Fight for Me

Chapter 36

"Do you want to tell me what all this is about?" John asked for the third time as Sherlock scrolled through his phone on the way to Scotland Yard.

Sherlock didn't even glance up as he replied, "I'll catch you up when we get there, I just need to talk to Mr. Davies."

"Do you really think Greg's going to let you do that?"

Sherlock shrugged, "they have failed spectacularly, they might just be desperate enough to let me go in there. That and I will promise not to lay a hand on him."

John made some smart retort, but Sherlock was no longer paying attention, his thoughts now shifting towards Lydia. He knew that he would need to talk to Mycroft about letting her stay, at least until he had a chance to study the locket she wore and determine how to safely remove it. Mycroft would immediately accuse him of having grown too close to Lydia, of course, but Sherlock wasn't willing to risk her life. That meant he could not inform his brother about the bug. To Mycroft, Lydia was expendable and he would be more than happy to use Lydia as an example of why Sherlock needed to repress his emotions.

Sherlock snapped out of his thoughts as the cab rolled up to the New Scotland Yard and he hurried into the building, leaving John behind to pay the fare. After throwing some money at the cabbie, John rushed to catch up with Sherlock, a little out of breath when he finally fell into stride along side him.

Without waiting for him to ask, Sherlock explained, "Lydia was summoned by the leader of the Rose Foundation while she was getting the shopping and they gave her a locket with a listening device inside. That's why we were using sign language, she was informing me of what happened without alerting them. I suspect that that is how we will converse about important topics from now on, so you may want to start learning how to sign."

John frowned, "but why would they plant a listening device on her?"

"John, she's living with a detective, one who has already suspected her of being involved in something criminal, I'm sure they are just guaranteeing that she will not confess anything to me."

"But then why not send her somewhere else and risk her communicating with you non-verbally?"

"Moriarty," Sherlock replied simply, finally finding Lestrade and leaving John confused as he approached the detective inspector. "Ah, Grant, have you given up with your interrogation, yet?"

"No, Sherlock, you cannot speak to the suspect, I've already told you this," Lestrade sighed, looking exhausted with Sherlock's antics.

"You really think that Scotland Yard will be able to get him to give up his accomplice? It is incredible how your little minds work, truly. How can you not see that the only way you are going to get any information is if I go in there and speak to him?"

"Sherlock, you should be thankful that I am not having you brought up on charges."

"So you are just going to let them get away with this then?"

Lestrade sighed, "we have a mountain of evidence against Mr. Davies, there's no way that he will get off. And we're not even sure that he had an accomplice, he may have just done this all himself."

"You don't seriously think that?" Sherlock questioned, his lips downturning into a frown. He knew Lestrade was an idiot, but he couldn't really be that thick. "Just two minutes is all I need, then I will never speak to him again."

"Fine. Two minutes. But that's all," Lestrade finally gave in, knowing that it was not a smart decision on his part, but having run out of other options.

Sherlock did not waste any time once he was let inside the interrogation room where Mr. Davies sat handcuffed to the table. Sherlock placed both hands on the cold table and leant in towards the man, demanding in a low voice, "who was your accomplice?"

Mr. Davies face had gone pale upon first seeing the detective and now he was fully trembling beneath Sherlock's steely gaze. Lestrade watched carefully from the observation room, afraid that he would have to quickly intervene if Sherlock got physical again.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Mr. Davies lied, a statement so false that Sherlock knew even Lestrade wouldn't believe it. "Please leave, I-I don't want you anywhere near me."

"Not until I have a name. I know that you weren't working alone."

"No, I was, I swear to it! I'll go to prison, I promise! Help! Somebody, help me!" The man cried out, becoming borderline hysterical.

Sherlock narrowed his eyes at the criminal in front of him, then removed a pad of paper from his coat pocket. Upon the paper he wrote one word, then slid it over to Mr. Davies to judge his reaction. The widening of the eyes was all that Sherlock needed to prove his suspicion.

Tucking the paper away, Sherlock straightened out his coat, "thank you for being so cooperative, Mr. Davies, do enjoy life in prison."

With that Sherlock left the room and was met by John and Lestrade, both looking quite confused as to what happened in interrogation. Lestrade was the first to speak, "so? Did you get our guy?"

"Oh, there will be no getting him, he's far too smart for that. It's quite genius actually. Truly a consultant criminal," Sherlock replied, barely paying any attention to the Detective Inspector as he made a beeline for the exit.

"Hang on, consultant criminal, you've talked about that before," John spoke up, racking his brains to figure out who it was that Sherlock was referring to. Then it clicked in the worst of ways. "My god, he's back, isn't he? Moriarty?"

"Doubt he ever really left, John. He just wasn't making too much trouble for us. But now, now he wants to play again. First Lydia, now this. He's setting up the pieces for a new game."

"Yeah, but the last time innocent lives were strapped to bombs, I was strapped to a bomb. Maybe you shouldn't sound so excited," John commented, struggling to keep up with Sherlock's fast pace.

"Oh, be sensible, he's not going to strap you to a bomb again. He's more original than that. No, what he's got planned is much, much bigger."

As they left the building, Sherlock took out his mobile and shot off a single text to his brother. Lydia is staying with us, do stop threatening her.

-

(A/N): And the plot thickens! And much like when you typically thicken liquids while cooking it is at a very slow pace. I'm starting to think I may need to break this book into two (or I could cut stuff but I think we all know that that is unlikely to actually happen). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!