The Baker Street Brothers

Chapter Sixteen

Enzo pulls on a pair of latex gloves, the police taking pictures behind him "D'you think he'd lost a lot of money? I mean, suicide is pretty common among City boys." John tells them. "We don't know that it was suicide." Enzo tells him, kneeling by the case. "Come on. The door was locked from the inside; you had to climb down the balcony." John points out. "Been away three days, judging by the laundry." Enzo says, looking at the laundry in the case. Sherlock looks at the case "There was something tightly packed inside it." he adds, Enzo nodding in agreement. "Thanks, I'll take your word for it." John tells them. "Problem?" Sherlock frowns. "Yeah, I'm not desperate to root around some bloke's dirty underwear." John responds. Sherlock and Enzo walk to the foot of the bed "Those symbols at the bank, the graffiti. Why were they put there?" Sherlock asks. "What, some sort of code?" John asks. "Obviously." Sherlock responds. Enzo starts searching Van Coon's body, carefully opening the man's jacket to look at his inside pockets "Why were they painted? If you want to communicate, why not use e-mail?" Enzo asks. "Well, maybe he wasn't answering." John responds. "Oh good. You follow." Sherlock tells him, also searching Van Coon's body. "No." John responds. "What kind of a message would everyone try to avoid? What about this morning, those letters you were looking at?" Enzo tells John. "Bills." John realises. Sherlock gently prises open Van Coon's mouth and pulls out a small black origami flower from inside "Yes. He was being threatened." he tells John

"Bag this up, will you..." a man outside the room orders, Enzo looking over at the door. "Not by the gas board." John says, looking at the flower as Sherlock puts it in an evidence bag. "...and see if you can get prints off this glass." the man continues, walking into the bedroom. "Ah, Sergeant. We haven't met." Sherlock says, offering to shake the man's hand. The man puts his hands on his hips "Yeah, I know who you and your brother are; and I'd prefer it if you didn't tamper with any of the evidence." he tells him. Sherlock lowers his hand and gives the bag to an officer "I've phoned Lestrade. Is he on his way?" he asks. "He's busy. I'm in charge. And it's not Sergeant; it's Detective Inspector. Dimmock." the man responds. Enzo and Sherlock give each other surprised looks, be following the man out of the room "We're obviously looking at a suicide." he says. "That does seem the only explanation of all the facts." John agrees. The brothers take their gloves off "Wrong. It's one possible explanation of some of the facts. You've got a solution that you like, but you're choosing to ignore anything you see that doesn't comply with it." Sherlock tells Dimmock. "Like?" he asks. "The wound was on the right side of his head." Enzo tells him. "And?" Dimmock asks. "Van Coon was left-handed." Sherlock responds, demonstrating putting a gun to his head. "Requires quite a bit of contortion." Enzo points out.

"Left-handed?" Dimmock asks. "Oh, I'm amazed you didn't notice. All you have to do is look around this flat. Coffee table on the left-hand side; coffee mug handle pointing to the left. Power sockets: habitually used the ones on the left. Pen and paper on the left-hand side of the phone because he picked it up with his right and took down messages with his left. D'you want Enzo or I to go on?" Sherlock asks, pointing things out. "No, I think you've covered it." John tells him. "Oh, we might as well; we're almost at the bottom of the list. There's a knife on the breadboard with butter on the right side of the blade because he used it with his left. It's highly unlikely that a left-handed man would shoot himself in the right side of his head. Conclusion: someone broke in here and murdered him. Only explanation of all the facts." Enzo finishes. "But the gun: why-" Dimmock starts. "He was waiting for the killer. He'd been threatened." Enzo cuts him off. Sherlock starts to walk away, pulling on his coat, scarf and gloves "What?" Dimmock asks. "Today at the bank. Sort of a warning." John responds. "He fired a shot when his attacker came in." Sherlock explains. "And the bullet?" Dimmock asks him. "Went through the open window." Enzo responds. "Oh, come on! What are the chances of that?!" Dimmock exclaims. "Wait until you get the ballistics report. The bullet in his brain wasn't fired from his gun. We guarantee it." Sherlock tells him. "But if his door was locked from the inside, how did the killer get in?" Dimmock asks them. "Good! You're finally asking the right questions." Sherlock responds sarcastically, walking out with Enzo behind him.