Four days was silent with no news of killings and the mother of the baby still hadn't been found, making Sherlock return to his Homeless Network and carry on the search from there.
Four days remained until the meeting at St. Bart's.
Sherlock was laying on the couch in the afternoon as John was visiting when Molly was at work and Mary babysitting to give the detective quiet time to think. While the two friends were sitting in silence as the detective was still thinking of Emily, his phone went off, making him get up, walk to the table, pick up his phone and read a text from Mary. "Your wife texted me," he told the doctor.
"Mary?" John dumbly asked he approached his tall friend, who began to read the text. "What does she want?"
"She says the kids are safe with a nanny."
"Okay." He paused, then looked at him with confusion. "What does that mean?"
His phone began to ring in his hand.
"Molly is now calling me."
Before John could say anything, the detective answered the phone. "Hello, Molly."
"Sherlock?" She asked as if she was nervous, trying to be brave. "I want to tell you that I love you."
"Molly?" He asked with confusion, getting a sick feeling in his gut.
"Never doubt for a second that I don't. After all the fights, after the things I've said to you, I never meant a word."
He narrowed his eyes with worry, knowing that they hardly faught and didn't remember the things that she said to him when she was cross. "What is going on?" His voice was low and dark.
It sounded as if the phone was moving.
"Hello, Sherlock," a soft voice spoke.
A voice that he recognized anywhere.
"Mary?"
"Mary?" John repeated with surprise.
"I know that this is a bit of a shocker to you, but I had to do this. The pay was… too good." Her voice sounded as if was trying to be truthful.
"So you're helping the killer?" He causally questioned.
John tensed as his eyes began to show pain and anger.
"Again: The pay."
"Let me talk to her," John hissed as he tried to take the phone away, but Sherlock turned away, not wanting to be interrupted.
"Tell me why Molly then," he asked in a cold voice at the thought of his girlfriend in danger. "To get to me? Is that it?"
John was fuming behind him.
"You wouldn't waste time to save her, Sherlock." Her voice was hollow. "Two days, Sherlock. In two days, you will be able to find her. Don't worry, the children are safe with a nanny like I said in the text. Send John my love." It sounded like she was trying not to cry.
"I will," he promised, then the line went dead.
"What did she say?" The doctor asked, taking heavy breaths, trying to remain calm.
"She sends you her love," he simply answered, lowering the phone, just thinking of the woman's voice.
John's eyes began to burn with betrayal. "She is helping the killer and she sends me her-"
"She is forced into this, John!" Sherlock shouted, whipping his head to his friend, who looked puzzled. The detective relaxed. "Her voice was trying to stay strong, but it deceived her. She is in trouble as well as Molly." He placed the phone on the table, the woman's voice not leaving him alone, but why did Molly say those things? She knew Mary. Was it just in case or was there something that he was missing?
His friend bowed his head and took a deep breath, then looked back at the detective. "Then what do we do?"
Sherlock looked away with his eyes in a pondering manner. "She says in two days I'll be able to find Molly. The children are with a nanny in the meantime, so don't worry about them."
"And what of my wife?" The doctor asked with a worried tone, staring at his friend.
The detective looked into his friend's eyes. He knew that John loved Mary with all his heart and has a baby girl with her. After shooting his best friend, John didn't think that she was meant to be trusted for obvious reasons, but the detective convinced him otherwise and she proved herself shortly after. Hell, she even helped take down Moriarty, who was still at large. Mary was no fool. "She'll be fine. I know for a fact that she is on our side. She loves you, John." Every word was the truth.
The doctor sadly nodded. "I know she is," he whispered with a hurting smile. "I know she is." He then headed for his coat hanging on the rack.
Sherlock faced his friend with confusion. "Where are you going?"
"Check my daughter." He paused as he was in the middle of putting his coat on, staring at the other man. "You're coming, too!"
The detective said nothing as he grabbed his phone, hurried to the coatrack, threw on his coat, scarf, and then followed the doctor out of the flat.
The older nanny was at the Watson's home with the two children like Mary had said. John held his infant daughter in his arms as the nanny was holding the orphan, talking about what Mary had said. Leaving him be, Sherlock just walked around the living room, looking at family pictures on the mantle and smirked in memory at the sight of the wedding photo. What a good day to solve a murder, that was. Then he came across a photo of a five-month-old Lily wearing a pink dress, being held in her beaming mother's arms. Mary would do anything to protect her family. How exactly far would she go?
His pale eyes narrowed inquisitively, staring at the woman in the photo, thinking of what the killer might have said to her to make her do this. He didn't just threaten John or Lily. Both, obviously, but what did he say? What did he say to her that would make her take money- if there was money- from a killer? Whatever it was, it scared her enough to not say "No". What killer, though, knew about Mary's capability? He didn't know a lot, but he knew enough. He knew just enough to know what would make her agree. Now instead of using Mycroft as the messenger, he was using Mary and Molly as a targeting point, so the detective would be fast about it. It was not Moriarty, that was a given, but what killer would do this? What killer would-
"Sherlock?"
Sherlock turned around to face a concerned John Watson with dull, brown eyes. "All Emily knows is that Mary seemed bit in a hurry. Nothing else and nothing more."
"Of course that is all that she knows," he hissed with irritation at the obvious answer. "What would Mary tell her? That a killer was paying her and that she would use Molly as a hostage?" He saw the pain his friend's eyes as they drifted away, knowing that his sarcasm went a bit far and took a deep breath, knowing that the worry of Molly was starting to kick in. "I will find her. Both of them."
"What if he comes after Lily?" John softly asked.
"He would have no reason to. He's got what he wanted and that was Mary and Molly."
That was truth of it.
John had hope returning to his eyes as he looked back at the detective.
"You stay her with the kids and I'll return to the flat. I'll text you if anything comes up. In two days we'll find them."
The worried husband nodded his head, clearly too worried, baffled, and angry that this was happening to his wife. So many emotions were twisting inside the doctor's mind and Sherlock didn't blame him.
The detective said his farewell to his bet friend and nanny, then headed out the door, hiding his concern for his girlfriend, but knew that she would be safe as long as Mary Watson was there.