Lets Play A Game - Sherlock Fanfiction [Sequel to IBIY]

Chapter four - The red van.

I pull out my keys to the flat and open the door. I go in, climb up the chairs and enter the living room. Sherlock was sitting on his arm chair as usual, looking at the files that were given to me.

"Shouldn't you be working on your own case?"

"Im waiting for Mycroft to deliver more data," He starts, "Learn anything from the woman the child's father was seeing?"

"Not much, she said a red van drove past her car and scraped her car, but that's all. We can't say that it was the child abductor that was driving the van for sure."

Sherlock lifts up a piece of paper, "Says here that the examinations of the three victims whose bodies were recovered indicated that the child abductor chloroformed them."

"Your point?"

"You said you saw a broken vine on the arch outside the house. The vine that the girl managed to pull free means she was awake and struggling when the child abductor took her."

I sigh humbly, walking over to John's old armchair and taking a seat. "Why didn't i think of that?" I mutter.

"Because you're an idiot."

I look up and give him a look. 

"Sorry." 

"...Its fine."

"There was a squad car was dispatched to an address less than two blocks from the Castillo home, sirens were blaring. So maybe he panicked, and thought the sirens were for him. So he grabbed the girl and ran, stashed her in his car, and then tore through the stop sign and hit the woman's car that Mr. Castillo was seeing."

"Smart arse." I mumbled at his deduction. He wasn't even there and he already knew more than I did. I glance at the file Sherlock was holding, "So now I have to look for some red car?"

"I'll help, come on." He responds, standing up up and heading towards the door. I get up too, and grab onto his sleeve before he could go any further. 

"There are people watching you, Sherlock. You're not aloud to work on a case."

"They won't hear what we're talking about. Plus, im aloud to go for a walk with my girlfriend, surely."

A blink a few times at his comment, surprised at what he just said. Nontheless, a smile made its way onto my face, "...I'm your girlfriend?"

"Well we have kissed a few times and have admitted our feelings for each other. I presume we are, in fact, dating."

"Right- yeah." I blush, still smiling, "Um, thanks for today."

He furrows his eyebrows, "Thanks for what?"

"For letting me take credit for your deductions. I'm pretty sure I showed Donovan up, and uh, I proved that I wasn't completely helpless without you there, although you did tell me everything. But they didn't know that, so-"

"It's fine." He assures, "If you showed Donovan you're not stupid and it surprised her, then it's fine."

"I am stupid though. You said so yourself."

"Did I?"

"Yes. Literally about a minute ago."

"Well, don't listen to me. I'm a idiot."

I let out a small laugh. Did he just call himself an idiot?

He plasters a small smile, "Come on." He says, rushing down the stairs and walking out of the front door into the cool air, pushing past the security men. I told them we were going for a walk, but they still followed us nonetheless, even though they couldn't hear what we were talking about. They probably just wanted to make sure Sherlock wasn't going to a crime scene.

It takes about ten minutes to get to the street where Mrs. Thomas was parked in her car when the red van scraped her. Sherlock walks ahead of me slightly, examining each car while I followed behind.

"So, what are we looking for? Home security camera? Neighbor with a photographic memory?"

"One minute." He says, looking at a certain car for a moment. He pauses, then he stops and smirks, "Gotcha."

"Huh?"

"Look at the car."

I look at the car, confused. It was a silver car, not a van, nor was it red. "If this is your idea of a red van, then you're even more sleep-deprived than I thought."

"Note the parking tickets. It's been here for days. Yet there are small skid marks beneath each tire, indicating it's been moved several inches."

"Someone sideswiped it." I say, pointing to the colour dents in the car.

"My money is on a speeding van driven by a panicked kidnapper." He points to the colour that was on the car, "Red as Mrs.Thomas' description."

"So, when the van sideswiped it, it left a mark the same colour as the van onto the car? But there's blue and white there as well."

"Means it's red now, but was originally painted white and blue, a very distinctive white and blue as a matter of fact. So, tell Lestrade you are looking for a decommissioned NYPD van, presumably sold at auction, then painted red. It has a long scrape down one side where it struck this sedan. Issue the BOLO now, you may find the child abductor before lunch."

"Excuse me."

We both turn around to the two security men.

"May we ask why you're both examining this car?"

"We were curious to what had happened to it." I tell them, smiling as I gave them a little shrug, "Can't blame us for being curious. Let's go, Sherlock." I say, hooking my arm with Sherlock's before we start to walk away casually. I look back and see that they believed it, and that they were still following us but now we were at a safe distance so they couldn't hear us. I unhook my arm from Sherlock's.

"I better get going to Scotlands Yard then. I'll text you?"

"Of course."

I let out a smile and reach up on my tip-toes to kiss his cheek. I then glance back around to see the security men before turning my head to face Sherlock. "Enjoy being stalked."

"I'll try."