Sherlock and the Little People
By Doctor Napalm
Chapter 11
John stared at his laptop and frowned as the operating system booted up. He didn't want to update his blog, but it had been several days since he had made any entries. If he didn't post something soon, folks would stop checking in. A drop in visitors would be mirrored by a drop in the meager income that the banner ads generated. He sighed and stared at the screen while program shortcuts started to appear. He thought about what he could write about. The thing with the UV light might be of interest, and the Ames room held some possibilities as well. He would have to do some research on both subjects though. He didn't want to just spout off on the topics without at least some background info. He frowned again. The thought of doing research bored him.
Clicking on the shortcut to his browser, the screen quickly displayed the welcome screen for his blog. He sighed again, the inspiration just wasn't there. He smiled as he decided to just surf around a little bit until he was in the mood.
Clicking on the favorites tab, he scrolled down the list of possible destinations and decided on Facebook. He hadn't checked in there for a while, surely there would be something that would get his creative juices flowing.
Recipes, family pictures, inane YouTube videos, links to various political and religious blogs from both sides of the fence…the usual mind numbing things that barely deserved a glance flitted by as he scrolled down the page. Nothing…nothing…nothing…not – wait, what was that?
He scrolled back up to get a closer look at a picture that had been uploaded a few hours earlier by Anderson. Sherlock's head, in all its greenness, had been Photoshopped onto the body of Kermit the Frog. Gigantic text in white Arial Bold blazed across the bottom of the photo: "Actually, it's rather easy being green."
John snorted loudly and Sherlock, who had been busy with something involving mice and petri dishes in the kitchen, asked, "What?"
"Anderson posted a picture of you on Facebook…"
"Oh, that," Sherlock said in a somber tone of voice. "I suspected he would try to embarrass me with it. His way of punishing me for asking to borrow his UV goggles. How bad is it?"
"I would have to say it's gone viral. There are already over four hundred shares and nearly a thousand comments…and Anderson doesn't have very many friends on Facebook."
Sherlock walked over and glanced at the photo on the screen. "Hmmm," he mused, "poorly executed and not very flattering."
"You don't seem very upset," remarked John.
Sherlock smiled and patted John on the shoulder. "Don't worry," he replied, "his comeuppance already awaits him."
"Oh, really?" asked John.
Sherlock, still smiling, turned and walked back towards the kitchen. "Yes," he said, "to phrase it colloquially, Karma can be a bitch."
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Sherlock's mobile beeped, the ringtone alerted him that Molly Hooper was calling. He put down the dish of mouse tails and pulled the phone from his pocket. "Yes, Molly?"
"I just received a copy of the security videos you asked for," she said, "I'm getting ready to leave work for the day, would you like me stop by your flat on my way home with the DVD?"
"That would be most helpful. Don't forget that I need a map of the camera locations."
"I already have it printed out," she replied. "I'll see you in a little while."
"Thank you, Molly." Sherlock disconnected and pocketed the phone.
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"I stopped and picked up some Thai," Molly announced as she opened the door to Sherlock and John's flat.
"Wonderful!" said John, pushing his chair back and stood up as Molly started taking food out of the large white paper bag and putting it on the table.
"You brought the DVD?" Sherlock asked.
"Of course," Molly answered, "that's why I'm here, silly. It's in my purse. Be patient and I'll get it for you."
Appropriately admonished, Sherlock pursed his lips and waited for Molly to finish emptying the bag. She announced each dish as she took it out of the bag. "Some crab rangoon, a little bit of vegetable rainbow, a generous portion of cupid wings, and a large order of nuea ping." She smiled and turned around to face Sherlock. "Help yourself!" she announced.
"The DVD?" Sherlock reminded her as John picked up a cupid wing and began to nibble.
Molly's smile vanished and she blinked her eyes slowly. "Of course," she said, reaching for her purse on the table. She pulled the disk from her purse and handed it to the consulting detective. "Here."
"And the map?"
"It's in the paper sleeve," she sighed.
Sherlock turned, walked over, and sat down behind John's laptop without another word.
Picking up a skewer of nuea ping, Molly followed him. Standing behind his chair she leaned over and watched as he inserted the DVD and unfolded the map. Reaching around, she waved the food in front of his face.
Sherlock took a bite of the offered beef and mumbled, "Mmm, thanks."
"You're welcome," she said.
John joined the pair, nibbling on another cupid wing. "Thanks, Molly," he said, "this is delicious."
"I thought we might make an evening of it, watching this exciting DVD," Molly teased.
John let out a little laugh. "I'm not sure 'exciting' would be my choice of words," he said. "Did you happen to see Anderson's latest post on Facebook?"
"Yes," she said, "that was mean."
Sherlock accessed the DVD and listed the files on it while taking another bite from the skewer in Molly's hand. "It appears that the files are sorted by camera number," he said, looking at the hand-drawn map. "Camera 12 is just around the corner from the morgue, let's see what it has to offer."
Clicking on the file numbered 12, a video player application popped up and started to display a hallway in Barts. As people rushed up and down the hallway, Sherlock clicked on a control button slowing the video down. "One frame taken every thirty seconds," he commented. "When played back at twenty-five frames per second everyone moves at warp speed. You can watch an entire day in less than an hour, but you have to slow it down to actually see anything happening."
Noting the time stamp on the video, Sherlock moved past the point that he had been wheeled out of the morgue and slowed the display to a crawl. The hallway remained mostly empty, but people appeared on the screen occasionally. He paused each time someone was in the frame and examined them carefully. He determined the first seven figures were of no interest, but then two figures appeared pushing a laundry cart.
Sherlock stood up and stared at the screen. "Oh! Marvelous!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands, "What have we here?"
John and Molly both leaned forward and looked at the screen. "No," John said, "that's not possible."
"Anything is possible, John," Sherlock said as he looked closely at the screen and smiled, "we have another piece of the puzzle!"
Molly looked at Sherlock, then back at the screen. "A piece that doesn't fit," she said.
"It will," Sherlock murmured, "it will."
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Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay on publishing this chapter, I had to take some time to think about how to resolve a few details and to decide which direction I wanted to go from here. Hold on tight, there are some interesting plot twists just ahead.