A New Mystery at 221 Baker Street

Chapter 64: That's Not Lady Smallwood

Transcript provided by Ariane Devere/ Callie Sullivan

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Later that evening, John waited for Sherlock in the foyer of the CAM Global News building. His afternoon was busy talking with Mary about Sherlock's new relationship. Even she was surprised at the mere idea that Sherlock had moved on.

John casually listened to the newscaster on the television talking about John Garvie being arrested after being charged with corruption.

"Magnussen's office is on the top floor, just below his private flat," Sherlock said, causing the doctor to slightly jump in surprise. "There are fourteen levels of security between us and him, two of which aren't even legal in this country," Sherlock looked over at the security card readers next to the elevators. "Want to know how we're going to break in?"

"Is that what we're doing?"

"Of course it's what we're doing," Sherlock said as he turned and walked towards an escalator.

"Magnussen's private lift," Sherlock explained as the arrived at an elevator on the next floor. "It goes straight to the penthouse and his office. Only he uses it and only his key card calls the lift. Security is automatically informed if anyone else even tries," Sherlock pulled out a key card and showed it to John. "Standard key card for the building. I nicked it yesterday, it'll only get us as far as the canteen. If I was to use this card on that lift now, what happens?"

John shrugged. "The alarms would go off and you'd be dragged away by security,"

"Exactly,"

"Get taken to a small room somewhere and your head kicked in," John continued.

Sherlock looked at his best friend. "Do we really need so much colour?"

John shrugged. "It passes the time,"

"But if I do this..." Sherlock pressed the security card against his phone, "If you press a key card against your mobile phone for long enough, it corrupts the magnetic strip. The card stops working. It's a common problem, hence why they always tell you to never put your key card with your phone. What happens if I use the card now?"

"It still doesn't work,"

"But it doesn't read as the wrong card now. It registers as corrupted. But if it's corrupted, how do they know it's not Magnussen? Would they risk dragging him off?"

"Probably not,"

"So what do they do? What do they have to do?"

"Check if it's him or not,"

"There's a camera at eye height to the right of the door. A live picture of the card user is relayed directly to Magnussen's personal staff in his office- the only people trusted to make a positive ID. And at this hour, almost certainly his PA,"

"So how will that help us?"

"Human error," Sherlock smiled and patted his breast pocket. "I've been shopping. Here we go, then," Sherlock pressed the card against the reader, causing it to beep in error.

"You realize you don't exactly look like Magnussen,"

"Which in this case is a considerable advantage," Sherlock replied as she smiled at the camera.

John sighed in confusion but froze when he heard a familiar voice.

"Sherlock, you complete loon! What are you doing?" A familiar Irish voice said on the intercom.