It was normal for John to look into something. Sherlock was never known for focusing on many things at once. Only if it was important would he ever focus on more than one aspect. But, this was a new one for John. Accustomed to sneak into homes and what have you, John was. But this took the case for being something that never happened before.
Indeed, John and Sherlock had seen things a lot during their time as the Dynamic Duo. Just last month, they caught a rather popular parliament member's son wearing drag. They were looking for clues involving a homicide. Yet, John questioning about a man in costume and a flock of birds was a new one, even for him.
John sucked it up. He hated it already, but he reminded himself who he worked with. Sherlock was someone who would never leave stones unturned. Even if John was unwilling to go through the efforts, he would force him into it somehow. Through trickery or reverse psychology that is associated with Sherlock. John would muddle through the case whether he liked it or not.
John already regretted getting on the plane.
It was strange for John to ask these nonsense questions. All likewise, it made him look idiotic. To be frank, he's accustomed to the looks given in his situation. Yet, he was trying to be a professional when he went about it.
And it didn't help that he was seeing the ravens looking his way. He tried everything in his power to avoid looking at them. He tried to reason that the ravens were being ravens, nothing more. After all, he was wearing rather shiny silver Rolex that Mary bought him last Christmas. Ravens were no strangers in thieving. John rather hoped that the ravens were only interested in the Rolex. But the responses he got from people, say otherwise.
"Oh yeah, the ravens," he heard a woman murmur as she juggled her two-year old in her arms. "They're rather odd; they like to stare at people. Don't know why, but they watch people. Sometimes I see a rather big one; covered in gold, fly around."
"Really…?" John stared at her, bemused. She nodded. He shook his head, "There's got to be an explanation."
"I don't know my little Reggie rather likes them. They don't hurt people, not that I heard and they stay away from them too," the woman mentioned. John nodded. "So, just the amber eyes, nothing else?" he gestured. The woman nodded. John thanked her and continued on.
As he went about it, he made a list of the responses he had from his encounters.
1. "The ravens—something about them—they ain't any ravens I have seen," commented a man with a big fluffy hat coming out of a storefront. "They just perch and stare at a person."
2. "The ravens? Oh them, I never looked at them much at all. But now, I can't help but look at them. Something about them is off," a woman in a rather pronounced yellow sundress commented.
3. "I wouldn't know anything about birds. Ravens—I know they're smart, but them aren't any ravens I ever seen. Some steal, some gloat, but these, I don't know what to describe them," a fisherman commented.
In short, the responses were all starting to come together. No one knew when the ravens started to act odd or if they were even domesticated. John tried to find out as he went, but he had no luck. He went around, asking. Ravens are as pets, but regulations had a waiting period upward to seven months or longer. When it came to wild ravens, it was a muddled mess as with legal work. Otherwise, John came up empty with reasonable answers.
Tired about asking about birds, John went to work and asked about the tall man. He asked around and people gave him looks from bemused to downright scorn. Some people never believed in a tall man who went around in a costume and some took it to the extreme. So far, John had a few answers he collected. But they were beneficial, at least from Sherlock's perspective.
1. "Sometimes I see him walking around outside my window!" a boy mentioned. "The streetlights come on and he disappears!"
2. "My radio acts up whenever I hear something outside my window. It keeps acting up, even when I change the batteries, change the antenna's position. Hell, I bought a new one! The sounds it plays are downright terrifying. Scratchy, harsh, I can't even understand it," a cranky old man playing checkers with another.
3. "You see him best when the streetlights' aren't on and the moon's obscured by the clouds," a teenager commented as she finished her sundae.
John sighed as he closed his notebook. He never thought to see the day that he met with a case that made him think he was in a crime novel. It was something he'd write on his off-days when there was nothing to do and Mary wasn't home.
Even so, he continued. John went into several businesses and asking questions, it made him feel like he was a journalist. He kept his questionings simple, one half about the ravens and the other half about the tall man. Majority tallied in to being that the ravens didn't act odd until the tall man appeared. And no one was quite sure when the tall man even appeared.
Some said that he appeared one night during a heavy snowfall after a massive thunder. At first, people thought it was a crash; some thought it was a bomb that had gone off somewhere. All in all, the people he spoke with stuck to their opinions. John sighed as he continued to make notes of his responses.
This was something that would be hard to match, John thought to himself as he exited a grocery store. He decided to go to an antique store and ask some questions.
"A tall man wearing a costume in the middle of the bloody night, talk of the flock of ravens?" Bruce blinked as he cleaned up a section of the antique store. "Man, these people have nothing to do!"
"Um, have you seen anything out of ordinary?" John asked. Bruce shrugged, "Nothing I'd care. Tim went out for a smoke, came back late, scorned him and gave him the night shift as punishment."
"Tim?" John tilted his head. Bruce nodded. "My assistant, I have bad arthritis and on most days I can't lift a box," he elaborated.
John wrote that down in his notebook. "And, did Tim see anything?" John asked. Bruce called for Tim and he stuck his head out from the back and approached John, holding a dustpan in his hands. "Um, what's this about?" Tim asked. John coughed before he explained.
"It is part of the investigation," John summed. Tim tilted his head, "Why would you care about ravens and some nob wearing a costume?"
"It's complicated," John sighed. Truthfully, it was.
Tim shrugged, gave his timeline and Bruce confirmed it. John wrote it down and nodded, "Right then, thank you."
John then exited, not before learning that the sweets shop on the corner could offer some help. John thanked them as he headed that way. As he did, he glanced to see a raven flying overhead.
"A tall man wearing a plague doctor costume?" asked Mandy, the sweets store's manager. She was grasping for change and handed them to a customer as she talked to John. John nodded, "Yeah, has he been around here at all?"
"No," Mandy shook her head. She reached behind her to hand another customer a bag of mints. John sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Wait," Mandy said. She stopped for a moment before talking again. "Yeah, there have been some ghost stories surrounding something like that. Always taking care of the homeless and always disappears just before dawn. Yeah the folk in this town like their ghost stories. It gives them something to do I guess," she gave change to an elderly man. John nodded. "So, there isn't a tall person who could fit the description?" John asked. Mandy shook her head, "No, not that tall. I'm sorry."
"Um, may I ask if you have noticed strange behavior in the ravens?" John asked her. Mandy blinked, John nodded. Mandy chewed on her lips before she answered, "Yeah, they're pretty weird. I have heard of ravens being quite intelligent for their kind. But the way these ravens go about its almost uncanny valley."
"What do you mean?" John tilted his head. Mandy shrugged. "They stare at a person, not just a glance or whatever is ravens usually doing. They pay attention to a person and then they're off into the unknown. Sometimes I see a big one—a big one—adorned in gold. I swear it to you, sir. It only appears time to time when someone's done lost something," she said. John nods as he jotted down notes on his notepad. "And where would I go if I wanted to ask more on the matter?" he asked. She shrugged, "There's some chaps who obsess over it. You can find them at the video store on Edward."
John left, but not before buying some sweets for Mary, having it shipped to their home. He hailed a cab and as he entered, he had to glance up to the rafters. A raven was there looking down at him, its amber eyes glistening. John shook his head and got inside, and asked for the video store.
Arriving to Jacob's Video Store, John entered and met with eyes. Two men were behind the counter, while a woman came around from the back of the store with a box. John walked up the counter and introduced himself. He learned their names in return, Jesse, James, and Cassidy. They each looked at him as he explained his predicament. "I was wondering if you could tell me about the tall man that only comes out at night," he summed.
"You came to the right place," James smiled. Jesse nodded. Cassidy sat the box on the counter and grinned. John watched as one dug around behind the counter and pulled out a flyer. He took it and glanced down; it was a flyer with a picture of a plague doctor. "There have been stories all across jolly Sherwood about this here tall man. All have the same bit with him clad in the plague doctor attire," Jesse told him. James nodded, "Yeah he's got a bit of a following, that one."
"Yeah, they're called London Crows," Cassidy told John. John tilted his head, "London Crows?"
"The name derives from a small village's song. So nobody really knows it," Jesse explained. John nodded, "So what does these London Crows do?"
"They've been planning to storm the streets after dark and lumber around Sherwood. For a good fun they say," James said as he grabbed for a bottle under the counter. John blinked, "They never done anything like that before?"
"Well, not in costume. It's actually pretty costly to get a good plague doctor costume. More if it's especially the real ones," Jesse shrugged. Cassidy and James nodded. "They have just reached their goal last month. It'll be a bit before their costumes come in," James told John. He was quick to grab for his notepad and write down the information. "Do you know where I can find the London Crows?" John asked them. They would be usually, a family owned tavern with the best haggis in the town as he wrote it down on the notepad. Curious, John then asked, "What do you know about the ravens in this area?"
"You mean the ones that follow you 'round?" asked Jesse. John nods. James nods, "Yeah, the dandiest thing about them. They seem to only follow people they're interested in."
"Yeah, I saw that," John exhaled. Cassidy blinked, "Have they been following you, sir?"
"Yeah, been so since I got here," John nodded. James grinned, "Yeah, they're going to follow you about for a while. But don't worry they'll usually quit when they're bored."
"Why do they follow people around?" John asked as he jotted down notes, shifting between looking down at the notepad and at the clerks. "Don't know. They just do," he heard them say. He then had a thought, "You don't suppose they're the tall man's?"
"I was thinking that, the ravens didn't show up until he did," James mentioned. John furrowed his brow, "When was that?"
"Been a while," Jesse replied. James agreed. Cassidy shrugged, "We didn't hear a peep until the homeless started to say something."
"Right, so how has he fared in the town's light?" John asked them. They replied, "Varied."
"Some say it's just a man who fancies wearing a costume and helping the needy," theorized James.
"Some say it's a spirit who rises from the depths of the spirit world," added Jesse.
"That weird man said he was dangerous," Cassidy crossed her arms. John looked at her, "What do you mean?"
"An older gentleman, he and his aide came in one day asking. Jesse and James were at a convention in London so it was just me. He was asking the same questions as you were and the way he talked, he was raving mad!" Cassidy explained. John blinked, "Do you know where I can find him?"
"He left, didn't know where he went after; he's not from here either. I dare say the tall man's been gaining light outside Sherwood," he watched her shrug. John nodded and turned the page of the notepad to a blank side. "Right, anything else I need to know about the tall man?" John looked. They shrugged. Cassidy replied, "Watch yourself, sir. There are things in this world that go beyond the norm."
The Olson Tavern was old, built in the early 1800s. It still looked as it did back then though with some noticeable changes. John stared at it for a bit, there were birds on the roof, but they weren't ravens. He glanced behind to the storefront across the road, no ravens there. He theorized that the ravens presumably got bored and left him alone. He hoped anyway. John entered the tavern and eyed the room. A barmaid asked what he was looking for and he asked her, "I'm looking for the London Crows."
She pointed to the back of the tavern. A circle of friends huddle in the corner, drinking and laughing. John headed toward them, when they noticed he bowed his head and introduced himself. They stared as he asked them the same questions as he had to the store clerks. One rubbed his beard, "So you're curious about the Plague Doctor, too?"
John nodded, and then asked, "Out of curiosity, why are you named the London Crows? I heard it derived from a song, that true?"
"Aye, it's a song from a village close to the Scotland border, at the line even. If you're curious enough, we can give you a tape with the song," Owen offered. John considered then accepted the offer. Owen reached into his bag under the table and handed John a cassette . Owen points, "This is one of the original recordings of the song, managed to get it on tape in mint condition."
John thanked him and stuck the cassette into his front pocket. "Have any of you gotten your costumes early?" John finally asked them. They stared at him. He gritted his teeth, "I'm sure you heard of the dead man found in the alley. I just wanted to clear things up. Some say they seen a man wearing a plague doctor costume around the time the man died.
"I'm sure I can say for the London Crows that we haven't gotten our costumes yet. And even if we did why would we kill a stock broker?" Owen questioned. John shrugged, "Any number of reasons."
"I trust you this, it wasn't us that killed him," Owen swore, a hand on his chest. He then added, "It would be against the true London Crow way."
"Then, suppose you can tell me if you see or heard from someone dressing up as a plague doctor?" John asked him. Owen looked at the people at the table, before Owen finally answered. He replied, "This town is small. And once there's a chance to cling onto something they're bound to keep it alive. Good for tourism, I heard. So maybe you should check with the oddity store on Boulder, the Council likes to work with him a lot."
"Right then, thank you for your time," John bowed his head. He left and hailed another cab. He sat in the back as he texted Sherlock what he has discovered. Sherlock was more or less interested. He then asked for John to continue on, explaining he was at the midst of breaking the case. John sighed and settled in his seat, he glimpsed out the window to see a raven flying beside the cab. Its amber eyes staring straight as it pushed upward and disappeared over the roof of the cab.