Fandom Traveler (Sherlock Holmes)

The Blind Banker (Part 2)

Not a while later, they walk inside and finds a man in a suit and overcoat lying on his back on the bed, dead. There is a pistol on the floor, and the man has a small bullet hole in his right temple. John has a look on his face like he's waiting for Sherlock to explain. Vaness stayed beside John, not wanting to restrict Sherlock.

Later, the police have been called and a photographer is taking pictures of Van Coon’s body lying on the bed. A forensics officer is dusting for fingerprints on the nearby mirror, and distant voices suggest that other forensics officers are elsewhere in the flat. Sherlock has taken off his coat and is in the bedroom putting on a pair of latex gloves. John stands beside him while Vaness stood behind them.

"It does look like suicide." John said.

"We don’t know that it was suicide." Sherlock said.

"The door was locked from the inside, so it looks like suicide. But Vaness said it's not." John said.

"You believe her now?" Sherlock asked, surprised as he looked at John.

"Yes, hard not to." John said.

Sherlock has squatted down by a suitcase on the floor near the bed and has opened the lid and is looking at the contents.

"Been away three days, judging by the laundry." He said as he sees that there’s a deep indentation in the clothing inside the case, then straightens up and looks at John then at Vaness.

"Look at the case. There was something tightly packed inside it." He said.

"Thanks – I’ll take your word for it." John said.

"Problem?" Sherlock asked. Vaness chuckled at them and shook her head.

"Yeah, I’m not desperate to root around some bloke’s dirty underwear." John said indignantly.

Sherlock walk towards the foot of the bed.

"Those symbols at the bank – the graffiti. Why were they put there?" He as asks John then looked at Vaness expecting her to answer.

"What, some sort of code?" John asks.

"Obviously." Sherlock said then gave Vaness a questioning look.

"I don't think you'd want me to spoil you of the answers." Vaness said.

As Sherlock looked closely at Van Coon’s legs – or possibly his shoes – he moves up and carefully opens the man’s jacket to look at his inside pockets.

"Why were they painted? If you want to communicate, why not use e-mail?" He asked John.

"Well, maybe he wasn’t answering." John guessed.

"Oh good. You follow." Sherlock said.

"No."

Sherlock throws him a look before moving on to examine Van Coon’s hands.

"The message was a threat." Vaness finally said and Sherlock smirked.

Sherlock gently prises open Van Coon’s mouth and pulls out a small black origami flower from inside. Air hisses out from the dead man’s lungs.

"Yes. He was being threatened." Sherlock said.

John looked closely at the paper flower as Sherlock lifts an evidence bag to put the paper into.

The man – a plain clothed police officer who looks young walks into the bedroom. Sherlock turns and walks towards him.

But before Sherlock could greet him, Vaness raced her to it. She didn't want their pride over this matter.