Chapter 41

Sherlock's POV

The first day back at school was just like any normal day, except people were talking in more excited tones than usual, which of course, was beyond annoying. Moriarty was back at school. He had made up some lie about where he got of to during camp, and now everyone was forever crowding around him, which he loved. 

One thing, however, did drag attention away from him. The death of Susie Jackson. 

It was lunch time and all of us were dining in the eating hall when a younger student came in, screaming to the teacher on supervision that there was a dead girl lying at the bottom of the stairs. All of us rushed out to see if the boy was telling the truth or not, but when we were within 20 metres of the supposed accidental death, Mycroft came and made us leave. The area was cordoned off, and we were sent back to our classes, business as usual, unless we wanted to grieve in the library or if our classes were on that side of the school, we were to go to the gym. 

John and I had English, but as all other students entered the classes, I grabbed John's hand and pulled him away. "Sherlock!" John hissed, jogging to keep up with me as I briskly walked towards the scene of the crime. "What are we doing? We can't go over there!"

"Yes we can! Just follow my lead."

I took off my school sweater and threw it on the ground before dropping my tie on top. John followed suit, and I passed him some thick lensed glasses from inside my trousers pockets, and I drew a fake moustache on myself with a permanent marker, which was also in my pocket. I slid our clothes into an air vent, and we were back on our way, looking like we could've had an important occupation.

 "Mycroft's going to kill us if he sees us," John said.

I rolled my eyes and smirked.

John looked at me. "You really do get off on this sort of thing, don't you?"

"Of course. I love irritating my dear brother. But I think this time he'll be happy for my assistance. He never has liked the legwork." I knew John meant murder cases but I changed it into a less dark form, knowing he'd probably get scared if he knew just how much I loved a good old fashioned murder.

John rolled his eyes, and went to reply, but stopped himself when he saw the scene ahead of us. The area around the staircase was cordoned off, and police were all gathered around what we supposed was the body, and there was a strange feeling in the air. I was used to it, because I worked on crimes often, but John wasn't.

"You'll be fine. You can turn back if you want," I murmured to him as we got closer. He shook his head, and I smiled at him, proud of his persistence. 

A policewoman stopped us at the cordon, and  I flashed her an ID I'd stolen off of Mycroft. She nodded and allowed us through. Police parted for us as we came in to inspect the body. "Where's the assistant headmaster?" I asked one of them. It was Lestrade's father. 

"He had to go to his office to make some phone calls. He should be back in about half an hour, he said."

"Good. Thank you," I nodded at the man, glad he didn't recognise us, before inspecting the body of Susie Jackson. 

I recognised her to be a singer in the choir, and the young girl had a remarkable voice, I had to admit. Her school dress was in tatters and looked to be incredibly old. Blood matted her hair and her porcelan face was still, though her eyes were open, the fear she had felt before her death clearly shown. 

Carefully, I rolled her over onto her back, and saw slight chalk marks on her upperback. I pulled out a magnifying glass from the pockets of my trousers, and upon closer inspection I saw the chalk marks were fingerprints. 

"You might want to look into this," I said to the older Lestrade. "Fingertips. It'll lead you to the killer."

"Killer?" 

"Yes, clearly this was a murder. She was pushed down the stairs. But hang on-" I stopped short and felt her back. "Some one get me scissors."

Senior Lestrade got me some scissors, and he and John crouched down beside me. With Senior Lestrade's permission, I cut along the back of the dress, and we found a stab wound cutting through the left side of her spine.

I scribbled my number down onto a piece of paper as I saw Mycroft approaching. Although he'd be grateful for my help, I didn't want him to know I had been snooping around. "Here. Call me when you get more information." I handed the note to Senior Lestrade, before grabbing John and pulling him away.

 We went back to the air vent, and grabbed our jerseys and ties. "Get anything of interest?" John asked as we walked away.

"Yes. Plenty. I'll tell you about it in a minute. Come on." I led him back to our dorm  room and locked the door. John was nervous about skipping class, but I insisted that it was alright. 

"So... What exactly has happened?" John asked me, sitting on his bed, watching me as I paced the room. 

 "You know the scuffle between Mycroft and I yesterday?"

"Over the knife?"

"Yes," I looked at John, and when he gave me his look I realised I must've look surprised.

"Just explain," John huffed.

"Moriarty is on drugs. That much is clear. Mrs. Hudson sells drugs, and of course, he is her best customer. I knew we had to go over there if we wanted any information. Of course we went for the papers, but then I saw  that paper knife; Mycroft mentioned a similar stabbing, and when he showed me pictures of the frankly gruesome stabbing, I noted it was done with a paper knife. The murder victim was a Government Official, which is why Mycroft and his men wanted it so badly. I took the paper knife, and knew it was the exact weapon used. 

"Now, here we are, another paper knife stabbing. But this was done with the same knife. The murderer obviously stabbed her earlier, but he had a hold over little Susie, so she couldn't go tell anyone. She was running away from him, got to the stairs, was pushed down, and bled to death."

John chuckled, raising his shoulders and looking away in the way I loved. 

"What?" I asked confusedly.

"You shouldn't be so excited about this. A murder just happened in our school and you're smiling about it."

"Well you're laughing, so you're not much better," I replied, pushing him down, crawling on top of him, kissing his neck.

John ran his hands over my back and giggled as I sucked on his soft spot, which was just above his collarbone. A knock on the door tore us away from each other, and I jumped off the bed and nonchalantly made my way to the door, casually opening it, to infuriate Mycroft more. 

"Why aren't you in class?" Mycroft demanded as soon as he saw me. I groaned obnoxiously and closed the door in my brothers face, and it opened back up almost immediately. Mycroft came in, and closed and locked the door behind himself.

John sat up on the bed and looked sheepish. I chuckled at his cuteness before turning back to my brother, a scowl on my face. 

"You skipped class to make out with your boyfriend?!" Mycroft hissed at me.

I raised my eyebrows. "Actually I-"

"Wait. Don't tell me. You were snopping around the crime scene, weren't you? Never knew dress ups were still your thing, Sherlock, I thought the dresses were a phase."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up."

"Sherlock I am absolutely sick and tired of having to cover up for you and John. You might be able to get away with skipping lessons, but John, however, cannot!"

"Alright," I sniffed. "I'll just tutor him then." Again with my nonchalant tone. 

"What?!" Mycroft and John exclaimed at the same time. 

"Erm, I don't-" I cut John off by pressing my fingers against his lips, giving him an apologetic smile before turning back to Mycroft.

"Yep," I told him, popping the 'p'. "I'm going to tutor John. Each time we're not in class, I will tutor him."

"Sherlock," Mycroft sighed.

"Do you want Moriarty put away or not?!" I shouted, my calmness snapping in two. 

Mycroft sighed. "On your head be it, Sherlock." With that, he turned on his heel and walked out.

What were we getting ourselves into?