We arrive at New Scotland Yard and follow Lestrade across the general office as he leads us to his office.
"You like funny cases, don't you? The surprising ones." Lestrade says.
"Obviously." Sherlock replies.
"You love this. That explosion-"
"Gas leak, yes?" Sherlock says, briefly exchanging glares with Donovan as he walks past her desk.
"No."
"No?" Sherlock and I ask in unison.
"No. Made to look like one." Lestrade says.
"What?" John says.
By now we're in Lestrade's office and Sherlock stops and stares down at a white envelope lying on the desk.
"Hardly anything left of the place except a strong box-a very strong box and it was inside this." Lestrade points to what Sherlock was looking at.
"You haven't opened it?" Sherlock asks.
"It's addressed to you, isn't it?"
Sherlock reaches towards the envelope.
"We've X-rayed it, it's not booby-trapped."
"How reassuring." Sherlock says, slightly hesitating. He picks up the envelope and takes it across the room to another table which has an anglepoise lamp on it. He holds the evenlope up close to the bulb and examines both sides carefully. I see that on the front, in elegant handwriting, is, "Sherlock Holmes".
"Nice stationery. Bohemian." Sherlock says.
"What?" John and I ask in unison.
"From the Czech Republic. No fingerprints?"
"No." Lestrade answers.
"She used a fountain pen. A Parker Duofold-iridium nib." Sherlock says, looking closely at the handwriting.
" 'She'?" John repeats.
"Obviously."
"Obviously." John says, struggling to not sigh.
Sherlock picks up a letter opener from the desk and carefully slits the envelope open. He looks inside and I see his mouth open a little in surprise as he reaches in and takes out a pink iPhone.
"But that's-that's the phone, the pink phone." John says.
"What, from the Study in Pink?" Lestrade asks.
"The Study in Pink? You read his blog?" I ask.
"Well, obviously it's not the same phone, but it's supposed to look like..." Sherlock trails off. "You read his blog?"
"Course I read his blog! We all do. Do you really not know that the Earth goes round the Sun?" Lestrade asks, looking at Sherlock.
"It isn't the same phone, it's brand new." Sherlock says. "Someone's gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like the same phone, which means your blog has a far wider readership." Sherlock says, ignoring Lestrade and taking off his gloves. He throws an accusatory look at John, who appears to do his best to ignore it. Sherlock turns the phone on and immediately gets an alert.
"You have one new message." The voice alert says.
The message plays but there is no voice-just the unmistakeable sound of the Greenwich TIme Signal.
"Is that it?" John asks.
"No, that's not it." Sherlock says, I walk over to him and look at the screen of the phone as he opens an image. Lestrade walks over and looks over Sherlock's shoulder.
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FanficI live in a flat with Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. And you think your life's crazy? Think again.