His Favorite Melody

An Unfamiliar Face

Sherlock made his way to the glass lift, John and Melody close behind. Once they were inside the lift, John looked up at Sherlock with a smirk.

"'Two trips around the world this month.' You didn't ask his Secretary. You said that just to irritate him." The shorter man accused.

Mel and Sherlock shared a knowing smile.

"Did you look at his watch?" Sherlock asked.

"His watch?"

"The hands on his watch were correct but the date was wrong. It actually said the day before yesterday."

"Within a month? How'd you know that part?"

"New Rolex." Melody piped in now. "Only came out in February. I was telling Sherlock about them not too long ago. They're bloody nice watches. Expensive." She explained as the lift reached the bottom and opened.

The trio swiftly exited the building trying to dodge through the insane amount of people who were filing in and out.

"You think we should sniff around here a bit longer?" John asked, looking up at the building that towered above them.

"Got everything I need to know already, thanks." Sherlock replied, striding off up the street.

John and Mel exchanged a look, then scuttled after him.

"That graffiti is a message, John. For someone at the bank - working on the trading floor. We find the intended recipient and..."

"He'll to lead us to the person who sent it."

"Obvious."

"Three hundred people up there. Who was it meant for?"

Melody's eyes widened as she realized what Sherlock had been doing earlier. "Pillars!"

"What?" John asked in concern, while Sherlock beamed proudly at her.

"The pillars. And the screens. Earlier, Sherlock was fluttering about the office. He looked a bit like a groundhog, but now I know exactly what he was doing. Very few places where you could see the graffiti. That narrows the field considerably. And of course - the message was left at 11.34 last night. That tells us a lot."

"Does it?" John asked Sherlock.

"Traders come to work at all hours. Some people trade with Hong Kong in the middle of the night. That message was intended for someone who came in at midnight." Sherlock confirmed as he reached into his jacket. He had stolen the name sign off a desk. "Not many Van Coon's in the phone book."

Melody hailed a cab and they all climbed in.

As they pulled up to Eddie van Coon's apartment block, Melody silently wondered just how they were going to pull this off. They exited the cab and approached a set of buzzers on the outside of the building, labelled with the names of the tenants. The tabs showed that van Coon lived on the sixth floor. Sherlock rang, but there was no answer. Rang again- still no answer.

"What are we gonna do now, then? Sit here and wait for him to come back?" John asked with a sigh.

Melody snickered quietly as Sherlock checked the buzzers. The one directly above Eddie's - seventh floor - was labelled 'WINTLE', but the label was brand new.

"Just moved in." Sherlock finally said.

"What?" John asked.

"Floor above. New label."