"Is that all?" Lestrade asked at the end of John's report to him of all that had happened on the raid that day.
"Yes, that's it" John nodded
"Okay then, thanks for that. I'll let you get back to Molly. Tell her we'll be over some time tomorrow to collect a statement from her." Lestrade said
"Thanks" John said, turning for the door. He heard the click of a button behind him, before Lestrade called out.
"Wait a minute John. I've turned the surveillance off, it's just you and me now. There's something else I need to ask you."
John turned back slowly, wary. "And what's that?"
"You said those men thought Sherlock was still alive, and wanted you to tell them where he was, right?" Lestrade asked.
"Right" John said slowly, guessing where this is going
"So were they right? Is Sherlock alive? Don't worry I won't tell anyone. He obviously has his reasons for laying low. It would just be nice to get some answers for once. Haven't had many since he died. Supposedly." Lestrade asked, a gleam of hope in his eye.
John considered for a second. Just because they had bust up that surviellance operation today, did that make them safe? Was it a risk worth taking?
"I'm sorry Lestrade, I don't have any answers for you. Sherlock is dead" He told Lestrade, deadpan. Better safe than sorry. He turned to go, but again was stopped by Lestrade's voice.
"Oh come on, John! I'm not stupid! That information you gave us earlier to search by, the fact it would be central to the 3 locations, the McDonald's. You're a smart man, you learnt a lot from Sherlock, but not that much. That was him, it had to be." Lestrade insisted.
John sighed, turned around and nodded. "Yes it was him. He's alive. I only found out a couple of months ago myself."
"I knew it!" Lestrade said with a triumphant smile "So what happened then? Why did he do it? Why is he hiding?"
"Moriarty had three assasins waiting to kill his three closest friends if he didn't jump. One for me, one for Mrs. Hudson, and one for you." John told him, slightly satisfied by the shock on Lestrade's face "Of course Moriarty had the means to call them off, so he faked his own death to make Sherlock think he had no choice but to jump. I still don't really understand how he survived, but he's been at Molly's ever since. He couldn't come out of hiding because he knew we were still being watched, that's why they were watching here, Baker street and my place. Not because that's where Sherlock would go, like I told you, but so they could kill us if he came back."
"Wow… that's…" Lestrade was nearly speechless, over one fact in particular "I'm one of Sherlock's closest friends? I barely know the man"
"You give him cases to solve, you listen to what he tells you and you don't call him a 'freak' or anything like that. It's enough for him." John told him simply.
Lestrade exhaled heavily again. "So what now? Surely now we've taken care of the people watching us he can come out of hiding?"
"I don't know" John replied "I'll have to ask Sherlock about it. Either way it won't be long. All this time he's been working on gathering info about Moriarty's network, so you can probably expect to see him walk in here in a few days, or weeks, with enough information to help you put away half the criminals in London in one go."
"Wonderful, I look forward to it" Lestrade said, looking genuinely happier than John had seen him in a while "And I assume I'll be seeing you then"
"I imagine so" John laughed, infected by the DI's good mood. He gave one last nod and let himself out.
AN: Sorry it's such a short one, just tying up loose ends. Only one chapter left now. But don't worry, because I've made a start on my companion fic for this - 'Taming the Shrewd' which tells Molly and Sherlock's version of events in this fic, and possibly continuing after it, I haven't decided yet. Look out for it if you enjoyed this :)