Shortly afterwards, the three of you are staking out the tourists shop, The Lucky Cat, in a restaurant opposite if it. Sitting at a table in the window, with John sitting on one side and you and Sherlock sitting on the other, Sherlock writing the two Hangzhou numbers and their English equivalents onto a paper napkin.
You and John were also writing notes. "Two men travel back from China. Both head straight for the Lucky Cat emporium. What did they see?" John asked, looking up from his notes at the two of you. "It's not what they saw; it's what they both brought back in those suitcases." You replied. "And you don't mean duty free." John said, as the waitresses brings over plates of food for you and John. "Thank you." You and John said to the lady.
"Think about what Sebastian told us; about Van Coon--about how he stayed afloat in the market." Sherlock told John. "Lost five million..."John tailed off.
"Made it back in a week. That's how he made such easy money." Sherlock said.
"He was a smuggler." You said as you and John start to eat your food.
"A guy like him--it would have been perfect." Sherlock said to you. "Business man making frequent trips to Asia. And Lukis was the same a journalist writing about China." Sherlock stated as you and John hummed in agreement.
"Both of them smuggled stuff out, and the Lucky Cat was their drop-off." You stated.
"But why did they die? I mean, it doesn't make sense. If they both turn up at the shop and deliver the goods, why would someone threaten them and kill them after the event, after they'd finished the job?" John asked. You look up from your plate and think about what John asked, then you felt like you were being watch and look over to see Sherlock staring at you, finally it comes to you and you smile at him and the two of you nod in agreement.
"What if one of them was light fingered?" Sherlock asked John.
"How d'you mean?" John asked.
"Stole something; something from the hoard." You said.
"And the killer doesn't know which of them took it, so he threatens them both. Right." said John as it finally dawns on him.
Sherlock looks out of the window towards the shop, then raises his eyes to the windows above it.
Looking down to the ground floor level again, Sherlock says "Remind me, when was the last time that it rained?" He focuses on a Yellow Page phone directory sealed in a plastic wrapper which has been left outside the door to the flat beside the Lucky Cat.
Without waiting for a reply from you or John, Sherlock stands up and leaves the restaurant. John sits back in exasperation while you smile and shake your head, placing the money on the table as you and John get up and follow Sherlock.
Across the road, Sherlock bends down to the Yellow Pages. The plastic wrapper still has drops of water on it, and the top of it has broken a little. He runs his fingers over the top of the wet exposed pages of the directory. "It's been here since Monday." Sherlock stated as you and John come up behind him. He straightens up and presses the doorbell to the flat. He only waits a couple of seconds, then looks to his right and heads off in the direction.
There's an alleyway beside the flat and you and the boys walk down in it. "No one's been in that flat for at least three days." Sherlock stated.
"Could've gone on holiday." said John. You point up at an open window and ask. "D'you leave your windows open when you go on holiday?"
You and the boys reached the rear of the building; you and Sherlock look up to see a cantilevered metal fire escape above your heads.
Taking a short run at it, Sherlock jumps up and grabs the end, pulling it down towards him until it touches the ground, then he runs up the steps towards the window of the flat. As he reaches the top, the ladder swings back to the horizontal position before you could grab it. "Sherlock!" You shouted. You and John are too short to grab the ladder so the two of you turn and run back along the alley to the front of the building.
Once the two of you reach the front door, John rings on the doorbell. "D'you think maybe you could let us in?" You asked Sherlock, but he doesn't respond or you just can't hear him. John bends down to the letterbox, pushes it open and calls through the gap. "Can you not keep doing this, please?" He asked.
After a few seconds, John asked "What?"
Another few seconds.
"What are you saying?" Then John let's go of the letterbox, straightens up and sighs in exasperation.
"I'm wasting my breath." He said and you shake you your head. John starts to pace as you bend down to the letterbox and flip it open. "Any time you want to include us." You shouted as John continues pacing in irritation and starts shouting. "No, I'm Sherlock Holmes and I always work alone because no one else can compete with my MASSIVE INTELLECT!" You shake your head and hold back a laugh, when you could vaguely hear some kind of commotion.
It sounded like a struggle then it stopped. You heart skips a beat as John goes and rings the doorbell. You straighten up and look over at John. "John, something's wrong. Back up I'm gonna try and get this door open." John backs off from the stairs as you walk a few paces back from the door.
You were about to charge at the door when it, finally, opens and out comes Sherlock. "The, uh, milk's gone off and the washing starting to smell. Somebody left in a hurry three days ago." He said, his voice croaky. "Somebody?" John asked as Sherlock nods and he looks down and picks up and envelope as he says, still in a rough voice.
"Soo Lin Yao. We have to find her."
"But how, exactly?" John asked as you remember that name.
"The National Antiques Museum." You stated as John looks over at you and Sherlock nods. "I was there the other day, I recognize the name." You said as Sherlock shows the envelope to you and see there was a note to Soo Lin from someone named Andy on it. "We can start with this." Sherlock said, croakily. He walks out, closes the door behind him and the three of you walk down the road.
"You've gone all croaky. Are you getting a cold?" You asked Sherlock. "I'm fine." He said as he coughs.
At the museum, Sherlock was pacing around a display area while you and him interview Andy. "When was the last time that you saw her?" You asked Andy. "Three days ago, um, here at the museum. This morning they told me she'd resigned just like that. Just left her work unfinished." Andy said as Sherlock focuses on a glass case with the clay teapots and notices most of them were dull but one is shiny. Then, he looks at another case containing some jade figurines and then a piece of artwork.
Then, Sherlock turns to Andy. "What was the last thing that she did on her final afternoon?" He asked. Andy takes you three to the basement archives and turns on the light as he leads you three in. "She does this demonstration for the tourists--a-a tea ceremony. So she would have packed up her things and just put them in here." He said as he leads you to the open stack and start to turn a handle at the end to widen the gap. John and Sherlock stand behind Andy and look into the gap but you noticed something interesting.
On a stand is a life sized sculpture of a nude woman and a yellow paint has been sprayed across the front. The same symbol you three have being seeing is sprayed over the statue. "Sherlock." You said and he turns, so does Andy and John, and sees what you were looking at.
Night has fallen as you, Sherlock and John walk out of the museum. "We have to find Soo Lin Yao." Sherlock said. "If she's still alive." You said as you hear someone shouted "Sherlock!"
You and the boys look over and see Raz running towards you. "Found something you'll like." Raz said as he trots off and the three of you follow after him.
Shortly afterwards, the four of you are walking across Hungerford Bridge, heading towards the south side of the river. Raz then leads you three across the under croft. "If you want to hide a tree, then a forest is the best place to do it, wouldn't you say? People would just walk straight past, not knowing, unable to decipher the message." Sherlock said as Raz points to a particular area on the heavily graffitied walls. "There I spotted it earlier." Raz said.
Amongst all the other paint there are slashes of the yellow paint forming Chinese symbols. "They have been in here. And that's the exact same paint?" Sherlock asked Raz. "Yeah." Raz said. Sherlock looks over at you and John and said "John, (y/n), if we're going to decipher this code, we're gonna need to look for more evidence."
The three of you split up, you and Sherlock were walking along the end of a railway line when Sherlock finds an abandoned spray can on the tracks. He squats down and picks it up and runs his thumb over the yellow paint on the nozzle and then sniffs it. "Really, Sherlock?" You said, raising your eyebrows at him. He looks at you and shrugs and gets up and continues on. You roll your eyes and follow after him.
The two of you walk past a wall which has many posters glued to it. One of the posters catches Sherlock's eye and he tears the bottom corner of it and takes it with him as you and him continues onwards.
Meanwhile, John is on the railway lines and is looking around with his flashlight. Suddenly his flashlight picks put splashed of yellow paint on the sleeper and on the rails, then he raises his light to a brick wall, which is about fifteen feet wide. He steps back, his mouth open in surprise as he realize that the entire wall is covered with large yellow Chinese symbols. He pulls out his phone and took a picture of the wall and runs off to find you and Sherlock.
You two were looking at the side of a parked rail freight container, when John comes up to you two.
"(Y/N)! Sherlock! I've found it." He said and he turns around and the three of you run off into the night side by side. Back at the wall, John leads you and Sherlock to it but his mouth drops again. The entire wall is now blank.
"It's been painted over!" John exclaimed. You shine your flashlight around the area as John stands there and stares at the wall in disbelief. "I don't understand. It-it was here...ten minutes ago. I saw it. A whole load of graffiti." John rambles. You look over at Sherlock and said "Someone doesn't want us to see it." Sherlock then turns and grabs the sides of John's head in both hands.
"Hey, Sherlock, what are you doing?" John asked.
"Shh, John, concentrate. I need you to concentrate. Close your eyes." Sherlock said as he lowers his hand to hold John by the upper arms.
"No, what? Why? Why? What are you doing?" John asked, panicking a bit as Sherlock starts to slowly spin them around the spot, staring intensely into John's eyes.
You smirk at this and said "You need to maximize your visual memory, John. Try to picture what you saw."
"Can you picture it?" Sherlock asked him.
"Yeah."
"Can you remember it?"
"Yes, definitely."
"Can you remember the pattern?"
"Yes!"
"How much can you remember it?" You asked as the men still spin around in place.
"Well, don't worry..." John started to say before Sherlock interrupted. "Because the average human memory on visual matters is only sixty-two percent accurate."
"Yeah, well, don't worry-I remember all of it." John said.
"Really?" Sherlock asked him in disbelief.
"Yeah well at least I would if I can get to my pockets!" John said as he pulls himself free from Sherlock's grip and rummage in his pocket. "I took a photograph." He said as he pulls out his phone and shows you and Sherlock the picture he took of the wall.
Back at 221B, Sherlock printed John's picture of the wall and stuck it on the mirror with the other photos. The numerical value of each symbol has been written against it. You and Sherlock were standing in front of the fireplace looking at the pictures closely, while John was sitting at the dining table and his head propped in his hands. You look over and notice he has fallen asleep, you smile at this as Sherlock said. "Always in pairs, (y/n). Number come with partners."
"But why did he paint it so near the tracks?" You ask.
"No idea." Sherlock said.
"Thousands of people pass by there everyday." You replied then Sherlock smiles, realizing something.
"Of course...Of course! He wants information. He's trying to communicate with his people in the underworld. Whatever was stolen, he wants it back." He said as he runs his fingers over the symbols.
"Somewhere here in the code." He said then he pulls three photos off the wall and turns towards the door. "We can't crack this without Soo Lin Yao." He said and heads out as you go up behind John and shake him on the shoulder.
"John...John wake up!" You said.
"Just twenty minutes." John mutters.
You laugh and said "C'mon John we are going to the museum." You said as he finally wakes up.
"Oh good!" He said, tiredly and gets up and follows you out the door.