages, with those that were left having entire paragraphs blacked out.
"How much longer should we go on?" John asked no one in particular, lugging yet another box to join the rest of the discarded.
"There must be something here," Sherlock swiftly answered. "This is the only place where information at this company goes to die, and anyone trying to get the files out of here would know that."
"Do you have any idea of what information the files contain?" Charlotte asked.
"Unsure. Jude & Miller has a huge portfolio, with their hands in separate investments across the world. The possibilities are seemingly endless, especially when one considers that the documents likely involve either a high profile person, or event. I've narrowed the possibility to South America, taking into consideration…"
Charlotte unintentionally nodded, allowing Sherlock to continue. Hearing Sherlock go into depth with cases, while intriguing, was not enough to make the past few hours any more interesting. Pulling another water damaged box off the top of her pile, she was overtaken with a strong, familiar scent.
The second she lifted off the top of the box, a gasp came from somewhere deep in her throat.
Sherlock quickly crossed the room and stared into the box. Charlotte backed away slowly, a feign attempt to hide her shock.
"John," Sherlock said, motioning for him to come closer.
"What is it?" John asked, rushing over but stopping a few feet away.
"If it's a human limb, I'm not coming any closer."
"Are you a bloody doctor or not?" Sherlock scoffed, reaching into his pocket for a rubber glove.
He slowly pulled out one of many flowers by the stem. There were hundreds of flowers, their color a light purple. Placed in an obvious attempt at a specific formation, their smell quickly filled the room.
"How… incredibly odd."
Sherlock rotated the flower in his hand, puzzled.
"Why could these be here?" Charlotte asked, allowing herself to peer into the box.
"Campion Silene tomentosa."
Pulling out his handheld magnifying glass, he inspected another flower that still lay in the box.
"These are incredibly rare. It's quite possible that these have been genetically engineered. I'd expect it to be unmanageable for these to have been picked, and then brought to England."
John finally reached into the box, surveying one of the flowers. "I don't understand. Why would someone put in all the effort for these to be here? Could we of been meant to find these?"
Taking a quick picture with his iPhone, Sherlock placed the lid back on top of the flowers. His eyes seem to darken, as the next step of the case had become clear. Charlotte wondered what he had realized.
"I'll test these further. However… yes, John. I do think we were meant to find these."
He looked around the room for a few seconds, seemingly listening for something.
"Baker Street," he finally stated.
Short chapter. Much more to come!
-Marissa