General Disclaimer

Sending Fenwick out for the materials was taking longer than expected as Moriarty gazed out into the dark waters. It seemed as if he was caught in a trance, waiting for the moment he had so prepared for. "Am I covering my tracks too well this time?" he wondered as he began to flip on the communicator. He would just have to check in on Holmes to make certain that he would be able to find him. Fenwick was clumsy enough to draw Holmes out with that certain Lestrade... "Beth." Slowly, his eyes sharpened and he lifted the communicator. "Fenwick, check on Holmes on your way back. He’s been awfully quiet...."

---

Hot days paired with cold nights. The biting air nipped at Lestrade’s cheeks. Already, it was late. "Yeah, another late night study session. Can’t say that I miss those," she thought as she set out towards the cruiser. Living on nothing other than coffee for the past three hours was getting her irritable and she didn’t want to take it out on Josh. "Holmes would probably enjoy my snapping. What the...where did that come from?"

As the cruiser lifted off the pavement, she glanced out the window back at The Messy Fix. There was Josh, standing in the doorway watching her leave and waving good-bye with that goofy grin on his face. Already, dark circles from lack of sleep were forming under his eyes, yet he was still going to watch her leave. Holmes never seemed to do that. With a silent wave, she glided off back home.

"Good night, Beth. See you in two weeks."

---

The next day, Watson had noticed Holmes was acting a bit strange. It was very early in the morning and he just kept glancing out the window and making "hmmmm" noises. He hadn’t touched his tea or breakfast and he hadn’t sat down in his usual chair. The overall atmosphere seemed tense, but why Watson was having trouble figuring out.

"Holmes, what’s wrong?" asked a concerned Watson, as he brought some tea over towards the window.

"Hmmmmmm.."

"If only I could understand the language of hmmm."

"Huh? Oh, did you say something, Watson?" replied Holmes as he snapped to attention.

He really does seem to be out of it today, thought Watson as he himself looked out the window. "You seem to be distracted today, Holmes."

"Oh, really? I was just admiring the view," he stated as he thought, Yeah, the view of Fenwick. Why would he be spying on me? Moriarty must be up to something. But, what? It would be unwise to start assuming now without the information but....

"Hmmmmmmm.."

"Watson, the game is afoot," said Holmes as he reached for his cap and Inverness. On second thought, maybe I should leave those here this time....

"What game?" asked a confused and clueless Watson as he picked up the tea and began to follow Holmes out the door.

"We’re off to the Yard, Watson."

---

Head on her desk and finger repetitively tapping the delete button, Lestrade was more than tired. I’ll never stay up that late again on a work night. Figures today was my desk day. I feel so cheated. What happened to my patrols?

"LESTRADE!!!! GET YOUR HEAD OFF THAT DESK AND BACK TO THE PAPERWORK!!!!" shouted Grayson from the doorway.

Like he doesn’t catch a nap or two on slow days, she figuratively growled.

With a yawn and stretch it was back to work. The few cases she had come across that day didn’t seem too interesting. Just a few chemicals stolen from different firms. Nothing major, and nothing that one of the novice inspectors couldn’t handle. A scuffle at one of the local bars. There even seemed to be a couple of littering fines on her desk. Since when did I get stuck with cheap cases like this?

"Since now, I presume."

She first jumped; then her expression changed from surprise to embarrassment. "Did I say that out loud?" she said, as she began to rub her eyes in an attempt to pass off her expressions.

"Well, there must be something worth our while in that stack of ‘cheap cases’. Might I have a look at those chemical thefts?" an inquisitive Holmes asked as he began to thumb through the different thefts.

"Holmes, what are you doing here? I didn’t call you in for any help today," she said as her eyes began droop once more, as if in protest of her encroaching curiosity.

"Small time crime. What happened to have degraded your cases so?" he said as he sorted the cases. "However, these chemical thefts do look interesting. What do you notice about these three thefts that are different from the others?"

As he began to lay the different cases in two separate areas, the distinction of difference became quite clear. One pile consisted of a large assortment of cases and appeared that just small amounts of the chemicals were stolen. The latter consisted of three cases with a large amount of missing chemicals while all occurred within the same night.

"So you think this is connected?"

"It is definitely a possibility. But assumptions can be dangerous. It would be best to investigate the cases and keep an open mind until after we’ve seen all the evidence."

As Lestrade glanced over the three cases she suddenly pointed and said, "This is the only case where the criminal was actually spotted. Let’s start there and then work our way through the others and see if we can spot a possible pattern of the criminal."

"Excellent idea, Lestrade. I think Watson wants to stay and update a few of his programs since that culinary magazine of his is upgrading their software. So, if you could be so kind as to provide the transportation...."

As she looked up at him, she was no longer drowsy at all. "Anything to give me an excuse to get away from all of this deskwork."