Sentiment {Sherlock BBC}

56. "Six."

Toby sat on the pavement and Mary held his leash. John had Rosie strapped to his chest in one of those baby carriers and Sherlock stood with his hands in his coat pockets staring at the dog. Mary, John and I had been staring into space when John finally decided to speak up,

"He's not moving." John said.

"He's thinking." Sherlock responded. Mary pet the dog as I leaned my head on Sherlock's arm and slid my hand in his pocket to hold his.

"He's really not moving." John added getting impatient.

"Slow but sure, John; not dissimilar to yourself." Sherlock said. John sighed and looked back down at Toby.

"You just like this dog, don't you?" John asked.

"Well, I like you." Sherlock added with a shrug.

"He's still not moving." Mary sighed. Sherlock, still eyed the dog.

"Fascinating." Sherlock said. I laughed at how he was seriously interested in this dog.

Finally, Toby had a lead.

"Well? What do you make of it?" Sherlock asked Mary.

"They were looking for something." Mary said.

"Yes, but it wasn't a burglar. They came specifically for that Thatcher bust. Why?" Sherlock asked. We walked through Borough market and finally Toby stopped in front of a pool of blood on the ground. There was a man tossing shavings on the blood to soak it up as Toby looked at a butcher.

"Clever." Sherlock said.

"Well, if you were wounded and you knew you were leaving a trail, where would you go?" Mary asked.

"Like hiding a tree in a forest." John said.

"Or blood in a butchers'." Sherlock said. He walked over to the dog and squatted to meet eye level with the dog, patting it's head.

"Never mind, Toby. Better luck next time, hm?" he asked the dog. "This is it, though. This is the one." Sherlock said as he stood up. "I can feel it."

"Not Moriarty?" John asked.

"It has to be him. It's too bizarre; it's too baroque. It's designed to beguile me, tease me, lure me in. At last – a noose for me to put my neck into." Sherlock said looking around taking the leash from Mary. He began to walk with Toby, leaving me with John and Mary when he came back and took my hand, pulling me with him.

Sherlock took us back to Craig's house and Sherlock watched as Craig began typing into his computer as I sat on the edge of the kid's bed.

"Have you heard of that thing, in Germany?" Craig asked Sherlock.

"You're going to have to be more specific, Craig." Sherlock said.

"'Ostalgie.' People who miss the old days under the Communists. People are weird, aren't they?" Craig asked.

"Mm." Sherlock said eyeing the kid for a moment.

"According to this, there's quite a market for Cold War memorabilia – Thatcher, Reagan, Stalin. Time's a great leveller, innit? Thatcher's like – I dunno – Napoleon now."

"Yes, fascinating, irrelevant. Where exactly did they come from?" Sherlock asked.

"I've got into the records of the suppliers – Gelder & Co. Seems they're from Georgia." Craig said.

"Where exactly?" Sherlock asked.

"Uh, Tbilisi. Batch of six." Craig replied. Sherlock nodded and paced behind the kid. "One to Welsborough; one to Hassan; one to Doctor Barnicot. Two to Miss Orrie Harker..." Craig said. Sherlock's phone began to ring and he reached into his coat. "One to a Mr Jack Sandeford of Reading." Craig continued.

"Lestrade, another one?" Sherlock asked into his phone. "Harker or Sandeford? Hm, that perks things up a bit." Sherlock said and hung up. Sherlock grabbed my hand and pulled me to follow him out as he typed Black Pearl Mystery into his phone.

******************

Sherlock and I approached Lestrade in a garden where Miss. Harker's body was flat on the grass.

"Defensive wounds on her face and hands. Throat cut – sharp blade." Lestrade said.

"The same thing inside the house? The bust?" Sherlock asked.

"Two of them this time." Lestrade said.

"Interesting. That batch of statues was made in Tbilisi several years ago – limited edition of six." Sherlock said.

"And now someone's wandering about destroying 'em all. Makes no sense. What's the point?" Lestrade asked.

"No, they're not destroying them. That's not what's happening." Sherlock said.

"Yes it is." Lestrade said.

"Well, it is what's happening, but it's not the point. I've been slow; far too slow." Sherlock said.

"Well, I'm still being slow over here, so if you wouldn't mind..." Lestrade said.

"Slow but lucky; very lucky. And since they smashed both busts, our luck might just hold. Jack Sandeford of Reading is where I'm going next. Congratulations, by the way." Sherlock said.

"I'm sorry?" Lestrade asked.

"Well, you're about to solve a big one." Sherlock said turning to walk away.

"Yeah, until John publishes his blog." Lestrade called behind us.

"Yeah. 'til then, basically." Sherlock said peeking at me with a smirk.

***************

Sherlock walked into 221B later that night and I rushed up to him.

"Are you okay?" I asked noticing a very slight limp, even slight I was terrified.

"I'm fine," he rolled his eyes and held a flash drive in his hands.

"That's-,"

"I know," Sherlock said. I noticing his eye was slightly swelling and I frowned.

"Let's get something on that-,"

"Liz," he sighed sitting in his chair.

"Sherlock," I began just staring at him as he sat the drive on his table and held his arms out. I walked over to him and climbed into the chair with him. He wrapped his arms around me and ran his fingers through my hair.

"You aren't like, some undercover agent or something, right?" he asked.

"No?" I laughed at his question. "Why?"

"Some things are just incredibly hard to believe," he sighed pressing a kiss to my forehead. 

The door opened in the living room and Sherlock walked out, "Well?" he asked.

"He can't have got far. We'll have him in a bit." Lestrade said.

"He? Sherlock, he who?" I asked him, but he ignored me.

"I very much doubt it." Sherlock said pulling out his phone.

"Why?" Lestrade asked puzzled.

"Because I think he used to work with Mary." Sherlock sighed.

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