Falling...

Chapter 8 - A Deep Breath

"Why aren't there any officers?" John asked, looking around the crime scene.
They were in some secluded woods, and it appeared to only be the three of them - and the body.

"It's out of hours. They'll be back in about half an hour, which is when I need you two to go," Lestrade replied, lifting up the sheet so that Sherlock could inspect the body. John furrowed his brow. He looked around once more; they were definitely alone.

"Why on earth are we here out of hours?" John questioned.

"Because everyone thinks he's a fraud," Lestrade answered casually, standing beside John to wait for Sherlock to finish.
Sherlock's head darted up.

"Got something?" Lestrade asked.

"No, just it'd completely slipped my mind that the entire country hates me..." He stated. It didn't seem to bother him overly, and he immediately went back to looking over the body. "I should probably sort that out with Jim..." He muttered, poking the victims clothes a little as he spoke.

Lestrade vaguely nodded, before turning to John.
"Er, Jim, then? That's... That's a thing?" He asked. John had somehow forgotten that he and Molly still didn't know about Moriarty.

"Oh, yeah, it is, yeah. He was, um, I think he was nervous about telling us..." John replied, putting his hands in his pockets. Lestrade nodded again.

"Fair enough... I think they'll be good," He stated.

"Pardon?" John questioned, not quite understanding what Lestrade meant.

It was odd, talking to Lestrade. The two rarely had actual conversations, simply small-talk whilst Sherlock investigated a crime scene.

"They're both utterly ridiculous: makes 'em good for each other, I think," He explained. It was true; Sherlock and Moriarty were almost equal with pure ridiculousness. One was a 'consulting detective' and 'high-functioning sociopath', and the other was a serial killer and a total psychopath.
Admittedly, John had always though the two as two sides of the same coin. Both too clever for their own good; one devoting their life to enforcing law, the other to breaking it. They were practically the same, besides to which side they played the game on.

"And the body is the only evidence?" Sherlock asked, standing up to look over the desolate forest surrounding them.

"That we could find," Lestrade answered with a nod.
Sherlock took a moment to think, before setting out to inspect the ground surrounding the area which the body was found. 
"It'll mean Moriarty won't cause as trouble, too," Lestrade stated, returning to his conversation with John.

"How so?" John asked, not quite seeing how it would mean that.

"He'll want to keep Sherlock happy, won't he? Plus, Sherlock isn't easy - he'll be too busy dealing with him to kill people," Lestrade replied.

"I hope so," John muttered. He didn't think that'd be the case at all. Moriarty had proved on multiple occasions that committing devastating crimes took near to zero effort from him himself.
He'd set a web so big and so well calculated and crafted, that a single text from him could create colossal damage worldwide.
Moriarty had many strings which he could pull at as he pleased, and it was unlikely that Sherlock would be able to stop that.

John had been able to tell from the start that Sherlock admired Moriarty - though perhaps he'd misinterpreted in what way. If anyone was going to be 'too busy dealing' with someone, it'd be Sherlock. It seemed immensely unlikely that Moriarty was the type to 'change his ways for love' or whatever else happened in the fairytales, and Sherlock didn't appear willing to give him up easily.
Moriarty's passion for criminality was strong, and would likely be the end of them. Which was one of the reasons John had been reluctant to approving of it.