Born in Black and White

Chapter 36

Sherlock paced anxiously in the morgue. He had left Kairi after a well deserved nap and snack. He traded off with Molly and was off with John before Kairi could realize he was gone. He always made sure to kiss her, mutter kind words in her ear, though he couldn't quite vocalize the feelings that reeled within him.

He felt as if he were getting closer to Moran, a creeping suspicion in the back of his mind that made him think that he would soon come from the shadows to make his demands known. When Lestrade had called with a mysterious body, he and John had dropped everything they were doing to go to the morgue.

He was pacing furiously, fingers pressed to his lips as he searched his mind palace, organizing information on Kairi's case, trying to pull in small clues and rearrange them more effectively. He wasn't sure how long he had been doing it, but he was disrupted by John resting a hand on his arm.

"Sherlock, why don't you sit, you've been pacing for what seems like an hour." His face twisted with concern and Sherlock shook his head.

"I must think, John." Sherlock growled and John sighed.

"We can't do much until the body arrives." John reminded him.

"Do shut up," He snarled and began pacing again, "I need to organize the information on this case. I can't very well do that with your stupidity clouding the room."

John scoffed, "Get stuffed you prick." John grumbled and Sherlock gave him a grave look. John rolled his eyes, "Fine, be a cock." John pushed off of the table and made his way through the morgue doors, leaving Sherlock in a unique silence as he catalogued the information.

At this point they were waiting for the body to be transferred, Lestrade had told them not to bother with coming to the crime scene because the body had been deposited in the back alley of Scotland Yard already inside a black body bag and phoned in. There were no direct signs of foul play, but they wanted the coroner to be the one to do the inspection to be sure. Someone was making a statement and Sherlock was sure it was Moran. He was growing bolder in his actions and Sherlock was sure that the monster would slip up soon, allowing Sherlock the perfect opportunity to kill him.

Like Kairi had said, it would only be over when one of them was dead.

Sherlock was determined to see it be Moran.

Though he could barely voice it, he flatly refused to live without Kairi.

He was annoyed at the lack of information and the waiting, but when Lestrade arrived with John at his side, looking shaken, Sherlock was sure that this would be a useful clue.

"File?" Sherlock muttered as Lestrade came forward, an intern rolling in the body bag on a stretcher. Lestrade approached, looking tired already and handed Sherlock the minimal notes about the arrival of the body. No identifying markers, no clothes, fingerprints not in the system, the body was the most drastic John Doe that Sherlock had ever seen. The cameras had been disabled and even if that did not happen, the drop spot was not actually covered, thus it took a call to get the body spotted. The abrasive move to leave a body outside Scotland Yard was audacious. Sherlock felt the tremor in his gut, knowing that this had to be Moran's doing. He only feared how this corpse could relate to Kairi.

Lestrae took the liberty of opening the body bag and exposing the corpse. Sherlock, John, and Lestrade leaned in, not daring to touch it. They knew that whoever they got to do the autopsy would not be forgiving as Molly.

Sherlock eyed the body, inspecting it closely and coming up with very little information. To be truly honest the entire thing looked strange. The skin was obviously cold, signifying the body had been dead for at least a few hours, blood had stopped pumping and the skin looked hard and stiff. It had the slightest sheen to it, almost like sweat beading after a long run, but it was more than obvious to Sherlock, the man had not been doing any strenuous activity for some time.