Silence In Belgravia
Silence Is The New Sexy
John and Rose stood down the road of the house while Sherlock walked up to the door and rung the bell. John looked confused and kept watching Rose but she gave nothing away, just smiling slightly as she watched the genius go to work.
"Hello?" Came a female reply on the other end of the communicator and Rose wondered if it was their woman; The Woman.
"Oh!" Sherlock started, sounding quite worried. "Sorry to disturb you, um…" John saw he looked quite worried and had the voice to match but the good doctor still didn't quite know what was going on as neither of his friend's had answered his questions; Rose just smirked when he looked to her for answers. "I've just been attacked, ummm….and um, I think they took my wallet and, ummm… my phone. Please could you help me?"
It was a good act but Rose knew Sherlock well enough to see right threw it, though John seemed to be having a bit of trouble getting his head around the façade. "Get ready John." She whispered to her friend, who nodded in return, still looking confused.
"I can phone the police, if you want." The woman offered, but Rose frowned; she didn't sound quite right. The young woman shrugged it off though.
"Thank you!" He sounded so relieved. "Thank you, could you, please? Would you mind if I just waited here, just until they come? Thank you so much!" He put a white cloth to his cut check and added a sob just for his own bit of fun as the woman buzzed the lock on the door, letting them in.
It actually worked, thought John, still not sure what they just did but sure it was illegal somehow.
Walking in, Sherlock looked around, still jittery and playing the victim. John put an arm around Rose, who also now looked shaken at the supposed attack. "We were there, we saw it all happen." The woman just nodded at them, watching them in turn. Rose still didn't trust her; something's not right.
Speaking up, Rose threw in her little bit of contribution. "It's okay, he's a doctor, he can help."
"Have you got a first aid kit?" John asked, playing his part well.
"In the kitchen." The woman replied, indicating to the living room. "Please."
"Oh, thank you." Sherlock said again, still holding his face a he went to sit down, Rose following after him as John went to follow the woman to the kitchen.
As Sherlock dropped the act for a second, Rose smirked at him and shook her head at his performance.
"What?" He mouthed to her.
"Way too over the top!" She whispered back, still smirking as he just frowned in thought. As he did, she turned her attention to the cream room, another thing that was a little over the top. Everything was cream or a milky coffee colour; far too bland for her tastes.
Having wandered over to examine a painting that sat on the wall behind the door, she wasn't in view when another female voice came from in the hall. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that you've been hurt." Clicking of heels could be heard now, but the woman was still out of Rose's line of sight. The young woman decided to stay hidden for now, knowing she would see the woman in a few moments when she walked into the room. "I don't think Kate caught your name."
"I-I-I'm so sorry." Sherlock stuttered, holding the cloth to his face again. "I'm…"
Rose looked up at his lack of words, wondering what on earth could stop Sherlock Holmes from speaking. The woman was still behind the door and Rose didn't want to interrupt them so stayed hidden and silent; one of her better tactics when wanting to know something.
Sherlock's shocked face was something she wished she could photograph though, mouth slightly agape, act dropped and quite still. And speechless! This has to be either very good or very bad, she thought.
"Oh, it's always hard to remember an alias when you've had a fright, isn't it?" The woman said as she walked into the room. Rose could see why Sherlock was so shocked now; the woman wore nothing but makeup and heels. She hadn't spotted Rose yet though. "Well, there now." She said, walking over to a still stunned Sherlock and removing the little piece of white paper from his collar. "We're both de-frocked, Mr Sherlock Holmes."
"Miss Adler, I presume." The genius seemed to have found his voice again, and in Rose's opinion, kept his composure quite well.
She ignored his words though. "Oh, look at those cheek bones. I could cut myself slapping that face." She paused for a second, looking him in the eye. "Would you like me to try?" No sooner than the words left her mouth, the paper was between her teeth.
However the moment was broken by an unfortunate and unsuspecting John, who happened to walk in the room just then with a bowl of water and a small cloth. "Right then, this should do it…" The doctor stopped short though on seeing Sherlock in a bit of a compromising position with the naked woman, Rose still hidden.
Irene just looked up to see a shocked John, Paper still between her teeth as she caught Rose standing behind the door, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. The young woman had the biggest smirk on her features and one eyebrow raised unusually high.
She was trying very, very hard not to laugh.
John just looked from Irene, to the bowl, and back, and to the bowl again before looking up for a third time frowning slightly. "I've missed something here, haven't I?"
Sherlock threw the man an obvious look while Miss Adler removed the paper and spoke once more. "Please. Sit down. If you'd like some tea I can call the maid."
"I had some at the palace." Sherlock said casually as the woman went to sit down in one of the comfy looking chairs, crossing her legs and folding her arms to hide herself from view.
"I know." Irene answered.
"Clearly." Sherlock shot back, neither of them breaking eye contact. Rose just kept grinning as the two of them tried to analyse the other.
After a few seconds of this though, John grew a little too uncomfortable. "I had tea too, at the palace. If anyone's interested."
"Probably not, John." Rose said quietly as she watched Sherlock.
The mad man was acting stranger than normal. He looked at Irene, frowned, looked to John then slowly looked to Irene again. Surely he can't be having trouble… Rose thought.
"You know the big problem with a disguise, Mr Holmes?" Irene asked him. When no reply came she carried on. "How ever hard you try, it's always a self portrait."
Sherlock just looked confused as he straightened his collar. "You think I'm a vicar with a bleeding face?"
Irene just smiled. "I think you're damaged, delusional, and believe in a higher power." Rose had to give her credit for that one. "In your case it's yourself." She leant forward, still covering herself as Sherlock threw her a mild glare. "Oh, and somebody loves you. If I had to punch that face, I'd avoid your nose and teeth too." She threw John a slight smirk.
John just laughed though it was obviously forced before looking back to her again, frown once again in place. "Could you put something on, please? Anything at all, umm, napkin-"
"John, rambling." Rose told him, trying to get him to quit while he could.
"Sorry." John said quickly in response.
"Why?" Irene asked though, still having fun with the doctor. "Are you feeling exposed?"
Sherlock got up to get his long coat, deciding to put an end to Johns misery. "I don't think John knows where to look."
"No, I think he knows exactly where." Miss Adler said, getting up as well to stand right in front of John before reaching back to get the coat Sherlock offered her. "Not sure about you."
"If I wanted to look at naked women, I'd borrow John's laptop." Sherlock answered.
Rose frowned slightly though. "You do borrow John's laptop."
"I confiscate it." Sherlock corrected.
"Never mind." Irene said, interrupting the banter between them as she pulled the coat around her and sat in Sherlock's place on the sofa, taking off her heels as she did so. "Now tell me, I need to know. How was it done?"
"What?" Sherlock asked as John and Rose just frowned.
"The hiker, with the bashed in head." She clarified. "How was he killed?"
Sherlock frowned, confused slightly. "That's not why I'm here."
"No, you're here for the photographs, but that's never going to happen, and since we're here just chatting anyway…." She told them.
"That story hasn't been on the news yet, how did you know about that?" John asked, stepping forward to stand by Sherlock.
"I know one of the policemen." She said before correcting herself. "I know what he likes."
"Right, so you like policemen then?" John asked, relaxing enough to sit on the other side of the sofa, still holding the bowl of water.
"I like detective stories." She told him. "And detectives. Brainy is the new sexy." She implored, still looking at John as Rose smirked at Sherlock's confused expression.
"Psitnofthcr." Sherlock said so quickly none of them actually understood him. Rose sighed though, making him shake his head and speak a little slower, though still very fast, pacing as he did so. "Position of the car. Position of the car relative to the hiker at the time of the backfire. That and the death blow was to the back of the head. That's all you need to know."
"Okay, so tell me. How was he murdered?" She asked.
"He wasn't murdered." He told her, eyes widening as he did.
She seemed surprised though, they all were a little. "You don't think he was murdered?" Irene asked.
"I know he wasn't." Sherlock replied.
A moment passed before she asked again. "How?"
"The same way I know the victim was an excellent sportsman, recently returned from foreign travel and that the photographs that I'm looking for are in this room." He replied, still pacing , eyes scanning as the three of them watched him work.
"Okay, but how?" Irene asked, more serious now and getting a little more shocked every time he spoke.
He turned to her. "So, they are in this room. Thank you." He turned to his assistant. "Rose, man the door, let no one in. Take John for company."
"Right, boss." She pushed herself off the wall she was leaning on and tapped John on the shoulder. "Come on John."
"But-" John tried, not understanding once again.
"John!" She shouted from the hall, cutting him off. Looking from Sherlock to the door, he got up and followed her out, still holding the bowl of water. He didn't miss Sherlock's glare at the door though; the man hated to be called boss.
Walking out into the hall, he saw Rose rolling up what looked to be a random magazine from the side. "What are you doing?" He asked.
She quickly explained the plan to him before pulling out her lighter and grinning to her friend; she did like fire.
She handed the smouldering paper to John and kept a lookout while he held it high, letting the smoke set off the alarms. After the beeping ran through the house, Rose turned back to John to see him smacking the still burning paper on any surface he could to get the flames to go out. She sighed, took it off him and threw it in the bowl of water he brought with him.
"That works." He said, a sheepish smile on his face. Rose just chuckled at him.
"Alright, you can turn it off now!" they heard form inside the room. They looked to each other though, frowning slightly; neither were tall enough to reach the fire alarm itself.
"Umm…" Rose said, trying to think fast.
"I said you can turn it off now!" Sherlock shouted again, getting irritated with the noise.
"Give us a minute!" John shouted back as Rose contemplated climbing on the table to reach the unusually high ceiling.
However, it turns out neither needed to do anything as a bullet flew to the screeching little box, drawing the attention of the two friends in the hall way.
Running down the stairs came several large men in suits, all holding guns and heading straight for the pair of them.
"Not good." Rose said as she put her hands up either side of her head, John doing the same.