Sophia Holmes and the Blind Banker (Sherlock's Daughter Fanfic) *Completed*

Chapter Five

We take a cab to the end of the Shaftesbury Avenue and walk down the road looking for the restaurant Van Coon ate at on the day he died.

"So you bought your lunch from here en route to the station, but where were you headed from?" dad asks himself out loud, trying to piece his movements together. I look down the road and see the entrance to China Town, and my mind begins to find links. "Where did the taxi drop you ...?"

He begins to spin around as he walks, taking in a full 360 of the streets surrounding this one. Almost immediately and completely predictably, he bumps into someone who was approaching from behind, and who seems too engrossed in a book to look where he's going. Dad grunts as they collide, and John looks up, surprised to see us here.

"Right," John begins, ready to launch into an explanation of his findings, but dad begins to quick fire.

"Eddie Van Coon brought a package here the day he died - whatever was hidden inside that case. We've managed to piece together a picture using scraps of information ..."

"Sherlock ..." John says, attempting to interrupt.

" ... credit card bills, receipts," dad continues, blanking John out. "He flew back from China, then he came here."

"Sherlock ..." John tries again, unsuccessfully.

"Somewhere in this street; somewhere near. I don't know where, but ..."

John gives me a pointed look, and I nudge dad in the ribs as John points to the other side of the road. "That shop over there."

Dad and I look over to the shop he's pointing to then look back to John, frowning. That could work; it certainly supports my theory.

"How can you tell?" Dad challenges.

"Lukis' diary, " John explains showing us the diary entry. "He was here too. He wrote down the address." How helpful of him. John turns and heads towards the shop, leaving us confused by such a simple answer.

We follow John into 'The Lucky Cat' - a tourist shop in China Town which lives up to its name by stocking mostly decorative cats. Most of the cats are sitting up on their hind legs, one front paw raised in greetings, but some of them have their paws waving back and forth.

I frown in confusion as I wonder why someone like Lukis would come here after a trip abroad. I can't even fathom the idea of Eddie doing it, unless...

The female Chinese shop keeper holds up one of the cats as we pretend to look. "You want lucky cat?

"No," John says politely, smiling slightly, "thanks. No." Dad looks around at him and smirks.

"Ten pound. Ten pound!" the shop keeper cries, in a feeble attempt for us to buy something that is vastly overpriced.

"No," John repeats, smiling awkwardly at the woman.

"I think your daughter, she will like!" she persists, gesturing to me and my interest in a set of miniature cats by the window. I turn one over to see the price, and my eyes widen in disbelief.

John looks to me with a look of betrayal and I shrug my shoulders, smiling slyly. He hands the woman the ten-pound note from his pocket and tosses the cat my way. I catch it easily and smile fakely at him.

"Thank you daddy," I laugh.

Dad spins around to face me and gives a half-smile, before turning back to the clay statues on a rack in the corner. John picks up a small ceramic handle-less cup and turns it over to see the price as I slip the cat into my bag. His hand begins to tremble as he too spots the symbol on the underside of the cup and, going by his expression, it's one of the cyphers we've already seen.