The Baker's Detective

| The Ears and the Fairy Guard |

"Yes."

"Give me the address, and we'll follow shortly behind you."

Miriam did as asked then left, and then Sherlock and John went downstairs to drop off Rosie and get Lily. Both of them forgot about her parents coming, though Lily never actually told them what time they'd be there, anyway.

They were there when Sherlock got there, but he never actually saw them. Only Lily and her apologetic expression when she told him she couldn't come.

Sherlock was disappointed, having gotten used to her being on cases, wanting her input and her perceptive questions for suspects and witnesses. It put those words from this morning and the assurance it gave him on shaky ground, despite the fact that she obviously wished she could've gone with him.

So, he called her, "Lil." She'd said that morning that was what her friends called her, and Sherlock just wanted to know that she was his friend. That was all. Why, he wasn't sure. Maybe to prove that he was human, that he could make a friend. He so, so wanted to be human, after Eurus. The thought sometimes caused him shame, confusion. But Lily's slowly showing him that being human is not so bad. It's a gift.

She'd grimaced when he said it, said "Lil", and he felt panicked again, and sadness creeped its way in, and he was struck but how readily the emotion came and how readily he recognized it. He still doesn't know why she affects him so, but she does. Despite the fact that by all logic she's perfectly normal and he's only known her a month. It doesn't make sense. Unless Mycroft used his government powers to find the most human girl in the world and place her in his life — either to make him more human or scare him from it. It was doing the former, despite that sudden sadness he felt, how bad it seemed.

And yet, when Lily assured him so sincerely that they were friends, when she'd promised him, his heart seemed to soar. He looks forward to seeing her later and telling her about the case; he'll want her input, especially if this case proves to be a head-scratcher as she'd said.

They reach the house, which is decently sized, though definitely not like the ones they'd been to on their most recent cases. This was of no consequence Sherlock — unless, of course, it had something to do with the answer to the case, though as of right now it's hard to tell.

Inside, Sherlock expects to see a woman unfamiliar to him, which he would know to be Susan Cushing, seeing as it's her house. However, there's only Miriam and the box on the kitchen table. Miriam answers the door, then greets him with a sigh. "Hello. Susan thanks you for coming. She's upstairs, and she won't come down. Like I said, she's a mess; she's really shaken up."

"Well, I suppose I would be too if I got a box of ears," John mutters, following Miriam to the kitchen. Sherlock is behind him, silently refuting John's statement. He's far too used to things much more gory and gruesome than this; he wouldn't be shaken up at all. But Lily — having never been exposed to such a thing, having no conceivable reason to receive such a package, having such a tender heart — would. Though, maybe not as much as before getting threatened with a gun...

Sherlock puts it from his mind in order to examine the package on the table.

It's a standard, small shipping box — nothing remarkable about it at all, aside from the possibility of fingerprints, but it was delivered and so touched by a multitude of people, so that wouldn't result in much. The label on the top has this address and 'S. Cushing' written on it. Inside, it's filled with salt, likely to preserve the ears. They're sitting on top, one turned over and exposing the severed end. The cuts are jagged. Sherlock puts his gloves on, then picks them both up to examine them further. They definitely look (and feel) to be human, but based on color, shape, and size are from two different people, probably one male and one female. They've been drained of blood, and it seems as though someone tried to clean blood off them before putting them in the box.