I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 4 : A royal disappearance

       

Lestrade was already awaken for  half an hour but he was still lying in bed watching Mycroft who was asleep, snoring gently, a little smile on his face. Greg just couldn't resit kissing softly those lips. The auburn sighed but didn't awoken, and his lover kissed him again. After 5 minutes of this little game, the official eventually awoken even if he kept his eyes closed. He moved himself a little bit closer to his partner and kissed him back yearningly, moving his lips toward the neck and to the inspector's torso.

They both knew they were going to be late at work but they didn't care, the only thing they wanted was being close one to another and love each other. Mycroft's phone rang but he ignored it. It's only when it was ringing for the 6th time that the DI urged him to take the call. The official rolled to the other side of the bed and stretched his arm to reach his cell on his bedside table.

"Mycroft Holmes speaking." he said sharply, moody to have been disturbed. He listened for a few minutes before hanging up his phone. He rolled back to Gregory and kiss him on the lips."I'm sorry darling I must go. An old friend of mine need helps apparently..." he told him with a poutty face. "I'll try to be back early tonight.". He kissed him one last time and thrown himself out of bed. The grey-haired sat in bed, watching his lover dressing up in his posh blue three-piece suit.

The government official was sat in a private lounge,attempting to resist his temptation to smoke. He was there for more than half an hour and had seen nobody since he had been introduced inthe room. He hated waiting and it was not in the usage here to let the guest wait.
It's only another 20 minutes later that Sir Jefferson joined him.
"I'm so sorry Mr Holmes ! It's an incredible mess at the palace today !" he started without even greeting the auburn. The latter didn't even manage a smile to the blonde. He was not in the mood to be amicable to anyone and he had guessed that things were bad enough for his rude behaving not to be noticed by his hosts.

Following the short blonde through the corridors he thought for himself that it was slightly unlikely for him to be able to leave early and that put him in an even worst temper. As he was one of the most, if even the most, senior government officials, he was always the one who was called to deal with the issues that had something to do, in any ways, with the Royal Family and since this family counted quite a lot of young adults, trouble seems to appeared on quite a daily basis. Still, it was unusual that the issues he had to deal with actually required his presence at the palace and when it was the case, it was hardly great news.

Jefferson stopped in front of a door and knocked, then without waiting for an answer, opened and gesture to Mycroft to  step in. The auburn did as he was ordered and the palace's employee closed the door right beside him. Holmes glanced at the room and noticed the Queen, standing near to the windows. He reached her and nodded toward her as the convenience required and faked a smile.

"Your Majesty. How may I come to be useful ?" he asked politely.He still wasn't in the mood but if he could allow himself to be rude to the staff in view of his hierarchical position, the Queen was still far above him and he was due to respect her in any circumstances.
"Oh, Mr Holmes. Thanks, God you are here !" she sighed. The official resisted his will to noticed her that he've been in the palace for nearly an hour and instead increased his fake smile, wishing that she would speed up a little.
"Prince Harry disappeared from St James's Palace during the night and is still unfindable at the time we speak." she continued, looking rather worried. "When his valet went to woke him up this morning his bed was empty.". She looked at Mycroft expectantly.
"I see. I suppose that the guards already overlooked the CCTV ?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow. She nodded. "We will keep the press out of this until we find him. He couldn't have gone far without being noticed, according to the fact that he had his face in every tabloid for the last past months ...".
The Queen looked slightly chocked to the remark the auburn had made but she didn't complain as he was probably the only man in the country who could get the young prince back before dawn. With a nod, the official left the room and without a look to the valet that was escorting him outside, he grabbed his phone and called Lestrade.
"Gregory, are you still at home ?"he inquired. "I've got a rather urgent investigation for you. Could you pick up my brother from the hospital as quick as you can and join me at my office in White Hall.". He made it look like a request but it was in fact an order and the yarder didn't mistaken about it.

Less than an hour later the three men were gathered around Mycroft's desk. The official had explained to the two others what was going on and what he learnt from the report Anthea had compiled for him.

Sherlock was looking away, deep in his mind palace while Greg was seizing his coat and grabbing his car keys. They had agreed that he shall go back to Scotland Yard and use all the police forces he could find to watch the CCTV of any train station and airport and to go questions street salers and shops owners around those places. The youngest Holmes had advised his homeless network to ring him up if they had any clue that could be useful before going to his mindpalace.

Lestrade left the room and Mycroft sat down behind his desk, head in the hands, eyes closed, reaching his own mind palace. Everything he knew about the royal family members and their habits were filed there, and he knew a huge range of informations, especially where they were likely to retire and what kind of trick or disguise they were gifted for, which in this peculiar circumstances looked like the exact data he needed to be aware of.

Despite his revulsion for legwork, the governmental official was now in Waldershare, a small village in Kent near Dover where,according to Sherlock's homeless network, the young Prince could have been seen. The two Holmes brothers were walking down Oak Avenue,looking for the house number 16. They found what they were wondering for nearly at the end of the street and made their way to the front door. The oldest gave a 'Don't talk and please don't show off' look to his brother before ringing the doorbell.
They waited for a few seconds, hearing rather a lot of noise inside the house, including cat's cries, before the door being opened by a small, old woman,looking rather displeased with their visit.

"Mrs Turner" asked the auburn. "I'm the police. Inspector Rathbone This is my colleague Sergent Smith" he gestured toward Sherlock while showing the old lady a fake police identification card. "May you let us in, we have a few questions for you."
Without actually waiting the woman to greet them in, the official made his way through the corridor, closely followed by his brother. The oldest noticed the small living room and entered it. The woman joined him there while the black-haired was sifting through every detail of the corridor and the nearby kitchen.
"Mrs Turner" asked Mycroft,faking a polite smile. "You have nothing to be scared of, we are here to protect you. A vagrant has been seen around the village and my colleague and I are just trying to make sure that everyone are safe and that he couldn't enter your houses at night if ever he would try to. All right ?"
The fake Inspector was probably rather convincing as the old lady nodded and make a sign for him to sitdown. "The Sergent Smith is at the moment checking that every of your windows have an efficient lock and that there is no way someone could crawl into your house without being noticed." he added.
All this was of course only an excuse to search the house and the official was only trying to play for time, keeping the woman occupied so that his brother could snoop around. Luckily, Mrs Turner questioned him "What did this vagrant look like ? You know in case I see him around, so I could call the police."
"Yes, sure Mrs.Well, we have been told that he is a young man, quite tall and blonde, wearing a grey hoodie and a pair of navy jeans." He answered her, hearing Sherlock rummaging upstairs. " We don't know if he is dangerous or why he is prowling around, so if you ever se him, please do not approach him but directly call the police ok ?".He was making up a story as time was passing and really hoped that the black-haired will be quick in his frisking because he could deduce that the lady was now trying to remember every young tall blonde man she had ever encounter in her life and as his description wasn't that specific, she had high probability to find someone who would match it and that she could accuse.

Sherlock rushed down the stairs and burst into the living room.Without a look to the houseowner, he went straight to his brother and exposed him the results of his search.
"He was here. He left the moment we rang the door using the back door through the garden. He is now wearing a light blue shirt and a pair of jeans and dyed his hair black. As he went by foot, he couldn't be more than 2 miles away."
The auburn nodded and grabbed his phone. " Gregory,lock up the streets in a 3 miles perimeter and look for a black-haired man in light blue shirts and jeans. He went by foot by the back garden.".
He pocketed his phone again and looked at Mrs Turner who was now looking cross. "Who are you ? What are you doing here ?" Without answering any of the questions Mycroft seized apair of bracelets in his jacket pocket and handcuffed the lady.