And then there was three; a Sherlock Fanfiction

Eight

Inbox: you have 27 unread messages

"But, what was the password?" John looked at the screen incredulously.

"Her sister's birthdate" Sherlock replied, scrolling through the inbox.

"But- how did you know Amelia Brown's birthday? I don't think she even told us her age...?" John glanced at Lilly, unaware of how Sherlock could have possibly known that. A small grin played on Lilly's lips, regarding Sherlock with a look of amusement combined with respect.

"Observation, John, and not important," Sherlock squinted at the computer screen, scrutinizing the email subjects. He first checked an email received the day of the fire:

From: AV2679bg6@hotmail.net
subject: none
The business is finished and I'm settled in. Thank you for what you've done for me. I am forever in your network's debt.
**Don't respond to this email. The account by which I am communicating has been disposed of.
With great appreciation
NV

"NV?" John questioned, his familiar look of confusion reappearing on his face.

Sherlock was more focused on a different part of the email, his face grave: "Network..."

John looked at Sherlock worriedly, "Network... You don't think it could be him, do you?" when Sherlock didn't respond, the crease between his brow deepened, "but he's dead! You said he died on the rooftop. He couldn't of done it! Moriarty died!"

Something in the corner of Sherlock's eye caught his attention. He looked over at Lilly: her demeanor hadn't seemed to change, but the flash in her eyes and light tremor in her hands gave her away.

Sherlock turned his gaze back to John but watched Lilly in his peripheral, "He is dead."

"But- I thought you meant," John didn't finish his statement, even more confused than before.

Sherlock repeated himself, as Lilly tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, "he is dead. 'Network' could mean anything,"

John, like usual, had no idea what was going on: "but I thought you meant Moriarty...?"

"Not necessarily Moriarty, John"

"Are you implying that there might be another criminal network in London?" Lilly joined back in the conversation, watching Sherlock carefully.

"Maybe, but this one email isn't enough to go off of," Sherlock resumed scrolling through the inbox.

After sifting through and seeding out all the spam and advertisements, the trio was left with 16 emails to examine. Most of them were very similar to the first they had read, with people signing with one or two initials, or, for a few, sent with no signature at all. Even more upsetting was the fact that each attempt to track the accounts back proved impossible.

After an hour, the three hadn't made any progress, and John decided to call it a night.

"Well, I should be getting home" he stood up from his chair, stretching his muscles, "Mary will be expecting me."

Lilly glanced up from the screen of the computer, while Sherlock didn't even bother to look.

"Alright, I expect I'll see you tomorrow then," Lilly said to John, keeping her eyes on Sherlock's failing attempts to find anything useful from the emails.