Ex army doctor John Watson meets the Consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his adopted brother Lorenzo Holmes. The two drag the doctor on a case to find a serial killer within hours of knowing him.
"I'm a psychopath, I know shocker!"
"What a bor...
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Lorenzo quickly walked out to see a taxi waiting for him and with Sherlock and John inside of it.
The boys sat in silence for a long time while Sherlock sat with his eyes fixed on his smartphone and John kept stealing nervous glances at them.
Finally, Sherlock lowered his phone,"Okay, you've got questions." Sherlock said.
John nodded, "Yeah, where are we going?" he questioned the brothers.
"Crime scene. Next?" Lorenzo answered rolling his eyes.
"Who are both of you?, what do you do?" John asked yet another question.
"What do you think?" Sherlock asked him.
John said hesitantly, "I'd say, private detective..."
"But?" Lorenzo arched his eyebrow.
"But the police don't go to private detectives." Watson stated.
Sherlock grinned, "We are consulting detectives. The Only two in the world. We invented the job."
"What does that mean?" the army doctor asked yet again.
"It means when the police are out of their depth, which is always, they consult us." Lorenzo explained like it was obvious.
"The police don't consult amateurs." John commented still confused.
"Oops" Lorenzo sounded amused while Sherlock threw him a look.
"When we met you for the first time yesterday, I said, "Afghanistan or Iraq?" You looked surprised." Sherlock replied.
John nodded, "Yes, how did you know?" He questioned.
"I didn't know, I saw. Your haircut, the way you hold yourself, says military. But your conversation as you entered the room said trained at Bart's, so Army doctor - obvious." Sherlock explained to the man. But to John it wasn't obvious
"Your face is tanned but no tan above the wrists. You've been abroad, but not sunbathing. Your limp's really bad when you walk but you don't ask for a chair when you stand, like you've forgotten about it, so it's at least partly psychosomatic. That says the original circumstances of the injury were traumatic. Wounded in action, then. Wounded in action, suntan - Afghanistan or Iraq." Sherlock continued.
John nodded and looked at Lorenzo, "You said I had a therapist." He said.
Lorenzo raised his eyebrow, "You've got a psychosomatic limp - of course, you've got a therapist. Then there's your sibling."
The teenager held out his hand, "Your phone. It's expensive, e-mail enabled, MP3 player, but you're looking for a flatshare - you wouldn't waste money on this. It's a gift, then."
By now John had given him the phone and he turned it over and looked at it again as he talked, "Scratches. Not one, many over time. It's been in the same pocket as keys and coins. The man sitting next to me wouldn't treat his one luxury item like this, so it's had a previous owner. Next bit's easy. You know it already." Lorenzo deducted.
"The engraving." Dr. Watson stated.
Harry Watson From Clara xxx
Lorenzo smirked, "Harry Watson. Clearly, a family member who's given you the old phone. Not your father, this is a young man's gadget, I'll give you that, it throws suspicion because it could be a cousin, but you're a war hero who can't find a place to live. Unlikely, you've got an extended family, certainly not one you're close to, so sibling it is. Now, Clara. Who's Clara? Three kisses say it's a romantic attachment. The expense of the phone says wife, not girlfriend. She must have given it to your sibling recently - this model's only six months old. Marriage in trouble but I would go mostly with in the process of divorce; If she'd left your sibling, it would have kept it. People do - sentiment. But no, this phone needed to be gone so it was in reverse. Your sibling gave the phone to you. You're looking for cheap accommodation, but you're not going to your sibling for help: that says you've got problems. Maybe you liked the wife; maybe you don't like the drinking. But that's too easy. You two just never got along." Lorenzo finished the deduction with a smirk.
"How can you possibly know about the drinking?" John asked amazed.
This time Sherlock intervened, "Shot in the dark. Good one, though. Power connection: tiny little scuff marks around the edge of it. Every night he goes to plug it in to charge but his hands are shaking. You never see those marks on a sober man's phone; never see a drunk's without them."
Lorenzo handed the phone back to him, "There you go." he said.
"You see - you were right." Sherlock told him.
John confused asked, "I was right? Right about what?"
"The police don't consult amateurs." Sherlock answered and looked out of the side window, biting his lip nervously while he awaited John's reaction.
"That... was amazing." Sherlock and Lorenzo looked around, apparently, so surprised that they couldn't even reply for the next four seconds.
"Do you think so?" Sherlock asked carefully.
John nodded, "Of course it was. It was extraordinary; it was quite extraordinary." He said amazed.
"That's not what people normally say." The older Holmes told him.
John frowned, "What do people normally say?" He asked.
"'Piss off!'" The Holmes brothers answered in sync. They smiled briefly at John, who grinned and turned away to look out of the window as the journey continued.
The cab arrived at Lauriston Gardens and Sherlock, Lorenzo, and John got out and walked towards the police tape strung across the road.
"Did I get anything wrong?" Sherlock decided to ask.
John looked at both, "Harry and me don't get on, never have, you got that." he told Lorenzo, "Clara and Harry split up three months ago and they're getting a divorce; again you got that." he smiled, "And Harry is a drinker."
Sherlock looked impressed, "Nothing wrong." He said confidently.
"Not quite true." Lorenzo replied to him, "I didn't get anything wrong but you got one thing wrong." he smirking smugly, "There was a reason of why I kept saying sibling instead of mentioning a gender." Lorenzo turned to John, "Harry is short for Harriet, right?" He asked the doctor.
John nodded, "Yes." He answered the teenager still looking amazed.
Sherlock looked distressed, "Harry's your sister." he stated annoyed.
"Yup." Lorenzo nodded looking at his older brother smugly, "Sister not brother."
John continued walking, "Look, what exactly am I supposed to be doing here?" he asked confused but didn't get an answer.
Furiously, through gritted teeth Sherlock turned to look at the brown haired boy, "Sister. There's always something. How did you get it right?" he asked Lorenzo.
"At first I thought it was a man, I mean Harry it's more likely to be a man's name but 38 percent of the time it's diminutive of Harriet, people say it for fun." Lorenzo answered, "But those are useless facts, right?" he asked him smirking.
"Careful now, your narcissistic tendencies are showing." Sherlock replied starting to walk away.
