His Doctor~

Chapter 40

Jo-Ann woke to find Sherlock nowhere in the flat… again. Over the past month, the detective had been far more secretive than usual and would leave 221B without her; Without giving her so much as a general idea of where he was going. Now, normally, Jo-Ann would consider this ordinary and let it roll off her back. But the strange absences were happening more frequently, for longer periods of time.

Deciding that sitting in an empty flat, drinking coffee, wasn’t doing anything to help, she got dressed to go visit Marius. Who knew, maybe Sherlock was visiting the professor for some guy time, however unlikely it was.

Within a few minutes, the doctor was wearing her red plaid shirt and brown jacket, along with dark blue jeans and red sneakers. Luckily, she had enough cash to hail a cab, since she wanted to get there as soon as possible. It was only eight in the morning, early for a professor on summer break, but Jo-Ann needed someone to comfort her as her worries grew stronger.

She arrived with an edge in her steps as she approached the door to Marius’s house. She was positively itching for not only possible conformation of where Sherlock was, but for some action. With the detective sneaking around and leaving her out, cases were few and far between. Jo-Ann scolded herself for the adrenaline craving and knocked on the solid door. It was only seconds before Marius opened it, still dressed in his pajamas and robe. The doctor could hear the faint sound of crying coming from the living room and added its meaning with the tired and frankly, annoyed look on her friend’s face.

“Kate?” Jo-Ann asked, a bit quiet in case the neighbor she referred to had good hearing.

“Kate.” Marius confirmed with an upset look. The poor woman had been on his couch for an hour now, sobbing with worry. It’s not that he wasn’t more than happy to comfort her; it was just that he was running out of comforting words to say.  “Her son, Isaac, is gone again. Drugs.” He summarized. Jo-Ann nodded with a furrowed brow. She didn’t want to bring up her own missing loved one, now that Kate had beaten her to it.

“Does she know where he went?” The doctor ventured.

“There’s a house he and his friends go to. A dump, falling down at best-” Marius began to answer.

“No, the address.” Jo-Ann clarified. “Where, exactly?” It was clear Sherlock wasn’t there; otherwise she would be able to hear his insensitive comments even from the door. Maybe going after Kate’s son would give her some action and keep her mind off her problems. Marius looked at her like she had two heads before objecting.

“Are you serious?” he whispered.

“Well she isn’t going to the police, obviously, so someone should go and get him.”

“And that should be you? Alone?” Marius asked, crossing his arms.

“Yeah.” Jo-Ann nodded like it was totally normal, considering it almost was, and stepped inside without permission.

Jo-Ann received the address from Kate and a ride from Marius, although they argued for a bit, and went on her way. The professor attempted to be a gentleman by offering to go inside in her place, but that idea was quickly scoffed at and tossed out the window of the moving car. While Marius may be an intelligent and kind soul, but he couldn’t fight his way out of a crowded shopping mall let alone a drug house. They house in question proved to be as shabby as Kate described it and it was a wonder it was still standing. Jo-Ann got out almost immediately, going for the boot of the car to grab anything that could be a weapon.

“What is that?!” Marius laughed as the doctor walked by his window, stuffing a metal object in the waistband of her trousers.

“It’s a tire lever.” Jo-Ann explained, hiding said object by zipping her jacket part of the way.