You're in Sherlock (Sherlock × Reader)

The Sign of Three: Chapter 4

"That'll take awhile, right? How long do you think, Y/n?" Mary turned to you.

"I'd say an hour at least, that's tricky stuff." You nodded. Sherlock gave you a small grin and you winked at him.

"My coat in there?" John pointed towards the kitchen.

"Yes!" Mary explained brightly. John paced toward the kitchen, going to get his coat.

"Just going to take him out for a bit – run him." Sherlock explained to Mary, you smiled up at him.

"I know." Mary nodded.

"Come on, Sherlock." John spoke from the kitchen, still putting on his coat.

"Coming." Sherlock said as he walked to the doorway, turning to give you a thumbs up. You returned the gesture before he turned away.

Once Sherlock made it down the stairs John walked out, looking after him.

"Taking him on a run, hope you don't mind." He told you softly.

"I don't mind at all. Have fun!" You spoke after him as he ran down the flat's stairs to join Sherlock. Once they were both out of sight, you turned to Mary giving her a high-five.

***

"Private Bainbridge had just come off guard duty. He'd stood there for hours, plenty of people watching, nothing apparently wrong. He came off duty and within minutes was nearly dead from a wound in his stomach, but there was no weapon. Where did it go? Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to consider this: a murderer who can walk through walls, a weapon that can vanish – but in all of this there is only one element which can be said to be truly remarkable. Would anyone like to make a guess?" Sherlock looked out at the wedding guests. You'd remembered him coming home and telling you all about that case, it had extremely frustrated him. But you'd had no solution either. He had to close the case without solving it, something he seldom had to do.

When no guests offered a guess Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Come on, come on, there is actually an element of Q and A to all of this." You looked around to see that no one had yet raised their hands. You raised yours, hoping to get others to as well. "You don't count." He pointed at you and the audience chuckled as you smiled up at him. "Anyone?" Still no one spoke so Sherlock scanned the room, his eyes stopping on Lestrade.

"Scotland Yard." Lestrade shot up at that, his attention becoming more focused. "Have you got a theory?" Lestrade stared at him, like he wasn't sure what Sherlock was asking of him. "Yeah, you. You're a detective – broadly speaking. Got a theory?"

"Er, um, if the, uh, if the, if-if-if, if the blade was, er, propelled through the, um... grating in the air vent... maybe a-a ballista or a – or a – or a catapult. Erm, somebody tiny could-could crawl in there. So, yeah, we're loo... we're looking for a-a-a-a dwarf." Lestrade stammered out a random theory. You face palmed.

"Brilliant." Sherlock nodded. The things people could come up with were beyond you sometimes.

"Really?" Lestrade asked.

"No." Sherlock told him bluntly. Lestrade lowered his head in embarrassment and you looked around the room, seeing if anyone else would volunteer to answer.

"Next!" Sherlock scanned the room as no one else offered up an explanation. Tom leaned over to Molly in a loud whisper.

"He stabbed himself." He told her. Oh lord, you thought as Sherlock immediately looked in his direction.

"Hello? Who was that? Tom." Sherlock nodded. Tom grimaced and you shook your head.

"I wouldn't if I were-" Against your judgement Tom stood, looking nervously over at Sherlock. Molly cringed, just awaiting for Tom to say something stupid.

"Got a theory?" Sherlock looked over him.

After a moment of silence of Tom shifting around uncomfortably, he spoke. "Um... attempted suicide, with a blade made of compacted blood and bone; broke after piercing his abdomen... like a meat... dagger."

The guests laughed lightly at this and you laid your head down on the table. You'd tried to warn him. No one ever listens. Molly's face was red in second hand embarrassment as she didn't even look up at Tom, who still stood awkwardly.

"A meat dagger." Sherlock's tone basically dripped that what Tom had said was entirely stupid. It was, so you couldn't blame him.

"Yes." Tom nodded.

"Sit. Down." Molly looked over to you as she spoke to Tom through gritted teeth.

"No." Sherlock shook his head at Tom. Tom slowly sat down. You gave Molly a half smile as she tried to calm herself down, her body slightly tilted away from Tom.

"There was one feature, and only one feature, of interest in the whole of this baffling case, and quite frankly it was the usual. John Watson – who, while I was trying to solve the murder, instead saved a life. There are mysteries worth solving and stories worth telling. The best and bravest man I know – and on top of that he actually knows how to do stuff... except wedding planning and serviettes – he's rubbish at those."

"True!" John laughed along with most of the guests.

"The case itself remains the most ingenious and brilliantly-planned murder – or attempted murder – I've ever had the pleasure to encounter; the most perfect locked-room mystery of which I am aware. However, I'm not just here to praise John – I'm also here to embarrass him, so let's move on to some..."

"No-no, wait, so how was it... how was it done?" Lestrade interrupted, looking up at Sherlock.

"How was what done?" Sherlock asked, already forgetting what Lestrade was speaking of.

"The stabbing." Lestrade reminded him. You wanted to tell Lestrade the truth, without having everyone know. But they were all looking at Sherlock now, expecting an answer. You let him speak.

"I'm afraid I don't know. I didn't solve that one. That's... It can happen sometimes. It's very... very disappointing." You nodded at Sherlock's statement as he looked down at the table a moment, as if in reflection of the case once more. He shook his head before looking back out at the audience. "Embarrassment leads me on to the stag night. Of course there's hours of material here, but I've cut it down to the really good bits."

You rolled your eyes at the mention of that case, titled 'The Mayfly Man' by John. Those two had you running around all night on that case. You'd left them in jail for the night, just so you didn't have to deal with them. Still, you smiled in thought as you remembered the case...