Nothing But Flowers (Johnlock)

Chapter 13

The Detective Inspector looked at them with his dark, intelligent eyes, his years of experience making his gaze assessing, looking below the surface for the truth.

John shifted on his hard chair, knowing the session was being recorded, feeling tense. Sherlock, sitting beside him, seemed relaxed, but John felt his leg bouncing under the table, occasionally brushing against his.

"So, you have finally made an appearance here. What do you have to say about Paolo Baresi's death?" Lestrade drawled, flicking to a blank screen on his tablet.

John decided to speak first. "Dr. Park here was Paolo's primary care physician. He will tell you what happened in the weeks prior to his death."

Dr. Park swallowed hard, glancing down at the table, clearly nervous. John glared at him, not looking away until the older man's gaze met his and he nodded.

"Um...Baresi was finding it harder to keep up with the younger athletes on his team, and came to me for help. I had been his main doctor before he joined the cheater's league, and I was shocked at how badly he was doing, taking all the drugs Mr. Holmes was pushing on him." Dr. Park's contempt for Sherlock was obvious from the dismissive sideways glance he shot him, putting emphasis on the fact that he was a 'Mr.' instead of a doctor.

John leaned forward towards the doctor. "Oh, get off your high horse. Blood doping isn't allowed in your beloved 'pure' league, and is even more dangerous than Sherlock's therapies."

Lestrade held up his hands, making a calm down gestures to the two doctors. "Let's save the name calling for another time. Dr. Watson, can you tell me what Dr. Park did, in layman's language?"

With a sigh, John looked at the DI. "Mr. Holmes was treating Baresi with a drug that imitates a natural hormone to signal the body to increase red blood cell production. The more red blood cells, the more oxygen that gets to the muscles, and that improves athletic performance."

Lestrade nodded, and made some quick notes on his tablet. "Yes, and then..."

"Baresi wanted more improvement, and without consulting with Mr. Holmes, Park used an old technique to give a similar result. Removing a pint or two of blood, waiting a month for Baresi's body to replace the blood, and then adding the old blood back." John deliberately left off the 'Dr.' from Park's name. The man didn't deserve it.

Lestrade seemed to be following along. "So, lots of red blood cells then. Got it."

John nodded. "Park did not check Baresi's hematocrit level, or red blood cell count, before doing that. He brought it up to dangerously high levels." He looked at Park, as if daring him to deny what he had done.

The older man wouldn't meet his gaze.

Lestrade followed their interaction. "When did he inject the old blood?"

"The morning of the day he died. He was already slightly dehydrated from a vomiting spell a couple days before. He played his match, and showed no adverse symptoms. His overworked heart gave out that night, in his sleep. Heart attack." John shook his head, still feeling sad about it.

"Overworked?" Lestrade was making more notes, and arched an eyebrow at John.

Sherlock cleared his throat. "Hematocrit levels that high mean that the blood is much thicker than normal. In the '90s, doping Tour de France cyclists used to wake up every couple hours to exercise, keep their blood moving, to prevent heart attacks like this."

"So, you are saying Baresi would still be alive if Dr. Park hadn't injected that blood." Lestrade looked between the three men, all much more knowledgeable in this area than he was.