Anatomically Correct Heart

Visting Hours

"So I was looking through some of the evidence and... Are you even listening?"

Eleanor sits up in her bed and rubs her eyes, seeing Sherlock pace around the edge of her bed. "What are you doing in here?"

"Talking to you. Obviously," he says.

"I was asleep."

"It was apparent, yes."

"You were talking to a sleeping person!" Eleanor exclaims, getting out of bed. "That's practically talking to yourself."

"It helps for me to talk aloud. So! As I was saying, I looked through the evidence and found that she had Sodium Benzoate on her." Sherlock says, still pacing around. "Why would she have a food preservative on her?"

"Sherlock, I just woke up. Please leave me alone," Eleanor says, looking through her dresser.

"Eleanor, we have a dead woman who had an affair with the CEO of a computer chip company. There is no time to sleep!" Sherlock exclaims, pulling Eleanor into the living room.

"Sherlock, I don't see very much evidence. This case has gone too quickly," she points out. "I mean, we found the body yesterday and we've already worked out she had an affair."

"Yes yes yes, that's what's having two geniuses on a case does," he says, "That's beyond the point. I found Sodium Benzoate on her clothes!"

"She has a food preservative on her clothes?" Eleanor asks. "That makes no sense."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Sherlock says frustratedly, throwing his hands in the air.

She groans and flops down on the couch, throwing her legs over the arm closest to the door.

Sherlock sighs and sits down beside her, kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

"Sodium Benzoate," Eleanor says.

"Yes."

"A food preservative found on a dead body," Eleanor states out loud, tapping her fingers together.

"Yes, it's also used in fireworks but that makes even less sense," he sighs in frustration and kicks his feet over the other edge of the couch and positions himself so their heads are touching.

"What if the killer used it to throw us off? I mean, it's a preservative, right? So maybe they thought it would preserve the body, which throws are time of death off," Eleanor explains.

"It's a preservative for organic objects. Using it on a body would not effect it," Sherlock says.

"But it's used in medical stuff, right?"

"Yes, to bind amino acids."

Eleanor bites her lip to think. "This is going to take a while."

"We've got all the time in the world."

~

"Oh, you two," Mrs.Hudson says, coming out of the kitchen carrying a tray of teas and food. "Working so hard."

"Mrs.Hudson, we need not be disturbed," Sherlock says.

"Just brought up some tea and cakes," she says, setting it down on the coffee table.

"Thank you," Eleanor says, not moving from her position.

"Ooooo! Looks like Mycroft decided to pop by," Mrs.Hudson says, waking down the stairs.

"Mycroft!!! It's good to see you!!! My, you've grown!!!" Eleanor hears Mrs.Hudson say downstairs.

"Yes, yes, skip the pleasantries," Mycroft says, walking up the stairs.