You're in Sherlock (Sherlock × Reader)

The Empty Hearse: Chapter 6

You arrived at a small flat complex where the client who'd left his hat behind lived. You soon found out his name was Howard Shilcott. He stopped at 221B at some point, wanting help on a case. Sherlock, at the time deemed it unnecessary, but now you needed something to entertain you. Sherlock quickly rang the doorbell, stepping back with you and Molly to wait.

"Mind the gap, mind the gap." The doorbell spoke in a monotone voice. It was the message that played before you got on the tube. You turned from Sherlock to Molly with a small grin. This guy was definitely a little insane. Quickly, he arrived at the door, pulling it open for all of you to enter. Before entering, Sherlock extended his arm out to return the hat.

"Oh. Thanks for hanging on to it." Howard spoke as he took the hat before gesturing the three of you further back into the house. No greeting and straight to the point, you liked that.

"No problem." Sherlock nodded, following him into the house. You gazed around as you walked, seeing model trains literally everywhere around the man's house. It was his life, his obsession. He'd been an advent train collector for years, and the passion clearly never dropped.

"So, what's this all about, Mr Shilcott?" Sherlock questioned, looking up towards a train that was running along the ceiling as you entered the flat's living room. Howard sat down at his desk, his back turned towards the three of you.

"My girlfriend's a big fan of you guys." He spoke, clicking buttons as he scanned the computer screen. You couldn't help but let out a snort while Sherlock chuckled, gazing around the room. Molly looked between the two of you, a frown on her face.

"Girlfriend?!" Sherlock asked in surprise. Molly shot both of you looks and you dropped the smile as Howard stared at the both of you, not seeing what was funny about it. "Sorry. Do go on."

"I like trains." Howard shrugged. Sherlock gave you a 'what's wrong with him?' look as he grinned over at you. That was obviously clear but now you took back what you had said before, he wasn't straight to the point, at all.

"Yyyes." Sherlock encouraged him to continue, as Howard was not getting to the point at all. He was just stating the blatantly obvious.

"I work on the Tube, on the District Line, and part of my job is to wipe the security footage after it's been cleared. I was just whizzing through and, er, I found something a bit bizarre." Howard pulled up at a video and the three of you again all shot each other sarcastic looks, you didn't have too much hope for how good this case would end up being."Now, this was a week ago. The last train on the Friday night, Westminster station, and this man gets into the last car." Howard pointed to a man carrying a briefcase, waiting for the train's arrival. He stood alone on the platform. When the tube arrived, he simply walked on to the last car like Howard had said.

"'Car'?" Molly questioned, looking down at the computer.

"They're cars, not carriages. It's a legacy of the early American involvement in the Tube system." Howard said with a blank and annoyed gaze. Of course Molly should have known that, geez who didn't know everything there was to know about trains. You thought sarcastically, not believing this guy. You were an expert on a lot of things and you didn't treat people like that... well not most of the time... anymore. Okay maybe you took that back.

"He said he liked trains." You shrugged when Molly gave you a look. She rolled her eyes in the slightest, causing you to give her a small grin. You were pretty sure she wasn't mad at you and Sherlock for making fun of him earlier anymore.

"And the next stop... St James's Park station... and..." He quickly switched the footage on the camera, showing you what he wanted you to see. The train arrived at the station, but nobody got out of the cars. Nobody was even on the tube at all. You glanced at Sherlock, already more interested in the case as you squinted at the video. "I thought you'd like it." Howard smiled at your and Sherlock's intrigued looks. He turned back to the computer, replaying the first set of footage he'd shown you. "He gets into the last car at Westminster, the only passenger..." He switched to the later footage again. "...and the car is empty at St James's Park station. Explain that." He pointed towards the computer, turning to you and Sherlock. You gazed at the screen in thought, something was different about the train when it arrived at St James.... you replayed the video in your mind, thinking it over.