Hello Detective

The Great Game Part 3

"We were worried when you didn't come in this morning." Lestrade said to me.

"Bit of a weird night." I said, following Lestrade into his office where Donovan was waiting.

"Oh, look who decided to show up. What'd you do? Bang your head against the headboard to hard?" Donovan said, smirking and pointing to my bruised temple.

"Good morning to you too Sally." I fake smiled, she was only jealous because Lestrade liked me more.

"You like the funny cases don't you, the surprising ones." Lestrade said to Sherlock, changing the subject.

"Obviously." Sherlock said.

"Then you'll love this." Lestrade said. "That explosion."

"Gas leak, yes." Sherlock said.

"No." Lestrade returned.

"No?" Sherlock asked surprised.

"No, made to look like one," Lestrade explained, "Nothing left of the place, except a strong box. A very strong box, and inside it was this." Lestrade said pointing to an envelope on his desk.

"You haven't opened it." Sherlock observed.

"It's addressed to you, isn't it?" Lestrade said. "We've X-rayed it. It's not booby-trapped."

"How reassuring." Sherlock said. He examined the thick envelope under a desk lamp. "Nice stationary, Bohemian. From the Czech Republic. She used a fountain pen. Parker Duofold, iridium nib." Sherlock deduced. He began to open it and dumped its contents out onto his hand. It was an iPhone in a pink case.

"But that... that's the phone. The pink phone." John stammered.

"What, from The Study in Pink?" Lestrade asked.

"Well obviously it's not the same phone but it's supposed to look like... A Study in Pink? You read his blog?" Sherlock asked annoyed.

"Of course I read his blog. We all do. Do you really not know that the Earth goes round the sun?" Lestrade asked, and Donovan snickered as she walked out of the room.

"It isn't the same phone. This one's brand-new. Someone's gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like the same phone. Which means your blog has a far wider readership." Sherlock said as he clicked the phone on. He went to the voicemail but all it was was 5 pips.

"Was that it?" Lestrade asked.

"No that's not it." Sherlock said, and he was right. After the message was over the phone received a text. It was a picture of a disheveled flat.

"What the hell are we supposed to make of that? An estate agent's photo and the bloody Greenwich pips." Lestrade said.

"It's a warning. Some secret societies used to send dried melon seeds, orange pips, things like that. Five pips. They're warning us it's going to happen again." Sherlock said.

"Hang on. I've seen that place before." I said, taking the phone out of Sherlock's hand.

"What's gonna happen again?" John asked.

"Boom!" Sherlock replied.

The three men followed me out to the street to fetch a cab.

"I looked at this flat when I first moved here. We could have been flatmates." I said to Sherlock.

"How do you mean?" Sherlock asked.

"This picture, it's of 221C Baker Street." I explained and the four of us caught a cab back to Sherlock's flat. Sherlock hopped out first and went to unlock the door. The other two men followed, leaving me to pay.