The Laws of Attraction - A Study in Pink

A Study in Pink

     The three of them walked briskly down the street.  Sherlock Holmes, a tall man, easily out-paced John, who had to use a cane, but unfortunately for Sherlock, Leanna was a fast walker.  She knew that following close behind him would annoy him, and Leanna wasn't one to engage in such nonsense, but she still found herself matching his pace, just to get on his nerves.  

     "Where are we going?" John asked.

     "Northumberland Street. Five minutes' walk from here."

     "You think he'd be stupid enough to go there?"

     "No, I think he's brilliant enough. I love the brilliant ones. Always so desperate to get caught."

     "Why?"

     "Appreciation! Applause- at long last the spotlight. That's the frailty of genius, John. It needs an audience."

     "Which is why we're here." She muttered to John.

     "This is the hunting ground. Right here, in the heart of the city. Now that we know his victims were abducted, that changes everything. Because all of his disappeared from busy streets, crowded places, but nobody saw them go. Think! Who do we trust, even though we don't know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who hunts in the middle of a crowd?"

     "I don't know? Who?"

     "I haven't the faintest. Hungry?" They pitched sideways into a small cafe, and a man held the door for them. Sherlock removed his coat and sat at a table at the front, by the large window, and John did so too, letting his cane rest upon the edge of the booth seating. Leanna followed him.

     "No," Sherlock stopped her before she had a chance to sit down, "sit there." He instructed to sit at the table a few feet behind theirs.

     "How come?" It was John who asked the detective.

     "Because she puts me off." Leanna scowled and dropped herself in the chair at the specified table.

     "Sherlock, she's right there!" He whisper-yelled at him for insulting her to her face, but still his massive brain didn't seem to understand.

     "Yes, of course she is, John, that's the problem!"

     "I'm so sorry about him." He apologized on Sherlock's behalf to the girl sitting at the adjacent table. She just shrugged- you win some, you lose some. John redirected himself at Sherlock again.

     "You know, she defended you to Donovan earlier."

     "Really?" He spoke like he didn't quite care what he was saying.

     "Yeah- and she's been nothing but nice to you since you met her."

     "Exactly. I don't like nice. Waste of time. And her obsessive compulsive sets me on edge."

     "It's only slight..." Leanna muttered her defense, yet still John heard.

     "You're O.C.D? Really?" It was John's turn to be surprised with her, and his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

     "Of course she is John- look at her!" Leanna caught herself straightening her cutlery as he gestured her way. "John, sit down." Sherlock ordered, obviously annoyed, "Twenty two Northumberland Street. Keep your eyes on it."

     "He's not just going to ring the doorbell. He'd need to be mad."

     "He's killed four people." He gave him a look that said obviously he's mad. A waiter came up and greeted Sherlock as if he'd known him for ages.