The three of you sit in silence inside of the taxi for a long time. Sherlock is sitting by the window, on the passenger side, eyes fixed on his smartphone. You, sitting next to him, leaned your head against the headrest of the seat, eyes closed as you think about this case. John, who's sitting next to you, keeps stealing nervous glances at you and Sherlock.
Finally, Sherlock lowers his phone. "Okay, you've got questions." He said.
"Yeah, where are we going?" John asked.
"Crime scene. Next?" You said, eyes still closed.
"Who are you two?" Then he turns to Sherlock and asked "And what do you do?"
"What do you think?" Sherlock asked him.
"I'd say private detective...." John said, hesitantly.
"But?" You asked, eyes opened and you turned your head to face John.
"But the police don't go to private detectives. Or even work with them." He said to you.
"I'm a consulting detective. Only one in the world. I invented the job." Sherlock answered.
"What does that mean?" John asked.
"It means when the police are out of their depth, which I hate to say is always, they consult him." You replied.
"But the police don't consult amateurs." John stated.
Sherlock throws him a look and then said "When I met you for the first time, yesterday, I said 'Afghanistan or Iraq?' You seemed surprised."
"Yes, how did you know?" John asked.
"I didn't know, I saw. Your haircut, the way you hold yourself, says military. But your conversation as you entered the room said trained at Bart's, so Army doctor--obvious. Your face is tanned but no tan above the wrist. You've been abroad, but not sunbathing. Your limp's really bad when you walk but you don't ask for a chair when you stand, like you've forgotten about it, so it's at least partly psychosomatic. That says the original circumstances of the injury were traumatic. Wounded in action, then. Wounded in action, suntan--Afghanistan or Iraq." deduced Sherlock.
"You said I had a therapist." John said.
"You've got a psychosomatic limp--of course you've got a therapist." Sherlock said, then he looked at you. You look back at him and he nods at you, like he was giving you a signal for something.
You turn back to John and said. "Then there's your brother." John looks at you confused. "May I?" You asked, holding out your hand. John gives you his phone and you turn it over and look at it before speaking again.
"Your phone. It's expensive, e-mail enabled, MP3 player, but you're looking for flatshare- you wouldn't waste money on this. It's a gift then. Scratches. Not one, many over time. It's been in the same pocket as keys and coins. The man sitting next to me wouldn't treat his one luxury item like this, so it's had a previous owner. Next bit's easy. You know it already." You deduced to John, who looks shocked.
"The engraving." John mumbled as you flipped the phone over and sees the engraving on the phone:
Harry Watson
From Clara
xxx
"Harry Watson: Clearly a family member who's given you his old phone. Not your father, this is a young man's gadget. Could be a cousin, but you're a war hero who can't find a place to live. Unlikely you've got an extended family, certainly not one you're close to, so brother it is." You said. Sherlock smiles at you and hold his hand out to you.
You turn, smile, and hand him the phone as he looks over the phone before he finished what you started. "Now, Clara. Who's Clara? Three kisses says it's a romantic attachment. The expense of the phone says wife, not girlfriend. She must have given it to him recently--this model's only six months old. Marriage in trouble then--six months on he's just given it away. If she'd left him, he would have kept it. People do--sentiment. But no, he wanted rid of it. He left her. He gave the phone to you: That says he wants you to stay in touch. You're looking for cheap accommodation, but you're not going to your brother for help: That says you've got problems with him. Maybe you liked his wife; maybe you don't like his drinking." Sherlock stated.
"How can you possibly know bout the drinking?" John asked him.
"Shot in the dark." Sherlock said, smiling.
"Good one, though." You said to him.
Sherlock winks at you and continues "Power connection: Tiny little scuff marks around the edge of it. Every night he goes to plug it in to charge but his hands are shaking. You never see those marks on a sober man's phone; never see a drunk's without them." He hands you the phone and you hand it back to John.
"There you go, you see--you were right." You said as John takes his phone back.
"I was right? Right about what?" John asked.
"The police don't consult amateurs." Sherlock said as he looks out the window, biting his lips nervously. You look over at John, smirking, and wink at him.
"That was....amazing." He said. Sherlock looks around and then at you making sure you heard John correctly. When you nodded at him, Sherlock asks. "Do you think so?"
"Of course it was. It was extraordinary; it was quite extraordinary." John said then settles his gaze onto you. "And I see why he keeps you around."
You and Sherlock look at each other before Sherlock speaks. "That's not what people normally say."
"What do people normally say?" John asked.
"Piss off." You and Sherlock say together.
Finally, you arrive at Lauriston Gardens and the three of you walk towards the police tape strung across the road. "Did we get anything wrong?" Sherlock asked John. "Harry and me don't get on, never have. Clara and Harry split up three months ago and they're getting a divorce; and Harry is a drinker." John replied.
"Spot on, then." You said, smiling to yourself.
"Didn't expect to be right about everything." Sherlock said, smiling as well.
"And Harry's short for Harriet." John said.
You and Sherlock stop in your tracks as he said this. "Harry's your sister." You said.
"Look, what exactly am I supposed to be doing here?" John asked as he continues onwards.
"Sister!" Sherlock said, furiously through his gritted teeth.
"No, seriously, what am I doing here?" John asked.
"There's always something." You said, exasperated.
You three approach the police tap and met your favorite person on the force(Sarcasm), Sally Donovan. "Hello, freak and freakette." She said.
"We're here to see Detective Inspector Lestrade." Sherlock said.
"Why?" She asked, annoyed already.
"He was invited and, in case you forgot Donovan, I work with you." You said.
"Why was he invited?" She asked, again.
"I think he wants me to take a look." Sherlock said, sarcastically. He lifts the tape and ducks under it.
Once he makes it over he lifts the tape for you and you duck under it as well while Donovan said. "Well, you know what I think, don't you?"
"Always, Sally." Sherlock replied.
You get up and stand next to Sherlock and breath in through your nose. "I know you didn't make it home last night." You said, giving her a sarcastic smile. She looks at John and asked "Who's this?"
"Colleague of ours." Sherlock said. You turn to John. "Doctor Watson, Sergeant Sally Donovan. Old friend." You said, your voice dripping with sarcasm.
"A colleague? How did you two get a colleague?!" She asked. Then she turns to John and asked. "Did they follow you home?"
"Would it be better if I just waited and..." John said but you lift up the tape for him.
"No!" Both you and Sherlock said to him.
John walks under the tape as Donovan lifts a radio to her lips. "The Freaks are here. Bringing them in." She said in the radio. She leads the trio to the house as you and Sherlock look around the area and at the ground. As you reach the pavement, a man in a coverall comes out of the house.
"Ah, Anderson. Here we are again." Sherlock said. Anderson looks at you with such distaste. "It's a crime scene. I don't want it contaminated. Are we clear on that?" He asked. You take another deep breath through your nose.
"Quite clear. And is your wife away for long? You asked.
"Oh, don't pretend you worked that out. Somebody told you that." Anderson said with a sneer.
"Your deodorant told me that." You stated to him.
"My deodorant?" Anderson asked.
"It's for men." You said with a quirky expression on your face.
"Well of course it's for men! I'm wearing it!" He exclaims.
"So's Donovan." You said. Anderson looks at you shocked then looks behind him, looking at Donovan. Sherlock, who had a proud smile on his face through all of this, sniffs pointedly.
"Ooh, and I think it just vaporized. May we go in?" He asked as Anderson points at you and Sherlock angrily.
"Now look: Whatever you're trying to imply..." He says.
"I'm not implying anything." You said as you and Sherlock walk past Donovan towards the door. "We're sure Sally came round for a nice little chat, and just happened to stay over." Sherlock said.
You turn back and said. "And I assume she scrubbed your floors, going by the state of her knees." Anderson and Donovan look at each other in horror and you smile smugly at them, then turn and head to the house.
Sherlock, who was standing at the doorway, smiles at you. When you approach him, he whispers "Well done." You wink at him and head over to met up with Lestrade. John walks past Donovan and follows the two of you inside.
Lestrade was putting on a coverall when you three approached him. "You need to wear one of these." You told John, who listens to you, and takes his jacket off and puts on the coverall.
"Who's this?" Lestrade asked.
"He's with us." You replied as you and Sherlock take off your gloves.
"But who is he?" Lestrade asked, again.
"She said he's with us." Sherlock growled at him.
Lestrade just stares between the two of you and continues to put on his coverall. "Aren't you two gonna put one on?" John asked pointing at the remaining coveralls but you and Sherlock look at him sternly and just put on latex gloves. "So where are we?" Sherlock asked the Inspector. "Upstairs." Lestrade replied.
Lestrade leads you and the boys up the stairs as he says "I can give you two minutes."
"May need longer." Sherlock said, casually.
"Her name's Jennifer Wilson according to her credit cards. We're running them now for contact details. Hasn't been here long. Some kids found her." Lestrade informed you.
After climbing two flights of stairs, you and the boys arrive to the room where, right in the middle, laid the dead woman's body. She obviously loved pink because that was the color of her wardrobe, her hands are flat on the floor either side of her head. You and Sherlock walk in and then stop. Sherlock had his hand out in front of him as he focuses on the corpse. The four of you stand there silently for several seconds, then Sherlock looks across to Lestrade. "Shut up." He said. "I didn't say anything." Lestrade said, startled. "You were thinking. It's annoying." Sherlock stated as he steps forward, slowly, until he reaches to the side of the corpse.
His attention was immediately drawn to something. He looks back at you and signals you to come hither. You stand next to him and he points to the floorboard. Near the woman's left hand, scratched into the floorboard, was the word "Rache". You eyes flick to her fingernails' where the index and middle fingernails are broken and ragged at the ends.
Her index finger rests at the bottom of the 'e' as if she was still trying to carve into the floor when she died. You look over to Sherlock and see him intensely looking at the word. You knew he was making a deduction as he shakes his head in a tiny dismissive way. You look back at the word and make a deduction yourself. RACHE could be the German word for revenge but that can't be it.
Eventually, you settled that the word is actually Rachel as Sherlock squats down besides the body and runs his gloved hand along the back of the woman's coat. You squat down as well as he lifts his hand and looks at his finger.
You notice that it was wet and you reached into her coat pockets and found a white folding umbrella in one of them. You show Sherlock and he runs his hand along the folds of the material and noticed that it was dry. You put up the umbrella back into her pocket and Sherlock runs his finger underneath the collar of her coat and sees that it's wet as well.
He takes out his small magnifier, clicks it open and closely inspects the gold jewelry the woman was wearing and noticed that they were all cleaned. You looked over her body and noticed her wedding ring was not as clean as her other jewelry. You deduced that she was unhappily married for 10 or more years.
You tapped Sherlock on the shoulder, he looks up and noticed you pointing at the ring. He works the ring of the woman's finger and holds it up to get a better look. The outside of the ring was dirty but the inside was clean which told you and Sherlock she's a serial adulterer.
"Got anything?" Lestrade asked you two. "Not much." You said, nonchalantly. Sherlock stands up and takes his gloves and gets his mobile out from his pocket and begins to type on it. You get up and take your gloves off as well as Anderson comes and leans against the doorway. "She's German. 'Rache': It's German for revenge. She could be trying to tell us something..." He started to say as Sherlock approaches him and begins to close the door in Anderson's face. "Yes, thank you for your input." He said, sarcastically, and continues to look on the phone.
"So she's German?" Lestrade asked.
"Of course she's not. She's from out of town, though. Intended to stay in London for one night before returning home to Cardiff." Sherlock said and found the information he needed and pockets his phone.
"So far, so obvious." You said.
"Sorry--obvious?" John asked.
"What about the message, though?" Lestrade asked you. You ignored him and turn to John.
"Doctor Watson, what do you think?" You asked him.
"Of the message?" He asked.
"Of the body. You're a medical man." Sherlock said.
"Wait, no, we have a whole team right outside." Lestrade said.
"They won't work with him." You said, pointing at Sherlock.
"I'm breaking every rule letting him in here." Lestrade argued.
"Yes because you need me." Sherlock said.
Lestrade paused for a moment and says "Yes, I do. God help me." He mutters.
"Doctor Watson." You addressed him.
He looks up from the body to you and Sherlock and then turns to Lestrade. "Oh, do as they say. Help yourself." Lestrade said, a little tetchily. He turns and opens the door, going outside. "Anderson, keep everyone out for a couple of minutes!" He shouted. You and the boys walk over to body, John lowers himself on one knee, painfully, on one side. You and Sherlock squat down on the other side. "Well?" You ask.
"What am I doing here?" John asked softly.
"Helping us make a point." Sherlock replied, softly.
"I'm supposed to be helping you pay rent." John said to Sherlock.
"Yeah, well, this is more fun." You reply, softly.
John looks at you shocked. "Fun? There's a woman lying dead." He said.
"Perfectly sound analysis, but we were hoping you'd go deeper." Sherlock whispered, in that deep silky voice that you secretly loved.
John looks over the body as Lestrade comes back into the room. "Asphyxiation, probably. Passed out, choked on her own vomit. Can't smell any alcohol on her. It could have been a seizure; possibly drugs." John said.
"You know what it was. You've read the papers." You said to him.
"What, she's one of the suicides? The fourth...?" John asked.
"Sherlock, (y/n)--two minutes, I said. I need anything you've got." Lestrade ordered. You and Sherlock stand up but you noticed John was struggling to get up and you went to help him up. "Thank you." John whispered to you.
"Victim is in her late thirties. Professional person, going by her clothes; I'm guessing something in the media, going by the frankly alarming shade of pink. Travelled from Cardiff today, intending to stay in London for one night. It's obvious from the size of her suitcase." Sherlock said.
"Suitcase?" Lestrade asked.
"Suitcase, yes. She's been married at least ten years, but not happily. She's had a string of lovers but none of them knew she was married." Sherlock continued.
"Oh, for God's sake, if you're just making this up..." Lestrade started to shout but you interrupted.
"Her wedding ring. Ten years old at least. The rest of her jewelry has been regularly cleaned, but not on her wedding ring. State of her marriage right there. The inside of the ring is shinier than the outside--that means it's regularly removed. The only polishing it gets is when she works it off her finger. It's not for work; look at her nails. She doesn't work with her hands, so what or rather who does she removes her ring for? Clearly not one lover; she'd never sustain the fiction of being single over that amount of time, so more likely a string of them. Simple." You said.
"That's brilliant!" John exclaims, you look at him and smile.
"Cardiff?" Lestrade asked.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Sherlock asked.
"It's not obvious to me." John said. You and Sherlock look look at each other then stare at the other two.
"Dear God, what's it like in your funny little brains? It must be so boring." Sherlock said. "Her coat: It's slightly damp. She's been in heavy rain in the last few hours. No rain anywhere in London in that time. Under her coat collar is damp, too. She's turned it up against the wind. She's got an umbrella in her left hand pocket but it's dry and unused: Not just wind, strong wind-too strong to use her umbrella. We know from her suitcase that she was intending to stay overnight, so she must have come a decent distance but she can't have traveled more than two or three hours because her coat still hasn't dried. So, where has been heavy rain and strong wind within radius of that time? Cardiff." Sherlock said, holding his phone displaying today's weather in the southern part of Britain.
"That's fantastic!" John exclaimed.
Sherlock turns to him and said, in a low voice. "D'you know you do that out loud?"
"Sorry, I'll shut up." John said.
"No it's fine." You told him and Sherlock nods in agreement.
"Why d'you keep saying suitcase?" asked Lestrade.
"Yes, where is it? She must have had a phone or an organizer. Find out who Rachel is." Sherlock said spinning around searching the room.
"She was writing Rachel?" Lestrade asked.
"No, she was leaving an angry note in German! Of course she was writing Rachel; no other word it can be. Question is: Why did she wait until she was dying to write it?" You said.
"How d'you know she had a suitcase?" Lestrade asked. Sherlock pointed down to the body.
"Back of the right leg: Tiny splash marks on the heel and calf, not present on the left. She was dragging a wheeled suitcase behind her with her right hand. Don't get that splash pattern any other way. Smallish case, going by the spread. Case that size, woman this clothes-conscious: Could only be an overnight bag, so we know she was staying one night." Sherlock said. "Now where is it? What have you done with it?" He asked.
"There wasn't a case." Lestrade stated. You and Sherlock stare at him.
"Say that again." Sherlock growled.
"There wasn't a case. There was never any suitcase." He stated, again.
"Suitcase! Has anyone seen a suitcase? Was there a suitcase in this house?" You asked the other officers as you walked out the room.
"(y/n) there was no case!" Lestrade said.
"But they take the poison themselves; they chew, swallow the pills themselves. There are clear signs. Even you lot couldn't miss them." Sherlock shouted as he followed you out the room.
"Right, yeah, thanks! And...?" Lestrade asked as you and Sherlock make you way downstairs.
"It's a murder, all of them. We don't know how, but they're not suicides, they're killings--serial killings." You said as Sherlock holds both his hand up in front of his face in delight.
"We've got ourselves a serial killer. I love those. There's always something to look forward to." He said and you agreed with him.
"Why are you saying that?" Lestrade asked.
"Her case! Come on, where is her case? Did she eat it? Someone else was here and they took her case." You replied and Sherlock mutters to you saying. "So the killer must have driven her here; forgot the case was in the car."
"She could have checked into a hotel, left her case there." John said.
"No, she never got to the hotel. Look at her hair. She color coordinates her lipstick and her shoes. She'd never have left any hotel with her hair still looking..." You said until Sherlock said
"Oh."
You look over at him and he looks back at you and it was like you two had a silent conversation because you came to the same realization.
"Oh!" Both of you said as he clapped his hand together in delight.
"Sherlock? (y/n)?" John asked, wondering if you two were ok.
"What is it, what?" asked the Inspector but you and Sherlock ignore him a bit.
"Serial killers are always hard. You have to wait for them to make a mistake." Sherlock said to you and you nodded.
"We can't just wait!" Lestrade shouted.
"Oh, we're done waiting!" You shouted and you two head down the stairs again.
"Look at her, really look! Houston, we have a mistake." You shouted.
"Get on to Cardiff: Find out who Jennifer Wilson's family and friends were. Find Rachel!" Sherlock shouted at the Inspector.
"Of course, yeah--but what mistake!" Lestrade calls after you two.
You and Sherlock turn back and yell back, in unison "PINK!" and then ran out the house and into the night, leaving John Watson behind.