John opens his eyes. He's in a small room that's buzzing with hushed voices. He's confused. Where is he?
He looks down and notices his bandaged wrists. Suddenly, memories of the day before flood back into his mind: memories of the letter, of being hurt by Wilson, and of Wilson's death by being shot by Mary.
"Mary…" John whispers. Where is she? He's worried about her.
"Doctor Watson's awake!" a voice suddenly calls out.
A man walks up to John. It's Dr. Simon Phillips.
"Hello, John. How are you feeling?"
John shrugs. "I'm fine, I guess. I feel much better than I did. But do you know where Mary is? Is she here?"
Simon smiles. "Well, it does sound like you're feeling better. But who's Mary? Oh, is that your fiancée?"
John nods.
"Well, she's here. She's waiting outside with Inspector Lestrade. She's fine. A bit shaken, of course, but fine. Would you like me to bring them inside?"
John nods, and Simon leaves the room. He reenters a few moments later, Mary and Lestrade following behind him. It's Mary that speaks first.
"John, how are you doing? Are you feeling okay?"
John smiles. "Yes, I'm fine. I just want to get out of here as soon as possible." This is understandable. Sherlock is still missing, and every day that passes reduces the chance of him surviving.
Lestrade shakes his head. "You're not leaving until you're better. We're already working on finding Sherlock, John. In fact, we are actually investigating the alleyway right now to try and find out where he is."
John raises an eyebrow. "Have you found anything?"
Lestrade shakes his head. "We hadn't when I left, but they probably started examining Wilson's body after I left to come here."
John looks at him intensely. "I want to go there. Now."
Frowning, Lestrade shakes his head. "No… you can't leave now, you're hurt. Just a few more days…"
"No," John quickly interrupts him. "Sherlock is missing. He's going to stay missing unless we do something. I've been with him the most, so I know how he would solve this case better than anyone. I know he wouldn't stop working because of an injury. I can't let this get in the way; that's exactly what whoever took Sherlock wants."
Dr. Phillips walks over to John and Lestrade. "John, I'm sorry, but you're not going to be able to do much for a while. You lost a lot of blood. You can start working on the case in a little while, maybe five or six days from now. But until then, you're going to have to stay fairly inactive."
"But I'll be fine…" John begins to protest, but he knows that Phillips is right. Being a doctor himself, he is completely aware of the need for recovery after such a bad blood loss, but he is disappointed nevertheless.
"Fine. I'll stay here. But, Lestrade, please, I need you to check some things out for me. When you examine the body, I mean."
Lestrade chuckles slightly. John appears to be attempting to take on Sherlock's role in this investigation. But everyone, including John and Lestrade, knows that this is impossible. Ever since Sherlock has been missing, Scotland Yard has seemed a little bit empty. Sherlock always kept investigations interesting with his ingenuity and creativity, and now that factor is missing from the department.
"What do you need? What should I check out?" he asks.
"You have to look at the shoes," says John.
"What do you mean?" Lestrade questions confusedly. "We always look at all of the evidence found on the body."
John shakes his head. "I know that. But Sherlock always looks closer than that. If you find any soil, mud, leaves, grass, or anything like that on the shoes, bring it back to me straight away. I've seen Sherlock look at a person's shoes and almost instantly solve a crime. Maybe if we try to think like him, we can figure something out."
Smiling, Lestrade nods. "I'll make sure to let you know of anything that we find out. Now, I have to go. I'm going to head back so that I can look at the body."
Lestrade walks back into the morgue. He is quickly greeted by a medical examiner from the department.
"Inspector, we just finished the autopsy."
"Yes, and? Did you find anything?" he asks hopefully.
The man nods.
"Well, actually, we did find something in one of his pockets that might be helpful. There was a key in the left pocket of his pants. Fairly normal in dimension and appearance, although there is an engraving on the side that could be helpful in trying to identify what door it unlocks. It reads "A15." Possibly a flat or mailbox number, I suppose. Would you like to see it?"
Lestrade nods. "I want to take it to Dr. Watson. He's not allowed to leave the hospital for now, but he's understandably concerned about the case. Was that key all that you found?"
"Yes, that was all."
"Well, then," begins Lestrade, "I would like to take a look at the clothes if that's alright with you. Dr. Watson suggested taking a closer look at them."
Nodding, the medical examiner gestures to a small table at the other end of the room. Lestrade walks quickly over to the table, which has a few dirty and bloodstained articles of clothing on it.
"Thank you," he says to the medical examiner. "I'll take a look at these. You can continue working."
The medical examiner leaves and Lestrade starts to examine the clothes. First, he carefully looks over the shirt and pants. Both seem relatively normal, apart from the blood. He remembers John's advice and walks over to the shoes.
Cautiously, Lestrade picks up one of the shoes. He turns it over, looking closely at the soles. He notices a few stones and little bits of dried mud stuck on the sole of the shoe. He carefully removes the stones and dirt and places them in a bag for evidence.
Lestrade quickly leaves the morgue to head back to the hospital.
He is somewhat relieved. Before this point, the investigation has had little evidence. This key, the dirt, and the stones are some of the first leads of the case. However, Lestrade is somewhat doubtful that John has acquired enough skill from Sherlock to use the dirt and stones as actual evidence.
If John can't identify the dirt, it may take weeks to find its source.
And time is certainly of high importance in this case.
"John!" a voice calls from outside the hospital room.
John sits up. Lestrade walks into the room holding a small bag that John supposes is holding some sort of evidence found on Wilson's body. John is anxious to see what the autopsy has revealed regarding Sherlock's location.
Lestrade doesn't wait for any reply from John. "We found a key in his pocket. At the top of the key it says "A15." We're not exactly sure what it opens yet but it seems like a good lead."
He opens the evidence bag. "Also, I did what you said and looked on the bottom of the shoes. I found these stones and mud stuck on the sole. I have no idea where they're from. I'm not sure you would know either. It looks pretty normal to me."
John motions for Lestrade to bring the bag closer. He takes the bag from Lestrade and peers in. His eyes widen and he looks up at Lestrade.
"I know this dirt. I've seen this type of soil before, on one of the cases that Sherlock and I did. Where was it…" his voice trails off.
Lestrade is surprised. He didn't think that John would be able to identify the soil. It had just looked like dirt and stones to him. Maybe Sherlock's skill really was rubbing off on John.
"I've got it!" exclaims John. "I know where this is from! I recognize it from a case that I worked on with Sherlock. I remember him telling me that this type of soil was only found near the Thames at the Tower Bridge! He said it was unique because the mixture of rocks contained a small quantity of granite, which is not typically found in other areas of London. We have to go there, Lestrade. Maybe Sherlock is near there."
Lestrade shakes his head. "You're not going anywhere, John. You're still recovering. I'll get some backup and head to the Tower Bridge to see if we can find any door that the key will unlock."
John nods reluctantly, hating to miss out. "Fine. But you have to come back here as soon as possible and let me know what you find."
Lestrade nods and leaves. Mary, who is still sitting in the room, walks up to John.
"Don't worry. They're going to find him, John. I know you might not like it, but you have to rest, or you're not going to get better. Everything will be fine."
It's a lie, and both Mary and John know it. Nobody knows what's going to happen to Sherlock, and it's unlikely that everything will be 'fine'. But one thing that John does know is that he is not going to give up.
He's not going down without a fight.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Encore! First of all, I have to apologize for not updating for so long. I've had some serious writer's block and because of that haven't really felt like writing. But I'm back now and will try to update frequently. Also, thank you so much Esbee, Lightening Sparks, and Nimara Portmac for your reviews on the last chapter!
I would really appreciate any reviews, comments, or suggestions that you have. Thanks so much for reading!