One Yard Below

Chapter Two

“So, there’s nothing on the CCTV?” John Watson asked incredulously. “Are we thinking Moriarty-”

“Fake Moriarty,” Sherlock corrected sharply, not bothering to look up from the screen replaying the video feeds in question. They were holed up in Baker Street as Sherlock watched the surveillance tapes from St. Bart’s for what had to be the fiftieth time. John was glad Sherlock had decided to conduct this part of the investigation from 221B instead of the security offices. It wasn’t any more relaxed, but it was less daunting being away from the site of Molly Hooper’s apparent abduction three days ago.

“Fake Moriarty, then,” John said, “Are we thinking he got control of the CCTV system as well or that he’s got Molly hidden in the pathology building at Bart’s?”

“She’s not in the building,” Lestrade insisted, “My people went over every inch, four times already. I’m not just talking about the original unit. I had over a hundred officers volunteer to make multiple sweeps into every vent, sub-basement and crawlspace in that place.”

“That leaves Fake Moriarty,” John started, glancing at Sherlock, “He must have gotten control of the CCTV system like he did the broadcast networks.”

“No,” Sherlock put in, “The camera angles never changed and the feeds haven’t been altered.”

“Well, she didn’t just disappear in a blue police box! What the hell happened?” Lestrade threw his hands up in frustration. Like John and Sherlock, the Detective Inspector showed signs of fatigue and stress in his red-rimmed eyes and tense muscles.

“Blind spots.”

“Blind spots?” John prompted.

“There are always blind spots with surveillance cameras. No matter how you arrange the angles or distribute the recording units, there are inevitably small areas that are not in camera range. Generally, the blind spots are so small as to be insignificant, but careless placement of the cameras can create several feet of dead space.”

John and Greg winced at his poor choice of words, but did not interrupt. Sherlock continued.

“There are seven blind spots around the pathology building. Anyone paying proper attention could have left that building and made it all the way to Giltspur Street before being picked up on camera again.” He didn’t elaborate but it was those blind spots that had allowed Sherlock to leave St. Bart’s unseen on the day of his “death.” If a car was waiting, then Molly could have easily been spirited away without once being on camera.

Sherlock turned away from the monitor. There were no more clues to be found on that video feed. Likewise on the recording Mycroft had retrieved from the lab when he discovered Molly was missing. Sherlock felt proud of Molly for having not only managed to leave such a clue, but also to keep the imposter talking and leading him into verbal traps proving he was not Jim Moriarty.  Sherlock had listened to that digital file on a loop until he could quote it verbatim.

In the end, it was what was missing on the recording that had proven most interesting. Had Molly been forcibly taken from the lab, there would have been signs of a struggle, one loud enough to have been picked up on the recording. The digital player continued recording for an hour after the last sound made by Molly: her escape through the lab entrance. There was no sign of struggle outside of the lab and no sounds of distress on the mp3.

There were two other possible explanations for Molly’s disappearance. Either she knew the person who kidnapped her and had left with him willingly or she was hiding on her own. The former narrowed down the list of potential kidnappers considerably. The latter would mean Molly had chosen not to contact anyone for help, an odd choice considering the fact that she counted among her friends a NYS Detective Inspector and the head of MI6… and him. She had him.