The Jack of All Trades {Sherlock Holmes}

Chapter Three

"Hello, Evelyn," came a voice from behind her. Evelyn called out, jumping and dropping her plate with a crash. No one in the room flinched, except for Sherlock. This happened quite often, Evelyn was scared easily, so every worker in the canteen was used to it by now.

"Oh god- Sherlock, what the bloody hell?" Evelyn crouched down to pick up the pieces of her plate.

"Well, to be honest, I didn't think you'd react like that," Sherlock says, watching her pick up the pieces of the plate with her hands, not bothering to help her. She'd refuse his help anyway.

"You should know very bloody well I'd react like that," Evelyn exclaimed, standing back up and grabbing a new plate. "So, what are you doing here, Sherlock?"

"I need to examine some bodies."

"'Some'?" Evelyn asked, scrunching her nose at the food items.

"Eddie Van Coon and Brian Lukis, specifically," Sherlock said, looking down at the woman.

"They're both on Molly's list tonight, you're talking to the wrong person," Evelyn said, settling for a bag of chips. She turned to Sherlock, only to see he was pulling an old trick on her. "Puppy-dog eyes won't work on me, Sherlock."

"It usually works on Molly," said Sherlock, confused.

"I'm not Molly, in case you haven't noticed." Evelyn pulled herself out of the line, Sherlock following behind.

"Oh come on Evelyn, could you wheel them out for me?" Sherlock begged.

"The paperwork's already gone through Sherlock, you know I can't." Sherlock paused for a moment, looking over the girl. "What? What is it?"

"You've... changed your hair."

"Wh-... what?" Evelyn asked, confused quite a bit.

"It's a dark brown now, it's usually a caramel color."

"Oh... Yes, well-"

"It looks good on you." Evelyn stared at the man for a moment.

"You didn't have to compliment me," She said.

"Mmm, yes I did."

"Mmm, no you didn't, I was going to wheel them out anyway, I just wanted to see how far you'd go." Evelyn began walking towards the morgue, smirking at Sherlock's frown.

~~~~~~~~~~

Two body bags are now lying on adjacent tables. Evelyn, wearing latex gloves, begins to unzip the top of one bag as Sherlock walks in, leading a man into the room.

"Just the feet please," Sherlock says.

"The feet..." Evelyn blinks twice. "Alright." Unzipping the bag, she remembered the symbol on the bottom of the right heel. She immediately brought it up. "Is this about the black lotus tattoo on their heels?"

Sherlock froze for a moment, looking over at her. Simple words came out at him. Confused, certain, interested. Sherlock raised his eyebrows, slightly impressed at her, but not by much.

"Yes, actually it is." He looked to the other man who seemed irritated as Evelyn unzipped the bag holding Van Coon. The symbol was clear on his right foot as well.

The other man sighed silently.

"Oh!" Sherlock exclaimed.

"So ..." 

"So, either these two men just happened to visit the same Chinese tattoo parlour, or I'm telling the truth."

"What do you want?" The man asked.

"I want every book from Lukis' apartment and Van Coon's."

"... Their books?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Only a day later, Evelyn was walking through the halls of Bart's when she noticed a rather large queue. She walked up to the reception and asked a quick question.

"Um, what's going on?"

"That new doctor Sarah hired- he hasn't buzzed the intercom for ages."

"Let me go and see what's wrong." Quickly, but surely, Evelyn weaved her way through the queue before heading to John's office. She knocked three times. "John?"

No answer.

"John, are you in there?" There was still no reply, so she opened the door and looked inside. Sitting behind his desk, sat John, his head propped up on one fist, fast asleep and snoring gently. "Oh, John..."

Much later, he came out of his consulting room, putting on his coat and walking over to Evelyn, who was talking to the receptionist behind the desk. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he made his presence known.

"Um, looks like I'm done," he says. "I thought I had some more to see."

"Oh, Sarah and I did one or two of yours," Evelyn said.

"One or two?"

"Well, maybe six... Ten."

"Oh, I'm sorry, that's not very professional."

"Mmm, not really."

"I had, um, a bit of a late one."

"Ah, did Sherlock keep you up?"

"Yeah, actually, how did you know?"

"He's called me about three times since we met, talking about the difference in Tobacco ashes," Evelyn said, rolling her eyes. "It was actually quite interesting, now that I think about it." John laughed at her expression.

"I was attending a sort of book event."

"Oh, she likes books does she?"

"She?" John asked, confused.

"Sorry, I shouldn't assume that you have... girlfriend, that's what I was implicating."

"Oh, no... It- it wasn't a date."

"Good," Evelyn said, a little too fast. "I mean... heh."

"And, I certainly don't have one tonight." John looked at her, a large smile on his face. She quickly returned it, playing with her hair slightly.