A New Mystery at 221 Baker Street

Chapter 2: Zhi Zhu

Note: Transcript provided by Ariane Devere/ Callie Sullivan

***

Sherlock and John stood in one of the display rooms of the National Antiquities Museum across from Soo Lin Yao's coworker Andy. "Look, I've tried everywhere: friends, colleagues. I don't know where she's gone. She could be a thousand miles away." Andy fidgeted nervously as he spoke. Sherlock turned away in annoyance, his eyes focused on the glass case displaying teapots.

"Sherlock? What are you looking at?" John asked.

"Tell me more about those teapots," Sherlock ordered, pointing towards the case.

"The pots were her obsession. They need urgent work. If they dry out, then the clay can starts to crumble. Apparently, you just have to keep making tea in them."

Sherlock bent down to observe the shelf more closely. "Yesterday, only one of those pots was shining. Now there are two,"

******

As soon as the lights went out in the museum, fingers reached through the grating at the bottom of the wall. Soo Lin quietly slipped out from the grating and walked towards the glass case. Gently, she took a teapot out of the case and placed it on her desk; preparing to continue her work before she went into hiding. Soo Lin picked up the teapot and poured some of the tea onto a pair of clay cups, swilling the teapot around to cover the outside.

"Fancy a biscuit with that?" Sherlock appeared behind her. Soo Lin gasped as she turned towards the voice, nearly dropping the teapot. "Centuries-old. Wouldn't want to break that." He said as he caught the teapot before it could hit the floor. Sherlock stood back up and handed the teapot back to Soo Lin. "Hello".

John and Sherlock sat across from Soo Lin at her desk in the restoration room. "You saw the cipher. Then you know he is coming for me." Soo Lin played with her hands.

"You've been clever enough to avoid him so far," Sherlock replied.

"I had to finish- to finish this work. It's only a matter of time. I know he will find me" Soo Lin explained

"Who is he? Have you met him before?"

Soo Lin nodded. "I knew him when I was a girl, living back in China. I recognize his... signature."

"The cipher"

"Only he would do this: Zhi Zhu." Soo Lin continued to explain.

"Zhi Zhu?" John questioned.

"The Spider," Sherlock replied to his blogger as Soo Lin took off her shoe to show them a tattoo on her right heel.

"You know this mark?" She asked, pointing to the tattoo that resembled a lotus flower encompassed in a circle.

"Yes, it's the mark of a Tong," Sherlock answered. "an ancient crime syndicate, based in China." He explained further to John, who had a confused look on his face.

"Every foot soldier bears the mark; everyone who hauls for them."

"Hauls?" John asked, confused once again. Soo Lin looked up at him as he connected the dots. "You mean you were a smuggler?"

Soo Lin looked down in shame as she put her shoe back on. "I was fifteen; my parents were dead. I had no livelihood; no way of surviving day to day except to work for the bosses." She said remorsefully.

"Who are they?" Sherlock asked.

"They are called Black Lotus. By the time I was 16, I was taking thousands of pounds worth of drugs across the border and into Hong Kong. I finally managed to leave that life behind me. I came to England, they gave me a job here. Everything was good: a new life." She smiled a bit at the last part.

"Then he came looking for you" Sherlock added.

"Yes," Soo Lin swallowed tearfully, "I had hoped after five years they would have forgotten me; but they never really let you leave. In a small community like ours, they are never very far away." Soo Lin wiped a tear from her face. "He came to my flat. He asked me to help him track down something that was stolen."

"And you have no idea what it was?" John asked.

Soo Lin shook her head. "I refused to help."

"So, you knew him well when you were living back in China?" Soo Lin nodded.

"Oh yes, He's my brother." She looked up at Sherlock who looked surprised. "We had no choice. We could work for the Black Lotus or starve on the streets. My brother has become their puppet. In the power of the one they call Shan: the Black Lotus general" She paused, taking in a deep breath before letting it back out. "I turned my brother away. He said I had betrayed him. The next day, I came to work and the cipher was waiting."

Sherlock handed her photos of the cipher messages on the table. "Can your decipher these?"

Soo Lin leaned forward. "These are numbers." She said pointing to a symbol on one of the photographs. "Here: the line across the man's eyes- it's the Chinese character for the number one."

"And this one is fifteen," Sherlock said, pointing to another photograph. "But what's the code?"

"All the smugglers know it. It's based upon a book-" just then, all the lights went out. Sherlock straightened up and looked around. Soo Lin's face was full of terror. "He's here: Zhi Zhu. He has found me." Sherlock immediately;y ran towards the door.

"Sh-Sherlock, wait!" John exclaimed towards Sherlock's direction. John turned to Soo Lin and grabbed her hand. "Come here." He pulled her across the room towards another door. "Get in, get in!"

Sherlock ran across the open foyer, stopping in the middle to quickly look around. A pistol fired at him from the balcony above, causing Sherlock to run in the opposite direction and fling himself behind a statue for cover. John heard the sound of the gunfire from the foyer and turned towards Soo Lin. "I have to go and help. Bolt the door after me." John hurried off and cautiously entered the foyer having to duck for cover as gunshots rang out.

"Careful!" Sherlock called out to the gunman as he hid behind a cabinet displaying skulls. The gunman fired at him again. "Some of those skulls are over two-hundred-thousand years old! Have some respect!" After a few seconds without gunfire, Sherlock expressed his thanks to the empty room.

Soo Lin nervously crawled out of her hiding place. As she stood up she sensed the man behind her. She turned around and recognized him immediately. "Liang," she spoke his name softly. "Brother, please-"

John heard the single gunshot ring out in the distance. "Oh my God." He turned towards the restoration room and his face fell. John raced across the foyer towards the restoration room looking for any sign of the gunman as he entered. His heart stopped at the sight of Soo Lin's dead body lying on the table with a black lotus origami flower in her hand.