Staying Alive - Sherlock (BBC)

Chapter 16

The Englischer Hof was a small hotel, very suitable for the small village it was situated in. The building itself was old but seemed to have strengthened over age, its crumbling walls could last for centuries. Beautiful vines and ivy crawled up the walls, curling into window panes and tapping at doors.

Sherlock knew this is where Lizzie would be. Without a familiar bolt hole, she would simply retire to her place of accommodation, in this case it was the hotel.

The sun shone brightly, lighting up the pristine cyan sky. But there was still a chilly edge to the air, a crisp wind brushed past him causing Sherlock to wrap up his coat tightly.

Pushing the ageing door, he stepped into the lobby. The door creaked shut and the silent wind was cut short. Behind the desk was a plain man with short brown hair who was now smiling up at Sherlock. Next to him, Lizzie was leaning against the desk, smirking at Sherlock with a glance.
She stood up quickly and walked over to Sherlock. "Ah Sherlock, I'm glad you could join us." She said warmly. "This is Peter Steiler."

*****

They had both been forced to go to the school disco and were both equally as reluctant to do so.

Sat at the back of the loud, colourful room, they tried as hard as possible to become the wall they were leaning against. The place was throbbing with teenagers dancing to a pop song with a particularly loud bass line, neither of them could speak or think over the noise.

Out of the hundreds there, they were the only ones sat at the side looking uncomfortable and not attempting to talk to each other. Sherlock said something but Lizzie couldn't hear it. Leaning closer, he shouted loudly. "Do you ever think that we aren't normal?"

Lizzie laughed. "Sherlock I thought better of you."

"But don't you ever think we should be acting like them?" He said loudly waving his hand in the general direction of the throbbing mass of teenagers.

"Normal is an illusion, what is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly." Lizzie shouted back.

Sherlock gave her a sideways glance. "Was that a film quote?"

She giggled. "Oh yes, The Addams Family, well spotted."

He simply nodded and turned towards the crowd once more. It wasn't long before he could see Lizzie stand up in the corner of his eye. "What are you doing?" He asked alarmed.

"Come on." She shouted grabbing his hand and pulling him up. "We're dancing."

"But you hate pop music."

"Doesn't mean I can't enjoy it." She smiled and raised her arms up, swaying gently to the music. With a shrug Sherlock joined her, his dancing was a little more forced than hers. Despite the looks from surrounding teenagers, Sherlock executed a perfect pirouette causing Lizzie to start laughing hysterically.

She walked closer to him and shouted over the music. "You're weird."

Looking a little shocked and slightly offended, Sherlock replied. "I'm sorry."

"No," Lizzie put her hand on his shoulder. "It was a compliment."

*****
Shock at this sudden turn of events coursed through Sherlock's body, but his face remained blank. With a put on smile he outstretched his hand for the man to shake. "It's good to meet you." He greeted.

"You too." The man spoke with a fading London accent, all the more proof that this was in fact Peter Steiler.

"I've just been informing him about our journey here." Lizzie said causing them both to look at her. "Apparently he knows nothing about the break in."

Sherlock turned to face the man head on, he had the worn hands of a busy innkeeper and a frequent tobacco smoker. But the creases in his shirt had been defined by the exact folding done in a manner only a former hotel employee would perform. It was clear to Sherlock that this was in fact the man they had been looking for.

"Over the last few months have you seen or heard anything particularly suspicious in any way?" Sherlock enquired.

Peter shook his head. "No, this has all come as quite a shock to me. I am very grateful you have come all this way to enquire into me, but I cannot help you at all."

One more deductive glance and Sherlock knew that this was the truth, they had seemingly reached yet another dead end.

"We will continue our investigation further regardless." Sherlock began. "Moriarty would not have brought us all the way over here for no reason."

"I agree," Lizzie said from the corner of the room. She still held the knowing smile from earlier, the thought of it brought the ghost of her kiss back to Sherlock's cheek, it continued to startle him. "If it is okay we may extend our stay for a few more days."

"That is perfectly fine." Peter said from behind the desk.

She threw a warm smile towards him before walking towards their bags that had been left on the stone floor. "Give me a hand would you Sherlock."

Sherlock only took a few strides towards her before she froze. Quickly standing by her side, Sherlock noticed the note she was now holding that had been left on her bags.

Within seconds he had read it and his heart had sunk.