tfln

[ex_subjudice464]

you know the drill

Comments

[theonewhocounted]

[She smiles back.]

Sounds quite nice.

Oh, yes. It's in the morgue.

[She's walking him down there now.]

What's the case in Australia?

[consulting_freak]

It's awful.

[Sherlock doesn't do summer clothes if he can help it. He's miserable enough in cloudy London summers.]

A dingo ate a woman's baby.

[He's not kidding.]

[theonewhocounted]

[She laughs, at both statements, not thinking he's serious at all.]

Was that before or after it boxed a kangaroo?

[consulting_freak]

There wasn't a kangaroo involved.

[Sherlock's confused, not really sure why Molly's laughing at him. Is it the case or the weather?]

Looks like the mother, father, and elder sister are all clean for motive and evidence. The only clue is a rose pearl, but I'm narrowing my list of suspects by the hour.

[theonewhocounted]

Wait...were you serious? About the dingo?

[consulting_freak]

Yes.

[Now that that's cleared up.]

Like I was saying, it's a toss up between the maid, the plumber, and the estranged aunt. My money's on the maid, but I haven't been able to corner her for an interview yet.

[theonewhocounted]

You think the maid fed the baby to a dingo?

[consulting_freak]

I think the maid killed the baby accidentally and used the dingo to cover it up. Well, her or the plumber or the aunt. Weren't you listening?

[theonewhocounted]

I'm listening. You said you were betting on the maid.

[And Molly's not stupid enough to bet against Sherlock.]

Anyway, here's the honey man.

[She opens one of the morgue drawers and pulls out the body of the deceased in question. He's been cleansed of the honey and there are incision marks from the autopsy. Other than that (and the fact that he's dead) there doesn't seem to be anything else wrong with him.]

[consulting_freak]

True, but I also said I haven't confirmed anything. Conjecture's useless. I need proof.

[Sherlock holds himself to ethical standards whether anyone else notices or not.]

It's been pasteurised, so no anaphylaxis from bee or pollen allergies. More freckles around the face and hands, so he works outdoors wearing long-sleeves, so it's not a labour-intensive job. Let me see his palms.

[If he can't solve how he's died, he can work on the why.]

[theonewhocounted]

Hold on.

She puts the phone down in order to put gloves on before picking it back up with one hand and holding it where Sherlock can see while the other hand flips the hand of the corpse over so Sherlock can see his palm.]

[consulting_freak]

[It's so hard to see on this little screen, so Molly's going to get a close-up of Sherlock's eyes squinting and scrutinising (if she looks at it).]

Callouses. On the pads of the hands... Pattern says a driver of sort. Maybe a truck drier or delivery man of some sort.

Do you have an ID on the body?

[theonewhocounted]

Not yet. No ID on or near the body. No hits on his fingerprints in the database or in the descriptions of recently missing persons cases.

The police may put out a sketch of him to try to find anyone who can identify the poor man. It's really quite sad if you go missing and no one notices.

[consulting_freak]

Check the registries for truck shipment and delivery services. They should have photographs for all of their drivers.

[Sherlock doesn't say anything about Molly's added comment about no one noticing when you go missing.]

And don't limit the search for the recently missing. Preservative, remember?

[theonewhocounted]

I'll pass that along to Lestrade.

[This was getting a little out of the scope of her work in the lab.]

[consulting_freak]

Good.

[Sherlock would do it himself, but there's certain hoops to jump through to get access to the right pages on the wrong side of the border.]

What did you use to remove the honey?

[theonewhocounted]

They scraped the honey from the body in order to collect anything stuck into the honey that might be of use, then they cleaned the body as usual.

[consulting_freak]

Think. Did they find anything in the honey? Anything at all, whether it seems significant or not?

[theonewhocounted]

I don't think the processing of the honey is complete but we're working on it. At first glance it seemed a lot of the debris was from the field he was found in. I'm sure we'll be able to find something more useful though.

I suppose the good thing about honey is that everything sticks to it.

[Unfortunately it also meant a lot of potential evidence to sift through.]

[consulting_freak]

I doubt they'll be finished by the time I'm back, so I'll have a look myself.

[Sherlock checks his watch. Nearly 10 in the morning which makes it almost 11 pm in London.]

I've got to run. The maid should be arriving at the depot shortly.

With any luck, I'll be able to leave tonight. If not, two days max. We'll meet at the morgue a half hour after I land.

[theonewhocounted]

When you book your return flight, could you let me know when you'll be landing so I can put it into my calendar?

[Otherwise she knows he'll be texting her and it'll be 6am or 9 at night and she'll not at all be prepared to meet him.

As it is, she's already working way too late tonight.]

[consulting_freak]

Yes.

[Sherlock frowns a little bit.]

Maybe. If I remember.

[Most likely, he won't. This doesn't really feel like it's important enough to set along side all of the evidence he's sorting through for the moment.]

[theonewhocounted]

[She sighs because she knows he won't and she'll probably end up at the lab at three in the morning in her pajamas.]

Is John with you?

[consulting_freak]

[Nothing wrong with pyjamas or getting up early.]

What? No, he's got a pregnant wife to babysit.

[theonewhocounted]

I'm sure Mary doesn't need to be babysat.