Sherlock and the Little People

By Doctor Napalm

Chapter 10

Molly worked on finishing up some autopsy reports while she waited for Sherlock to arrive. He had called saying that he had a break in what she liked to think of as "The Case of the Missing Leprechaun." He was coming by to test his theory and needed access to the morgue. She smiled a bit when she thought about the chance to see him, even if it wasn't a social visit. While their relationship wasn't a torrid love affair as such, she would certainly like to step things up a notch or two with the romantically oblivious detective.

Looking at her notes, she paused and considered what to enter on the line labeled "Cause of Death" for Mr. Lester Davenport who had lost his balance after tripping on a crack in the sidewalk. Eyewitnesses said the portly Mr. Davenport had stumbled along for several yards at a relatively fast pace trying to regain his balance. Before doing so, he blundered in front of a bus load of people on a tour of the city. She was tempted to enter "stupidity" on the line, but opted for "traffic accident" instead. It sounded like a scene from a cheaply made comedy movie.

She made her way through several more reports before the detective arrived with John Watson in tow. "Hello, Molly!" he said as he entered and placed a small leather case on the corner of her desk.

"Hello, Sherlock. It appears you're starting to fade," she said cheerfully.

"Yes, I've been doing some…special therapy that seems to be helping speed it along."

"And just when I was starting to get used to you being green," she teased.

"Another few days and I expect to be nearly back to normal."

"Normal for Sherlock, anyway," said John.

Sherlock gave John a withering glance and then turned back to Molly. "I need to see the security videos from the morgue again," he said, changing the subject.

Molly saved her work on the computer and closed the application she was working with. "Yes, you mentioned that when you called. I have it right here," she said, and clicked the mouse on a taskbar button.

A still picture popped up on the screen showing the morgue with Sherlock, Molly and Billy the intern standing around the body. Sherlock moved behind her chair to better view the computer screen and John squeezed in beside him.

Pointing at the screen, Sherlock said "Run it."

Molly started the video and everyone on the screen started scurrying around madly. "Time lapse," said Sherlock, "just as I remembered. It looks like about one image every thirty seconds."

"They have full motion video for the hospital entrances and a few high security areas like the bursar's office and the pharmacy," replied Molly. "Places like the morgue aren't considered quite as important…security-wise anyway."

The figure of Sherlock on the video suddenly dropped to the floor with Molly and Billy huddled over him. A crash team appeared and loaded him onto a stretcher. Everyone scurried out of the room. The lighting suddenly changed and the image went from full color to a dismal gray.

"The lights in the room were turned off at this point," said Sherlock, "however the camera continues to record the scene using UV light."

Everything was still with no movement for a long time. Then suddenly the body on the examination table disappeared as if by magic. "There!" exclaimed Sherlock, "Pause it!" Molly clicked on the pause button.

"Now back it up to just before the body disappears." Molly clicked on the frame button and slowly flipped through the video images until the body reappeared on the table.

"Now, watch the lighting behind the examination table," he said. "Move forward one frame." Molly clicked forward to where the body disappeared and a faint glow appeared behind the examination table.

"One more frame," said Sherlock. She clicked again and the glow shifted position slightly. "Again." The glow shifted once more. "Again."

This time the glow disappeared and the lighting was stable for the following frames. "Interesting," said John.

"Precisely!" said Sherlock, "It proves my theory to be correct."

"Which is?" asked Molly.

"Let's go to the morgue and I'll show you," he said, picking up the leather case from her desk.

ɸ

As they entered the morgue, Sherlock turned around and looked up at the security camera mounted on the wall above the door. "Notice the ring of LED's around the lens," he said. "They emanate light in the ultra-violet range. Invisible to the human eye, but perfectly suitable for the camera."

He placed the leather case on a counter and opened it, taking out a strange looking contraption. Placing it on his head he made a few adjustments. "Night vision goggles," he explained.

John smiled. "Just like the ones we used in the military."

"Exactly!" replied Sherlock. "Whoever took the body wore night vision goggles when they entered the morgue."

"So they could see what they were doing in the dark," said Molly.

"Yes, but that's only part of it," Sherlock continued. "The camera snaps one image every thirty seconds. Without the goggles, you can't tell when the image is being taken."

He fiddled with the goggles a moment then said, "Turn off the lights."

John flipped off the light switch and the room went pitch black.

"There are no windows in the morgue, so the room is totally dark except for just a trace of the light from the hall coming through under the door," Sherlock said. "Not enough to see anything with."

He reached out and pinched Molly's arm.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed, "That hurt!"

"I was just demonstrating that I can see you perfectly, while you are totally unaware of anything or anyone in the room."

"You sound like you think I'm totally oblivious. Of course I know you are there!"

"But you can't see me," he explained.

"Well, don't pinch me again unless you want me to give you a good slap," she warned.

"I think it would be wise to listen to the lady," said John.

"There!" Sherlock shouted.

"What?" Molly asked.

"The camera just took an image."

"How do you know that?"

"With the goggles I could see the camera's UV lights switch on and off. I have thirty seconds to move about in the room before another image is taken."

"And you can hide before the next picture is snapped!" exclaimed Molly.

"Exactly. Go ahead and turn the lights back on, John."

The morgue lights came back on and Sherlock removed the goggles, placing them back in their case. "Whoever took the body wore some type of night vision gear. They entered the door under the camera, out of its field of view. Once the saw it take an image, they moved into the room and took the body off of the examination table and hid behind the table where the camera couldn't see them. They did something behind the table for a few more frames and then left the room with the body. The flickering glow behind the table in the security video is from the UV lights on their night vision gear."

"Ingenious!" said Molly.

"Yes, rather clever indeed. We now know how they did it, next we need to determine who was responsible. An examination of the security videos from other cameras in the hospital should reveal the answer. Molly?"

"Yes, Sherlock?" she answered.

"Would you contact the security department and request copies of all available security videos for a period of thirty minutes before and after the body disappeared?"

Molly smiled and nodded. "Of course I will. I'll call you when they're ready."

"I'll also need a rudimentary floor plan of Bart's showing where each camera is located."

"Got it!" she said crisply, giving a little salute.

Sherlock picked up the leather case containing the night vision goggles. "Time to go, John. I need to get these back before Anderson starts whining about them."

With that he turned and quickly headed out the door. John smiled at Molly, then turned to catch up.

Molly watched the door as it slowly closed behind them. "Goodbye, Sherlock," she said quietly to herself.