Sherlock's Girl

Sherlock waited for the doorbell to ring. Sapphire had text him 15 minutes ago and Sherlock was started to get worried. It soon become half an hour. Sherlock sent Sapphire several texts, asking where she was. John started to feel Sherlock's nerves too.

At an hour since Sherlock received her text, Sherlock started phoning her but just kept getting the answering machine. "Sapphire, please phone me as soon as possible. John and I are getting worried." Sherlock left her several messages that were very similar in content; John did the same, wondering if Sapphire was ignoring Sherlock to annoy him.

Two hours passed. Three. Four. At 9 Sherlock's phone went off. A text from Sapphire. Sherlock opened it with a sigh of relief, until he saw that the text may have been sent from her phone but it hadn't been sent by her. John saw Sherlock's face drop as her read the text.

"Sherlock?" John asked. Sherlock just stood there staring at his phone with fear. John walked over to Sherlock, pried his mobile out of his hand. John looked at the message and saw Sherlock's concern.

"Have something of yours, which you may want back. A pretty little thing. Come and get her. M xx"

John gasped as her read the message. "Sherlock, he has her! Sherlock what do we do?" Sherlock still stood there staring into thin air.

"John. I shouldn't of let her go. I thought she would be fine. I lead her straight into his hands." Sherlock's one seemed to be full of pain.

John was worried, "I will phone Mycroft." John decided, grabbing his phone from his pocket.

Sherlock's head snapped up at the mention of his brother's name. "No! John! Don't phone Mycroft! Don't phone Mycroft, please John. He will say I have failed the child, most likely take her away from me. John I can't lose Sapphire."

John heard the desperation in Sherlock's voice, so he placed his phone back in his pocket. Sherlock had come to a decision. He grabbed his phone back off John and replied to Moriarty.

"Hello Jim. I understand your message. Be warned. If you touch her, you will regret the day you started playing "games" with me. –SH"

John just caught a glimpse of the text before Sherlock sent it.

"Are you sure it's wise to threaten Moriarty? Besides you've now let him know how much she means to you." John stated, looking at Sherlock with confusion. Sherlock remained staring at the phone.

"He already knows how much she means to me, he wouldn't just kidnap a stranger who means nothing to me at all. And threatening him is the only way to grab his attention." Sherlock said, his phone bleeped again in his hand.

1 NEW MESSAGE.

Sherlock glanced at John who positioned himself so he could see the phone over Sherlock's arm.

"At least we are on the same page then. Shame, she is rather pretty, but far too young for me. Well you will have to come find me first Sherlock. And I am playing hard to get this time. –M xx"

Sherlock replied immediately, without uttering a word.

"Good, but I didn't mean touch like that. Well where I am supposed to start. The flat? - SH"

John just stood there watching Sherlock's movements closely. The men stood in silence until the phone bleeped again.

"I know what you meant. And start here. – M xx"

Attached to the message was a photo. It showed Sapphire and Evelyn on the floor of some building, it seemed to be an office building. John stared hard at the photo.

"What are we supposed to get from that? They leads us nowhere. A photo of an office building and there is hundreds of those in London. The photos bad quality as it is." He complained. Sherlock just stood there eyes whizzing over the picture.

"It gives us a lot John. We can find out where they are from this photo. And we also know that they are still unconscious as this was taken moments ago. From what I can see, fourth floor of the building. Facing the Tate modern, about 3 or 4 streets away. So we have a rough area. All we have to do now is compare the views from different building until we find the right one." It had been only less than a fortnight since John had last seen Sherlock make a deduction, but still he was amazed at the man's abilities.

Sherlock shoved his phone in his pocket. He then whipped around the flat gathering a series of items. These included his tool kit, magnifying tool, torch and his L9A1 from his bedroom. Once he had these he rushed downstairs. John ran after him, to find him putting his coat on at the bottom of the stairs, being confronted by Mrs Hudson.

She was asking him where Sapphire was and where they were going at such a late hour. Sherlock slowly lied his way out of Mrs Hudson's interrogation. "Sapphire, Mrs Hudson is staying with Mycroft for a while, I needed her to go for a while, while we worked on a case, and Mycroft needs to bond with her so she is staying with him. And we are, Mrs Hudson are off out concerning a case. Not sure when we will be back." Sherlock kissed her cheek before swiftly exiting. John followed after him shutting the door behind him, while Sherlock hailed a cab.

When the cab pulled over, the two men climbed inside, after Sherlock had made sure the driver wasn't Moriarty, even though Sherlock believed Moriarty wouldn't leave Sapphire unguarded.

"To the Tate Modern art gallery please." Sherlock asked the cab driver, who looked at the pair but decided to keep his mouth shut, due the serious looks on their faces.

It was pitch black when they reached the Tate modern art gallery. The only light came from the moon and stars shining above in the sky like nothing was wrong. Sherlock stood for a moment at the back of the museum and picked out 3 possible buildings they headed to the first one quickly. Sherlock wanted to find Moriarty as quick as possible. They reached the first one but before even going in Sherlock walked away after looking at the building.

John was confused. "Sherlock? Why are you walking away?" John said, catching up with Sherlock.

Sherlock just kept walking. "Because the window, in the photograph has a distinct shape to it. Small bits are obscured because of the fancy bits around the window outside. That building didn't have anything around its windows, they were plain."

John didn't quite understand but decided it was best to leave it. They carried on walking until they reached to the second building. When they got there Sherlock turned around to look at the view to the gallery from the front door. Sherlock's face seemed to brighten when he turned back around. While approaching the building Sherlock looked at the floor, shining his torch at the tarmac. Sherlock tried the door handle to the office building, with a little force the door opened. Sherlock and John made their way inside. Sherlock found the stairs quickly and started ascending the stairs 2 at a time until he reached the 4th floor. John rushed to keep up with him.

John came out of the stairwell a few moments after Sherlock, to find him staring out the window comparing the views across the vast open office space. The room was empty except for a few desks and office chairs; the floor was covered in dust. Sherlock turned around and smiled at John. "This is the one John."

John decided that it was best that he stayed where he was so Sherlock got get on with making his deductions. Sherlock got out his magnifying tool and thoroughly searched the open office space. Several minutes later, Sherlock returned to John with a triumphant grin on his face.

"They were here not long ago. They arrived a cab drove by Moriarty himself. Moriarty carried in Sapphire, while someone else met them here, and that person carried in Evelyn. They had problems here; Sapphire woke up before they expected her to and made a run for it. Moriarty's companion stopped her several metres from the door. She tried to use her biro on him but he made her drop it and then smashed it with his foot. Then Moriarty came over, meeting them half way across the room, where he smothered her with a chloroform rag. Then they brought her back to where she originally was, and then bound the two of them with sting, at their wrists and ankles. Eventually someone else arrived and took them elsewhere."

Sherlock looked at john to see if he understood, but John just gave off a blank stare. Sherlock sighed; great he was going to have to explain himself, meaning the whole process would take twice as long, meaning Moriarty had more time with access to Sapphire.

"Moriarty wouldn't have carried Sapphire, Sherlock; he doesn't like the physical work." John muttered.

"Oh he did this time, I could tell by the foot prints in the dust, Moriarty's lead to the small body shape. Also he would have carried her knowing that it would annoy me. Anything else you are unclear on?" Sherlock enquired.

John nodded, "Yes really don't understand anything really."

Sherlock went off explaining every last detail. "They arrived in a cab, because they were abducted in a cab. Moriarty would have been driving to make sure he got the right person. I have already explained the who carried who bit. It was Sapphire that woke up due to that is her footprints leading to 5m from the door where she is met by Moriarty's friend's footprints. The biro lays a few feet from that point in pieces where he had crushed it after making her drop it. His footprints are then joined by Sapphire's struggling feet where she tried to get away. Moriarty's footprints meet theirs, where Sapphire's become a neat drag mark, where she is unconscious. There is then fibres of string at four places on the floor, where they bound them. The rest is obvious. All you had to do is look at the dust, it tells a whole story."

John stood there amazed once again at Sherlock's brilliance. "Only thing is Sherlock, where do we go from here?" John questioned, and as if on que Sherlock's phone beeped.

"Having fun? Cause I certainly am. Have a riddle for you. It might help you to know where to go next. Here goes: Where does Jack the Ripper still roam during the day, yet no prostitutes die. At night he changes identity, and back again in the morning. Enjoy. – M xx"

Sherlock hated riddle, but tried his hardest to understand this one, he couldn't let Sapphire down. Beside him John muttered something to himself, "Sorry John what did you say?"

John looked at Sherlock, "I thought I may have an answer but it's probably wrong…" Sherlock gave him a look, so that he would continue. "…Well I thought about the whole Jack the Ripper thing, the real one is dead, and so it has to be a fake. Jack the Ripper killed at night, while Moriarty talks about the day and no one dying. The first thing that came into my mind was the London Dungeons which has Jack the Ripper actors that roam around." John waited for Sherlock to say he was completely wrong.

But Sherlock looked at his friend with happiness. "That is it John! Well done! Come on! We need to get to the London Dungeons." Sherlock whipped around and headed to the stairwell, and ran down the stairs. John raced after him to keep up. Sherlock was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs; once John had caught up they ran through the streets of London until they reached the London Dungeons.

They arrived at the building out of breath. Finding the employees entrance, they tried the door handle and once again the door flew open in their hands. Making their way to the employees' lounge, as Sherlock knew it would be where they would have gone to stop. Once again John let Sherlock look around while he stood out of the way. This time Sherlock was back in a matter of seconds.

"They didn't bring the girls in here. Moriarty came in to drop of the next clue but that is it." Sherlock said putting his tools back away in his pocket.

"Well what is the next clue Sherlock?" John asked looking around the room.

Sherlock stopped a moment glancing around the room, his head stopped as he saw what he was after, "Moriarty tried too hard to make the clue fit in, but he tried too well. The thing with newspapers in employee lounges never stay neat and tidy for long." Sherlock had walked over to a table with piles of newspapers on. He picked on from the top. This newspaper like Sherlock had said was neat and didn't have a single crease.

Sherlock flicked straight to the personal adverts in the back, skim reading the articles until he found something. "Found it!" He said, his tone full of joy, as he pointed to an advert, but by the time he finished reading the advert his smile faded. John quickly read the article.

"Precious jewel found, used to belong to recently deceased male. Pick up is required, set a high collection price. Come to 16 North Circular to prove ownership."

Just as John finished reading the last word, Sherlock tore the paper to shreds, and then stormed out. John followed. Sherlock stood outside pacing. He looked at John, "Are you ready?" He asked looking at his companion.

John nodded, "Ready when you are."

Sherlock smiled knowing that John had his back, as they jogged to the main road to hail a cab which would take them to 16 North Circular. Sherlock sat in the cab, not feeling safe until he checked his gun was fully loaded. Now he was ready to take on Moriarty.