I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 176 : The detective's assistant

They made their way to the elevator, Alden holding his dad's hand firmly, a bag filled with toys on his shoulders. As they waited for the lift to come, they were joined by Scotland Yard's commissioner who was apparently parked on the same floor. The tall, impressive man, immediately smiled when he saw the young boy beside the detective's side.

"Good morning DCI Lestrade." he cheered the policeman before turning to the boy. "And who are you young man ?"

"Good morning sir." the inspector smiled back, surprised by the man's attitude. "This is my son Alden."

He made a little sad smile of excuse as he was saying that, fearing that the commissioner wouldn't really approve of him bringing the boy to work.

"Oh, but I've seen you before ! You've grown up a good deal since that day." the blonde man replied, scruffing through the child's hair.

"You are the sheriff of Scottish Yard !" the boy exclaimed, proud to remember his last encounter with the man.

"You remember ? You are clever !" the commissioner retorted, somehow flattered. "So what are you doing here today ?"

"I couldn't find anyone to take care of him today." the detective apologised as the elevator finally arrived.

"I know that curse." his boss smiled, embarking in the lift. "My daughters are all grown up now but it was hell to find someone during summer I remember."

Greg felt a little reassured as he understood that the commissioner wasn't blaming him at all for having brought his son to work, and he started relaxing a little. It was the first time he had a real conversation with the man, and he was quite surprised to discover that behind his quite rigid appearances, he seemed to be a cheerful and all round nice guy.

"Is it the first time you are coming to Scotland Yard ?" the commissioner asked the little boy.

"Yes." Alden answered looking proud to have been trusted like this.

"Would you like to have a tour with me and to see how the policemen work ?" the blonde man wondered gently.

"Oh no really, I don't want him to disturb you." Greg quickly replied, a little ill-at-ease.

"He won't, I assure you." the commissioner reassured him. "It's the last Friday of the month. I always do a tour of the building on those days, get a feel of the place, take everyone's complaints. He can come with me on the tour really."

"Oh. Then alright but I want you to be very very leisurely. Alright Alden ?" the detective accepted.

"Promise !" the little boy nodded joyfully, feeling even more ecstatic than he was already.

Greg got out of the elevator, leaving his son to the commissioner's good care, still a little worried that the boy would disturb his boss and made his way to his office. A good stack of paper were already waiting for his approval in his mail box and, as he sat behind his desk and turned on his computer, he started browsing through it, sorting out which were urgent and which weren't.

The New Scotland Yard's building was a pretty large and crowded construction and once every month, Christopher Norton was striding each and every of its corridor, knocking on every door and trying to have a word with each and every of his employees. He had done so every month since he had been appointed commissioner more or less five years ago and it was one of the many reasons he was so appreciated by the men and women under his orders.

As always, he started by knocking on the door of the deputy commissioners, in the same corridor as his own office, on the last floor of the building before making his way all the way down until he would reach the armoury in the last basement. On his way he introduced his young visitor to every department of the house, from the boring speeding and parking tickets' office to the exciting counter-terrorism specialists.

The little boy stood very impressed at the entrance of the Trident anti-gang's department, in awe before a large map of London pinned on the wall, showing all the gangs that Trident was monitoring. One of the young detective joined him as the commissioner was talking with DI Kenzel and kneeled beside him.

"Do you know what this map shows ?" the man asked with a gentle smile.

The little boy shook his head in denial, eager to learn.

"It shows all the groups of bad people in London." the guy explained him, pointing to the coloured pins on the map.

"But if they are bad people, why don't you arrest them ?" Alden wondered, analysing the map.

"Sometime, you know that people are bad but you have to wait until you are able to prove that they really are before you can arrest them. That's what we do here, we look for evidence that those people are really bad." the young detective retorted. "If one group fight with another for example, then we will be able to arrest them."

"But they did." the boy remarked, pointing out two pins on the map, in the north of London.

"What are you saying ?" the man wondered, surprised.

"These two groups, they did fight." Alden repeated before showing a note handwritten on the map. "It's written there that they are rivals and that one is composed of black people and the other one of white people."

"That doesn't mean they have fought yet you know ..." the detective replied with a little smile.

"Yes !" the child retorted, exasperated. "Papa said to Daddy that they had found the body of a black teenager in this neighbourhood last week and that he had been murdered. Only enemies murder one another no ?"

"Really ? Oh god, you might be right. I'll have a look at the crime's investigation for last week ..." the man commented, genuinely surprised. "Thank you mate."

If the child was saying the truth than maybe they could finally dismantle the gang they had been monitoring for quite a long time now and make a move in making the neighbourhood safer again. Leaving the child before the map he rushed to his computer and consulted the Yard's data base, indeed finding the case the child was talking of. He opened the document attached and instantly recognised that the teenager was wearing a millitary-id style necklace, something only the members of the white gang were wearing around there, a sign of belonging in a way. It probably had been placed there by those who had murdered him as a warning for the members of the black gang but as it was quite a popular jewellery these days within the general teenage population, the crime detectives probably hadn't thought that it was a relevant piece of information. The young man printed the picture and quickly brought it to DI Kenzel, interrupting her in her discussion with the commissioner.

"I'm sorry to disturb you mam' but I think we might have found something important." he started, excited and impressed at the same time.

He explained his boss what he just had found out and how the younger Holmes had helped him out, impressing boss the Trident's head detective and the commissioner. Of course, it was luck that Alden had overheard the conversation his fathers had over this case but it was pure genius that the four years old had been able to link the informations he had overheard with what he had just saw on the map. Norton had, of course, heard of Sherlock Holmes' ability, who wouldn't have in London, but he wouldn't have believed that his young nephew could have picked out his deduction skills.

As he brought him back to his father minutes before lunch break, he couldn't help but tell Greg how impressed he had been by his son's abilities. Lestrade tried to stay modest and thanked the commissioner once more for the tour but inside he was beaming of pride. His son, out of all the great detectives around, had been the one able to remark the little details that would make it possible to solve a case. No wonder, he was real Holmes.