bakerstreet | picture prompt meme.

[Joan wouldn't consider herself afraid of heights either, but this is something else altogether. Even having a pool up here with just a railing separating you from a long drop and short stop gives her the creeps. Being up here above it without even a railing is much worse. She remembers reading somewhere that the fear of heights comes from the small voice inside everyone, that "imp of the perverse" that whispers, "Jump."]

I can't imagine anyone coming up here unless they got off on the adrenaline or they fully intended to kill themselves. Judging by the ladder, if this was a murder, they weren't dragged up here unconscious or struggling. They would have had to climb up on their own.

There are certain motivators.

[Sherlock walks to the very edge of the platform and bends forward as he looks over it. He has good balance and he trusts Joan to grab his coat if he loses it for some reason.]

There's no guarantee the killer came anywhere near this pool and from what I've found, I believe that's the case.

[He leans farther, then kneels down and reaches under the platform to feel around for something.]

[The way he's doing that makes her heart pound, her stomach do slow flips. She forces herself to stay close, so that she can grab him if he loses his balance, but she can't help but be deeply nervous for him, and fearful that if he did start to fall, she wouldn't be able to save him. Might even be dragged over with him.

When he leans further forward, kneels at the edge, feels under, she gasps slightly, glances away, forces herself to look back.]

[He hears Joan gasp and actually looks over his shoulder to see what's wrong. She's looking away from him. Oh.] I'm not going to fall.

[Sherlock turns back to what he's doing and searches the perimeter until he finally feels something against his fingertips. He lifts a small item from the crevasse, then stands up and looks at it in his palm. It's a small half-circle of wire with a bulbous extension on one end and a short antennae-like extension on the other.]

Wireless communication.

[He turns to Joan completely and shows her the find.]

Much too expensive for the maintenance, don't you think?

You'd better not.

[She comes close to look at the device, frowning.]

It looks like a bug. Do you think someone was listening to them? Is it still on?

Only one way to find out.

[He hands Joan the device and takes his mobile phone out of his pocket. He opens his voice mail and puts it on speaker phone. Joan's voice comes out of his phone loud and clear as she explains the details of their previous case. He holds the phone closer to the device and once he gets within a three centimetre range, there's an odd bit of feedback in the message.

Yes, the bug is still active.

He closes the message and turns around to look across the way at the pool and everything else in the distance.]

The more important questions are who planted the bug and where are they keeping the transmitter?

[This model only works within a one mile radius. Considering their elevation, that would leave them with a small area to work with. Just this building and a few yards out from it.]

[The phone thing is a neat trick, and Joan files it away, remembering it for the next time she encounters a bug.]

Is there any way we could track the signal back to its source?

Not from here. I have some equipment back at the apartment that we could use, but the building could be cleared by the time we get back.

[His eyebrows furrow as he concentrates on the floor plan of the building. Within a few seconds, he's pacing around the small platform with no visible regard to the edge.]

There has to be something... something that doesn't quite fit...

Sherlock...

[He's starting to freak her out, watching him so close to the edge, like he's not even aware.]

Sherlock! Unless we really need to be up here? Let's get somewhere where one misstep won't make you a smear on the pavement.

[Sherlock doesn't hear Joan the first time she calls his name. On the second time, he does look over at her. Confusion slowly fades to something more understanding.]

Oh, right.

[He glances over the edge and takes a moment to calculate his fall from a misstep.]

I wouldn't say pavement, though. Based on my average velocity and barring catching myself before falling, I would most likely land on the edge of the pool, severing my spine. Less messy, still an undesirable result.

[He gestures Joan to climb down first.]

[She shoots him a look at "undesirable result," finding the pedantics so annoying and so very Sherlock. She's on her way to the ladder when she stops, narrows her eyes, turns around.]

The victim made it to the ground, though. How fast would they have had to be going to miss the pool?

Vertical drop, one could argue for a miniscule amount of forward force. Unless the victim shimmied off the ledge face-first without any outward facing velocity, she could not have killed herself in the way the police have described.

[It's the very reason Sherlock had taken this case.]

Right, but...either she didn't fall from here, or someone threw her over the edge, right?

Correct. There's no sign of a struggle up here, but the bug has been planted recently. We'll find more answers when we find the transmitter and the location the data is being stored.

[He gives Joan a genuine kind of smile. It always feels good when work pays off and he couldn't ask for a more capable apprentice.]

[She climbs down the ladder, thinking. Someone in the building? Maybe someone in the woman's apartment? Was she having an affair, and was killed by her husband?]

[Sherlock toys with all of seven current theories he's narrowed things down to so far as he waits for Joan to descend a safe distance before him. He turns and starts to go down the ladder and after making only half the journey downward the sound of a heavy, metal door slamming causes him a mild start. It's impossible to hide their presence if they're hanging on a ladder, so he hisses a warning to Joan to hurry up.]

[Joan doesn't need the warning. At the sound of the door, she increases her speed, climbing down as fast as she dares. Near the bottom, her foot slips, and she gasps as she clings to the ladder, terrified for a long moment that she's going to fall.]

[When Sherlock hears the sound of polymer slipping from the metal rung, his stomach twists. He looks down over his shoulder to make sure that Joan's managed to hold on. Good, she's still clinging to the ladder.]

Joan, keep moving.

[He's whispering harshly, because the sound of masculine footsteps are just a few metres from rounding the corner.]

[She gets her feet under herself again and takes the last few rungs quickly before swinging over onto the deck and looking for a way to hide.]

[Sherlock finishes his descent only moments after Joan. He'd been scanning the area while they made their way down, so he knows the perfect place to hide. He puts a hand on Joan's back and guides her to the right direction and leads the way from behind.]

Six metres ahead, to the left, duck under the hanging, slight right, twenty-three metres forward, locker room's on the left. Quickly.

[His directions are hushed, but he expects they'll be well-received. Joan's clever enough to keep up with him. Using this particular locker room would benefit them in multiple ways. First of all, there's no swinging door to alert the other person to their presence. Second, because there would be no door, he could still keep watch and listen. Third, there's a ventilation system that they would have access to in case they are pursued.]

Edited 2013-08-07 01:35 (UTC)

[Joan nods, and quickly and quietly follows his directions to the letter. She can hear the footsteps getting closer to the deck, and she ducks into the locker room and presses herself against the wall just in time.]

[Sherlock's only a split second behind and he flattens himself against the wall in just the same way. He closes his eyes to cut off his sense of sight so he can listen more attentively. He has the layout of the building, at least every room he's been in and the map, memorised, so he can picture the man's walking using his knowledge of acoustics.

The unknown man approaches the pool and stops a short distance from it. Shift to the left, shift to the right, and then back to the left - his legs are tired, he's been standing for too long. Seconds go by before he turns their way and paces the perimeter.]

Security?

[That doesn't rule him out as a suspect and Sherlock wants to get a better look. The question is will the man turn to check out the locker room or would he finish the shorter circuit?]

He's lazy, doesn't use his legs much. Wants to sit. We're safe waiting in here.

[He opens his eyes and peeks around the corner, then returns to the more concealed position he'd been in before.

Now that the man is so close, whispering is too risky, so he faces Joan and mouths the words instead.] Wait until he passes, then cover me.

[She listens as well, connecting the sounds to what Sherlock is saying. When he mouths to her, she nods in understanding, and listens as the man walks past their hiding place.]

[Even though he's treading softly, Sherlock matches his steps to the tempo of the guard's footfalls as he makes his way out of the locker room and toward the pool area. He doesn't see anything that immediately alerts his suspicions with the guard, but he doesn't have enough data to rule him out as a suspect. He's wearing a pair of iPod ear buds. Excellent.

He turns back toward Joan and gestures with a nod of the head which direction to move. They could make it back to the main surveillance room that should now be completely empty if they're careful and quiet. If not, a confrontation might ease a bit of the tension in the air.]

[She glances at where the guard has gone, takes a breath, and moves quickly and quietly in the direction that Sherlock indicated. The door to the surveillance room is cracked open, and she slips in, crosses to the bank of monitors, and looks over them. She sees the guard at a vending machine, leaning against it and munching on chips. He doesn't seem likely to be returning right away. She mutters.]

Thank god for lazy guards.

Yay! It's great :)

/o/

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Wrong icon... oops

No worries!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject