The Silent Banker
A Silent Abduction
As they got out of the cab that had just pulled up outside the Yard, the four of them got out, John paying the fair to the man driving.
"You go on." Said Rose to the others, pointing to her cheek. "I'm going to go clean up."
"I'll keep you company." Said Sarah. She had refused to go home when John offered and had only given him a hard stare when he tried to insist.
"Thanks." Said Rose, knowing that it would be her to fill in the woman on what was going on.
"You sure you'll be alright?" Said John to his date.
She just took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze. "I'll be fine." And with that the women made their way to the bathrooms.
"You should let me take a look at that for you." Said Sarah, pointing to the younger woman's face.
"It's alright, I can manage. Thanks anyway."
As they walked through the door, Rose went first, checking the stalls in the small bathroom. Finding them all empty, she turned to lock the door. The last thing they needed was to be interrupted. Taking some paper towels, Rose ran them under the cold tap and started to wipe away the dried blood that had trickled down her face.
Sarah walked over next to the woman, seeing it was a lost cause to try to help the independent young woman. Pushing herself up to sit on the counter next to her, she asked, "So what is going on?"
Sighing, Rose looked at her self in the mirror, noting the dark marks under her eyes. "Sherlock's a Consulting Detective. Sometimes he helps the police, sometimes he has private clients. But long story short, he accidentally uncovered an international gang of smugglers, who have had something stolen from them and they want it back. They had it narrowed down to two of their haulers, but didn't know which one had it. So they were both threatened…and then killed." She explained, going quiet at the last bit.
Sarah took a moment to take in the information. "And you and John help Sherlock with this, right?"
"Yes. We found a woman who was also being threatened, but we found her first. Then the killer did." Rose sighed heavily, remembering the events of the other night. "God, I need a cigarette." She muttered.
Trying to distract the young woman from her cravings, Sarah asked another question. "So, how are you going to catch them?"
"We have a message from them to their people. It's written in code though, but if we find out what it means, we're one step closer to finding them." Rose explained, pulling the skin of her cheek, trying to decide if the cut would need further attention. "What do you think?"
The doctor leaned forward, a medical eye examining the cut. "Should be fine, just try not to open it again, or make it any worse. How are you going to break the code?"
Rose let out a humourless chuckle, remembering the state of their living room. "It's based on a book, find the right book, we can crack it." She threw the bloody paper towels in the bin, she turned to the other woman who was jumping off the counter. "You should see the state of our living room!" She said with a tired smile.
As the two women left the loos, they saw the men come round the corner, both looking very unhappy.
Falling into their fast paced walk towards the exit, Rose looked to John. "Dimmock?" She questioned, knowing the answer. He just curled his lip in annoyance at the once again uncooperative DI.
Back at the flat, Rose threw her coat over the back of the sofa and went to put the kettle on, making a brew for everyone and getting herself a glass of water, since they were out of orange juice. This didn't help her mood.
Sherlock went to the desk, and John sat in one of the chairs. As Sarah entered the living room, she saw all the books. She let out a low whistle. "Wow, you really weren't kidding , were you?"
John, seeing this as a bad thing, started to get up and pick up some books to stack them, trying to make the place a little more presentable, but Rose interrupted him. "John, leave them, she's on about the amount of books that are here." She said from the kitchen, pouring the steaming water into three cups.
John trying to change the subject, said, "Well, they'll be back in China by tomorrow."
"No, they wont leave without what they came for." Replied Sherlock.
Rose brought in the drinks for Sarah and John, getting a "thanks" from each.
But Sarah noticed that as Rose brought in Sherlock's he barely even acknowledged her, sparing her only a cold glance. Looking closer, she noticed they were completely different with each other.
"Sorry, are you two actually…?" She asked, finger pointing from one to the other.
"Oh, god no!" Said Rose, having picked up on Johns speech patterns after living with him a little while. "I'd kill him." She said, only half joking, but the rest of the room caught the non-joking side to it. They looked round to her, and she blinked only just realising what she had said. John looked shocked, and Sherlock looked a little taken aback and a little puzzled, wondering what he had done wrong.
Rubbing her eyes, she sighed. "Sorry! Sorry… I haven't slept in twenty four hours and I really need a bloody cigarette."
John knew she would only get worse, and so picked up her cigarettes and lighter off the side and handed them to her. She threw him a grateful smile - making her face hurt from the cut - and took her little boxes, lighting up on the sofa.
"We need to find their hide out, the rendezvous." Sherlock said, taking off his coat and gong to look at the pictures on the wall. "Some where in this message. It must tell us."
Sarah looked at the two men working, and looked back to the young woman on the sofa. "Well, maybe I should leave you to it then." She said.
The next few seconds we're a jumble of John protesting the idea and Sherlock agreeing. There was a pause. "He's kidding, please stay, if you'd like." Said John.
Sarah looked between the two men, and thought she should make herself useful. "Is it just me or is anyone else starving?"
Rose heard Sherlock mutter "oh god" while he faced the other way, earning a disapproving look from John, who then went to check the fridge.
While John raided the kitchen for something to feed Sarah with, conspicuously blocking body bits and experiments from her line of sight, Sarah went to have a look at the board, Sherlock having abandoned it in favour of looking at papers on the desk.
"So this is what you do, you and John, you solve puzzles for a living?" She sounded quite intrigued, but Rose knew Sherlock would see it as dumbing down on what they did.
"Consulting Detective." He corrected.
"Right, Rose said." She went over to see what Sherlock was doing, Rose just watching it all from the sofa. "What are these squiggles?"
"There're numbers, in an ancient Chinese dialect." He explained, as though it were obvious.
Sarah picked up on his tone. "Oh, well, of course, I should have known that." She picked up the bag of photos they had taken to show Soo Lin, getting a rather annoyed look from Sherlock. "So these numbers, they're a cipher?"
"Yes."
"And each pair of numbers is a word?" She continued.
Sherlock looked up at her. "Yes, how did you know that?"
"Well, two words have already been translated. Here look." She showed him the photos.
"John!" He called suddenly. "John, come look at this!" John and Rose looked up suddenly, hearing the excitement in his voice. They went over to see what he had found. "Soo Lin, at the museum. She started to translate the code for us."
"Must have been when I went to bolt the door…" Muttered Rose.
"We didn't see it!" They looked at the photo, Sherlock having taken it out of its protective bag. "Nine mill…"He read out.
"That mean millions?" John asked, Rose nodding.
"Nine million quid...for what?" Said Sherlock, thinking aloud. He suddenly got up and grabbed his coat and scarf, putting them on again.
"Um, where are you going?" Asked John.
"The the museum, the restoration room. Oh, we must have been staring right at it!" Exclaimed Sherlock.
"At what?" Replied John.
"The book, she must have had it on the table…" Said Rose, realising what Sherlock was going on about.
Sherlock then ran out of the flat, leaving the three of them behind.
John just sighed and turned to the woman. "Anyone for a take away?"
"I'm going to finish this and head in I think." Replied Rose, holding up hr mostly burned cigarette.
"Your welcome to join us." Offered John, smiling.
"No, you two enjoy your time, Sherlock wont be back for a while, and I'm absolutely shattered!" She replied. "I'll finish my drink and my cigarette, then turn in."
"Ok then, I'll go order." He turned to the kitchen table, full of Sherlock's science things. "Umm.."
"Eat off trays?" Suggested Sarah.
"Yeah..." He replied with a sheepish look.
Rose went to sit on the sofa again, flicking ash into an ashtray on the way, while Sarah looked around the kitchen for trays, plates, and cutlery.
As John went down the stars to get the number off of the menu sitting on the hall table, he saw someone at the door, and a knock soon followed.
Sherlock ran out into the street, and stumbled into a German couple looking at a book in his haste.
Apologising - in German - he carried on, and tried to hail a cab to no avail. Sighing, he jogged down the street a little bit, trying to hail another. After a few tries he started to pace, waiting for another cab to pass by.
Looking around he saw a pair of foreigners across the street, consulting a London A-Z. Turning away, he looked for a cab again, growling in frustration when another passed him by.
Then he froze. A book everyone would own…everyone in London…
He ran back to the German couple, snatching their book and turning away from them.
He turned to page fifteen and saw the first word; Deadmans.
"Dead man…" It fits…
He took out the photo of the full message, translating as fast as he could.
"Nine mill for jade pin, dragon den, black tramway." He read out.
Back at the flat, Sherlock ran up the stairs and burst into the kitchen breathing heavily from running. "John! John I've got it!" No one in the kitchen, he turned to the living room, his words stopping in their track. "It was the London A-…"
On the windows, in yellow spray paint, was the cipher, large enough to take up a window per numeral.
"Sherlock…?" He heard in the corner of the room.