A New Mystery at 221 Baker Street

Chapter 3: Books

Note: Transcript provided by Ariane Devere/ Callie Sullivan

***

John and Sherlock walked into their living room and took off their coats. "Not just a criminal organization; it's a cult. Her brother was corrupted by one of its leaders." Sherlock said out loud.

"Soo Lin said the name," John replied, sitting down in his chair.

"Yes, General Shan,"

"We're still no closer to finding them,"

"Wrong. We've got almost all we need to know. She gave us most of the missing pieces." Sherlock looked at John who looked confused. "Why did he need to visit his sister? Why did he need her expertise?"

"She worked at the museum,"

"Exactly," Sherlock nodded.

John began to catch up. "As an expert on antiquities,"

"Valuable antiquities, John. Ancient Chinese relics purchased on the black market. China is home to a thousand treasures hidden after Mao's revolution,"

Sherlock and John sat at the table searching for recent auctions, focusing on those with Chinese and other Asian works of art. "Here, John," Sherlock said pointing to an auction lot. "Two Chinese Ming Vases; arrived from China four days ago. Source: anonymous. The vendor didn't give his name. Two undiscovered treasures from the east,"

"One in Lukis' suitcase and the other in Van Coon's," John finished for him. John grabbed Lukis' diary and compared them to other entries on the screen. "Every single auction coincides with Lukis or Van Coon traveling to China,"

"What is one of them got greedy while they were in China? What if one of them stole something?" Just then, Mrs. Hudson knocked on the door.

"Hoo, hoo! Sorry, are we collecting for charity Sherlock? A young man is outside with crates of books." Two uniformed police officers began carrying multiple crates of books each labeled with Van Coon and Lukis' names.

Alice popped in to see what the commotion was about and found the living room of 221b filled with crates of books.

"So, the numbers are references to specific pages and specific words on those pages," Sherlock explained to John.

"So... fifteen and one: That means-" John questioned.

"Turn to page fifteen and it's the first word you read," Alice answered from the doorway gaining a surprised look from both men. "This only works if the same book is used by both parties. That's the best part of the book code. You need to find a book that they both owned." She entered the room and pointed at the vast amount of crates each filled to the brim with books. "You boys have some work to do." John gave her a look, almost asking her to help them go through each book. Alice smiled and nodded, John handed her crate and the three began working. Soon enough books were scattered everywhere and by morning, Alice was curled up, fast asleep in Sherlock's chair with a pile of books by her feet.

"I've got to go to work," John said, checking the watch on his wrist. "Don't wake her."

*** ***

"A book that everybody would own," Sherlock stated out loud as Alice took a bite of her sandwich. At first, Sherlock was annoyed that she was helping them out, but he slowly warmed up to the idea after Alice proved herself to be able to keep up with his ramblings. He also found himself to be surprised by her intelligence and ability to think on her feet. "The Oxford Dictionary!"

Alice quickly grabbed the book from the shelf and turned to page fifteen. "Add,"

"The Holy Bible!"