Sherlock led the way through a set of revolving glass doors into the main entrance of Shad Sanderson Bank. He and Y/N headed straight towards the escalators, but John lagged behind a bit, admiring the impressive foyer. "Yes, when you said we were going to the bank..." He muttered to himself before scurrying to join his friend and sister before they stepped onto the escalator.
The great detective observes his surroundings carefully, noting the security system that requires swiping a key card across an electronic reader to open the glass barrier. Reaching the top of the escalator, Sherlock walked over to the reception desk.
"Sherlock Holmes." He addressed the receptionist, said lady smiling as she began typing away at the keyboard. John vaguely heard Sherlock and Y/N having a conversation with the receptionist, still in awe of the majestic interior.
A short while later, the trio had been led to a room, Sebastian Wilkes' office. He soon stepped into his office, smiling widely. "Sherlock Holmes."
"Sebastian." The detective replied coolly, shaking his outstretched hand, Sebastian clasping Sherlock's hand in both of his own.
"Howdy buddy. How long's it been? Eight years since I last clapped eyes on you?" Sherlock glanced at Sebastian with only marginally disguised disgust as Sebastian faced the other two people in the room
"These are my friends, John and Y/N Watson," Sherlock explained as Sebastian shook their respective hands. He threw a brief look at Sherlock before turning away. The twins both pursed their lips, taking an instant dislike to the man.
"Well, grab a pew. D'you need anything? Coffee, water?" Sherlock simply shook his head, as Y/N and John replied 'no' simultaneously. "Alright," Sebastian mumbled, turning to his secretary. "We're all sorted here, thanks."
The secretary quickly left the room as Sebastian sat down at his desk, the others sitting in the chairs opposite him, Sherlock in the middle, John to his left, and Y/N to his right.
"So, you're doing well. You've been abroad a lot." Sherlock stared, eyes boring into the man sitting on the other side of the table
"Well, some." Sebastian chuckled dryly.
"Flying all the way round the world twice in a month?" Y/N had a slight smirk on her face. John frowned in confusion but Sebastian just laughed, pointing at Sherlock
"Right. You're doing that thing." Sebastian turned to address John, continuing. "We were at uni together. This guy had a trick he used to do."
"It's not a trick," Sherlock muttered quietly, gaining Y/Ns attention at the dejected tone of his voice.
"He could look at you and tell you your whole life story." Sebastian continued, ignoring Sherlock.
"Yes, I've seen him do it," John stated.
"Put the wind up everybody. We hated him." Sebastian chuckled again, not noticing, or just simply not caring, about the way Sherlock turned his head away and looked down. Y/N noticed, however. She noticed the pain flashing behind his eyes like the flicker of a candle. Gently placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, Sherlock shot her a grateful smile, turning back to Sebastian. Y/N gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, her hand lingering for a few seconds before she dropped it back onto her lap. "You'd come down to breakfast in the Formal Hall and this freak would know you'd been shagging the previous night."
"I simply observed," Sherlock mumbled softly again, noting the way Y/Ns jaw clenched at Sebastian's choice of nickname for the handsome detective.
"Go on, enlighten me. Two trips a month, flying all the way around the world - you're quite right. How could you tell?" Sebastian leaned back in his office chair. Sherlock opened his mouth to speak, but Sebastian continued smugly. "You're gonna tell me there was, um, a stain on my tie from some special kind of ketchup you can only buy in Manhattan."
"No, I-" Sherlock tried to protest, but Sebastian continued talking over him.
"Maybe it was the mud on my shoes!" Sebastian exclaimed. Sherlock looked back at him, going to say something before he was interrupted yet again, but by Y/N this time
"Actually, we were just chatting with your secretary. She told us." The younger Watson smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. John stared at his sister in disbelief, Sherlock just smiling. That's my girl, he thought, as Sebastian laughed humourlessly, before clasping his hands together, a serious expression taking over his face.
"I'm glad you could make it over. We've had another break-in."
•••
Sebastian led them across the trading floor towards another door. "Sir Williams office - the banks' former chairman. The rooms' been left here like a sort of memorial. Someone broke in late last night."
"What did they steal?" John enquired, as Y/N chewed her lip, deep in thought.
"Nothing. Just left a little message." Sebastian explained, using his security card to unlock the door. Inside the overbearingly white office, a framed portrait of a man - presumably the late Sir William - hung above the desk, a stripe of yellow spray paint obscuring the eyes. On the wall to the left of the portrait was a graffiti tag in the same yellow spray paint. Sebastian and John looked at Sherlock expectantly as he stared at the graffiti, but it was Y/N who spoke up first.
"Any security footage?"
•••
Back in Sebastian's office, a picture of the office time-stamped 23:34:01, showing the paint on the wall and portrait. "Sixty seconds apart." Sebastian flicked to another photograph, this one stamped 23:33:01, showing the office still clean. "So, someone came up here in the middle of the night, splashed paint around, then left within a minute."
"How many ways into that office?" Sherlock pondered, as Y/N flipped between the two photographs, her face screwed up in confusion.
"Well, that's where this gets really interesting."
•••
Back at the reception desk, Sebastian shows the trio a layout of the floor and surrounding offices. "Every door that opens in this bank, it gets logged right here. Every walk-in cupboard, every toilet." Sebastian explained. Each door has a light next to it, indicating its security status.
"That door didn't open last night." Sherlock surmised, studying the screen intensely.
"There's a hole in our security. Find it and we'll pay you - five figures." Sebastian reached into his jacket, pulling out a check from his breast pocket. "This is an advance. Tell me how he got in, there's a bigger one on the way."
"I don't need an incentive, Sebastian." Sherlock practically spat his name, walking away. Y/N sighed deeply, flashing the two remaining men an apologetic smile as she ran to catch up with the long-legged detective. John watched them walk away, then turned to Sebastian.
"He's, uh, he's kidding you, obviously." John smiled nervously, holding out his hand. "Sh-shall I look after that for him?" Sebastian handed John the check, John muttering a 'thanks' as he read the figure written on the check, shaking his head in disbelief.
•••
Sherlock and Y/N had returned to Sir William's office, Y/N taking photographs with Sherlock's phone, as said detective was deep in thought. He turns to face the several floor-to-ceiling windows, deep in thought. Y/N walked up to him, holding his phone out.
"Put it in my pocket." Sherlock spoke softly, still focusing on the impressive view of the nearby Swiss Re Tower, better known as 'The Gherkin'. Y/N reached, placing his phone in the breast pocket of his coat. Sherlock stifled a strangled noise erupting from his throat at the feeling of Y/Ns hand brushing against his chest. Ignoring the tingling feeling where her skin had made contact, Sherlock walked over to the windows, pulled up one of the blinds to the balcony, opened the door, and stepped out. He bit his lip thoughtfully before calling out. "Y/N!"
Said woman hummed in response, taking a cautious step towards the balcony door. When Sherlock remained silent, Y/N slowly shuffled forward, eventually coming to stand next to him, a slight breeze brushing through her hair. "What do you think?"
"Um, I d-don't-" Y/N inhaled shakily, the whole world spinning beneath her feet. Just as she felt she would pass out, a large, warm hand wrapped around her waist, grounding her. She glanced up to see Sherlock smiling encouragingly at her. Taking another, slightly less shaky breath, Y/N continued. "Well, unless our mystery man can walk through walls, this must be how he got in."
"Exactly." Sherlock beamed, giving her waist a gentle squeeze, much like Y/N had done for him earlier in Sebastians' office, before pulling away and striding out of the office. Ignoring the slightly disappointed feeling bubbling in her chest at the loss of his warmth, Y/N hurried after him, glad to be away from that balcony.
Stepping out of Sir William's office, she amusedly watched as Sherlock ran around the floor, ducking down and peeking over cubicle walls before running to the other side of the trading floor, almost in a sort of dance, as many of the office workers watched him in utter confusion. Getting an idea of what he was looking for, Y/N moved to the side as to not block the portrait.
Sherlock stopped suddenly standing inside another office almost directly across from Sir William's office, where Y/N was standing by the doorframe. Standing behind the chair of whoever works in the office, he had a clear view of the top of the painting and the new yellow slash. Looking around for some identification, he heads to the signs attached to the outside of the door. One sign shows that this is the office of the Honk Kong Desk Head, and the other sign above it reads the name of said person - Edward Van Coon. Sliding the sign out of its holder, he turned, shooting Y/N a smirk as they headed off to find John.
•••
"Two trips around the world this month. You didn't ask his secretary." John pondered aloud. Y/N and Sherlock exchanged glances, smiling, but didn't respond. The three were heading towards the escalators, Y/N and Sherlock stepping on first, John standing a couple of steps behind them. "How did you know?"
"The watch," Y/N spoke in a sing-song voice, childishly grinning at her brother before skipping down the stairs, leaving Sherlock to explain.
John chuckled at his sister's antics, turning to the detective as he questioned. "His watch?"
"The time was right but the date was wrong. Said two days ago. Crossed the dateline twice but he didn't alter it." Sherlock explained as they reached the bottom of the escalator where Y/N was waiting, typing away at her phone.
"Within a month? How'd you get that part?"
"New Breitling." Sherlock nodded subtly at Y/N.
"Came out this February." Y/N clarified, showing John the webpage she had pulled up on her phone. "So, Sherlock, do we need to sniff around here for a bit longer?"
"No, got everything I need to know already." John hummed in confusion, and Sherlock continued. "That graffiti was a message for someone at the bank working on the trading floors. We find the intended recipient and..." The detective deliberately trailed off, allowing John to finish the sentence.
"...they'll lead us to the person who sent it."
"Isn't it obvious, dear brother?" Y/N smiled, looping her arm through John's.
"Well, there's three hundred people up there." John glanced between his best friend and his sister. "Who was it meant for?"
"Pillars," Sherlock stated simply, John turned to his sister confused.
"Think about it, John." Y/N shook his arm lightly. "With all the pillars and screens, there are very few places where you have a clear view of the graffiti. That rules out nearly all of the personnel."
"Precisely." Sherlock shot Y/N an impressed grin. "And of course, the message was left at eleven thirty-four last night. That tells us a lot."
"Does it?" John questioned as they exited the bank through the glass revolving door.
"Traders come to work at all hours. Some trade with Hong Kong in the middle of the night. That message was intended for someone who came in at midnight." Sherlock handed the name card to Y/N, who showed it to John.
"Can't be that many Van Coons in the phonebook." Y/N snickered at her brother's bewildered expression, as Sherlock hailed a taxi.