His Favorite Melody

Dangerous

"Where?" John asked, absolutely lost.

Sherlock looked at the case and began his explanation. "The killer must have driven her to Lauriston Gardens. He could only keep her case by accident, if it was in a car. No one could be seen with this case without attracting attention - particularly a man, which is statistically likely. So obviously he'd feel compelled to get rid of it the moment he noticed he still had it - wouldn't have taken him more than five minutes to realise his mistake. I checked every back street wide enough for a car within five minutes of Lauriston Gardens and looked for anywhere you could dispose of a bulky object without being observed. "

Melody looked at him in suddenly realization. "Did you- did you really go skip diving?" She asked in mild digust.

Sherlock nodded as though it was nothing. "Took me less than an hour to find the right skip. And not to worry, Melody, I have indeed showered and changed." He assured her.

John simply stared at him. "Pink. You got all that, cos you realised the case would be pink." He said in disbelief.

"It had to be pink. Obviously." Melody reasoned.

"Why didn't I think of that?" John grumbled.

"Because you're an idiot." Sherlock replied bluntly.

John looked stung, and Melody looked at Sherlock incredulously. "Sherlock!" She exclaimed, lightly hitting the brunet man's arm.

Sherlock looked up and frowned, shaking his head. "Don't look like that - practically

everyone is. " He indicated to the case, completely refocusing their attention. "Now look - do you see what's missing?"

"From her case? How could I?" John countered.

"Her phone. Where's her mobile phone?" Melody questioned.

"No phone on the body, no phone in her case. We know she has one - the number's right there, and John just texted it." Sherlock responded.

"Maybe she left it at home." John proposed.

Sherlock shook his head and quickly shut that idea down. "She has a string of lovers, and she's careful about it - she never leaves it at home. "

He plucked the little slip of card from John's hand and re-inserted it in the luggage tag of the pink bag.

"So why did I send that text?" John inquired.

"The question is, where is that phone now?" Melody countered.

"She could've lost it."

"Yes. Or?" Sherlock challenged.

"... the murderer? You think the

murderer has the phone?" John contests.

"Maybe she left it in his car, when she left her case. Maybe he took it for some other reason. Either way, my bet is that the murderer has her phone." Melody concluded.

"Sorry, what are we doing here. Did we just text a murderer? What good does that do?" John asked the two.

As if waiting for a cue, John's phone rings.

He snatched it up, looked at the number on the screen, and then at the luggage tab on the case.

"A few hours since his last victim - and now he's got a text which can only be from her ... Now someone who'd just found the phone would ignore a text like that. But the murderer -"

Abruptly, the phone stopped ringing, "-- would panic."

Sherlock sprung to his feet and started pulling on his coat.

"Have you talked to the police?" John said, his tone a bit concerned.

"Four people are dead - there isn't time to talk to the police." Sherlock argued.

"Then why are you talking to me?" John asked after a short pause.

"Mrs. Hudson took my skull." Sherlock shrugged.

John looked to the mantlepiece. The skull was indeed gone. "So I am basically filling in for

your skull?"

"Relax, you're doing fine. Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well you could just sit here and watch telly ..."

John rose to his feet, unsure what his role was. "You want me to come with you?"

"I prefer company when I go out - I think better aloud."

"And the skull just attracts attention." Melody added in a joking tone, adjusting her scarf.

John stood- hesitating.

"Problem?" Sherlock queried.

"Sergeant Donovan ..." John started.

"Oh God. What about her?" Melody sighed.

"She said you get off on this. You enjoy it." He said, eying Sherlock.

Sherlock just looked at him for a moment. Then a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "And I said "dangerous". And here you are." He turned, winking at Melody,then went out --pointedly leaving the door open behind him.

Mel smirked and looked back at John before following Sherlock. "Come along then, Doctor. Haven't got all evening." She said, motioning for him to follow.

"Damn it!" He exclaimed quietly, limping after Sherlock and Melody.