Two things woke up Lily that night. One was the crying of a little girl, the other was deliberate knocking on her door. Both happened about the same time, around 5am. At first, the noises merged with her dream.
She was in her flat — it didn't look like her flat, but she knew it was her flat — and she was making... possibly a cake. She couldn't be sure. The TV was falling off the wall and Liam was there for some reason but he wasn't doing anything. She kept shouting at Liam to get the TV, and then the oven caught on fire. That was when the crying started, and she was convinced she had a daughter in the next room (which wasn't there before), but she couldn't get to her. Someone started knocking on the front door, Liam pestered her to answer it, and about that time she realized she didn't have a daughter and she was dreaming.
When she woke up, the sounds persisted (aside from Liam's badgering), and she wearily rolled out of bed, using her phone's flashlight to get to the door. On the other side was Sherlock, already dressed.
"What are you doing?" Lily whispered.
"Officer Davis called-"
"How?"
"He found your father's number in the phone book. Anyway, the autopsy is done. I want to go get the report."
"Right now?"
"Time is of the essence. A killer may be on the loose."
"May be?"
"And Mary Gray's mother should be in today. There's too much to do."
Lily blinked a few times, trying to process everything going on. "That's two things."
"Yes, but-"
"Hold on." The crying came back to her attention. "Who's crying? Is that Rosie?"
Sherlock turned. "I believe so."
They both went down the hall, to Liam's old room. Lily knocked on the door. "John? Rosie?"
John opened the door. "What are you two doing up?"
"The autopsy is done," Sherlock replied.
"And you want to go now?"
"Time is of the essence. There may be-"
"Why is Rosie crying?" Lily asked. John opened the door wider. Rosie was sitting on the bed, sniffling, with her bag of toys on her lap.
"I wanna go home," Rosie said. Her eyes were red.
Lily came over and sat next to her. "Oh, you poor thing."
"She's never been away from Baker Street overnight before," John said. "I don't know what to do. The case isn't done yet, I don't know how long it will take. But she's miserable. She's been having nightmares all night, when she can sleep. I guess she wasn't ready to go this far from home yet."
"Then take her home. Sherlock and I can handle the case. There should be a six o'clock train to London, or around that time. I'll look."
"We're going home?" Rosie asked hopefully.
John looked at Sherlock, who nodded. "We'll fill you in when we get back for the blog."
"Well..." John sighed "... she has that doctor's appointment on Monday. If we were here that long, she'd miss it."
Lily got up, already looking on her phone. "You get packed, I'll take care of the train tickets. We can drop you off on the way to the coroner's."
"Thank you. Tell your parents I'm terribly sorry and that they were wonderful hosts."
"I will."
Sherlock followed Lily out, and they got the tickets settled. Lily went to get ready, and then they packed up the car, careful not to wake up Lily's parents. She sent her mother a text that she would see when she woke up, around 7:30 or 8 when her father got up.
So, Sherlock and Lily are at the coroner's at 6:30am, alone. Lily tries to avoid looking at anything too closely while Sherlock talks to the coroner and Officer Davis. They go in to look at the body, so Lily stays behind. It's bad enough to see the body of someone she's never met, but having known James Barkley even just a little bit, it would be too difficult.
On the way back home, Sherlock tells Lily what the coroner said while Lily tries to pay attention instead of focusing on the fact that she hasn't had breakfast.
"He had a heart attack," Sherlock says.
"Well... I can't say I'm surprised."
"I have a feeling he was."
"By someone coming in to murder him? Or Nancy?"
"Could be. The question is, did they plan on this or was his heart attack a surprise to our suspect, too?"
"Who is our suspect? I know it's probably Henry or David, but we still don't know who they are."
"That's what I plan to ask Mary Gray's mother. Officer Davis said he'd call when he knew she arrived."
"And in the meantime, we're having breakfast."
"Not hungry," Sherlock replies.
"How? Sherlock, you're going to waste away."
"I've got too much to think about. When we get back, I'm going into my mind palace. I have to run some scenarios through my head and try to find one that makes the most sense."
Lily sighs, but she doesn't argue. When they get back home, her parents aren't up yet, so she takes it upon herself to make breakfast. She has her yeastless cinnamon roll recipe memorized at this point, and so she decides to make a good helping of those. They may not be the most healthy things, but they're something Sherlock will probably eat. Her parents wake by the time she's cutting the dough and putting the rolls in a baking pan.
"Oh, you're back already," her mum says, walking in the kitchen. "Poor Rosie. You know, you used to be like that. Took forever to get you to go to a sleepover — but you got over it eventually."
"Yes, Mum, I remember."
"Are you making cinnamon rolls?"
Lily places the last roll in the pan, then puts it in the oven. "Yes. I'm hoping Sherlock will eat them."
Her mother smiles. "Oh, are they all for him, or are your father and I allowed to have some?"
"If he'll eat them all, he can have them. At least it's something."
"I know," her mother agrees, going to make some eggs to have something a bit healthier with the cinnamon rolls. "He's barely eaten a thing since he's been here, and that's almost twenty four hours now. I don't know how he hasn't fainted yet."
"Who? Sherlock?" her father says, entering the kitchen next. He's dressed for work already.
"Yes," Lily replies.
"Do I smell cinnamon rolls?"
"Also yes."
"Well, that will fix that problem." He goes to set the table, including a place for Sherlock. While they wait for the cinnamon rolls, eggs, and sausage to be done, they talk about Rosie and about the case as they know it. Neither of them are surprised James Barkley died of a heart attack, though now they wonder at what happened to Nancy.
Once the table is set, Lily takes the cinnamon rolls out of the oven and starts to go get Sherlock. However, he comes into the kitchen of his own accord. "Do I smell... cinnamon rolls?"
"Yes, you do. I'll put two on your plate. Sit down," Lily says.
"No, no, just... one." He has to think about this for a second. "Just one."
Lily doesn't argue, as it's better than she hoped for. She puts a roll on his plate, then gets one and some eggs and sausage for herself. Once her father and mother have their plates, they say grace, then dig in. Sherlock eats quickly, then goes back to his room to think again. What he's thinking about, Lily would love to know. She finishes her breakfast, then starts to clean up.
The front door opens, and an excited, "Do I smell cinnamon rolls?" rings through the house. Uriah has arrived for work.
"Come get one, before we get started on those nightstands," Lily's father says.
Uriah hurries into the kitchen and puts two cinnamon rolls on a plate. "Lily, you're the best. Why don't you come home more often?"
"Just to make you baked goods?" she replies. "Haven't you already eaten breakfast, anyway?"
"Yeah, but I always have room for cinnamon rolls."
"You and Sherlock Holmes," Lily's dad says with a laugh.
Lily just shakes her head and continues washing dishes, already scheming about how she's going to get Sherlock to eat lunch.
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Close to lunch, while Lily is deciding with her mother what to make, Sherlock comes in the kitchen. For a moment, Lily hopes he's actually hungry, but then she sees that he's dressed to go out.
"Officer Davis called," he says. "Mary Gray's mother has finally made it. She's at the hospital."
"Visiting her sister, who is currently in a coma?"
"Yes."
"Is Officer Davis there?"
"No. They have an officer there with Nancy, just in case someone did come to attack them and might come back for her."
Lily thinks a moment. "Do we really want to bother them while they're visiting family? They're probably distressed and upset. I'm sure Mary's mother will come back to the inn this evening with Mary."
"Time is of the essence."
"So you're sure someone came to their house to kill them, and it's probable that they'll try to kill again?"
"I may be sure, and... well, I don't think that's very probable."
"Then let's wait and eat lunch."
He looks at the clock. "Oh, it is around lunch time, isn't it? I suppose it wouldn't hurt to wait a few hours. I'm sure you're hungry."
"Aren't you?"
"Not really. I'm going to go solidify all of the questions I want to ask Mary's mother."
Lily shares a look with her mother, but she thinks on her feet. "How about you tell me what you're going to ask her? I'll eat, you talk." Maybe being around somebody eating will make him hungry. Lily gets up and makes a sandwich while Sherlock sits at the table.
"The main thing is that I need to know who Henry and David are," he says. "Could be an affair, could be former boyfriends. I don't know. I'm almost sure, though, that one of them showed up at the house that night. The first thing I'm going to ask Mary's mother about is those names."
"Mary didn't recognize them," Lily's mum says, making her own sandwich.
"Nancy would probably tell more to her sister than her niece," Lily replies.
Sherlock nods. "Or Mary's mother was there when Nancy was involved with him — or them — in whatever way that was."
"That, too."
"What I don't understand is, if she was having an affair or it was a former boyfriend, why would he hurt Nancy?"
"Could've been mad at her for not divorcing James," Lily's mum offers.
"Maybe."
"Could've cheated on him with James," Lily says.
"Maybe."
"Or he could've come to kill James, and Nancy could've just... been there at the wrong time."
"That's true," Sherlock admits. He glances at Lily's sandwich, but he doesn't say anything about eating. "However, assuming it is Henry, the fact that she met him before she came home — and knew him — makes me believe he came for her. If it's David... I don't know. But Nancy was the one to bring up his name, too. It's just more probable he came for her."
"And if it's not Henry or David?"
"Then I'm going to need a lot more to go on than trampled weeds, a missing key, and some shouting."
"Would you like a sandwich, Sherlock?" Lily's mum offers.
"No... Thank you."
Lily looks pointedly at him. "I'll make it."
"I'm afraid my resolve cannot be broken for sandwiches." He starts to get up, but at this point Lily is almost frustrated with him.
"How are you still going?" she says, giving him pause. "You've only had, like, one cinnamon roll in twenty four hours."
"That's more than I normally have on cases."
"You're going to waste away, I'm telling you!"
"I appreciate the concern, but I feel fine-"
"If I made you dinner, would you eat it?" Lily says. The air in the room freezes, though that may be Lily's mother trying not to say or do anything to screw this up.
Sherlock shrugs. "What would you make?"
"Whatever you want." Whatever it is can't be that difficult. His taste in food isn't particularly high brow, from what she's seen.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
His brows furrow, in that way they do when he's thinking. "Well... my mother used to make steak with béarnaise sauce, on special occasions. I haven't had it in a long time."
Lily's heart stops for a moment — she's never made a steak and what's even in béarnaise sauce? — but she doesn't want to make him pick something else. It's an actual dish, with some actual nutritional value, and he seems quite set on it now. If she says no, he might not eat anything.
"Okay. I'll have to run to the store, but okay."
"Take the car to the store, and then your father and I can go out to eat tonight. So we'll be out of your way," Lily's mum says. Before Lily can protest, her mum is already out the door, going to tell her father their dinner plans for tonight.
"We'll walk to the inn. It's not far," Sherlock says.
Lily shakes her head. "Sherlock, I'll be cooking. You'll have to talk to Mary's mother alone."
"Well, if that's the case-"
"No. You need to eat something. You can manage the case perfectly well without me."
He sighs dramatically. "I suppose." With that, he exits the kitchen.
"I don't suppose you're going to take a nap?" Lily calls. "I doubt you slept much, either."
"One thing at a time, Lily," Sherlock calls back.
Lily looks up a recipe for steak and béarnaise sauce, then hunts through the kitchen to find out what her parents already have. All she can find is eggs and unsalted butter, though she's used so much of that already she should buy her parents more. She also needs white wine vinegar, shallots, and tarragon — not to mention the steaks themselves.
Lily's mum walks back inside. "Your father said we're going to that Italian restaurant we went to the last time you and Liam were here. Do you remember it? It was rather small, but the food was delicious."
"Bring back leftovers."
"Why? You don't think you can make a steak?"
"Mum, I know I can't make a steak."
She pats Lily on the shoulder. "Well, give it your best shot. I'm sure he won't complain."
"Mum, have you met him?"
Her mum just laughs. "Oh, and you better pick up some wine from the store, too. To go with your steak."
Lily ignores the statement and grabs the car keys, hoping against hope that she can pull this off.