221B

Chapter 4 - The Blind Banker

The police were called and a photographer takes pictures of Van Coon's body on the bed. A forensics officer dusts for fingerprints on the mirror nearby, and the voices of other forensics officers indicate that they're spread out throughout the flat. Sherlock has his coat off and is in the bedroom with me, both of us putting on a pair of latex gloves. John stands beside us.

"Do you think he lost a lot of money? I mean, suicide is pretty common among city boys." John asks.

"We don't know that is was suicide." Sherlock replies.

"Come on. The door was locked from the inside-you had to climb down the balcony." John says.

Sherlock squats down by a suitcase on the floor near the bed, opens the lid, and looks at the contents inside.

"Been away three days. Judging by the laundry." Sherlock says, and I see that there's a deep indentation in the clothing that's inside the case. Sherlock appears to see it too and stands up. "Look at the case. There was something tightly packed inside it." He says to us.

"Thanks, I'll take your word for it." John answers.

"Problem?" Sherlock asks.

"Yeah. We're not exactly desperate to go rooting around some bloke's dirty underwear." I answer. John nods in agreement.

"Those symbols at the bank, the graffiti..." Sherlock says, walking to the foot of the bed. "Why were they put there?"

"Some sort of code?" I suggest.

"Obviously." Sherlock answers, then opens the man's jacket, looking to look at his inside pockets. "Why were they painted? If you want to communicate, why not use e-mail?" Sherlock asks.

"Maybe he wasn't answering, or, considering that e-mails can be hijacked and the users tracked...too risky? If put out in public, no one would know the intended recipient except for the one it was intended for. No one would also know the one who put the message there. Therefore, the sender and recipient are safe for the time being." I suggest.

"Oh good. You follow." Sherlock answers.

"No."

Sherlock gives me a look before moving on to examine Van Coon's hands.

 "What kind of a message would everyone try to avoid?" Sherlock asks, and John and I frown in confusion. "What about this morning-those letters you were looking at?" Sherlock asks, directing the question to John.

"Bills." He answers.

Sherlock gently prizes Van Coon's mouth open and pulls out a small, black, origami flower from inside.

"Yes, he was being threatened." Sherlock says.

John and I look closely at the little paper flower as Sherlock takes an evidence bag and carefully puts the flower in it.

"Not by the gas board." John says.

A young man, who even looks younger than me, wearing plain clothes, walks into the bedroom, Sherlock turns and walks towards him.

"Ah, Sergeant, we haven't met." Sherlock says. He offers his hand to shake, but the man just puts his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, I know who you are-and I'd prefer if you didn't tamper with any of the evidence." The man says rather rudely.

Sherlock lowers his hand, and hands the evidence bag over to the officer.

"I've phoned Lestrade. Is he on his way?" Sherlock asks.

"He's busy. I'm in charge. And it's not Sergeant-it's Detective Inspector. Dimmock."

Sherlock looks at him in surprise, then turns and shares the look to John and I. Dimmock walks out of the room, and we start to follow him.