The Consulting Hacker

Missing

Chapter Eighteen

"Sherlock, what the hell? Wasn't sending your homeless network enough? Why did you need to follow me instead?"

"Who said I was Sherlock Holmes?" The voice was different, higher pitched than Sherlock's normal voice. Cate's blood ran cold. But before she could run she felt his hands on her neck and something sharp pressing into it.

--

Sherlock got off the cab at the end of the street and walked down to 221 Baker Street. What he didn't expect was the teenage boy sitting on the doorsteps listening to music. As soon as the boy looked up and saw Sherlock, he quickly took off his headphones and greeted him,

"What's up my Holmie? Wow, I've been wanting to use that for a long time, can't believe I actually said it." Sherlock looked at him blankly and tried to walk around him to get to the front door, "Okay, sorry, that was a bit lame wasn't it?" Silence. Then,

"Can I get into my apartment?"

"Oh yeah, sure, sorry." He moved out of the way, then stopped. "Where's Cate?"

"You know Cate?"

"Yeah, where is she?"

"I haven't seen her since this morning."

"I thought you spoke to her earlier, she said she went to talk to you. She saw you at the church."

"I haven't seen her since this morning, and I haven't been to any churches recently."

"Then who did she go to see earlier?"

"I don't know, and it doesn't matter to me."

"Shouldn't you be slightly worried that she isn't back?"

"Why should I? She's an adult and she should be able to handle herself. Now, if you'll excuse me." Sherlock opened the door and stepped in before closing it on the boy. He began walking up the stairs before back-tracking. He opened the door once again, "Sorry, I was so harsh earlier, it's been a long day. Do you want to come in?" The boy looked at him and shook his head.

"I've got be going home now, could you give this to Cate when she gets back, though?" He handed over the guitar and small backpack to Sherlock.

"Are you sure you don't want to come in?"

"I'm sure, when she gets back could you also tell her to text me?"

"Sure, how do you know Cate anyway?"

"I know her through her jobs." His phone began ringing, "Ah, sorry, got to run. I'll see you around." He began sprinting down towards the main road. Sherlock frowned, annoyed that he couldn't find out more about Cate.

--

The next day, Sherlock returned back to 221 Baker Street having been to the morgue earlier, the guitar and backpack were still sitting in the hallway. Just as he was halfway up the staircase, a boy walked out of Mrs Hudson's apartment.

"Sherlock, did she not come back yesterday?"

"Who are you?"

"Oh right, I didn't introduce myself yesterday. Zachary Hart, at your service, but everyone calls me Zach; Cate calls me either Zach-Nav or Tom-Tom." Sherlock continued to look at him blankly before a wave of recognition passed his face.

"Oh, from yesterday, you were looking for Cate."

"Yeah."

"No, she hasn't come back, has she contacted you at all?"

"I wouldn't be here if she did."

"Come upstairs, we'll discuss what to do next." Zach nodded and followed Sherlock up to his apartment. Sherlock walked in and headed straight to his chair, Zach however, hung back, unsure of what to do, "Sit." came the lazy solution, Zach followed it without a moment's hesitation and sat on the smallest area of the nearest sofa. Silence followed. Sherlock looked at the boy now sat on his sofa, this was going to be the closest that he has been to finding more about Cate. Zach broke the silence,

"Do you have any idea of where she could be?"

"Not at all. For all we know, she could be on another of her jobs."

"I've checked all her jobs, they haven't seen her."

"Why are you so desperate to find her? What does she mean to you?"

"She's just a really good friend of mine, isn't it natural for someone to be worried about another person?" Sherlock didn't answer him, but instead, he asked,

"So, how long have you known her?"

"Er, around two or three years, I guess."

"How did you come to meet her?"

"Well, I first saw her busking one day down that Baker Street Station, then I saw her again at her coffee shop job and I recognised her. I hung around the coffee shop a few more times until she recognised me then we hung out a bit after that. Nothing special."

"You're omitting something, but no matter. It's probably not that important. You said Cate had a job?"

"Several jobs actually. Does she not tell you about them?"

"No, Cate doesn't talk to me often."

"Why?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

"She's never mentioned you before to me. I didn't even know she lived below you until yesterday."

"How well do you know Cate?"

"Well, not that well apparently. She always kept to herself I guess, we saw each other loads, though, but we never really got into each other backgrounds." He paused, and thought for a moment, "I know this is out of the blue. But could you read me?"

"You work part-time in a shop, and you do a lot of lifting, you have one younger sibling, a younger sister. Your mother died very soon after your sister was born and you have helped your father to take care of your sister since, that's why you do your part-time job, to help earn money. Your family isn't well-off, but you can survive. You used to live in Liverpool before your father decided to move closer to London to commute to work. Is that sufficient?"

"Cate read me like that too, but she was a bit more detailed."

"Detailed, how?"

"She could tell me where I worked and how old my father and sister were."

"I can be detailed like that too, but it's a waste of time to actually go in depth with you."

"Right, only criminals and suspects are worthy of your time, I'm guessing." Zach gave him a lop-sided grin, "But it shocked me that she knew that much about me because we never even spoke before, but she already knew a lot about me. And you've never seen me before, so you wouldn't have told her."

"That's right. Did you never ask her about her family too?"

"No." They sat in silence for a bit until a quiet beeping could be heard from Zach's pocket. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the message that he received. "Sherlock." It came out as a whisper.

"Is it Cate?" Zach looked up and pushed his phone towards the table to Sherlock. He sighed and got up to reach the phone. Zach had his head in his hands and Sherlock read the message.

I hope you enjoy this final picture of Cate. Treasure it. This will be the last picture that will ever be taken of her.

Cate was glaring weakly at the person behind the camera and she had blood coming out of her nose. Her hair was a mess and she sat limply against a wall. A bruise was beginning to form across her cheek.