Clara was woken by her laptop dinging loudly on her bedside table. She sat up in surprise and tapped the keys aimlessly trying to turn it off. 'Clara? Clara! John is waiting downstairs with a cab, hurry up!' Sherlock's loud voice shouted at her. Clara peered at his face on the pixilated screen then gasped in horror.
'I'm in my nighty Sherlock!' She shouted, utterly embarrassed. She pulled the covers up from her bed to protect her shreds of dignity.
Clara could feel the eye roll that the detective did. 'This camera only works one way, remember?' He told her, obviously annoyed at her own ignorance.
Clara dropped her covers and sat up. She made a silly face at the screen and received no response. 'Okay, give me twenty minutes tops' she cried then dashed to the bathroom. Half an hour later she was racing out wearing a red dress and navy tights with her purse swinging from her arm and a granola bar in hand. Sure enough, outside a cab man was looking irritable with Sherlock and John inside. Clara grinned in excitement and wiggled in next to Sherlock and took a bite of her improvised breakfast. 'So what's up, boys?' Clara asked with a wink.
'Sorry for the wake up, Sherlock insisted' John apologised with a shrug. 'Didn't you Sherlock?' He added softly to his friend with a raised eyebrow.
Sherlock brushed him off and launched into a recount of events. 'There's another bomb waiting to blow up, we past the first test with Carl Powers, here's the next. Another voice, another case and only nine hours. Sent this.' Sherlock passed Clara the pink phone out of his pocket. She held it gingerly and saw an image of an abandoned car. John told her there was blood in it but no body. A possible murder by the looks of it.
'Nine hours till boom!' She murmured with a shudder. Clara handed the phone back and put her granola bar in her bag. She suddenly didn't have an appetite anymore.
'Six actually' Sherlock corrected bluntly.
Clara went a shade paler and John frowned at his flat mate. 'So where are we going now?' Clara asked realising she had just jumped into the cab without further ado.
'Janus Cars, it where the car was hired from,' John informed her. Clara nodded and sat stiffly in her seat. She decided to munch on her granola bar after all.
.
They arrived at the business with a slight drizzle wafting down. Clara wished she had brought her coat, it looked like a storm was coming in. They walked across the gravel which crunched underfoot and into the mustard painted building. Clara and John both breathed relieved sighs as the warm air conditioning enveloped them. 'Clara I need you to distract him, the owner' Sherlock directed her.
Clara's brows creased together as they walked down the hall. 'Okay...how am I doing that?'
'I don't know! Use your...female assets' Sherlock replied irritably.
'My what?' Clara exclaimed loudly.
'Sherlock!' John scolded at the same time.
'Fine, I'll do it all myself shall I?' The detective snapped and walked more briskly towards the door that said manager down the end of the hall.
Clara bristled up but followed behind John instead. 'Why is he so irritating?' She muttered. 'How do you live with him John?'
'I couldn't do it without Mrs Hudson, that's for sure. He had toes in the toaster one day!' John whispered back.
Clara giggled involuntarily. Sherlock could drive anyone to drink! Toes in the toaster, a head in the fridge, what was next? Eyeballs on the mantelpiece? 'I know you two are talking about me' Sherlock told them without looking round.
'Your skills of deduction amaze me Mr Holmes' Clara laughed. It was Sherlock's turn to bristle though his lips twitched into a smile. He knocked on the managers door quickly. A man called Ewert let them in.
Ewert was loud, proud and very arrogant. You could have said Sherlock and him were best friends. However, Sherlock was on a mission and he wasn't going to let Mr-I-Am-So-Cool get the better of him. The Janus Cars owner had slicked back brown hair and an expensive striped shirt. He was relaxed in his movements when sitting down into his plush chair. John sat opposite him and got his little note book ready. Clara pretended to be very interested in the bookshelf behind her while Sherlock started talking rubbish to start off a conversation. He mentioned Mr Monkford (the owner of the abandoned car) a few times. 'I don't see how I can help you gentlemen, and lady' he sighed though smiled at Clara.
'Mr Monkford hired a car from you yesterday' John reminded the man.
'Yeah. Lovely motor. Mazda RX-8. Wouldn't mind one myself!'
'Is that one?' Sherlock asked while pointing at one of the numerous pictures of cars on the wall.
Ewert turned in his chair to see what Sherlock had been pointing at. While he was looking, the detective took the chance to look closely at the man's neck. Clara and John shared an amused glance. 'No, they're all Jags' the owner laughed, turning back. 'I can see you're not a car man, eh?'
'But, well, surely you can afford one, a Mazda, I mean?' Sherlock continued. Clara wanted to applaud his acting skills, he could really convince an unsuspecting audience.
'Yeah, it's a fair point. Like working in a sweet shop. Once you start picking at the liquorice all sorts, when does it all stop, eh?' Ewert told them while scratching the top of his left arm.
John leaned forward as he asked 'but you didn't know Mr Monkford?'
'No, he was just a client. Came in and hired one of my cars. No idea what happened to him. Poor sod.' The owner said this all with a false air of sadness like he actually cared.
'Nice holiday, Mr Ewert?' Sherlock stated which made Clara's eyebrows raise appreciatively. She loved hearing his deductions, not that she would ever tell him or John.
'Eh?' Was all the car man could utter.
'You've been away haven't you?'
'Oh, the-the' he asked gesturing to his tanned face. 'No it's errr, sun beds. Too busy to get away. My wife would love it though - a bit of sun.'
'Have you got any change for the cigarette machine?' Sherlock asked suddenly. Clara crossed her arms and frowned, Mrs Hudson had said he was going cold turkey. Ewert looked at him blankly. 'I'm gasping' the detective insisted.
'Um, well...' Ewert got out his wallet and had a peek inside. 'Hmmm...no sorry.'
'Oh well, thank you very much for your time Mr Ewert' Sherlock said and headed towards the door. 'You've been very helpful. Come along John, Clara.'
Back in the hallway John started reaching for his wallet. 'I've uh, got change if you want...' He offered.
'You just wanted to look in his wallet!' Clara realised now very impressed with the cleverness of it all. The detective smiled appreciatively at her intelligence. 'Nicotine patches remember!' Clara added patting Sherlock's arm.
'Yes, I'm doing well' Sherlock agreed, slightly smug.
'But why? Why did you need to see his wallet?' John asked.
'Mr Ewert is a liar.'