Kat Got Your Tongue? (Sherlock X OC) ~BOOK 1~

Chapter 25

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After the lovely Ms. Wintel lets the two of them them in (John couldn't come because that would be too suspicious), and lets them use her balcony, Sherlock looks down over the edge of the railing, Kat following closely behind.

"How about I go first," Sherlock tells her gently referring to her fear of heights. "And then you follow behind doing exactly as I do, yeah?"

"Okay." Kat replies shakily as she looks over the edge again as she tries to will her fear away... it doesn't work.

Sherlock grabs her hand, squeezes it reassuringly, and then climbs over the edge and drops easily and fearlessly onto the balcony below.

"Okay, Katherine, now it's your turn." Sherlock says holding his arms out to her as she looks over at him. "I promise I'll catch you, okay? I promise."

"Okay," Kat breathes out shakily. "Here I go." And with that she swings over and lands, surprisingly gracefully, in Sherlock's arms.

"See," Sherlock says a little breathless himself, except it's not because he just caught Kat, it's because of the way he's holding her: his arms are around her waist and he's holding her right up against himself, both of their chests touching, her toes are on top of his, and their faces are inches apart. "I told you I would catch you, Miss Moore."

"That you did, Mr. Holmes." Kat replies, also breathless from the fall and their proximity. "As, uh, as much as I would like to stay in this position," Kat jokes seriously, giving him a dazzling smile, "We've got a, uh, case to solve." She smiles up at Sherlock.

"To be continued, Miss Moore." Is all he replies as he lets her go. Kat, unsure what he meant by that, just let it go, hoping to bring it up after the case was solved, and the two of them proceeded into Van Coon's apartment.

The two of them walk around the room, opening up the fridge, checking around for anything unusual. There were buzzes coming from the intercom and they could hear John's voice as he tries to get their attention.

"Sherlock? Kat?" He calls to them. "Are you guys okay?" Sherlock walks into the bathroom as Kat looks into a closet. "Yeah, any time you feel like letting me in." Kat then walks up to a pair of double doors and tries to open them but they are locked.

"Sherlock." Kat says gesturing to the doors. Sherlock walks over and tries the doors himself. Kat gives him a sarcastic look when the doors don't open for him either. "What, did you think you were going to have the magic touch, or something?" She laughs.

"Well I had to try." He replies back with a smile and then steps back a little bit and runs at the door, kicking it in. The door gives in and the two of them walk inside the room and look around, however, Kat and Sherlock's eyes stop on Van Coon dead on the bed with a gun in his hands and a bloody bulletproof hole on the right side of his head.

After Kat phoned up for backup, they brought in forensics to photograph the crime scene. Oh, and they also finally let John up.

The three of them were standing and looking at Van Coon's body.

"D'you think he'd lost a lot of money?" John asked Sherlock while the detective was putting on a pair of white latex gloves. "I mean, suicide is pretty common among City boys."

"We don't know that it was suicide." Sherlock replies simply and Kat put on a pair of latex gloves as well.

"Come on. The door was locked from the inside; you had to climb down the balcony."

Kat was observing the body while Sherlock had gone off to the side and was going through the victim's suitcase.

"Been away three days, judging by the laundry." Holmes tells his two companions. "Kat, look at the case. There was something tightly packed inside it." He says and she walks over to his and nods her head in agreement.

"Thanks. I'll take your word for it." John says slightly disgusted that Sherlock is rifling through some dead guys dirty clothing.

"Problem?" Holmes asked him.

Watson laughs dryly. "Yeah, I'm not desperate to root around some bloke's dirty underwear."

"Those symbols at the bank, the graffiti. Why were they put there?" Sherlock asks his partners.

"A message?" Kat tries.

"What, some sort of code?" Watson adds questioningly. 

"Obviously." Holmes replies. "Why were they painted? If you want to communicate, why not use e-mail?" With these questions, Kat realizes that Sherlock is phishing for John to catch on to something he has already figured out.

Watson runs his head and crosses his arms as Sherlock walks over to observe the body again. "Well, maybe he wasn't answering." John replies.

"Oh good. You follow." Holmes tells him sarcastically and looking at Van Coon's fingers closely.

"No."

"What kind of a message would everyone try to avoid?" Holmes asks trying again with John. The doctor, still confused, just stands there. Sherlock rolls his eyes. "What about this morning, those letters you were looking at?"

"Bills." Watson replies still not understanding where Sherlock is going with this.

"Threats." Holmes answers.

Kat slowly turns to Sherlock and looks at him quizzically, "You find bills threatening?" She questions him, a small smile growing on her face.

"No, I don't find them particularly threatening, but it is known to be a threat, so to speak, you know," Sherlock pauses a moment as if thinking how to phrase his next words, "Give them your money or they will arrest you."

Kat laughs, nodding her head. "Good point."

Sherlock, who was still examining the body, heads towards Van Coon's mouth. He seems to spot something inside because he reaches in and pulls out a small black lump of paper.

"Yes. He was definitely being threatened." Is all Sherlock says

"Not by the gas board." Kat says with a small laugh as Sherlock puts the paper into a small evidence bag.

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