A Silent Game
Silent Reunion
Wiping her eyes, she stubbed out her cigarette, and smiled at John, embarrassed at her crying. Before she could say anything though, he put a hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eye.
"Hey," He said softly, making her look up to him. "Don't worry about it. Any of it, alright? We'll get him back. I promise you." He told her fiercely.
She felt a small stab to her chest though as a small voice of doubt whispered in her ear, don't make promises you can't keep. She knew that they couldn't save everyone, but it was Joe. They had to save Joe. She couldn't seem to find the words though, or any words for that matter. So she just nodded, turning to go back to the lab again. Just as they walked in however, the pink phone started to ring again.
As Sherlock picked it up, not acknowledging their re-entering the room, Rose put her hands behind her stiff back, one hand holding the other. John saw this, knowing she was trying to restrain herself from doing something she may regret later, having taken his words to heart. He moved over to her, placing a comforting arm around her back, rubbing her arm, his other hand resting heavily on her shoulder. They both knew it was as much a restraint as a comfort, and Rose was grateful for it.
Sliding the lock on the phone, Sherlock answered the call for them all to hear. "Hello?"
Joe's shaky voice came through the speaker as he answered, Rose turning her face away from the sound, biting her tongue with her sharp teeth to prevent her from calling out to him. "The clue's in the name - Janus Cars."
Sherlock became very suspicious though. "Why would you be giving me a clue?"
"Why does anyone do anything? Because I'm bored." He was starting to sound a little more freaked out by this stage. "We were made for each other, Sherlock."
"Then talk to me in your own voice." Sherlock retorted.
"Patience." Was the answer he got before the call cut off again. Sherlock put the phone down, picking up a small Petri dish instead, smiling at the contents. Rose - now having sat down, unable to stand anymore on her wobbly legs - hoped it meant that it was a good thing that he was smiling. Though with Sherlock, she could never be sure.
They too a cab back to the yard, John explaining what she had missed when they went to check out the crime scene, Sherlock texting Lestrade to meet them at the storage of the car.
"How much blood would say is on that seat, would you say?" Sherlock asked the DI. Rose listened, mind in puzzle mode, looking for any sort of distraction.
"About a pint, I'd say." The DI replied. Rose looked through one of the windows to get a better look, finding that he was probably right.
"Not about. Exactly a pint." Corrected Sherlock. "That was their first mistake. The blood's definitely Ian Monkford's, but it's been frozen."
"Frozen?" Rose asked, confused by why someone would want to freeze blood. Someone other than Sherlock, she thought after a moment, not really knowing the man's limitations when it came to his experiments.
"There are clear signs." He told her. "I think Ian Monkford gave a pint of his blood some time ago and that's what they spread on the seat."
"Who did?" The DI asked, not really keeping up.
"Janus Cars." Sherlock answered.
Rose understood suddenly. "The clue's in the name."
"The god with two faces?" Asked John.
"Exactly." Said Sherlock, glancing at John before turning to Lestrade again. "They provide a very special service. If you've got any kind of problem - money troubles, bad marriage, whatever - Janus Cars will help you disappear."
"Ian Monkford was swimming in trouble, probably financial, couldn't see a way out." Rose caught on, explaining it all out.
"But if he were to vanish, if the car he hired was found abandoned with his blood all over the drivers seat…" Sherlock carried on, trailing off at the end.
"So where is he?" Asked John, looking to Sherlock for an answer.
Sherlock however had other ideas. "Rose?"
She smiled slightly at knowing the answer to the question. "Columbia."
"Colombia?" Lestrade asked, looking from Rose to Sherlock, not seeing how they got to that conclusion.
Rose and Sherlock then fell into their soon formed habit of seemingly reading the others mind, their explanations flowing into one big mess of words so similarly spoken, you would have trouble working out which one they came from. John had soon found it quite fascinating, but Lestrade was still finding it quite unnerving.
Rose started it off. "Mr Ewart of Janus car had a 20,000 Colombian peso note in his wallet."
Sherlock threw in his two cents then. "Quite a bit of change too." She frowned towards at this, remembering the unnecessary lie he had told.
Rose picked up again though. "He told us he hadn't been abroad recently, but when I asked him about the cars on the wall, I could see his tan line clearly."
"No one wears a shirt on a sun bed." Sherlock said seriously, starting up again. "That, plus his arm."
"His arm?" Lestrade asked, looking from one to the other again.
"He kept scratching it. Obviously irritating him, and bleeding. Why?" Rose asked rhetorically, Sherlock answering it anyway.
"Because he had recently had a booster jab. Hep-B, probably. Difficult to tell at that distance. Conclusion - he had just come back from settling Ian Monkford into his new life in Columbia."
Rose took her turn then. "Mrs Monkford cashes in the life insurance, and she splits it with Janus Cars."
John frowned here though. "Mrs Monkford?"
Sherlock just smiled slightly. "Oh, yes. She's in on it too. Now, go and arrest them, Inspector, that's what you do best. We need to let our friendly bomber know that the case is solved." Sherlock turned to walk away.
He got a few steps before declaring in a deep and proud voice, "I am on fire!"
Rose let out a small huff of a chuckle but stayed where she was. John turned to look at her though, seeing her lack of movement. "Not coming?"
"I'm going to stay with Lestrade if no one minds. I want to make sure Joe's alright." She said. John just nodded and ran after Sherlock before he got a cab with out him.
Lestrade turned to her. "Do you two practise that stuff, or what?"
She smiled slightly again, looking away from her retreating friends, turning to the DI. "When you live and work with the man, Inspector, you pick up a few of his habits."
The DI just shook his head, heading to his car muttering, "God help us all," under his breath.
Half an hour later, Rose was running towards where they had said her brother was. She had smoked three more cigarettes since John and Sherlock had left, and she had started to feel sick from it all. This was why her cigarettes were now sitting in Lestrade's pocket. Lestrade himself had gone before her, making sure everything was in order. She had gotten bored though, sick of waiting for her brother to be safe with her again.
"I though I told you to wait behind?" The DI asked, catching her as she moved closer to the group of officers.
"Live and work, Lestrade." She reminded him. "You think his speech patterns are all I have learned for him?"
Joe looked up at the familiar voice, never being so thankful to hear it. "Rose?"
She opened her arms, still moving forward. He took the opportunity, running forward and crushing her in a hug, the young woman hugging back just as fiercely. "It's okay now. You're safe. It's all fine now." She whispered to him as he tried to hold back his emotions. Though she may have been the younger of the three, they all sometimes wondered who was actually the oldest.
Lestrade just waited awkwardly on the sidelines for a few minuets before he cleared his throat a little, bringing the siblings back to the situation. "He's going to need to be checked out at a hospital." Lestrade said, earning a sharp look form Rose.
"He'll come home with me. I can have John look him over." She stated calmly, but both men caught the fight in her tone; she would not back down.
Lestrade had to try though. He gave her a stern look, "Rose…"
She straighter her back a little taking a small step forward. "Inspector…." She replied, voice now cold as ice. She would not let Joe out of her sight for a while; even if she did know she was being overprotective about it.
Lestrade just sighed. Damn stubborn woman, he thought irritably at her. "It's procedure. He was in a hostage situation." Both sibling flinched slightly at the reminder. "He has to go to the hospital."
Rose just sighed slightly, looking the DI in the eye. She knew he was just doing his job, but she still found herself giving him some form of blame for their delay in getting home. "Inspector, I do believe that you cannot force the victim to seek out medical attention, simply recommend it, if highly so." She turned to Joe, her voice softening again. "Joe, do you want to go to the hospital and wait several hours to be seen by a random doctor? Or would you rather come home with me, see my very good friend, the best doctor I know, have a cup of tea and be done within ten minuets?" She knew what he would pick; Joe hated hospitals.
Joe just looked from one to the other, then answered in a quiet voice, "I think I'd want something a little stronger than a cuppa, to be honest."
Rose spun to face Lestrade, raising an eyebrow in challenge. He just held her gaze for a few moments before sighing in defeat. "Thank you." She said honestly, holding out her hand for him. He took it before handing her the cigarettes and lighter he had confiscated from her, knowing she would make herself quite ill if she carried on the way she was. Joe's eyes lit up at the sight of the recognisable box and lighter, Rose catching the movement, simply giving them to him. He lit up as she turned to Lestrade again. "You know where we are if you need anything else." He nodded and she started to walk away from the scene, her big brother following her.
"How opposed are you to a short walk? My place isn't far from here." She told him, just getting a nod in reply.
They enjoyed the company of the other as they walked slowly to Baker Street, Rose unlocking the door as she went in.
"John, you home?" She called, hoping that he was in.
"Living room!" She heard back from him.
"Come on." She said to Joe, heading up the stairs, taking her coat off as she went. Going into the living room she found Sherlock at the desk, John's laptop in front of him, sitting in his thinking pose. John was sat in his arm chair, cup of tea in hand as he read a paper. He looked up as they walked in, Rose putting her coat on the back of the door.
"Joe, this is Doctor John Watson, my good friend and the man I was telling you about. The other is Sherlock Holmes; don't let him freak you out too much." She introduced with a fond smile, noting John's slight blush at having been talked about. "Guy's, this is my eldest brother, Joe."
"Hey." Said Joe, giving a small wave, looking around slightly nervous. He was still on edge after what had happened in the past several hours.
"Hi." Said John with a warm smile. He saw that Joe looked very similar to Zach in many ways, though Joe was taller, being an inch or two shorter than Sherlock, with wavy brown hair falling thickly to his shoulders and into his face, electric blue eyes peeking out from underneath the tangle of hair. He wore a short army styled coat, unzipped to show a plain black t-shirt underneath, collar ripped open. Black jeans lead down to a pair of plain black trainers. He seemed shaky though, eyes never resting on one thing for more than a moment. John frowned slightly. "Have you had any medical attention or anything like that? You seem a little … on edge."
Joe gave a nervous chuckle quietly. "Can you really blame me?"
"Go sit on the sofa, Joe. I'll make you that cuppa." Rose said, turning to John and glancing towards the kitchen, indicating that they should talk. He got the message and followed her into the room, watching as she flicked the kettle on, turning back to him. "Could you do me a favour, John, and just make sure he's alright? I wouldn't ask usually, but…well…" She asked quietly, struggling to explain her reasons though. It turned out she didn't need to in the end.
"It's fine, Rose. I understand. He seems fine, just a bit shaken up. I'll check him over anyway, just to be sure." He said, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Thanks, John. You really are a brilliant friend. And I'm sorry about earlier-" She said, starting to apologise again.
John saw this though and was having none of it. "Hey! It's fine! You don't have to keep apologising, alright?" He said firmly, putting a hand on each of her shoulders. "I'm fine, so is Joe and - heaven forbid - so is Sherlock." He said, trying to cheer his friend up a little, getting a small chuckle and a smile in response to his efforts. "So just stop apologising, okay?" She just nodded, smiling slightly as he smiled at her, rubbing her shoulders slightly. "Alright, then." He said, before giving her a final smile and going back to the living room to do his little job.
Joe took the cup of tea from his little sister as she came back to the room, sitting next to him on the sofa. John stood up from checking his pupils, looking between the two siblings, seeing that Rose was closer to Joe than she was to Zach.
"You'll be just fine with a bit of food and drink in your system and a good nights sleep." John said, giving them a smile and going back to his chair again.
Sherlock put his input in though, wanting to add to John's deductions. "And a cigarette."
"Already had one, Sherlock." Rose replied, ignoring John's quiet scoff at the idea. John just couldn't get his head around how a cigarette could help someone, though he remembered when his consulting friend had said the same about the younger of the two siblings in the past. He'd been right then too.
Sherlock didn't look up as he gave a retort, carefully laced with insult to test how she was doing at that moment. "Well give him another one then. He seems to smoke more than you do, though today substantially alters that ratio."
Rose just chuckled, letting Sherlock know that she was doing just fine for now. "You can hardly blame me, now can you?" She asked rhetorically as she handed Joe the cigarette box and lighter once more, watching as he lit up straight away.
Joe gave her back her things, frowning in curiosity. "How long you been smoking then, little sis?"
She smiled at his endearment. "Good few years now." He just nodded as he thought it over. "Better question though is what are you doing in London?"
Joe blew out a puff of smoke, Rose noting that John had gone back to his paper, and Sherlock had gone back to his thinking. They were giving them some space. "I was gonna come down to see Zach for a bit and thought I'd check out your new place while I was at it. Then plans changed a bit…" He trailed off, but seeing the shadow in his sisters eyes, he changed the subject again. "Nice place, by the way. Though is that a skull on the mantle?"
Sherlock half smiled slightly, remembering Zach asking the same thing. "Yes, a friend of mine. Well, I say friend…" He trailed off, giving the same answer as before to compare reactions. He was pleasantly surprised.
Joe just chuckled slightly, not being freaked out at all. "Alright then. Your flat, I guess."
Sherlock smiled inwardly at not having to fight another of Rose's brothers while John tried to hide his smile, not quite succeeding though. Rose just let a small smile cross her features for a moment, before she became serious as she looked to Joe again.
"You can take my room, Joe. I'll take the sofa until this is all sorted out."
Joe frowned though, shaking his head slightly. "I can't take your room, Rose. I'm sure Zach can put me up for a night or two anyway."
Rose was determined though. "I'd really rather you stay here. And I'll give Zach a call to tell him what's happened and to warn him to be careful."
John looked up then. "Wait, you think he's making it personal?"
Rose just sighed. "He snuck into my bathroom and planted the shoes, then kidnapped my brother. I can't take the chance that he's not."