Sentiment || Sherlock Holmes

The Blind Banker Part 2

It was a seven minute walk to the tube, a four minute ride to Tottenham Court, and then an eight minute walk into Chinatown. She found herself standing next to Sherlock and John with one minute to spare. Evelyn was given no greetings or time to catch her breath, as Sherlock immediately entered the little shop in front of them. Eve smiled, following right on his heels.

The interior was low-lit, with a red tint to everything in sight. A woman in her mid to late sixties sat behind the counter. Evelyn nodded to her in greeting before looking casually around the shop for anything that might have been left by Van Coon or Lukis. The woman held up a cat statue and spoke to John.

"You want Lucky Cat?"

"No thanks..." John replied.

"Ten pound, ten pound!" She insisted, as if it were worth a shilling. "I think your wife, she will like."

John just smiled and inspected some paper lanterns. Eve tried not to giggle as she picked up an intricately painted teacup. She flipped it over to check the price and found the same symbol that was left for Van Coon.

"Sherlock," She called calmly, "What do you think of this?"

He stood next to her and reached out to take the cup when he noticed what was printed on the sticker. His hand paused, grasping the dainty piece of porcelain She looked over her shoulder at him and saw his gaze go inward, thinking, deducing. Focusing on the black pupil in the center of his ice blue eyes, she began her own deductions. 

John looked up from a painted scroll, about to ask if they had found anything. The words never left his tongue as he was too perplexed by the image before him. Sherlock and Evelyn were standing close together, both holding onto an upside-down teacup. The two geniuses were staring intently at each other, not saying a word. John was debating whether to give them some space or to clear his throat when Eve moved suddenly.

She placed the cup down and slid past Sherlock and out the door, making a beeline down the street.

"Sherlock! Should we-"

"Yes, Watson, let's go." Sherlock began explaining once they were out the door. "It's an ancient number system. Hangzhou. These days it's only used by street traders. Those were numbers written on the wall at the bank and the library."

They stopped at the sight of Evelyn's red coat, stopped at a vegetable stand. She whirled round to face them, a huge grin on her face.

"Fifteen and one. What we thought was a tag means fifteen and the blindfold means one." She announced.

The trio walked into a nearby restaurant for John to eat lunch and Eve and Sherlock to deduce. In her periphery Evelyn saw a woman ahead of them on the street. She wore sunglasses and seemed to be taking a picture of them with her phone. Eve blinked and the woman was gone.

"You coming Eve?" John called.

Evelyn looked one last time at where the woman had been before following her friends into the building.

John ate his food and felt a bit as though he was watching a game at Wimbledon as Eve and Sherlock talked back and forth about the details of the case. They finally concluded that Van Coon and Lukis were smugglers and one must have stolen something.

"The killer doesn't know which one of them took it so he threatens them both, right." John added.

"Exactly." Evelyn agreed, smiling proudly at the doctor.

Sherlock, who had caught sight of something across the street, said: "Remind me, when was the last time it rained?" He left the restaurant without another word, leaving Eve and John to follow.