Lestrade was just answering his phone when Molly brought in some coffee. She placed a cup in front of him and handed the other to Sherlock. She smiled. "Found anything?" she asked. Sherlock shook his head sadly. "You'll find him. I know you will."
Sherlock looked up at her. She always had such faith in him. Like John always had faith in him. He appreciated that. But right now he was letting John down. John was relying on him for help and he wasn't able to give it. He felt a helplessness that he'd never felt before.
Molly stood for a moment not sure what to do next. She watched Sherlock's expression change to one of resignation and wished there was something she could do. "Well if you need anything just let me know."
"Thank you Molly." she heard him say after she'd turned away. She looked behind her and gave him one more smile before leaving the room.
"Gov we've traced the van. It was stolen yesterday morning from The Docklands." Donavon was telling her boss.
"Great! Where is it now?"
"It's in Battersea. But it's burnt out. Don't think we'll get much from it."
"Well get forensics on it anyway. You never know. Let me know straight away if they find anything."
"Gov are you gonna tell me what this is about?"
Lestrade sighed and looked at Sherlock as he answered her "It's John Watson. He's been kidnapped. That's the van that was used to take him."
"Oh. Has the kidnapper made any demands?"
"Not yet." Lestrade watched as Sherlock turned away and walked to the other side of the room. Trying to compose himself, he thought. "Right well I've got to go. Keep me updated about the van."
Lestrade put his phone in his pocket before speaking to Sherlock. "They've found the van abandoned in Battersea." Sherlock nodded. "It's burnt out so probably nothing to help us but Donovan is going to get it checked out anyway. Do you want to look it over?"
"Stolen?" Sherlock asked.
"Yes"
"Then no. There'll be no clues there."
There was silence for a few minutes while Sherlock reviewed what he knew, trying to make sense of things, trying to find some information that he'd overlooked. But it was no use. This man was good he thought, but today that provided no enjoyment, today he just wanted to find John and save him any more pain.
Sherlock's phone beeped to signify the receipt of a text message. It was from Mycroft giving his brother the name and address of an Internet cafe, the one the kidnapper had used to email his video. Lestrade watched, waiting for Sherlock to share the information. As Sherlock caught his gaze he was confused for a second before realising what Lestrade expected. "Oh..um..the email was sent from an Internet cafe in central London. DAV15. Heard of it?"
Lestrade shook his head. "Can't say I have. Come on I'll take you over there so you can check it out. You never know someone might have seen something."
Sherlock stood for a moment. He didn't really expect to find anything but it was better than just sitting around waiting for another update. He grabbed his coat and headed for the door.
When they arrived at the cafe Lestrade went over to the counter to question the staff while Sherlock took a look around. He wasn't sure what he was looking for but he hoped something would stand out. He checked out the tables, including the ones with people sat at them much to their disgust. There were some computers on one side of the room. He looked them over, even thought he knew the kidnapper had used John's own phone to send the email. Sherlock knew the free public wifi was all he wanted. Anonymity in a crowd.
Lestrade walked over to him. As Sherlock looked up he shook his head. "Nothing" he said as he shrugged "No one remembers anyone or anything unusual. Apparently people sit in here with their hoods up on a regular basis. The manager is just getting the security recording for today so we can take a look but I don't hold out much hope. You find anything?"
Sherlock shook his head sadly. "He was just hiding in plain sight." he muttered. Right now he felt tired and despondent. It wasn't lack of sleep that was the problem, he was used to functioning on little or no sleep. The problem was knowing John was out there, hurt and in need of his help and there was absolutely nothing he could do. He just had to wait for the next update and hope there was something he could use. But another update meant more pain for John and he couldn't bear the thought of that.
Lestrade could see the hurt in Sherlock's eyes. "We will find him" he told Sherlock. "John's strong. I know he's suffering right now but he will be OK." Sherlock nodded even though he wasn't sure he believed what Lestrade was saying. He wanted it to be true. He needed it to be true. He was just struggling to understand how they were going to make it happen without any clues.
As they travelled back to Baker Street Lestrade glanced over at Sherlock and wondered what it was he was thinking.
Sherlock sat silently in the car trying to think through everything he'd received so far. There had to be something in there he could use to find John. But it was no use his mind kept wandering to his friend, his best friend and how he was suffering right now.
Suddenly he realised why John got so mad at him sometimes when they were working on a case. He treating things like a puzzle and ignored the human side. He worked better that way, he knew that. But now he saw what John saw when they worked. John knew that for every victim there was at least one person out there who felt exactly the way he did right now. He'd never understood that before.